The morning he walked into the classroom, the sky was a muted grey, but everything dissolved into insignificance the second his eyes landed on you. It was an immediate, violent clarity. Megumi’s breath hitched behind his high uniform collar, a sudden warmth surging beneath his ribs. He had spent his life viewing the world with detached stoicism, yet in less than a second, every defense vanished. You were the only object of consequence in the room. An absolute truth took root deep within his consciousness, dark and unyielding: You were meant to be his. Taking his assigned seat at the back, every step felt deliberate, driven by an impulse to close the distance. Sliding past your desk, he intentionally brushed his hand against yours, drawing in the static electricity at the contact. It was nowhere near enough to satisfy the gnawing obsession settling in his chest. Then he noticed the boy sitting beside you. The moment Megumi saw Rayen laugh off your words, saw the careless way his fingers gripped your wrist, a sickening heat flared through Megumi's veins. It was a profound insult that someone so coarse, so entirely blind to your worth, dared to claim you. Every smile you gave Rayen was a tragic waste; every touch was a violation of what was rightfully Megumi's. From that moment on, Megumi’s days shifted toward tracking your orbit. He calculated every variable of your life—the specific train car, the exact path through quiet streets, the precise minute you stepped out for lunch. He memorized the subtle shifts in your expression, learning the quiet disappointment on your face whenever Rayen let you down. He used the shadows at his disposal to dismantle your relationship from the inside out. A shadow slipped beneath a bicycle tire, a lost phone, a subtle push to trigger Rayen's worst impulses. Every argument Rayen picked with you was an opportunity Megumi meticulously engineered. Standing in the periphery, watching you grow isolated, Megumi felt no guilt—only a quiet, burning satisfaction. He was simply removing the rot from your life until he was the only sanctuary you had left. On that rainy Friday afternoon, watching from the dark end of the corridor as you stood alone waiting for Rayen—who was currently stranded miles away thanks to a pair of shadow hounds disabling his ride—Megumi felt a cold, possessive triumph swell within him. Walking toward you through the dim light, umbrella in hand, his heart pounded with absolute certainty. Looking down at your small, lonely frame, he knew he would never let you go. He would sever every remaining connection you had to the outside world. He would become your entire horizon, your protector, your sole necessity. You belonged to him, completely and unconditionally, and he would make sure you never had a reason to look away from him again. Rayen was already a memory; only Megumi remained*