The school gates loomed ahead, just as she remembered — tall, imposing, and indifferent. The same morning bell echoed through the air, the same crowd of students rushing through, laughter and chatter filling the space. But this time, something was different.
She was different.
Dressed in Xueyin's uniform, Meilin stepped through the gates, her posture straight, her face calm. The name tag on her chest read "Xueyin." Her shoes clicked softly against the pavement, each step echoing louder in her heart than in the halls.
She had memorized everything — her sister's handwriting, her tone, even the way she walked with her head slightly bowed. But her eyes didn't hold fear. They held fire.
As she entered Class 2-A, the room grew quiet for a split second — just a flicker. Then everything resumed like nothing had changed.
Except one thing had.
A few students glanced at her, but quickly looked away. No one dared speak to her. Whispers had faded over the past week, replaced by awkward silence and unspoken guilt.
No one had truly cared before. They just didn't want to be blamed.
She quietly sat at her sister's desk near the window. Her gaze swept the room, pausing on a group of girls huddled together — the same girls who had once laughed the loudest.
One of them — the ringleader — stiffened slightly, as if sensing something wrong. She glanced toward "Xueyin" and forced a nervous smile.
"You're… back?" she asked.
Meilin tilted her head slowly, her expression unreadable. "I never left," she replied.
The girl's face faltered. "R-right…"
The teacher entered, and class began. Meilin took notes, answered attendance in her sister's soft voice, and played the part perfectly. But inside her mind, everything was sharp. Focused.
She noted each person who had once stood by while her sister suffered. Each one who had whispered, who had laughed, who had looked away.
Her list was growing.
At lunch, she didn't go to the rooftop. She sat alone in the cafeteria, just as her sister had — but this time, her presence didn't invite ridicule. Instead, it stirred unease.
They didn't know it yet.
But she was here.
And the real Xueyin's silence would speak louder than ever.