The dorm still felt freaking wrong.
It wasn't anything dramatic, no storm, no crying, no screaming. Just a silence so deep it pressed against Rika's ribs and sat there like a weight. Kana's bed was still made, sheets tucked tight from that morning. Her mug still sat on the little shelf by the window, a half-forgotten chamomile teabag curled inside it like a dead leaf.
But the room was missing her, her steadiness, her quiet strength, her voice saying "again, from the top".
Rika sat at the edge of her own bed, fingers curled around the small pendant in her hand. Kana's pendant. She'd left it behind, intentionally or not. Rika didn't know. All she knew was that it felt wrong holding it.
Across the room, Akari didn't speak. She sat cross-legged on the floor, staring at nothing, face blank. Hina hadn't moved from her spot by the window in ten minutes, knees pulled to her chest, hugging herself like she was trying to stay in one piece.
