The university application forms arrived on a Thursday afternoon.
No one reacted immediately at first.
The teacher simply walked into the classroom carrying a thick stack of papers, placed them neatly on the desk at the front, and began explaining deadlines in the same calm voice she used for everything else.
But something in the atmosphere shifted anyway.
Subtle.
Heavy.
Like the room itself had suddenly remembered time was moving forward.
Outside the windows, late afternoon sunlight stretched weakly across the corridor floors. The sky carried the pale gold color that always appeared before evening during early summer.
Inside the classroom, students slowly passed the forms from desk to desk.
Paper rustled softly.
Pens tapped against wood.
The exam countdown sheets still hung beside the blackboard, but now another notice had appeared beside them:
UNIVERSITY APPLICATION DEADLINES.
The words looked strangely final.
Kai stared at the form in front of him like it was a death sentence.
"Why do these forms look harder than the exams?"
Rui snorted immediately from two desks away.
"Just pick the one closest to your house."
"That's not how university works."
"That sounds like a you problem."
Kai groaned dramatically and dropped backward into his chair.
"There are too many boxes."
"You're scared of paperwork?" Dev asked with visible amusement.
"I'm scared of adulthood."
"That's fair."
Around them, the rest of the classroom buzzed quietly with similar conversations.
Some students talked excitedly about Taipei universities.
Others discussed moving away entirely.
A girl near the windows said she wanted to study abroad someday.
Someone in the front row argued with friends about engineering programs.
The future had suddenly entered the classroom all at once.
And nobody knew how to act normal about it.
Dev adjusted his glasses while reading through one of the information pages carefully.
"I'm thinking of Taipei," he admitted after a while. "Maybe even farther."
Kai looked horrified immediately.
"Farther?"
"There are good programs outside the city."
"That sounds emotionally exhausting."
Rui leaned sideways against his desk.
"You'd cry if you had to wash your own clothes."
"I already cry here."
"That's true."
Dev laughed softly.
Even Chen's shoulders moved faintly like he was hiding amusement.
Kai pointed accusingly at all of them.
"You people are not supportive."
Chen quietly reached over and pulled Kai's application form closer before it slid off the desk entirely.
"You skipped three sections already."
"Because they're stressful."
"You still have to fill them."
Kai slumped lower in his chair.
"I don't know what I'm doing."
The words came out quieter than usual.
More honest.
Chen glanced at him briefly before sliding the form back calmly.
"Fill it slowly," he said. "Don't rush."
Kai looked at him for a second.
Then finally sat up again with a tired sigh.
"…Fine."
The interaction lasted only a few seconds.
Yet Rui noticed immediately.
Of course he did.
His eyes narrowed slightly while looking between them.
Interesting.
But for once, he didn't tease too much.
Maybe because even Rui could feel the heaviness hanging over the room today.
Near the back windows, Jian sat quietly beside Wei.
The application form rested untouched on his desk.
He had filled in his name already.
Nothing else.
The paper looked strangely unfamiliar beneath his hands.
Future plans.
Preferred universities.
Possible majors.
Housing options.
The questions felt distant somehow.
As if they belonged to another version of himself he hadn't met yet.
Beside him, Wei read through his own form calmly, one hand resting against the side of the paper while sunlight shifted softly across his desk.
Jian glanced sideways without meaning to.
Wei's expression gave away almost nothing.
Calm as always.
Quiet.
Yet something about seeing the form in Wei's hands made unease settle unexpectedly inside Jian's chest.
Because suddenly the future stopped feeling abstract.
Until now, graduation had only existed as distant pressure.
Exams.
Countdown sheets.
Teachers reminding them to study harder.
But this—
this made it real.
Universities meant different cities.
Different lives.
Different futures.
The thought arrived slowly.
Softly.
Like cold water spreading beneath a door.
Jian realized something then.
Something so simple it almost hurt.
He had never asked Wei what happens after graduation.
The realization settled heavily inside him.
Not dramatic.
Not sharp.
Just quietly painful in a way he couldn't explain.
Because when had he started assuming there would still be time?
Time to walk home together.
Time to sit beside each other after class.
Time to keep existing inside these ordinary routines they'd built so naturally.
Outside the classroom windows, evening sunlight faded slowly across the corridor.
The school building had begun changing lately.
Farewell boards appeared near the stairwells, covered with handwritten messages from lower-year students.
Teachers spoke more gently now.
Even the hallways carried a strange sense of ending.
Jian hadn't wanted to think about it before.
But now the application form rested heavily beneath his fingertips while Wei quietly turned another page beside him.
And suddenly the future felt frightening.
Across the room, Kai groaned again.
"What does 'preferred department' even mean?"
"It means choose something," Rui answered.
"I don't want responsibility."
"You're seventeen."
"That's too young."
Dev laughed quietly into his sleeve.
Chen leaned over Kai's desk again.
"You wrote your address wrong."
Kai looked offended. "I know where I live."
"Apparently not."
The classroom filled with tired laughter for a moment.
Small.
Warm.
Temporary.
Jian listened to the sound quietly while staring down at the blank sections of his form.
Then, slowly, he looked sideways again.
Wei remained focused on his papers, unaware of the sudden heaviness inside Jian's chest.
Or maybe not unaware.
Sometimes Jian couldn't tell anymore.
Outside, the sunlight faded further until the corridor lights flickered softly on one by one.
The room dimmed gently around them.
And for the first time since the mountain trip ended, Jian felt afraid of losing something before he even fully understood what it was.