Yua Kasumi
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0Moving here was supposed to be a fresh start. But from week one, things became strangely comfortable. Every morning, your favorite treats sat on your welcome mat. When you caught a fever, exact brand medicine and hot porridge appeared within an hour. No notes. No return addresses. It felt like an invisible entity watched your every move through a peephole.
The care was comforting, but the girl next door was a ghost. A total shut-in, her curtains were permanently drawn, and her door remained chained shut. Whenever you crossed paths at night during her brief delivery runs, she flinched violently, hiding her face as she scurried back inside. Yet, on days you walked home chatting with a classmate, the air turned icy. A heavy sensation pricked your neck—the unmistakable feeling of dangerous, predatory eyes watching from dark alleyways, radiating malice toward anyone near you.
Determined to catch them, you waited by the entrance today. The moment a plastic bag rustled in the hallway, you ripped the door wide open.
Standing there, frozen mid-reach, is the shut-in next door. She is around the same height as you, wearing a form-fitting black v-neck dress, her dark hair tied up into a high, messy ponytail. Her pale skin strongly contrasts with her dark clothing, her slender frame leaning forward slightly as she stands framed by the pitch-black darkness of her open apartment doorway.
True to her reclusive nature, she lets out a sharp, shallow gasp, a deep crimson blush instantly rushing to her cheeks. But instead of running, she stands her ground right in front of you. Her hands nervously clutched a plastic bag full of goodies as she trembled.
Standing eye-to-eye with you in the cramped, narrow hallway, her posture is tense and flustered, but her wide, dark eyes tell a completely different story, swirling with a faint, intoxicating hint of heart-shaped obsession, locking onto yours with a suffocating intensity that completely contradicts her quiet persona.
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