WARNING
The school corridors were unusually quiet that afternoon. Most of the teachers had gone out for lunch, and the noise from the cafeteria barely reached the staff wing. Inside his office, Akari sat behind his desk with Lumi's essay lying in front of him.
He had read it several times already.
The writing itself was impressive, but the themes disturbed him. The essay was filled with dark metaphors, obsession, possession, betrayal. Some sentences felt less like fiction and more like hidden messages directed at someone specific. The deeper he read, the more uneasy he became. It was more of what he had asked for.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in," Akari called.
The door opened and Lumi stepped inside. She looked calm, almost curious, as if she already knew why she had been called.
"You wanted to see me, sir?" she asked.
Akari gestured toward the chair in front of his desk and waited until she sat down.
"Yes. It's about your essay."
He lifted the papers slightly, studying her expression. "Your writing is very strong, Lumi. You are a good writer. But the themes in this piece are… troubling. There are coded messages throughout the essay, references to obsession, control, even revenge. Several parts seem directed at someone very specific."
Lumi simply watched him.
"Would you like to explain what it means? Perhaps is something troubling you?" Akari asked gently.
For a moment she said nothing. Then a small smile appeared on her face.
"There you go again, one of the teachers who pretend to care." She said lowly.
"Yes?" Akari asked confused.
"I wrote it for you."
Akari frowned, thinking he had misunderstood.
"For me?"
"Yes," Lumi said calmly.
Confusion spread across his face. "Lumi, that isn't appropriate. Essays shouldn't be written as personal messages to teachers. If this is some kind of misunderstanding..."
"You still don't understand, do you?" she interrupted quietly.
Something in her tone made him pause.
"Understand what?" he asked.
Instead of answering, Lumi reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She unlocked the screen slowly and turned it toward him.
"Maybe this will help jog your memory."
Akari leaned forward slightly.
The moment he saw the video, his heart dropped. It was him. And Ruan.
The recording clearly showed them standing close together behind the locker rooms. The camera angle was distant but clear enough to recognize them. A few seconds later the video showed the moment they leaned closer, then the kiss.
Akari immediately pulled back in shock. Lumi watched his reaction with quiet satisfaction.
"In case you are wondering where I got it from, I happened to be there too," she explained. "All thanks to Ruan. The tickets receipts in his room helped a lot."
"Y...you… filmed us?" Akari said, stunned.
"Of course." She leaned back comfortably in the chair. "You looked very happy."
Akari felt his chest tighten. If that video ever spread, everything could collapse, his career, his reputation, his position at the school. Most of all Ruan.
"Lumi please, I'm begging you, can you delete it," he said, his voice shaky.
Lumi's expression barely changed.
"Why would I do that?"
"Lumi," he said, trying to stay calm, "this isn't something you should keep. Just delete it and we'll forget this ever happened."
She tilted her head slightly, studying him.
"You know, a teacher kissing someone at school wouldn't normally be a big deal," she said thoughtfully. "But when that person is your student and is connected to certain dangerous people… and the teacher involved works here…"
She let the sentence hang in the air.
Akari stared at her as the realization slowly sank in. Eyes red, mouth heavy not able to form any words.
Akari's hands clenched on the desk. "What do you want?"
"I know you know clearly what relationship I have with Ruan. So...Stay away from Ruan." She answered quickly.
Akari froze.
"You're not good for him," she continued calmly. "And if you don't disappear from his life…" She lifted the phone slightly. "…this video might accidentally find its way to the school administration."
Silence filled the room. Akari felt trapped, his mind racing through possibilities, but every option seemed to lead to disaster.
Lumi stood up from the chair.
"Think about it carefully, sir," she said as she walked toward the door.
She slipped the phone back into her pocket. And just before leaving, she looked back at him with a small, unsettling smile.
"You have plenty of time until I decide to press send."
The door closed quietly behind her.
Akari remained sitting at his desk, unable to move. The essay still lay in front of him, its dark words now making terrifying sense.
He had thought it was just strange writing but now he understood.
It had been a warning all along.
***
The evening practice had been brutal.
By the time the coach finally blew the whistle, the sky outside the gym had already turned orange with the fading sunset. The team slowly drifted off the court, exhausted but buzzing with leftover energy. Shoes squeaked against the wooden floor as players grabbed their bags and headed toward the locker room.
Inside, the room filled with the usual noise, lockers slamming, laughter echoing, and someone complaining loudly about how many laps the coach had forced them to run.
Ruan dropped onto the bench with a tired sigh, running a towel through his damp hair. His muscles ached pleasantly from practice, but his mind felt far more restless than his body.
He checked his phone; Akari still hadn't answered his last message.
That silence had been sitting heavily in his chest all day.
Across the room, Kev was leaning against a locker, scrolling through his phone like he had discovered the secrets of the universe. The twins were arguing while trying to pull their sweaty shirts off at the same time.
"You elbowed me!" West snapped.
"That's because you're standing too close," Est shot back.
"You literally walked into me!"
"I did not..."
"Guys," Kev suddenly said, raising his voice. "Shut up for a second. I've got news."
The twins stopped mid-argument and looked at him suspiciously.
"Your news is usually garbage," West said.
"Yeah," Est added. "Last time you said Coach was secretly married to the English teacher."
Kev shrugged proudly. "I still think that one could be true."
Ruan chuckled quietly from the bench.
Kev grinned and held up his phone. "This one's real though. I just heard from someone on the swim team."
"What now?" Est asked.
Kev lowered his voice dramatically.
"Mike from our basketball team…" Everyone looked up. "…and Will. The swimmer."
West frowned. "What about them?"
Kev smirked.
"They're dating."
The twins went silent for a second while exchanging gazes.
Ruan felt his heart skip. Not because of Mike or Will. But because the topic itself suddenly felt dangerously close to his own life. Dating a guy. The words echoed in his head. And not just any guy...
My teacher.
He kept his face calm, leaning back casually against the locker as if the news barely interested him.
Inside, though, his thoughts were racing. If they knew about me and Akari…
Kev continued talking. "Apparently someone saw them at the pool yesterday. Together. Holding hands and acting all lovey dovey "
West blinked. "Wait… seriously?"
"Yep."
Est leaned against the locker beside him and shrugged."Well… good for them."
Kev raised an eyebrow. "That's it? No dramatic reaction?"
Ruan stretched his arms behind his head lazily. "What reaction do you want?" he said calmly. "What's the problem with that?"
Kev glanced at him. "No problem. I'm just saying it's surprising."
Est nodded thoughtfully."Honestly, I think it's better that way."
West looked at him. "Better how?"
Est shrugged. "If two people like each other, who cares? Everyone should have the freedom to love whoever they want."
Kev stared at him in disbelief.
"Wow," he said slowly. "Listen to Mr. Deep Thoughts over here."
West smirked. "You've been reading philosophy again, haven't you?"
Est grabbed his towel and threw it at West's face. "At least I have a brain."
Kev suddenly pointed between the twins. "You two are talking a lot about love for people who spend all their time together."
West froze.
Est narrowed his eyes.
Kev grinned wider.
"Are you sure you're not secretly dating each other?"
The locker room exploded with laughter.
"Shut up!" West shouted.
"That's disgusting," Est said immediately.
Kev pretended to think about it. "I don't know… you guys do everything together. Same team, same classes, same arguments, same faces…"
"That's because we're twins!" they both snapped.
"There I got you today," Kev said, laughing at them.
Ruan laughed under his breath, shaking his head.
The twins immediately grabbed a pair of shoes from the floor and threw them at Kev.
"Get out dumbass!"
Kev dodged them easily, laughing.
"Relax, relax! I'm joking!"
The mood in the locker room became light again, filled with the usual teasing that had existed between them for years.
Watching them joke around, Ruan felt a small wave of warmth. These idiots had been his friends for a long time. They had gone through games, losses, victories, and countless stupid arguments together.
He trusted them more than most people.
For a moment, the thought crossed his mind again.
I could tell them.
He imagined it for a second. If he would say he was dating someone asides from Lumi, Kev would probably ask a thousand questions. The twins would argue about it for no reason. But they wouldn't hate him. He could tell.
Their reactions to Mike and Will had been completely normal. Still… something held him back. Because the truth wasn't simple. It wasn't just that he was dating a guy.
He was dating Akari.
His teacher.
And that changed everything. If people found out, it could destroy Akari's career. That thought alone was enough to make Ruan stay quiet. He grabbed his jacket and slung his bag over his shoulder.
"Anyway," he said casually, "if Mike and Will are happy, that's all that matters."
Kev nodded.
"True."
West stretched his arms. "Honestly I'm more worried about tomorrow's practice than someone else's love life."
Est grinned. "Yeah, Coach looked like he wanted to kill us today."
The conversation shifted again, back to basketball, games, and complaints about practice. But Ruan's thoughts drifted somewhere else.
Back to Akari.
He stepped outside the locker room into the cool air. His friends' laughter still echoed faintly behind him. He looked down at his phone. Still, no reply.
He exhaled slowly.
One day I'll tell them.
He was sure of it.
But before he shared that truth with anyone else, there was one person he needed to talk to first.
Akari.
Because no matter how much Ruan trusted his friends, this secret didn't belong only to him. And until Akari said it was okay...
He would protect it.