Vu Hikari "Kuro" is on the precipice of losing his future. Most importantly, at the edge of losing his sanity.

The reason? He doesn't 'read' the mood in people, he sees it.

Ever since his mother died, people's faces around him distort, deform, or twist whenever discomfort or negative reactions are aimed at him. Despite his best efforts to please others, it led him to fall from grace, and now...

All he has left is the Ladder.

Finish the 90-day program course. Get a clean record. Open doors for the best universities.
All too good to be true, but amidst the tests, the courses... something darker lurks beneath the already harsh environment of the Ladder. Soon, Kuro realizes that to survive the Ladder, academic results and isolation won't be enough.