(Monday Morning — Kiyomi's POV)
Monday mornings were usually quiet.
The walk to school.
The sound of students chatting near the gates.
Teachers reminding everyone to hurry before the bell.
Usually, everything felt normal.
But today…
Something was wrong.
I noticed it the moment I stepped through the school gate.
People were looking at me.
Not just looking.
Staring.
At first I thought I was imagining it. I kept walking, my bag hanging from my shoulder, trying to ignore the strange feeling crawling up my spine.
Then I heard it.
Whispers.
Soft at first.
Then louder.
"That's her."
"Yeah, that's Kiyomi."
"Did you hear what happened?"
I slowed down slightly.
My chest tightened.
What were they talking about?
Two girls standing near the lockers leaned closer to each other.
"Minato confessed to her."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. At the aquarium."
My heart stopped.
For a moment, my legs nearly froze.
How—
How did they know that?
I kept walking, pretending I didn't hear anything, but the whispers followed me like shadows.
More students turned their heads as I passed.
Some covered their mouths as they laughed.
Some stared at me with wide, curious eyes.
Others openly pointed.
"That's the girl."
"She made him cry."
"I heard she threatened him."
My stomach dropped.
No, no, no.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
My breathing grew shallow as I walked through the hallway.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
Then I saw her.
Sakura.
Standing near the stairway with her usual group of friends.
The moment her eyes landed on me, a slow smile spread across her face.
My chest tightened.
She leaned closer to one of the girls beside her and whispered something.
The girl's eyes widened.
Then both of them turned to look at me.
They giggled.
More whispers spread through the group like wildfire.
"Oh my God, she's here."
"Ask her!"
"No, you ask her!"
"Did she really reject Minato?"
"And in front of the fish tank too!"
Laughter erupted.
I looked away quickly and kept walking.
My ears burned.
My hands clenched into fists.
How did Sakura know?
How did anyone know?
My mind raced.
The aquarium had been crowded, but— No.
No one else was there when it happened.
It had only been me and Minato.
So how—
Suddenly, another thought hit me.
Minato.
I glanced around the hallway. Students everywhere. But one person was missing.
Minato.
My eyes searched the crowd instinctively.
His seat in the classroom was empty when I arrived.
His usual group of friends sat quietly, but he wasn't there.
I checked the hallway again during break.
Still nothing.
No familiar red hair.
No emerald eyes.
No calm presence walking beside me.
My chest tightened again.
Why wasn't he here?
Did he skip school? Because of what happened?
The thought stabbed painfully through my chest.
Because of me.
The whispers continued throughout the morning.
In the classroom.
In the hallway.
Even outside the restroom.
"Did you hear she said she
doesn't believe in love?"
"That's brutal."
"Poor Minato."
"She destroyed him."
Every word felt like another stone thrown at me.
I kept my head down.
Pretending not to hear.
Pretending not to care.
But inside…
Everything was falling apart.
Because the one person who would normally stand beside me through this chaos…
Wasn't here.
Minato.
The one who always understood me.
The one who always protected me from gossip like this.
The one who would normally lean close and whisper; "Ignore them."
But now… he was gone.
And the silence he left behind felt louder than all the whispers combined.
By the time late morning arrived, my head felt dizzy.
The hallway buzzed with gossip.
The classroom felt suffocating.
My thoughts spun endlessly.
Why didn't he come to school?
Was he avoiding me?
Was he hurt that badly?
Or was something else wrong?
My chest tightened again.
The weight of everything pressed down on me.
The rumors.
The whispers.
The empty seat beside the window.
The absence of those emerald eyes.
It all became too much.
Suddenly I stood up from my desk.
My chair scraped loudly against the floor.
A few students turned to look at me.
I ignored them.
My hands trembled slightly.
I couldn't keep standing in this haze anymore.
I couldn't keep pretending nothing was happening.
I needed answers.
And I was going to find them.
Just as that thought settled firmly in my mind—
"RIIIIING!"
The lunch bell echoed through the school halls.
Students immediately began standing up and gathering their things.
The classroom filled with noise again.
But I stayed where I was.
My decision already made.
Enough running.
Enough confusion.
Enough whispers.
I was going to get to the bottom of everything.
No matter what it took.