The city buzzed beneath a veil of night, streetlights flickering like blinking eyes watching from above.
Ren's footsteps were silent against the pavement, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black jacket, face shadowed under his hoodie. Beside him, Kaito walked with his usual calm—except for the sharp focus in his eyes and the phone in his hand streaming live GPS data.
"He turned left," Kaito whispered, barely audible over the wind. "Into that building."
Ren narrowed his eyes at the rusted signage of the old apartment block. Half the windows were broken. The place looked abandoned.
"Sketchy enough to be perfect," Ren muttered.
They paused at the entrance, watching the door slowly creak closed behind someone.
Kaito adjusted his glasses. "We go in quiet. No drama."
Ren cracked his knuckles. "No promises."
---
Inside – The Abandoned Apartment
The air was thick with dust and mold. The staircase creaked under their weight as they moved carefully, every sound amplified.
On the second floor, light leaked through a slightly open door. Voices murmured.
Ren tilted his head, just enough to catch a phrase:
> "...he's too close to her. We warned him."
Kaito pulled out a tiny mic and slipped it under the doorframe. The voice continued—low, angry, and unfamiliar.
> "The girl's ruining it. Just like before."
Ren's blood ran cold.
The girl?
Before?
He motioned to Kaito, mouthing: They're talking about Aika.
Then suddenly—
CRASH!
The door across the hall burst open behind them.
"HEY!"
Someone shouted.
Ren grabbed Kaito. "Run."
Scene Cut: Aika's Room – That Same Night
The moonlight poured through the window, soft and pale, painting Aika's walls in ghostly silver.
She sat on her bed, hoodie on, legs crossed, her phone untouched beside her. The polaroid from the rooftop was pinned to her corkboard. Not for decoration—strategy. It stared at her like a silent challenge.
> "THE GAME JUST STARTED."
Aika narrowed her eyes.
"Game on," she whispered.
Her room was unusually quiet. Even her pet goldfish swam slower, like sensing the tension. She picked up the photo again, tracing the outline of their silhouettes.
Ren. Kaito. Herself.
Whoever took this was close. Higher up. Possibly inside the school.
Suddenly—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A sound.
From her window.
Her head snapped up. Curtains rustled.
She slid off the bed in one smooth motion and grabbed the long umbrella by her desk—silent but ready.
She yanked open the curtain.
Nothing.
Just the branches of the tree that grew near her window swaying in the wind.
She turned away.
Tap.
She turned back again.
Still nothing.
But this time—
A new photo.
Tucked under her window frame, as if it had been slid in from the outside just seconds ago.
She opened the latch, heart pounding. Wind hit her face.
She pulled the photo out with trembling fingers.
It was a photo of her.
But from a year ago.
Wearing her middle school uniform.
Walking beside Tatsuki.
She hadn't even known that photo existed.
And on the back?
> "SHE WAS MINE FIRST."
Aika's breath caught.
Suddenly, her phone lit up.
Ren (11:34PM):
"We lost him. Be on high alert. You're not alone."
Aika's grip on the umbrella tightened.
Her face? Dead calm.
But her eyes?
Pure fire.
.Scene Cut: School Courtyard – The Next Morning
Clouds hung low like a warning sign. The air was thick, even before homeroom began.
Aika waited by the rusted side fence behind the gym—an off-limits area students rarely visited. She stood with arms crossed, still in uniform, but her expression was anything but schoolgirl.
She wasn't just mad.
She was done playing.
Tatsuki showed up right on time, hands in pockets, that same passive look on his face like he hadn't dropped a bombshell the night before.
"You texted me?" he asked, trying to sound casual.
Aika didn't waste a second. She held up the photo—the one from her window. Her younger self beside him.
"You know where this came from?"
Tatsuki's face changed. Just a flicker—but she saw it.
She stepped closer. "Someone slipped this into my room. While I was inside. They've been in our school. In my space. That picture—" she shook it, "—is from over a year ago. And it's not online. Only you had it."
Tatsuki didn't meet her eyes. "I... didn't send it."
"But you had it."
Silence.
"You took it, didn't you?" she said, low and calm.
He nodded, barely. "I kept it. From back then. I just—wasn't ready to delete it."
Aika's eyes narrowed. "So this stalker? He either knows you, or is you. And I need to know which it is."
Tatsuki suddenly looked up. Angry now.
"You think I'd do all this? Harass you? I'm the one who got shoved into that alley, Aika!"
"Then talk," she snapped. "Give me names. Who did you tell about that photo? Who were you talking to on the phone that day?"
Tatsuki's jaw clenched. "He never gave a name. Just said he knew things. About us. About you."
"What else did he say?"
Tatsuki looked haunted now.
"He said... he was watching even before I met you. That I only got to talk to you because he 'let me.'"
Aika's stomach dropped.
Before?
The stalker had been around that long?
She turned to go.
Then paused. "One last question."
Tatsuki glanced up.
She met his gaze, deadly serious.
"You said he called me 'the girl who ruined everything.' What exactly did I ruin?"
Tatsuki opened his mouth. Closed it again.
And this time—his voice was barely a whisper.
"His life."
Scene Cut: School Computer Lab – Late Afternoon
Ren sat with his legs kicked up on a desk, spinning a flash drive between his fingers. Kaito hunched over a school-issued laptop, fingers flying across the keyboard, multiple windows open—maps, school records, timestamps.
The Polaroid lay beside them under a plastic sleeve.
Ren tapped it. "Tell me you found something."
Kaito nodded slightly, adjusting his glasses. "You see the glare here?" He pointed at a pale distortion in the top-right corner of the photo. "That's not sunlight. It's fluorescence. Which means this wasn't taken outside."
He zoomed in.
"There's a faint reflection in the glass. That's a pipe."
"A pipe?" Ren raised an eyebrow. "Like... school plumbing?"
"Exactly. I cross-referenced the rooftop views of the courtyard and the school's utility access. There's only one place high enough to take this angle and have an exposed pipe."
Ren straightened.
"Which is?"
Kaito turned the laptop. A grainy blueprint of the school appeared, dated years back.
> "Maintenance Building – Upper Utility Room – LOCKED."
"Wait," Ren said slowly. "That place was sealed after the fire years ago."
Kaito nodded. "Which makes it the perfect hiding spot. No one goes there. No one checks it."
Ren smirked. "Let's break in."
Kaito didn't even blink. "I already printed the blueprints."
---
Scene Cut: Maintenance Building – Dusk
The building was a husk of concrete and memory. Peeling paint. Burned-out light fixtures. A single padlocked door near the back.
Ren snapped the lock with bolt cutters stolen from the tool shed. "Too easy."
They entered in silence.
Dust hung like fog. The stairs creaked like they were remembering every footstep from the past.
At the top—one door. Slightly ajar.
Ren pushed it open.
Inside?
Dozens of photos.
Taped to the walls.
Every one of Aika.
Some of Kaito. Some of Ren. Some of all three.
Angles no one should have had. Hallways. Classrooms. The nurse's office. Her bedroom.
And on the far wall—one photo printed larger than the rest.
Aika in middle school. Smiling. Innocent.
And beside her—
Another boy.
Face scratched out with ink. Over and over.
Written in jagged letters below:
> "SHE FORGOT ME."
Kaito's voice dropped. "Ren… this isn't just stalking."
Ren stared at the photo wall, jaw tight.
"This is obsession."
Scene Cut: Late Night – Outside Aika's
House
The street was quiet, painted in pale orange from the flickering lamp posts. Cicadas buzzed in the background like static on an old TV.
Aika stepped out onto her porch in slippers, hugging a warm can of cocoa. She'd caught the two of them through her bedroom window—standing just across the street like two idiots who clearly thought they were being stealthy.
She walked up to the gate and raised an eyebrow.
"You two know I have eyes, right?"
Kaito lowered his phone, not the slightest bit guilty. "Just checking your street. For...suspicious activity."
"Uh-huh."
Ren leaned against a power pole, arms crossed, hoodie up like some angsty action hero. "You attract weirdos. We're just making sure no new ones pop up."
Aika sipped her cocoa. "So now you're my night guards?"
Kaito smirked. "Technically, we're off-duty. But I'd feel better knowing you weren't alone."
Ren didn't smile. His jaw ticked. "That photo was taken from here. That freak was standing somewhere nearby. Probably watching for hours."
The way he said it—low and hard—made her shift slightly.
"I'm not scared," she said quietly.
"Good," Kaito murmured, stepping closer. "But we are."
Aika blinked at him.
And then—
Ren muttered, like the words slipped out without permission, "He said you ruined his life. Sounds like another loser who couldn't handle being rejected."
Aika gave a weak scoff. "Yeah. Story of my life, apparently."
Kaito slid his hands into his pockets. "Not your fault they fall for you."
There was a pause.
Ren kicked a rock. "Still annoying."
Aika tilted her head. "What is?"
Ren looked up, eyes sharp. "That you don't even try... and guys still lose their minds over you."
Aika stared. Her cheeks went a little pink.
Kaito chuckled. "Now imagine trying to compete with that every day."
She threw her empty can at them. "You two are impossible."
As she turned to go back inside, Ren called out, not teasing this time.
"Keep your curtains shut tonight."
Aika paused, half-smiling.
"...Got it."
She disappeared inside, door clicking shut behind her.
Kaito glanced at Ren.
"You're not gonna sleep either, are you?"
Ren didn't answer.
He was already scanning the rooftops.