Love? What is that?
Daichi's legs gave out before he even realized it.
A stern-looking officer blocked his path with a firm hand, pushing him back behind the bright yellow tape that cordoned off the school's entrance. His knees buckled, and he hit the ground hard, collapsing in a clumsy heap. The fall nearly tangled him in the scattered shoes of other students. Around him, no one moved. No one spoke. Everyone just stared.
Right there, just a few meters ahead—past the tape, near the front steps—lay a body.
Still. Silent. Unmoving in the way that no sleeping person ever is.
Blood stained the concrete, so red it looked unreal. The smell hit him a second later—thick and metallic—and his stomach twisted. He gagged.
"…No way…"
The figure lying there—he knew that long hair, that blouse.
It was Mio.
She had been the last person he thought of before drifting off to sleep last night, her voice still echoing in his mind. He had wished so hard for her words to be a dream. Some twisted hallucination his brain conjured out of stress. Anything but real.
But this… this was real.
Daichi's heart pounded against his ribs like it was trying to escape. His breathing grew ragged, shallow, and loud in his own ears. His limbs trembled as he pushed himself up, swaying like a leaf caught in a storm.
Then he ran.
Pushing through the shocked crowd, shoving past shoulders and arms, he bolted, driven by pure panic. His mind screamed with a single thought, looping over and over.
She was lying. That's all. She was just mad. She didn't mean it.
Papa wouldn't do something like that. He loves me… He loves me!
He kept running, like distance could make the truth disappear.
But it didn't.
Reality didn't wait. It came crashing in the moment he turned a corner, when he locked eyes with Miura-san.
Miura-sam's expression was terrifying. His chest heaved as if he'd just run a mile, his fists clenched, his jaw tight. His gaze pinned Daichi in place.
"You shouldn't have said that to her, you idiot!"
His voice struck like a whip, every word digging deep into the boy's chest.
Daichi froze. The anger in Miura's voice wasn't just anger.
It was pain.
Confusion swelled inside Daichi. He didn't understand. Why was Miura looking at him like that? Why did it feel like something huge had just snapped, like the ground beneath him had vanished?
His lips moved, but no sound came out.
His heart hurt. Badly.
And somewhere, deep inside, a part of him already knew that his world was starting to fall apart.