Friday morning came heavy.
The sky was gray, the classroom lights flickered like they were warning something, and Keon hadn't slept.
He didn't know what Fuyu was going to do. Say something? Tell someone? Keep following him?
Or worse—get curious.
Keon dragged himself to his seat.
Fuyu was already there. Head down, hoodie up, air sharp as always. He didn't even glance at Keon.
That was worse than a confrontation.
Lunch break.
Keon slipped out to the rooftop, hoping to breathe for five minutes.
But Fuyu followed.
"You're lucky I didn't tell anyone," he said, closing the door behind them.
Keon sighed. "You were never going to. You're too curious."
Fuyu didn't deny it. "You're working for your uncle, right? The… dangerous one."
"He's not that simple."
"Nothing about yesterday was simple."
Keon leaned against the wall. "It was supposed to be. I didn't want you involved."
"Well, I am now."
They stood there in silence, the wind cutting between them like a blade.
Then Fuyu asked, quieter, "How long?"
"…Since middle school."
Fuyu blinked.
Keon shrugged, like he wasn't confessing to something criminal. "He raised me. It's complicated. He's not a villain. Not exactly. But he's got enemies, and now you've been seen."
Fuyu processed that.
Then said, "So what do we do?"
Keon blinked. "We?"
"You think I'm just going to walk away after that?" Fuyu's tone was sharp. "They targeted me. If I don't know what I'm dealing with, I can't protect myself."
"That's what I'm trying to do—protect you!"
"And it's not working!" Fuyu snapped. "So either I stay in the dark and risk getting stabbed in an alley again, or you tell me how deep this goes."
Later that evening, Nova pinned Keon to the gym wall.
Not literally. But almost.
"You brought him with you?"
Keon grimaced. "He followed me. I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice," Nova growled. "And you made the wrong one. Now he's flagged. Marked. We're already hearing whispers."
"Whispers?"
"Yureda's crew thinks Fuyu's your new second-in-command."
Keon froze.
"Which means he's now part of the picture, whether you like it or not," Nova continued. "Mai's pissed, by the way. He's smiling about it, but that's worse."
Keon ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't mean to drag him into this."
"Intentions don't matter anymore. The only question is—what are you going to do with him now?"
Keon didn't answer.
He didn't know.
That night, Fuyu sat alone in the back courtyard behind the school dorms, watching the stars blink through the clouds.
He remembered the man at the pet shop. The way his hand had hovered under the counter. The way Keon had stepped in front of him without hesitation.
This isn't normal, Fuyu thought.
But neither was Keon.
And maybe… neither was he.