4

The girl with wild, wavy hair that faded from blonde to pink gasped dramatically, her cherry earrings jingling. “Wait, wait! is this the infamous Hikaru?!”

Hikaru blinked, caught off guard. “Infamous?”

“Don’t mind her,” Ren said with a dismissive wave. “She lives for drama.”

“That’s rude,” the girl pouted. “I live for spice and hot piping tea, not just drama.”

The lanky boy beside her looked up briefly from his tablet. “So you’re the guy she keeps talking about.”

Ren stiffened slightly, shooting him a glare. “I do not keep talking about him.”

“Oh, sure,” the boy said dryly. “You only mentioned him, like, five times this morning.”

“I hate you,” she muttered under her breath.

Hikaru smirked, leaning casually against Ren and propping his arms on her head, much to her irritation. “Didn’t know I was so popular.”

“You’re not,” Ren shot back quickly.

The quiet girl with dark blue hair finally spoke, her voice soft but cutting through the noise. “Your threads are strange.”

Hikaru tilted his head, curiosity piqued. “Threads?”

“She sees fate,” Ren explained nonchalantly. “Pretty cool, right?”

The girl’s gaze remained fixed on him, unblinking. “I can see everyone’s fate threads- how they twist, tangle, or snap. Everyone but you.” Her eyes flicked briefly toward Ren. “And her.”

“Why?” Hikaru asked.

The girl’s brow furrowed slightly. “Yours doesn’t end. It just... keeps going, like it has no destination.”

“And Ren?”

“She’s tangled,” the girl said softly. “So many threads, overlapping and weaving together. Too many to count.”

For a brief moment, the table fell silent, the weight of her words hanging between them.

“Wow,” the girl with colorful hair finally broke the tension. “This is getting real existential for lunch break.”

Ren sighed, leaning back onto Hikaru, who frowned, now having to support her weight. “Welcome to my life, Hikaru. Full of weirdos.”

Hikaru’s lips quivered into a faint smile.

“You fit right in.”