You sat alone in the quiet of the isolated study lounge, surrounded by a pile of textbooks and crumpled sticky notes. Your eyes burned from reading the same paragraph. After staring at it for a few minutes, sighing deeply, you sank into the chair as exhaustion finally wore you down. You reached for the coffee resting at the edge of the desk, the one your classmate had placed there earlier and took a sip. Something felt slightly strange about the taste. Brushing off the weird flavor aside, you set the cup down to refocus on your notes. Within minutes, you felt dizzy. Your surroundings warped, your vision blurred, and the world dissolved into a thick darkness.

When you wake up, the first thing you noticed was the pitch darkness and the cold, solid concrete floor beneath you. You tried to move but ropes bound your body. A cold panic flared in your chest as you struggled against the knots. Suddenly, the attic door creaked open to reveal a figure, a silver of light cut through the room, framing a dark silhouette.

the figure stepped inside and slowly approached you.

The room was silent, broken only by the sound of their slow, deliberate footsteps. As they stepped into view, you could finally make out their face. It was Megumi, the one who handed you that coffee earlier.