4

The girl with wild, wavy hair that faded from platinum blonde to pink gasped dramatically, her cherry earrings jingling. “Wait, wait! Is this the infamous Kanzaki 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, hot piping tea, and fun, 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 the pink 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.”

***

The lanky boy narrowed his eyes at Hikaru as he returned with food for himself and Ren. "He doesn't look all that interesting," he announced flatly, shifting his attention back to his tablet.

"Wow," Hikaru deadpanned. "Thanks for the warm welcome."

The girl with messy half-pigtails and wavy hair gasped dramatically, placing a hand over her chest. "Oh my gosh, he's sarcastic too. Kaede, behave," she mock-scolded herself with a playful smirk. "Ren, where did you find this gem? A brooding bad-boy type with humor? We are so keeping him."

"Tone it down a notch, Kaede," Ren sighed, rubbing her temples. She turned toward the boy without missing a beat. "And you. Stop trying to analyze people like one of your weird experiments."

"Noted," he said, pushing up his glasses without sparing her a glance.

The quiet girl with neatly braided dark blue hair offered a small, polite smile. "Aoi Yuna," she introduced herself softly. "Nice to meet you."

"Kanzaki Hikaru," he nodded in acknowledgment. "Looks like I'll be around for a while."

Kaede grinned mischievously. "Oh, you're more than just around. You're officially one of us now."

"That's bold," Hikaru remarked. "I haven't agreed to anything."

"Too late," Ren said blankly. "You followed me here. That was your first mistake."

He feigned a conceding sigh, shaking his head but unable to hide the faint smile tugging at his lips.

Kaede clapped her hands together like she was officiating a grand ceremony. "Welcome to our little circus, friend. Population: Nerd, Chaos, and Fate-Lady over there. Oh, and Ice-Queen."

The blue-haired girl tucked a loose strand behind her ear. "Apparently, I'm Fate-Lady," she said mildly.

"Fair. Ice-Queen should be Ren," Hikaru said, playing along. "But what about Chaos and Nerd?"

"Chaos is me," Kaede announced proudly. "Nerd is obviously him."

The boy adjusted his glasses with the air of someone long used to nonsense. "Actually, correction: genius. There's a difference."

"Sure, my buddy Tsuba." Kaede giggled. She earned herself a glare from the boy in question.

Hikaru tilted his head toward Ren, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Is this what your lunch breaks are always like?"

"Pretty much," she sighed. "And now it's your problem too. You'll get used to it. It's kind of nice, in a strange way."

Hikaru arched a brow, catching the sincerity in her tone. He didn't respond but found himself silently agreeing.

The bell rang, and the group dispersed, heading back to class.