Akam exited the school gates just as the sun dipped behind the clouds, leaving everything bathed in that strange kind of light—not quite golden, not quite grey. The kind that blurred hard edges and made everything feel half-remembered. Her uniform was as pristine as it had been that morning: sleeves pressed, collar sharp, not a single crease out of place. The kind of composure that invited projection. The kind that didn't belong to girls who flinched at their windows after midnight.
Akame lifted a hand in passing to the class rep and a couple of girls lingering by the front garden, their voices hushed, eyes flicking somewhere over her shoulder. She followed the shift in their attention—not because she cared, but because the air changed when they gasped.
That's when she saw him.
Leaning against the wall across the street, one foot propped behind him, hood draped carelessly down his back, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket—Kaji. Bleached hair catching the last light like a dare. Headphones on his head, lollipop tucked in the corner of his mouth. Still. Detached. Like he didn't know he was being watched, or maybe just didn't care.
The class rep clutched her chest like she'd been shot. "That's him," someone whispered, "the guy who jumped in the river for a stray cat."
Akame bit down on the inside of her cheek to keep the smirk at bay. Her pace didn't change, but the rhythm in her chest stuttered once—just once—before it settled into something quieter.
The girls giggled behind her, nudging the rep forward, whispering about who'd go talk to him first.
But he was already moving.
He crossed the street without ceremony, cutting through their fantasies like smoke through wire. He didn't so much as glance their way. Just walked, a line drawn in motion, and veered. Right to her.
He stopped a breath too close.
Pulled down his headphones with one hand, the other fishing something from his pocket. His gaze dragged over her face, bored and knowing.
Then, with a glance that didn't quite meet her eyes, he muttered, "Shut up... you were on my way."
Her expression didn't shift, but her gaze narrowed, amused. It was the first time he'd picked her up. He knew she'd say something. He beat her to it.
From his pocket, Kaji pulled out a lollipop—orange.
She looked at it, then at him, and scrunched her nose like the idea personally offended her.
Her attention drifted, just slightly, to the lollipop already in his mouth—the deep red of cherry. Her flavor.
Kaji didn't sigh. Didn't roll his eyes, not exactly. Just tilted his head, and with the smallest flick of his tongue, pushed the cherry lollipop forward between his teeth. An unspoken invitation.
Akame didn't say a word. She reached out, took it from his mouth with two fingers, slow and deliberate, then popped it into her own.
It rested on her tongue like victory.
"You're insufferable," he said, flatly.
She turned with a shrug of one shoulder, starting down the road like it had always been his idea. Kaji watched her for a beat, then peeled open the orange wrapper with practiced disinterest, sliding it into his mouth with the sort of quiet resignation that felt like familiarity.
They walked side by side. Neither of them said another word.
But behind them, the girls were still staring. Still frozen. Still trying to make sense of what they saw.
YOU ARE READING
SUB ROSA | Wind Breaker
Fiksyen Peminat❝ She was like light slipping through the cracks-out of place, yet impossible to ignore.❞ Akame finds herself in a world that was never meant for her, a quiet contrast to Furin's chaos. But in a place that challenges her at every turn, she begins to...
