The Poison of Ao and Hisui

The June rain pattered gently on the roof of the old school building. A humid breeze slipped through the cracks in the windows, bringing a faint musty smell to the hallway. The hydrangeas in the schoolyard showed off vivid gradients of blue and purple beneath the overcast sky but even their colors seemed cold, shrouded in a heavy, dull atmosphere.
Inside the classroom, everything seemed normal: desks lined up by the windows, posters for the school festival on the walls, the scent of textbooks. Yet something was off. A tension hung in the air, one that Ao Kamizawa could clearly sense. While pretending to read the paperback in front of him, he was secretly watching the subtle shifts in his classmates’ glances.