Chapter 10 : “The Perfect Girl

The morning sun painted a soft glow across Hikarimori High as students shuffled through the gates, half awake and half complaining. The same chatter buzzed through the courtyard as always, until a small shift in mood swept over the crowd. Heads turned. Conversations paused.

Touko Nishima walked in.

Her steps were neat. Her uniform was flawless. Her hair, tied with a soft ribbon, moved just enough to seem effortless. She wasn’t loud or flashy. She didn’t need to be. The school seemed to quiet around her as though it recognized someone important had arrived.

“Is that the new second-year?”

“She’s… pretty.”

“No, like really pretty.”

The whispers followed her everywhere. But Touko didn’t acknowledge any of them. Her eyes stayed focused forward, her expression calm. She carried her bag against her chest like she was keeping something precious close.

She wasn’t nervous.

She wasn’t excited.

She wasn’t trying to impress anyone.

This was practice.

Every step she took, every polite bow, every soft-spoken word—she rehearsed it all the night before while imagining a single audience.

Kei.

Touko Nishima had no interest in being the school’s perfect girl. She only cared about being perfect for him.

Inside the classroom, she took her seat near the window. A ray of sunlight framed her cheek, and a few boys near the door slowed their steps to stare. Touko didn’t lift her eyes. She took out her notebook, opened a page filled with immaculate handwriting, and continued where she left off.

Math problems. Clean, crisp strokes.

A vocabulary list she had memorized two nights ago.

Tiny annotations in the margins written in her tidy penmanship.

To anyone else, it looked like studious perfection.

But if someone leaned in close enough, they’d notice the tiny rhythm to her writing—fast strokes whenever she thought of her father, slow ones when she imagined the moments she had to share him with Yui.

Touko’s pencil tapped once.

Thinking of Yui always ruined her mood.

Her friend Himari slid into the seat beside her with a bright smile. “Touko! You came early again. You’re seriously motivated.”

“Good morning,” Touko replied softly. Her voice was polite. Gentle. Nothing that hinted at the thoughts beneath.

Himari leaned over her shoulder. “Wow, your handwriting’s perfect like always. I wish I could write that neatly.”

Touko gave a small nod. “It’s how I show respect.”

“For the teacher?” Himari asked.

Touko paused for half a beat. “For someone important.”

Himari laughed. “Ah, so it’s for a secret crush!”

Touko didn’t answer. Her pencil hovered above the page. For one brief moment, her eyes sharpened—not at Himari, but at the idea of anyone assuming they understood her heart.

A crush wasn’t the right word.

Love wasn’t either.

Kei Nishima wasn’t someone she liked.

He was someone she belonged to.

The bell rang. Morning homeroom started. Teachers greeted her with warm smiles, clearly charmed by her perfect posture and respectful tone.

“Touko Nishima,” her English teacher praised after checking her homework. “You’ve already adapted to the curriculum. Excellent work.”

Touko bowed. “Thank you.”

Inside, she pictured going home tonight and showing the graded page to Kei. She imagined him smiling. Maybe patting her head like he sometimes did when Yui wasn’t looking. She could still feel the warmth of that touch. She could still feel the heat of jealousy that rose afterward.

Her fingers tightened on her pencil. She forced her expression back to calm.

Later, at lunch, a small crowd gathered around her. Even students from other classes came to take a look.

“She’s like a doll.”

“No, she’s like a princess.”

“She’s too perfect. It’s scary.”

Touko smiled politely at every compliment. Himari squeezed her arm, delighted. “See? Everyone likes you!”

“That’s good,” Touko said.

If everyone liked her, Kei would hear good things.

If everyone praised her, Kei would be proud.

If Kei was proud, he wouldn’t drift.

He wouldn’t forget.

He wouldn’t need anyone else.

Class resumed. Hours passed. Touko worked with quiet intensity, her attention never wavering. When dismissal neared, she cleaned her desk slowly, staring at the nameplate on the surface.

Her fingertips brushed the small carved letters she had etched the night before with a needle she kept hidden in her sleeve.

Right beside her neatly written name, so small no one else would notice, she had carved:

Papa will be proud.

The final bell rang. Students rushed out. Touko moved with practiced calm, walking through the hall with grace that made others step aside on instinct.

Outside, she looked at the sky. Clear. Soft. Warm.

She imagined Kei’s face when he got home from work. She pictured the moment she would greet him at the door. Maybe she would make tea for him first. Maybe she would help him take off his jacket. Maybe Yui would be busy cooking.

Maybe it would be just the two of them.

Touko Nishima took one breath and whispered to herself, so quietly even she could barely hear it.

“I’ll make him proud.”

Then she smiled—a soft, sweet expression that hid the truth.

She didn’t want to be the school’s perfect girl.

She wanted to be Kei Nishima’s perfect Touko.

Only his.

Always his.

Forever.