The next day, Yuudie arrived at college late once again.
The lecture had already begun when he pushed the classroom door open. The sound echoed through the room, interrupting the teacher mid-sentence. Every pair of eyes turned toward him before several students quickly looked away, as though merely meeting his gaze would invite trouble. Yesterday's incident lingered vividly in their minds.
"Be careful… he's crazy," someone whispered.
"He brought an axe. Don't mess with that idiot."
Yuudie ignored both the teacher and the murmurs. He walked past the front of the classroom as though nothing had happened and tossed his backpack onto his chair with a dull thud. Letting out a weary sigh, he unzipped the bag and reached for his notebook. Only then did his eyes drift toward the desk beside his.
Empty.
For a brief second, surprise flashed across his face before the corner of his lips lifted into a crooked smile.
"Coward…" he murmured beneath his breath.
The morning passed uneventfully. By lunchtime, Yuudie remained alone at his desk while the rest of the class unconsciously formed a wide circle around him. Every time he shifted in his seat, nearby students stiffened as though preparing to flee before he could even speak.
Eventually, he rested his head on the desk, face buried in folded arms, though sleep never came. Footsteps approached from behind. Curious, he lazily lifted his head, only to watch the students immediately hasten their pace the moment they realized he was awake.
With a quiet chuckle, he dropped his head onto the desk again.
From where he lay, every whisper carried clearly through the room.
"What happened to our class president?" one of the girls asked.
Another lowered her voice. "M-Maybe… that fool wants him dead."The whispers multiplied, spreading from one desk to another until someone finally muttered, "Maybe we should tell the teacher about—"
Bang!
Yuudie's palm crashed onto the desk with such force that the sharp crack echoed through the classroom. Every voice died instantly.
He slowly lifted his head and turned toward the group gathered near the windows; two girls and three boys who now stood frozen where they were. A grin spread across his face, amused less by their words than by the terror written across theirs.
"Before you even make it to the teacher's office," he said with a quiet laugh, "your feet won't be attached to your legs anymore."
With that, he simply rested his head on the desk again, chuckling to himself as though nothing unusual had happened.
Silence swallowed the classroom.
"How did he hear us from all the way over there?" one of the girls whispered.
A sharp gasp escaped the group as they looked at one another, their faces pale with disbelief.
"Let's go… let's get out of here."
The five of them hurried out of the classroom without daring to look back.
The afternoon classes continued, yet Damaz never appeared.
Unease quietly settled in Yuudie's chest as he made his way home. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed Damaz's number.
"The number you are trying to reach is unavailable."
He tried again.
"The number you are trying to reach is currently switched off."
Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"Tomorrow," he muttered. "Let's see tomorrow."
Tomorrow came, and Damaz was absent again.
Yuudie spent the entire morning pretending not to care, though every time the classroom door creaked open, his eyes wandered there on instinct before quietly returning to the window.
Nothing.
During lunch, a senior entered to remind the class that the Sports Week registration sheet had to be submitted the following day. The moment the senior left, the classroom dissolved into disorder.
"What's wrong with the class president?"
"He's never skipped class before."
"What if he doesn't come tomorrow?"
Others grew irritated, complaining that Damaz had chosen the worst possible time to disappear.
Yuudie leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and his eyes closed, listening to every complaint in silence. The noise grated against him until someone gently tapped his shoulder.
"Three of us are enough, Narnes," he said without opening his eyes.
The boy froze.
"…How did you know it was me?"
Receiving no answer, Narnes quietly retreated to his seat.
That night, Yuudie sent Damaz another message.
Seen. He called, the call ended halfway through.
He tried again.
Switched off.
"Damn…"
A grin slowly spread across his face as he collapsed onto his bed.
"Just watch what I do tomorrow."
His laughter faded as he stared at the ceiling.
"…But if tomorrow is the last chance… how exactly am I supposed to drag that coward back to class?"
He absentmindedly combed his fingers through his hair before letting out a long sigh.
"Do I really have to do this?"
A memory of yesterday's axe flashed through his mind.
"…Well."
He laughed quietly to himself.
"I suppose this one's on me."
After a long silence, he climbed the stairs leading to the rooftop. The moment he turned the handle, a violent gust of wind hurled the door against the wall with a deafening clang. He walked toward the edge without hesitation.
The city stretched far below him while the evening wind roared against his face.
"Do I really have to do this?" he whispered again.
No answer came.
After standing there for a long while, a faint smile crossed his lips.
"…For my little brother's sake."
Closing his eyes, he covered both ears and began counting beneath his breath.
Three…
Two…
One.
Pain exploded through his skull.
A broken groan escaped his lips as the world around him fractured. Green light seeped into his vision, splitting the sky into countless shimmering layers. Metallic echoes clashed inside his ears like swords striking against one another. Every heartbeat within miles pounded against his mind. He could hear footsteps, distant conversations, the scraping of insects across concrete, even the restless pulse of the earth beneath his feet. Space itself bent into glowing trajectories that intertwined across the sky like threads woven through reality.
"It hurts…"
His fingers dug into his temples. The heavens above were no longer blue. They had become an endless web of flickering strings, each vibrating with a different color.
Slowly, he reached into the invisible network.
"Not this one…"
His fingers drifted past crimson.
"Not this…"
Silver.
"Not this…"
Blue.
Then; "There you are." A trembling yellow thread.
He tapped it twice, the thread quivered.
His pupils shifted into a brilliant emerald green.
"Hello…"
A gentle smile appeared.
"Damaz… are you asleep?"
A distorted voice echoed through the thread.
"I lied to my mo…"
The words dissolved into static.
"What?"
Yuudie grasped the thread more firmly.
"I have to transfer colleges… what should I—"
CLACK!
His hands came together with a crisp clap. Like a signal obeyed, every glowing thread vanished. The shifting lines across the sky collapsed into nothingness, the distorted echoes ceased, and the world exhaled. In the span of a heartbeat, everything returned to normal, as though the impossible had merely blinked out of existence.
"Coward…"
He muttered the word over and over as he hurried downstairs, leaving the rooftop door swinging in the wind.
Standing before the mirror in his room, he watched the emerald fade from his eyes until only their ordinary brown remained.
"Perfect."
He strode into the kitchen, pulled a bottle of sleeping pills from the cupboard, twisted the cap open with trembling hands, and casually chewed down a dozen tablets as though they were nothing more than ordinary gum.
Returning to his bed, he closed his eyes.
"…May my pupils stay that way tomorrow."
With that quiet wish lingering in his mind, Yuudie slowly surrendered to sleep, the darkness swallowing his thoughts one by one.