JAY’S POV: The corridor outside Section E had already descended into its usual morning chaos long before I reached the classroom.
Loud voices spilled through the open doorway, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of chairs scraping across the floor and someone loudly accusing another person of stealing breakfast.
None of it surprised me anymore.
If anything, the silence on the rare occasions when Section E behaved normally was considerably more unsettling than their daily disasters.
The moment I stepped inside, I immediately understood why students from neighbouring classrooms kept peeking through the windows.
Felix was sprinting between rows of desks with half a hotdog hanging from his mouth while Cin chased after him, waving an empty lunchbox with enough determination to make it resemble a deadly weapon.
Rory had apparently decided to intervene, only for Blaster to shove him aside and somehow become involved in an argument that had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Meanwhile, Denzel stood on top of a chair loudly insisting that justice no longer existed because someone had stolen the last piece of fried chicken from his lunch.
“I swear on my entire bloodline,” Cin exclaimed dramatically, pointing accusingly at Felix, “that sandwich was sitting peacefully inside my lunchbox less than thirty seconds ago.” Felix didn’t even slow down.
“You left it unattended,” he replied between bites, sounding genuinely offended that anyone would question his logic.
“Ownership expires the moment food is abandoned.” “It wasn’t abandoned!” Cin shouted, narrowly avoiding colliding with two desks.
“I turned around to grab my juice!” “Exactly,” Felix answered matter-of-factly.
“You left the battlefield.” David stood near the teacher’s desk with both hands pressed firmly against his temples, his expression carrying the unmistakable exhaustion of someone questioning every life decision that had ultimately resulted in being classmates with these people.
He opened his mouth as though preparing to restore some semblance of order before apparently deciding it wasn’t worth the effort.
“I genuinely don’t understand how all of you survive on a daily basis,” he muttered under his breath.
“Through friendship!” Blaster answered proudly.
“Through theft,” Rory corrected flatly.
The argument only intensified.
Someone knocked over a chair.
Someone else laughed.
Cin had somehow begun negotiating the return of his stolen sandwich while Felix demanded compensation for emotional distress.
I found myself smiling despite every reasonable attempt not to.
Perhaps I had simply grown accustomed to them.
Carefully weaving my way through the battlefield disguised as a classroom, I finally reached my desk and set my bag down, quietly observing the familiar madness unfolding around me.
My gaze wandered across the room almost instinctively before lingering on one particular empty chair.
Keifer wasn’t here.
The realization settled quietly at the back of my mind.
Usually, regardless of whatever disaster Section E managed to create before first period, Keifer would already be sitting at his desk watching the chaos unfold with the detached amusement of someone who had long since accepted that controlling his friends was an impossible task.
Today…
His seat remained empty.
“Looking for someone?” David’s voice interrupted my thoughts before I had even realized I’d been staring.
I turned to find him standing beside my desk, holding a small chocolate bar toward me with an expression that was somewhere between awkward and apologetic.
“My mother bought too many yesterday,” he explained with a slight shrug.
“Take one before Felix discovers I still have any left.” A quiet laugh escaped me as I accepted the chocolate.
“Thank you.” “Don’t thank me yet.” He glanced cautiously over his shoulder toward Felix, lowering his voice as though discussing classified information.
“You’re holding the last surviving one.” I blinked.
“The last one?” David nodded solemnly.
“Felix found the rest.
I suddenly feel responsible for its safety.” “You should.” The corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly.
“He can smell chocolate.” I carefully slipped the chocolate into my bag before anyone else noticed, silently deciding that hiding it immediately was probably the wisest decision I would make all day.
Before either of us could continue, the classroom door slid open once again.
Yuri stepped inside.
At first glance, everything appeared perfectly ordinary.
His uniform was neatly pressed as always, his school bag rested comfortably over one shoulder, and his usual composed expression remained firmly in place.
Yet something about him immediately caught my attention.
His ears.
The tips of them had turned an unmistakable shade of crimson.
He walked past the classroom chatter with unusual haste, avoiding eye contact with everyone as though hoping nobody would notice the faint colour lingering across his face.
Unfortunately for him…
I noticed almost immediately.
A slow grin spread across my face before I could stop it.
Now this…
This was interesting.
Without drawing unnecessary attention to myself, I quietly rose from my chair and wandered across the aisle until I reached the empty seat beside him.
Pulling it back with deliberate slowness, I settled into it comfortably before resting my chin lazily against my palm, giving him several long seconds to realise I was staring.
Eventually, he sighed.
“…What?” I tilted my head ever so slightly, unable to suppress the amusement dancing behind my eyes.
“Why are you blushing?” Yuri didn’t even look at me.
Instead, he calmly unzipped his school bag and began arranging his notebooks with remarkable concentration, as though the order in which they sat inside his desk had suddenly become the most important matter in the world.
“I’m not.” “You are.” “I’m not.” “The evidence is literally attached to your ears.” “They’re naturally red.” I stared at him.
“Really?” A pause followed.
“No.” “I knew it.” Another sigh escaped him, this one considerably heavier than the first.
“You’re unbelievably persistent.” “I prefer the word curious.” “I prefer the word annoying.” “I’ll accept both.” For nearly an entire minute, Yuri stubbornly refused to elaborate despite my increasingly obvious curiosity.
Every question I asked earned little more than a dismissive shrug or another poorly constructed excuse until, at last, he seemed to realize I had absolutely no intention of giving up.
“It was an accident,” he admitted quietly.
I leaned forward almost instantly.
“What was?” His shoulders stiffened.
“A girl?” “I accidentally bumped into her this morning.” He looked as though he deeply regretted answering my first question.
“She fell.” A smile slowly spread across my face.
“On top of you?” Yuri closed his eyes.
“Yes.” I couldn’t stop the delighted squeal that escaped me.
“What?” Several heads turned in our direction, but I paid them absolutely no attention.
“There was a girl?” “It wasn’t like that.” “Who is she?” “No one.” “There is no such thing as no one.” “There is.” “There isn’t.” He rubbed his forehead before finally surrendering.
“Sakura Yakuza.” The name struck me like a bolt of lightning.
For one brief moment…
Everything else faded into the background.
Sakura.
She was back.
That absolute traitor hadn’t even bothered telling me she had returned to the Philippines.
Yuri, completely oblivious to the storm unfolding inside my head, folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, his expression returning to its usual calm indifference.
“Our clans have hated each other for years,” he said flatly.
“She’s nothing more than an enemy.” His gaze settled somewhere beyond the classroom windows.
“Enemies are enemies.” He gave a small nod to himself.
“No mercy.” I smiled.
Warmly.
Almost sweetly.
It was the sort of smile capable of convincing anyone that nothing was wrong.
Only…
It never reached my eyes.
You’re unbelievable, Sakura.
You come back to the Philippines…
…and you don’t even tell your best friend?
My fingers tightened ever so slightly around the edge of my desk as I continued smiling politely at Yuri, all while mentally composing the extraordinarily long lecture that awaited a certain Yakuza the very moment I got my hands on her.
She was buying me lunch.
For a month.
No…
Knowing her…
Two months sounded considerably more appropriate.
************************ KEIFER’S POV: Sleep had become something I borrowed rather than something I possessed.
The previous night had dissolved into yet another endless cycle of phone calls, hospital reports, unfinished paperwork, and the familiar responsibility of becoming the older brother I had asked for.
I had become their parent.
Ever since our father had resurfaced, peace inside our home had become an illusion.
Every creak of the floorboards was enough to send Keigan glancing toward the front door, every unexpected ringtone made Keiran instinctively reach for the nearest lock, and every passing night reminded me that monsters never truly disappeared.
They simply waited.
I quietly pushed open Keigan’s bedroom door just before dawn, expecting to find him asleep.
Instead…
He was sitting upright against the headboard, his entire body trembling beneath the blanket while tears streamed silently down his face.
His breathing came in shallow, uneven gasps, and despite the cool morning air, sweat clung to his forehead as though he had been running for miles.
Another nightmare.
I didn’t ask what he had seen.
I already knew.
Our father.
Kaizer.
The man had become a ghost haunting every corner of our lives without ever needing to step inside the house.
I crossed the room without another word before lowering myself onto the edge of the bed.
Keigan didn’t speak either.
He simply leaned forward until his forehead rested weakly against my shoulder, his breathing gradually slowing as I placed a hand on the back of his head.
“He’s not here,” I murmured quietly.
Keigan’s fingers tightened around the fabric of my shirt.
“I know.” His voice cracked despite the words.
“I know he isn’t.” Neither of us said anything after that.
Sometimes reassurance wasn’t found in elaborate speeches.
Sometimes it existed only in silence.
Several minutes passed before Keigan finally pulled away, wiping hastily at his eyes as though embarrassed I’d seen him cry.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?” “I’m causing trouble again.” Something inside my chest tightened.
“You’ve never been trouble.” He lowered his head.
“I keep having the same dream.” “I know.” The room fell quiet once more.
My eyes wandered toward the photograph resting on his bedside table.
Three boys.
One woman.
Mom.
She stood between us with that same gentle smile she had always worn, one arm wrapped around Keigan while the other rested on my shoulder.
Keiran had been laughing at something outside the camera frame, and somehow she’d managed to make all of us laugh with him.
Back then…
Home had actually felt like home.
Sometimes I wondered what life would’ve looked like if she had survived.
Would Keigan still wake up screaming in the middle of the night?
Would Keiran still flinch whenever someone raised their voice?
Would I still feel as though every decision rested solely on my shoulders?
I never found an answer.
Because wishing didn’t change graves.
By the time I left the house, the weight of the morning lingered stubbornly behind my ribs.
The drive to school should have been peaceful.
Instead…
My thoughts betrayed me.
Jay.
Without warning, her face surfaced once again, clearer than the road stretching ahead of me.
I remembered the quiet concern in her voice when she’d asked about Keigan and Keiran at the mall, the relief that had softened her expression after learning they were safe, and the way she’d listened without asking questions she knew I didn’t want to answer.
She had remembered them.
She hadn’t needed to.
Yet she had.
The memory refused to leave.
Before I realized it, my fingers had tightened around the steering wheel until my knuckles turned pale beneath the morning sunlight filtering through the windshield.
“What’s wrong with me?” The question escaped under my breath.
There was no answer.
Only the steady rhythm of the engine and the increasingly uncomfortable awareness that Jay occupied far more of my thoughts than she had any right to.
I parked outside the school several minutes later, collected my bag, and made my way toward Section E with the same expressionless face I always wore.
The noise reached me long before I arrived.
Cin was undoubtedly shouting.
Felix was laughing.
Someone had probably stolen food again.
Nothing unusual.
I slid the classroom door open.
Then…
I stopped.
Yuri sat by the window with his usual indifferent posture, one arm resting lazily across his desk.
Jay occupied the chair beside him.
She leaned slightly toward him, her chin resting against her palm while an amused smile played effortlessly across her lips.
Whatever Yuri had said had clearly captured her attention because she was looking at him with open curiosity, completely absorbed in the conversation.
For several long seconds…
Neither of them noticed I’d arrived.
Something unpleasant twisted unexpectedly beneath my ribs.
It wasn’t anger.
Nor irritation.
It felt strangely unfamiliar.
My gaze lingered on the small distance separating them.
Too close.
Why was she sitting there?
Since when did Yuri became so close with her without my knowledge.
Why was she smiling at him like that?
The questions surfaced one after another before I could stop them.
I frowned.
What exactly was bothering me?
Yuri was my friend.
Jay could speak to whoever she wanted.
But it still didn’t change the fact that she was Aries’s cousin.
None of it had anything to do with me.
Then why…
Why did the sight of them together leave such an uncomfortable weight pressing against my chest?
I looked away almost immediately, irritated by thoughts I couldn’t explain.
Ridiculous.
It was completely ridiculous.
Without acknowledging either of them, I quietly walked toward my usual seat and dropped my bag beside the desk with considerably more force than necessary.
The dull thud echoed briefly through the classroom.
Jay didn’t even turn around.
She was still listening to Yuri.
For reasons I couldn’t begin to understand…
That irritated me even more.