Kai came home after the sky had already started to darken.
The door closed softly behind him, but the quiet inside the house felt heavier than the night outside. He took off his shoes without looking, let his jacket slip from his shoulders, and moved down the hallway like he wasn't sure where he was going anymore.
Sora was sitting on the couch.
She had been pretending to watch something on her phone, but the screen had gone black long ago. The moment she heard the door, she looked up.
"Kai?"
He stopped.
"Did you eat?" she asked.
He shook his head.
"You've been gone all day," she said carefully, standing up. "You didn't say anything. You just—"
"I'm tired," Kai said quietly.
Sora took a step closer. "Tired of what?"
He didn't answer.
"Kai, you can't just shut everyone out," she said, not angry, just scared. "I'm right here."
His hand rested on his bedroom door. He didn't look at her.
"I know," he said. "That's why I need to be alone."
The door closed.
Sora stood there, staring at it. After a moment, she slowly slid down the wall and sat on the floor outside his room, hugging her knees.
Just in case he changed his mind.
---
Across town, Ayko lay on her bed staring at the ceiling.
Joro's words kept replaying in her mind.
Scared.
Noise.
The past.
She picked up her phone, typed a message, erased it, typed another.
Are you okay?
I'm here.
I'm sorry if I hurt you.
None of them felt right.
She set the phone down.
Sometimes caring meant waiting.
---
Joro leaned against his window, looking out at the darkening sky.
He kept seeing Kai's face from earlier that night—the way he had cried on the bench without trying to hide it. Joro checked his phone.
Nothing.
"Don't disappear on me," he muttered under his breath.
---
Kai lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
The room was quiet. For once, there was no flood of thoughts from outside. No noise from other minds. Just him.
And the feeling he had always pretended wasn't there.
"You did well today," a voice said softly.
Kai's body stiffened.
Not in fear.
In recognition.
"…You," he whispered.
He had always known it was there—the pressure, the pull, the sense of being watched from the inside. But hearing it speak still sent a chill through him.
"You don't usually talk," Kai said.
"You don't usually listen," the voice replied gently.
Kai swallowed. "So it's real."
"I've always been real," it answered. "You just didn't want to name me."
Silence stretched between them.
"You followed me today," Kai said.
"Yes."
"You watched."
"Yes."
Kai closed his eyes. "I thought you were just my head trying to protect me."
"That's exactly what I am," the voice replied.
Kai's heart pounded.
"And the locker?" he asked.
The voice didn't rush.
"There was a boy," it said. "Angry. Looking for a place to put his cruelty. I didn't create that. I only guided it."
Kai's breath caught.
"So it was you."
"Yes."
Not proud.
Not ashamed.
Just honest.
Kai turned onto his side, staring at nothing.
"I knew," he whispered. "Some part of me always knew. But hearing you say it…"
His voice broke.
"That's different."
"Knowing something and accepting it are not the same," the voice said softly.
Kai covered his eyes.
"And you still think you saved me?"
"Yes," the voice said gently. "You were seconds from losing yourself. I stopped the noise by making the world small."
Kai let out a shaky laugh. "By trapping me in the dark."
"By giving you a place where only your mind existed," it replied.
Silence fell.
Kai's chest hurt—not from fear, but from truth.
"So this is what I am now," he said quietly. "A boy who survives because another part of him is willing to hurt people."
"You survive because you're human," the voice replied. "I just refused to let you disappear."