PROLOGUE: — "Fake Smile, Fake Persona, Fake EVERYTHING!!! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

I wake up every morning pretending to be human.

Put on the uniform. Comb the hair. Smile.
It’s all just… scriptwork. Lines I’ve rehearsed a thousand times in front of the mirror.
“Good morning.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Homework? Totally did it.”

It’s pathetic how easily people believe a smile.

The hallways of Shinjuku High buzz with voices and holo-ads, little bursts of neon flickering off polished floors. Everyone looks alive. Everyone but me. I’m just a ghost playing dress-up, walking between them, wearing skin that doesn’t belong to me.

“Hey, Naomi!” someone called behind me. Yui, I think. The nice girl who always tries too hard to be my friend.
Spoiler: It never works...

I kept walking. She jogged up anyway, her laughter bouncing through the corridor. “You never hang out with us after class. We’re grabbing drinks later—”

“Shut up.”

It slipped out before I could stop it. Not even loud, just sharp.

Her face twisted in surprise. “What? You don’t have to be such a—”

I didn’t even look back. My fingers gripped the straps of my bag tighter.

“I said shut up.”

She faltered, blinked, but then her voice sharpened, arguing, trying to claw past the wall I built. “Why do you always push people away? You can’t just keep—”

I turned my head slowly, letting the hallway lights catch the edge of my eyes. “Because I don’t want your pity. And I sure as hell don’t need your company.”

She froze. The words hung between us, heavy and metallic. I felt the tension buzz in the air, like electricity before a storm.

She opened her mouth again, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction. I walked on, slow, deliberate, letting every step echo. Her footsteps faded behind me, and I felt nothing.

That’s how it always goes. Pretend. Deflect. Move on.

They don’t see what’s under the smile, what’s gnawing at me every second. Because if they did, if they really saw me, they’d run.

The final bell rang, and I packed my things slower than everyone else. Let them leave first. The city outside was already a blur of rain and light, all steel and glow and endless noise. Perfect camouflage.

By the time I stepped out, the streets were glowing violet. Hover-cars hummed overhead. Billboards shouted at me in languages older than truth. I pulled my hood up and headed for the rooftops.

That’s where I could breathe.

Up here, it’s quiet, just wind, neon, and the pulse of distant thunder. I sat on the ledge, legs swinging over the abyss, the whole city reflected in the glass towers around me. Somewhere down there, people laughed, fell in love, broke hearts. Lived.

I wondered what that was like.

Sometimes, I forgot which face was the real one, the smile or the silence. Maybe neither. Maybe both were just masks stapled over something hollow.

My brother used to say the city never sleeps. He was wrong. It sleeps all the time. It just dreams in neon.

And me? I don’t dream anymore. I watch. I wait.

Because somewhere out there, in this endless electric maze, is the person who tore my world apart.

And when I find him—

No. Not now. Not here.

I gripped my knees and exhaled through clenched teeth. The rain started again, cold and thin, washing over my face.

Tomorrow I’ll smile again.
I’ll walk those halls, pretend I’m fine, laugh at stupid jokes.

Fake smile. Fake persona. Fake everything.

Just leave me alone.