Hasegawa Chiaki's POV
It happened on our twenty-eighth day in this place.
Twenty-eight days since we were thrown into a world that didn't care who we were before. Twenty-eight days of fear, exhaustion, and pretending we were stronger than we actually were. And on that day—
One of our own was kidnapped.
***
It happened the day before the day I was supposed to begin.
Looking back now, the signs were already there. The cracks had been forming for a while, spreading quietly, slowly, like fractures in glass that you don't notice until everything finally shatters.
The tension between the boys and the girls had been unbearable lately. It wasn't just awkward silence or the usual discomfort—you could feel it in the air, thick and heavy, like a storm waiting to break. The girls had completely stopped acknowledging the boys. No greetings. No small talk. Not even a glance. And the boys noticed. Of course they did.
