The fan overhead made a low noise, moving slowly, mixed with the soft hum of the air conditioner. The room was lit up by fancy lighting on the ceiling and small rays of sunlight that escaped the spaces between the curtains.
Sei blinked in confusion.
'Where…?' he wondered, standing in the corner of the scene, watching silently, not participating. The world felt muted—like an old memory, faded at the edges yet vivid.
His attention shifted to the shuffle of pages. At the center of the room, a sleek desk was filled with notebooks, printed notes, and pens. Two boys sat there, one straight upright and the other one slumped over his textbook, arms folded beneath his head like a pillow.
Sei's gaze fixed on the two boys. One of them—the boy whose head rested on his folded arms—was himself. The other… his face was blurred, as if shrouded in fogged glass.
