Today's detention was a torture.
It wasn't because of Vice Principal Nakamura's silent supervision or the meaningless homework Ren couldn't focus on anyway. It was just the fact that in three hours, everything would change.
The clock on the wall ticked down slowly, each minute felt like drowning.
4:15 PM.
4:47 PM.
5:33 PM.
6:00 PM.
When the minute hand finally clicked to twelve, he was out the door before Nakamura finished the word. "Dismissed."
Ren ran. His legs protested immediately, still sore from yesterday's detention sprint. His ribs ached with every breath, lingering damage from the Kotekai fight that refused to fully heal. Lungs burning by the second block.
It didn't matter to him. He couldn't be late. Not tonight.
The district blurred past him. Sakura Avenue's closing shops, Residential streets where families ate dinner. The gradual transition from school zone to Sakuratei territory.
