I sat by the window in my dorm room.
The dorms were quiet, as always after curfew.
On the desk — just a notebook and a pen. A blank page, like a battlefield before a mission.
I wrote:
– Yu Tokizawa.
Too perfect.
Unnaturally so.
Earlier that day.
When I entered the classroom, he was already there.
— "Good morning, Akamine," he said with that perfectly polite smile. "I hope you're getting used to the place."
— "Bit by bit."
— "If you ever need anything — feel free to ask. We're all a team here in Class 2-D."
"A team," huh?
He walked past me, handing out project sheets. Everyone took them without hesitation.
But I noticed — he carefully tracked who accepted them… and who hesitated.
Including me.
At break, I approached Aoi.
She was sitting at her desk, pretending to play some silly game on her phone.
— "What do you think about Tokizawa?" I asked.
She didn't answer right away.
— "What about him?"
— "He's too… proper."
Aoi glanced at me briefly, then looked back at her screen.
— "Maybe he's just a good person?"
— "I don't believe in 'good people.' Especially not in this school."
Aoi chuckled quietly.
— "Then I guess you don't believe me either?"
I said nothing. She turned to the window and whispered:
— "Too bad."
After classes, I returned to the room under the pretense of forgetting a notebook.
Tokizawa was there.
Standing alone by the window.
I entered silently. He didn't notice me at first.
— "...if he really is linked with Saki, we'll need to accelerate. Aoi's too close already..." he murmured.
Planning. Talking to himself.
I stepped back.
He turned.
— "Oh, it's you? Forgot something?"
— "Yeah. A notebook."
— "Be careful — losing important things can cost you."
I nodded. But in my mind, the words were already forming:
You're playing a game. The only question is — who's holding your leash?
Late night. Dorm.
I opened my notebook again.
– Tokizawa Yu.
Knows more than he shows.
Possibly tied to internal school structures.
Manipulates softly, through "trust."
Suspicion: one of the three.
Three geniuses in this class. I already know two.
They don't count me yet.
Let them keep thinking that.
While they shine — I remain in the shadows.
And war is always safer when waged in the dark.