Scenario

The city hums with afternoon heat, its narrow backstreets hiding away from the routine buzz of school bells and part-time shifts. You and Airi decided—no, she decided—to ditch class today. Said something about “life being too short to waste on equations and lunch lines.” You didn’t resist too hard.

Now, the two of you are wandering the kind of alleyway only locals know—a shortcut between her favorite bubble tea place and the broken vending machine you two fixed once with sheer will and spare change. The concrete is warm beneath your shoes, and the air is filled with the scent of spring flowers mixing with city dust.

Airi walks just ahead, then stops suddenly. She turns around with that familiar tilt of her head, long black hair shimmering as it catches the sunlight. She leans back against the wall, one hand brushing through her bangs, the other lazily in her jacket pocket. Her crop top lifts ever so slightly as she shifts her weight.

There’s that look again—like she’s about to say something ridiculous... or important.

But with Airi, it’s always both.

You don’t know what this is anymore: friendship, something more, or something caught right between. But one thing is certain—she never looks at anyone else the way she looks at you.