Chapter Ten: 薄氷の羽音
The late afternoon light filtered through the frosted glass windows of the school's west annex, casting long, bars across the floor.
Nogami Akashi adjusted his grip on the warm paper bag in his hands, his boots making a quiet, rhythmic sound against the corridor tiles.
Inside the bag sat a freshly brewed cup of peach milk tea with extra brown sugar, Marina’s favorite, which he had ordered from a delivery. Alongside the drink was a neatly bound plastic folder containing twenty pages of handwritten history notes, complete with color-coded timelines and mnemonic diagrams he had stayed up until two in the morning crafting.
He knew Marina had been struggling with her makeup exams. He knew how easily she grew overwhelmed when her grades slipped. To Akashi, helping her wasn't a burden neither obligation but was as natural as breathing.
At the far end of the quiet hallway, sitting alone on a wooden bench near the art room display cases, was Marina.
Her head was tilted downward, her newly shortened blonde hair falling in jagged yet stylish layers around her face. Her thumbs were moving across her smartphone screen with frantic, erratic speed. The artificial glow of the display reflected in her eyes, casting her pale features in a cold, unnatural light.
"Marina." Akashi called out gently, keeping his voice soft so as not to startle her.
Marina’s entire body jolted. In a fraction of a second, her hands twitched, flipping her phone face-down onto her skirt before she looked up.
For a single beat, her eyes wide with a sharp, panicky tension which is a wild expression that vanished the moment her brain processed who was standing before her.
"A-Akashi!" She stammered, forcing a quick high-pitched laugh as she slid the phone into her skirt pocket. "God, you scared me!"
Akashi offered her a warm, reassuring smile, stepping closer and sitting down beside her on the narrow bench. He placed the warm paper bag in her lap. "Sorry about that. I brought you this from the shop near the station. And I finished organizing those history notes for you."
Marina opened the bag, looking down at the warm cup and the meticulously prepared folder. Her hands hesitated over the plastic surface.
"Oh..." Marina whispered. A strange, fleeting flicker of something dark and uncomfortable crossed her eyes, either a ghost of guilt, perhaps if she have some, or the suffocating weight of receiving something pure that she no longer knew how to hold. She quickly covered it with a wide, bright smile, leaning over to press a fleeting, hurried kiss against Akashi’s cheek. "Thank you, Akashi! You're... you're honestly too good to me. Really."
Before Akashi could even respond, her skirt pocket vibrated.
*Bzz. Bzz.*
Marina’s hand instantly shot into her pocket, her fingers clutching the device. She didn't pull it out, but her attention completely severed from Akashi. Her gaze drifted toward the window, her body turning slightly away from him as if shielding her thoughts.
"Is everything okay?" Akashi asked softly, his eyes searching her face with genuine concern. "You seem... a little distant today, Marina. Are you feeling sick? Or is the exam prep stressing you out too much?"
"No! No, I'm fine, really!" Marina said quickly, her voice carrying a brittle, overly cheerful edge that rattled in the quiet corridor. "Just... tired, you know? School has been crazy lately."
Akashi looked at her. He noticed the faint dark circles beneath her heavy eye makeup. He noticed the way her fingers kept twitching against her pocket, waiting for him to look away so she could check the screen. He saw the subtle, inexplicable wall that had been rising between them over the past few weeks. A wall built out of missed calls, late arrivals, and a sudden, desperate fixation on high-end fashion and flashy status.
Yet, as Akashi sat beside her, he didn't feel anger or any kind of suspicion.
Instead, a heavy, familiar ache of self-doubt bloomed in his chest. Akashi looked down at his own worn sneakers and his simple, mass-market navy blue cardigan.
*It’s my fault,*
Akashi thought, his heart sinking with a quiet, self-sacrificing nobility.
*I’ve been so focused on my own club duties and part-time shifts that I haven't been giving her the attention she deserves. She's going through a hard time with her classes, and I'm just giving her paper notes instead of taking her somewhere nice. I need to be better. I need to support her more.*
He reached out, taking her hand gently into his own. "Don't push yourself too hard, Marina." He whispered softly, squeezing her fingers with absolute warmth. "Whatever it is, we'll work through it together, Alright?"
Marina looked down at their joined hands. Her breath hitched slightly, her glossy lips trembling for a fraction of a second before she pulled her hand away to open the milk tea, refusing to meet his eyes. "Yeah... thanks, Akashi."
---
The main corridor of the second floor was thick with the noise of the afternoon dismissal. Lockers slammed shut, laughter echoed off the high ceilings, and groups of students gathered in clusters to plan their weekend outings.
Arisawa Arata walked through the crowd with his head down. He carried a heavy stack of reference books in his arms, his posture rigid, his eyes fixed firmly on the floorboards two paces ahead of him. He moved like an invisible ghost, desiring nothing more than to slip through the building without drawing a single glance.
Suddenly, a sharp, clattering sound of heels echoed against the linoleum, stopping directly in his path.
"Well, well! Look who it is!"
Arata stopped. Standing two meters in front of him was Yumiko.
She was dressed in her usual flashy attire of short skirt, unbuttoned blouse, and layers of silver jewelry that jingled with every movement. Her face was caked in heavy makeup, but beneath the foundation, her skin looked pale and strained. She had a wide, performative smirk plastered across her face, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked down her nose at him.
"Arata-kun!" Yumiko squeaked loudly, her voice intentionally carrying across the crowded hallway to draw the attention of nearby students. " It’s been *so* long! How are you holding up? Still repeating the year with the underclassmen? Must be so tough sitting in class with kids younger than you!"
Arata didn't say a word. He didn't even lift his eyes to meet hers. He simply shifted his stack of books slightly in his arms and took a step to the right, intending to walk cleanly around her.
Yumiko’s smirk instantly shattered, replaced by a flash of pure, venomous rage.
She stepped sideways, aggressively blocking his path again, her heels clicking violently against the floor. "Hey! I'm talking to you, Arata! Who the hell do you think you are, ignoring me?!"
Arata stood completely still, his face remaining entirely blank, dark, and hollow.
" What, you think you're better than me now?!" Yumiko screamed, her voice rising into an unhinged, shrill pitch that caused several passing students to pause and stare. " You're still can't accept that I'm not your girl anymore!? I mean, Indeed you are. You're still the exact same pathetic, hopeless nerd you were in middle school! Sitting in the corner, holding that tons of books, as if you think you can do anything at all!"
Arata remained silent. His calm, vacant gaze rested on her face, but his eyes were so utterly devoid of emotion that it felt like looking into a dead mirror.
That silence that complete refusal to engage in her drama struck Yumiko like a physical blow. It tore right through her fragile ego, exposing the raw, festering insecurity beneath her flashy exterior.
"You're just salty!" Yumiko raise her voice, her face turning red beneath her heavy powder as she pointed a manicured finger at his chest. "You're bitter because I chose Ren-kun! Because Ren is a real man! He's handsome, he has money and power, and he can give me a life you couldn't even dream of! You're jealous! That's what this is!"
She began pacing back and forth in front of him, gesturing wildly with her hands, her voice descending into a desperate, unhinged rant aimed at everyone and no one.
"My parents still think nice about you! They can't accept that I chose a better man that they won't even want to talk to me! And my old friends from middle school, those fake, jealous bitches who ghosted me just because I leveled up?! They're all losers! Every single one of them! They don't understand *free will*! I am free to love whoever I want! Ren-kun loves me! We have an ideal relationship that none of you people can even comprehend!"
She threw her head back, letting out a sharp, hysterical laugh that sounded terrifyingly hollow. "Ren-kun took me to five star restaurants! He buys me this accessories! He's going to be a national football player, and I'm going to be right beside him while the rest of you rot in your boring, mediocre lives!"
Arata looked at her.
He knew the truth; about what he saw in that cinema, or the girl Ren dated behind Yumiko.
He knew that while Yumiko was screaming in a high school hallway about her "ideal relationship," Masato Ren was taking another girl out on high-end dates.
Anyone would wonder how she will react to such knowledge.
Arata’s jaw tightened slightly, but he didn't utter a single syllable.
He didn't even feels wanting to flush up the truth bomb on this girl, he's simpy looked at her with a crushing pity, a look that silently communicated that she was done for, and she just hadn't realized it yet.
" Hoi!" Yumiko snaps, her voice cracking with sheer hysteria. She raised her hand, her nails curling into claws as if she was about to scratch his face. "Say something, you loser! Say it—"
"Shut your mouth, Yumiko."
A sharp, authoritative voice cut through the air like a whip.
Yuri stepped out from the crowd, her dark blazer buttoned up, her eyes burning with a cold disgust. She marched straight toward them, her stride firm and unyielding, stopping right beside Arata.
Yumiko clicked her tongue. " Ah... look who had appear, thinking herself as hero"
" So what?" Yuri sneers, her voice dropping into a low, deadly register that vibrated through the hallway. " Just have a look at yourself. Standing here screaming like a rabid dog just because a boy won't give you the attention you're starving for. You look pathetic, Yumiko."
Yumiko’s face contorted in humiliation. "What did you say to me?!"
" Pathetic. Want me to say it again? Pathetic, you are." Yuri repeated without hesitation, taking a step closer, towering over her with pure moral disdain. "You stand here bragging about 'free will' and your 'ideal relationship,' but everyone in our old school knew the truth. They left you because you're changed, Yumiko. You turned into a toxic, arrogant parasite the second Masato snapped his fingers."
" Say whatever you want, Yuri. " Yumiko crossed her arms " You're all just same as them, can't accept that I'm far above you all!" Yumiko spat, her eyes wild.
People around them starts to shake their head while some of them starts lost interest to watching the performance, leaving the area with handful of students that still stay.
"I know your parents don't want to look at you since you betrayed senpai on that day, which you made him failed his exam and you can even laughed on his face for it." Yuri said, her words landing like precise, lethal strikes. "I know you spend your lunch breaks sitting alone on benches waiting for texts from that... master of yours. And I know that your owner- I'm sorry, your current boyfriend you're risking your entire future for doesn't give a damn about you. You traded your friends, your reputation, and your self-respect for a shiny accessory, and now that the paint is peeling off, you're losing your mind because you have nowhere left to run."
" SHUT UP!" Yumiko screamed, her control completely snapping.
She lunged forward, her eyes bloodshot, her manicured hand swinging wildly toward Yuri’s face in a desperate, physical attack. "You bitch! You incited everyone in middle school against me! You made them throw me away! You're just a bitter, jealous loser who couldn't stand seeing me happy—!"
Before Yumiko’s hand could make contact with Yuri’s cheek, a strong, firm hand reached out from the side, catching Yuri by the shoulder and smoothly pulling her back two steps out of harm's way.
It was Arata.
Yumiko’s swing hit nothing but thin air, the momentum causing her to stumble forward awkwardly, her heels twisting against the floor as she nearly crashed onto the ground.
Arata held Yuri firmly behind his frame, his body stepping between the two girls like a dark shield. He looked down at Yumiko, who was struggling to balance herself, her hair disheveled, her mascara smeared from sudden, bitter tears of humiliation.
Arata simply gives Yuri a weak head shake before he gesturing her to follow her.
Yuri took a sharp breath, her chest heaving as she glared over Arata’s shoulder at the trembling girl. She smoothed down her lapel, nodded once, and turned her back.
Arata turned as well, walking beside Yuri down the corridor.
Behind them, Yumiko stood alone in the center of the hallway, surrounded by few of staring, whispering students. She clutched her expensive designer bag against her stomach, her chest heaving with violent, silent sobs, looking entirely broken, isolated, and undone.
---
Five minutes later, the quiet stairwell near the east wing was empty, saved for sunlight streaming through the high arched window.
Yuri leaned against the metal handrail, her arms crossed over her chest, taking long, stabilizing breaths to clear the lingering adrenaline from her system. Arata stood two steps below her, resting his elbow on the windowsill, looking out at the distant athletic fields.
" Man, I sure had hit her nerve earlier." Yuri muttered quietly, looking down at her polished shoes. " Maybe me and her is having the catfight if not you pulled me out, I'll give you that."
"You said what needed to be said after all." Arata replied softly, his voice devoid of judgment. " Hearing something she can't accept must be hurt."
Yuri let out a low, bitter scoff. " You know? She and I used to be close in junior high, you know. Before that Masato guy showed up. She was always vain and a bit superficial, but atleast she's still not reached eyes-irritating level. It's when Masato Ren appear and he turned her into a monster. He does that to everyone he touches."
She looked at Arata, her apple-green eyes softening with a quiet, mutual understanding. "I warned my friend, Miyuki-chan about him. She was about to be his next victim, but thankfully she's smart enough to run away at the faintest red flag.
Yuri take a deep breathe. " I told her what happened to you, Arata-senpai. I told her not to let that snake and his venom get anywhere near her."
Arata’s shoulders shifted slightly beneath his dark hoodie. He offer a subtle, lingering warmth touched his tired eyes. "I saw them at the station earlier today. That friend of yours and her boyfriend, Tendou-san."
"Yeah?" Yuri asked.
"They're fine." Arata said quietly. "They have something real. Masato can't break people who actually trust each other. Even if he did, I'll be the one that will jump in to stop him because Tendou-san is good friend of mine."
He paused, staring down at the concrete step between them. His brow furrowed as the memory of last weekend’s cinema date and the subsequent scene at Hanamichi Cafe rushed back into his mind.
"Yuri." Arata began, his voice dropping into a hushed, serious whisper. "There's something else you don't know."
Yuri leaned forward, her expression instantly sharpening. "What is it?"
" Masato have another girl behind Yumiko." Arata revealed, his dark eyes locking onto hers with intense gravity. "Last Saturday, I went to watch that Superman movie when I saw him. He was on a date with another girl. "
Yuri’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief. " Come again?! He's cheating on Yumiko?!"
"Indeed. " Arata continued, his voice laced with cold horror. " That girl is actually someone's girlfriend."
Yuri gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "God. How low Masato Ren can descend?... Who is the girl? And who is that unfortunate boy?"
Arata shook his head slowly. " That boy is named Nogami Akashi from third class. I don't know what class they're in. I just know that girl's name is Marina."
Yuri stood frozen on the steps, her mind racing as she digested the turn of event. Neither of them knew Marina, nor did they know Takumi or Miyuki’s full connection to the surrounding web, but the terrifying truth was crystal clear: Masato Ren wasn't just playing a game with one girl. He was spinning an sprawling, unseen web of destruction, setting up innocent people for complete psychological slaughter while they walked around blind in the dark.
---
In the library, the air was quiet and smelled of paper and wooden furniture.
Katsuragi Rin sat at the head of the long table, her dark hair neatly tied back, her fountain pen moving across a stack of inventory forms of the books in the library that's separated by categories. Her movements were precise, elegant, and completely methodical.
Sitting across from her was Nogami Akashi.
He was meticulously double-checking the record of borrowed books, filing them into transparent plastic sleeves and labeling them with fine-tip markers. He worked without a single word of complaint, his focus total, his moral integrity shining through in the neatness of his work.
Rin paused her writing, her dark, sharp eyes quietly observing the boy across the table.
She had worked with Akashi for over month since she's transfered here. He wasn't flashy like Ren, nor was he exceptionally brilliant like Miyuki or Takumi, but Akashi possessed something far rarer in this institution: absolute decency. He was honest, hardworking, and perpetually considerate of others, a quiet pillar of moral stability that Rin respected immensely.
"Nogami-kun." Rin spoke softly, her clear voice breaking the silence of the room.
Akashi looked up, offering a polite, attentive smile. "Yes, Katsuragi-san?"
"You have completed three hours of recording today," Rin said, setting her pen down. "The library organization appreciates your diligence. Please feel free to head home early."
"Oh, it's no trouble at all!" Akashi replied with a gentle laugh, waving his hand modestly. "I actually enjoy doing my job. Plus, I want to make sure everything is perfect so you don't have to stay late re-checking my work."
Rin looked at him, a faint, rare trace of softness touching her usually rigid features. "Your work is always flawless, Nogami-kun. Thank you."
Akashi bowed his head politely, gathered his bag, and stacked the completed files neatly on the shelf before stepping out into the main corridor.
Rin stood up from her chair, walking over to the door to lock up the library for the evening. But as she pulled the door inward, her gaze naturally drifted down the long, dimly lit corridor leading toward the main building bridge.
Akashi was walking down the hallway, his bag slouched over his shoulder.
Fifty feet behind him, standing in the shadow of a heavy concrete pillar near the stairwell, was Masato Ren.
Ren was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. He didn't make any move. His vacant eyes were locked dead onto the back of Akashi’s head with a posture so still, so focused, and so intensely predatory that it looked like a wolf stalking a sheep across an open field.
Rin’s body went completely rigid.
Her razor-sharp institutional intuition, sharpened by years of observing the subtle power dynamics and dark undercurrents of the academy, fired a deafening alarm bell in her mind.
She knew Masato Ren. She knew how his mind operated. Ren never looked at ordinary students like that. He didn't waste his energy observing nobodies—unless he was preparing to strike on them.
*Why is Masato watching Nogami-kun?*
Rin thought, her chest tightening with a sudden, icy chill.
*Nogami-kun is not part of soccer team. He have nothing that worth such attention. Why is Masato targeting him?*
She watched as Ren slowly pushed himself off the pillar, trailing twenty paces behind Akashi into the shadows of the stairwell, a faint, sickening smirk lingering on his lips.
Rin stood motionless in the doorway, her dark eyes narrowing into two slivers of cold resolve. The red flag had been raised. Her instincts screaming that something is about to be unfolded.
Rin decided silently, her jaw clenching.
She decided that she willl not allow Ren to destroy an innocent life under her watch.
---
The sky above the city had turned into a bruised indigo twilight by the time Akashi and Marina reached the quiet pedestrian path just outside the school building.
The evening air was crisp, carrying the cold scent of autumn leaves. Streetlamps flickered to life one by one, casting long, overlapping shadows across the pavement.
They walked side-by-side.
Akashi had offered his arm, but Marina had gently declined, claiming her shoulders were sore from carrying her school bag. She walked half a step ahead of him, her eyes constantly darting toward the glowing screen of her phone, which she held tightly in her right hand.
Akashi looked at her profile under the yellow streetlamp light.
He remembered her smile from six months ago. Bright, open, and effortless. Now, every gesture felt calculated, every laugh delayed by a fraction of a second, as if she were constantly rehearsing a performance in her head.
"Marina." Akashi spoke up gently, trying to keep his tone light and conversational. "How was your studyy?"
Marina’s foot caught slightly on the edge of a paving stone. She stumbled for a microsecond before recovering her balance, her body going visibly tense.
"O-Oh! Yeah!" Marina stammered, her voice spiking in pitch as she quickly stuffed her phone into her bag. "It was... fine! Just super boring, you know? About my English subject and the cramming grammar rules in the third-floor quiet study room."
Akashi blinked.
He stopped walking.
The third-floor quiet study room in the main library had been completely locked and cordoned off for maintenance all day due to a major water pipe leak from the ceiling. Akashi knew this with absolute certainty because he was there earlier, helping with arranging the records since there's no students visiting the library.
The silence between them stretched out, cold and heavy.
Marina turned around, noticing that he had stopped. Her face paled slightly under the streetlamp, a flicker of raw panic flashing across her eyes before she forced a desperate smile. "A-Akashi? What's wrong?"
Akashi looked at her face. He looked at her glossy, parted lips, her newly shortened blonde hair, and the wild, guilty tension radiating from her frame.
A sudden, sharp ache pierced Akashi’s heart. A cold realization that something was deeply, fundamentally wrong. The lie was so small, so seemingly harmless, yet it hung in the air between them like a sharp piece of shattered glass.
*Why would she lie about being in the library?*
The question echoed inside his mind, demanding an answer. If he pressed her right now, if he asked her why she was lying about the third-floor study room, maybe the fragile reality they were walking upon might shatter right beneath their feet.
Akashi looked into her frantic, desperate eyes.
His gentle of trusting nature, the noble, self-sacrificing heart that always chose to believe in the goodness of the person he loved, made its choice.
*No.*
Akashi thought, forcing his lungs to take a slow, painful breath.
*She probably just mixed up things. She was probably studying at the class and got confused because she was tired. She’s under so much stress... I shouldn't doubt her. Trusting her is my job as her boyfriend.*
Akashi forced his lips to curl into a warm, gentle smile, stepping forward to bridge the gap between them. "Nothing, Marina. I just thought I saw a cute cat near the hedge."
Marina let out a long, audible breath of relief, her shoulders slumping as she giggled nervously. "Gosh, you scared me! Come on, let me buy you a hot drink at the station!"
"Okay." Akashi whispered softly.
He took her hand again. She let him hold it, but as they continued walking toward the station platform, a quiet, dark seed of lingering anxiety took root deep within Akashi’s chest. It was a tiny, imperceptible micro-crack in the foundation of his world. A seed of dread that no amount of forced smiles or self-blame could ever entirely erase.
---
Fifty yards behind them, standing beneath the shadow of a tall concrete railway arch, was Katsuragi Rin.
She stood perfectly still, her dark coat wrapped tightly around her frame, watching the couple walk toward the station turnstiles.
Rin had seen everything.
She had seen Marina’s sudden, panicky reaction to Akashi’s simple question. She had seen Akashi’s momentary pause, his pained expression, and the forced smile he had used to cover his doubt. And most importantly, she remembered the short blonde hair—the exact same hair description Arata had mentioned during his quiet conversation with Yuri in the stairwell earlier that afternoon.
The dots connected instantly inside Rin’s brilliant, analytical mind.
Rin’s breath formed a faint white mist in the cold night air. The horrifying truth laid itself bare before her: Masato Ren was using Kitou Marina to destroy Nogami Akashi from the inside out, and Akashi had no idea he was already standing on the crumbling edge of an abyss.
High above them all, on the dark, unlit second-floor window of the main school building, another observer stood watching.
Tachibana Mio stood behind the glass, her hands folded neatly over her skirt.
She looked down at Akashi and Marina walking hand in hand, her refined, beautiful face illuminated by the distant red lights of the railway signals.
Her eyes were filled with a toxic disdain, a cold, sickening contempt for the fragile, pathetic sweetness of their doomed love. She sneered softly, a faint venomous curve touching her dark lips as she watched the unsuspecting couple vanish from her sight.
---
In the suffocating quiet of a twilight that was never meant to be hers, Miyuki stood watching a ghost...
A girl that looks like her with a hollow and lifeless eyes, standing alone amidst a ruin of unspoken words and shattered promises.
In that frozen shadow, she saw the tragic destination of a girl who chose secrecy over trust: her partner’s face who looks like Takumi had faded into an unreachable blur, leaving behind only an unbearably hollow isolation that bit straight to the bone. The silver bell on the ghost's wrist hung cracked and silent, stripped of all resonance.
Then, with a sudden, agonizing jolt, the phantom vision shattered into cold dust.
Miyuki bolted upright in the dim light of her bedroom, gasping for air.
Reaching through the dark, her trembling fingers instantly found the steady, warm pulse of Takumi’s hand resting beside her, dissolving the horror of what could have been into the quiet sanctuary of their reality.
