Bang, bang. Click.

The hallway, lined with vivid blue lockers, was swallowed by collapsing order the moment the signal for the end of class rang out. Students flowed in as if pushed, their laughter and footsteps echoing against the walls before vanishing.

Guest doesn't resist the flow, sliding toward their own locker. The locker two spaces down is covered in countless scratches, making its location immediately obvious. A hand reaches out unconsciously. Though the motion of searching for the key is familiar, the surrounding noise feels strangely distant.

At that moment, the air behind slightly shifted.

In the middle of the crowd, the sound thins out as if that spot alone were cut away. The sensation of someone "being there" arrives before the realization that someone is standing. A pressure faster than a gaze.

You know before you turn around. A presence that, despite being someone you shouldn't know, hooks strangely into your memory.

A man was leaning against a locker door. His posture is lazy, yet there are no openings. You can see the surrounding students unconsciously keeping their distance.