The room was still.
Sora was still standing in the doorway.
Eloine was still beside Kai.
No one knew what to do with the boy who had walked back into their lives like a ghost.
"I needed to breathe," Kai said again, quietly.
Sora swallowed. "You left us."
"I left the noise."
Ayko flinched at that.
The teacher cleared her throat. "Everyone… sit down."
Chairs scraped awkwardly. Eyes never left Kai.
He moved back toward his desk—
and stopped.
"That seat is taken now," the teacher said.
Kai looked up, confused.
The door slid open.
A girl stepped in.
Not nervous.
Not excited.
Just… calm.
"This is our new transfer student," the teacher said. "Introduce yourself."
The girl bowed slightly.
"I'm Mizuki."
The moment her voice reached him, Kai's world went silent.
Not quiet.
Silent.
No thoughts.
No background noise.
No psychic pressure.
Just… blue.
Mizuki walked toward his old seat and sat down.
The world tilted.
Kai slowly moved to the desk behind her, his hands trembling.
Eloine felt the shift immediately.
Ayko felt something slide away inside her chest.
Rin, from another class, felt a new frequency enter the psychic field like a calm tide.
Kai couldn't hear her.
That terrified him more than anything ever had.
The bell rang.
Students stood. The hallway flooded with noise.
But the quiet around Mizuki didn't break.
Kai walked beside her without meaning to.
"This school is loud," she said softly.
"You don't know the half of it," Kai replied.
Rin stepped into the hall, eyes locked on Mizuki.
"Who are you?" Rin asked.
"I'm Mizuki."
"No," Rin said. "What are you?"
Mizuki tilted her head. "Quiet."
Eloine moved closer to Kai—not in front of him, beside him.
Protective.
Claiming.
Ayko watched him drift toward a girl who made no sound.
Kai looked at Mizuki.
"I can't hear you."
"I know," she said gently. "I can't hear you either."
Something shifted in the air.
Something ancient.
By the time lunch approached, the tension hadn't faded.
It had sharpened.
The bell rang again.
Sharp. Loud.
It cut through the strange stillness between them.
Students stood. Chairs scraped. Voices rushed back like a broken dam.
But Kai didn't move.
Neither did Mizuki.
They stood at the same time.
Not because they planned to.
Not because they meant to.
They just did.
Their eyes met.
"I guess it's lunch," Mizuki said softly.
Kai nodded. "Yeah."
And without another word, they walked out of the classroom together.
Behind them, Ayko stayed frozen.
Eloine watched.
Rin felt something shift in the air.
And the war took a quiet, terrifying step forward.