The week did not begin with the festival.
It began with preparation.
That was the cruel part. Not the event itself, but the slow tightening before it. The way everyone started acting like the festival was already happening, like the water was already in the air, like feelings were already visible.
Campus 2 wore new colors overnight.
Posters were taped to pillars and stair rails. Streamers appeared along corridors like someone had decided the school needed to look cheerful no matter what the students carried inside their chests. Student councils from different majors set up booths, arguing over placement like the ground itself was a prize.
Even the canteen menu changed.
Someone was selling special drinks with ridiculous names like "Ocean Heart" and "Blue Crush," like romance could be bought in a cup with too much sugar.
XH walked through it all with his bag heavy on his shoulder, eyes taking everything in, brain refusing to relax. He told himself he was just observing.
But observation was always his way of preparing for impact.
His phone buzzed. Group chat.
JP: WATER FESTIVAL WEEK IS HERE. WHO IS READY TO GET DESTROYEDTZ: emotionally or physicallyJP: BOTHHS: i have an exam, please stop screamingNS: stop typing. walk faster. you're late
XH glanced at the time and cursed quietly. He quickened his pace toward the health track building.
Inside the hallway, the smell of disinfectant mixed with cheap perfume. Students brushed past each other, laughing too loudly. There was a strange excitement in the air, like a storm that hadn't started but everyone felt in their bones.
When XH entered the lab room, Mr. Kim was already there, sleeves rolled up, writing something on the board.
WATER BALANCE: What moves, what stays, what breaks.
Mr. Kim turned as students filled the seats.
"Sit," he said calmly. "Before the festival scrambles your brains completely, we will do something practical."
Groans and laughter rippled through the class.
Mr. Kim's eyes flicked over them. "You may laugh. But your bodies do not care about festivals. Your bodies care about balance."
He pointed to the board. "Today, hydration, electrolytes, and what happens when people ignore their own limits."
XH felt the words land harder than they should have.
He thought of that tightness in his chest. The way it kept returning like a reminder he refused to listen to.
Mr. Kim continued, "We will pair up for the lab."
Murmurs rose instantly, because pairing was never just pairing in a campus full of teenagers pretending they didn't live for drama.
Mr. Kim held up a hand. "No negotiations."
He began calling names.
"HS with TZ."
TZ pumped his fist like he had won something. HS looked like he had been sentenced.
"JP with Andrew."
JP frowned. "Why do I feel like this is punishment."
Andrew smiled faintly. "Because you don't read instructions."
Laughter.
Mr. Kim glanced at his list again.
Then, as if the universe enjoyed cruelty, he said calmly, "XH with Kitty."
The room reacted immediately. Not loudly, but in that quiet, electric way. Like everyone's ears sharpened at once.
XH's stomach tightened.
Kitty lifted her gaze from her notebook and met his eyes briefly.
No smile. No panic.
Just that calm steadiness that made people think she never shook, even when she did.
Mr. Kim continued calling pairs, as if he didn't just throw a match into dry grass.
June sat two rows behind, expression unreadable. She didn't flinch. She didn't react.
But her fingers stopped tapping.
For the first time all morning, June was completely still.
Mr. Kim finished pairing.
"Lab stations," he ordered. "Move."
XH stood slowly, lifting his bag and walking toward the sink station with Kitty. They didn't speak until they reached the table.
Kitty put her notebook down neatly. "Well," she said quietly. "At least it's not awkward."
XH let out a short breath that almost sounded like a laugh. "It is."
Kitty's lips curved faintly. "Okay. Then we do awkward professionally."
XH nodded.
They began setting up equipment.
Measuring cups. Salt solutions. Glucose strips. Labels. Notes.
Kitty's hands moved confidently. She was always precise, always clean, always steady.
XH noticed the small things he usually tried not to notice.
The way Kitty's hair fell forward and she tucked it behind her ear without thinking.
The way she leaned closer to read tiny print, lashes casting a faint shadow on her cheeks.
The way she smelled like soap and something faintly floral.
Kitty glanced at him. "Stop staring."
XH blinked. "I wasn't."
Kitty's eyebrow lifted. "You were."
XH exhaled. "Sorry."
Kitty's expression softened slightly. "It's fine. Just don't do it like you're guilty."
That line hit him harder than it should have.
Guilty.
That was the word, wasn't it.
Not because he had done something wrong, but because he was letting feelings exist without choosing where they belonged.
Mr. Kim walked between stations, explaining the lab.
"You will create solutions of different concentrations," he said. "Then observe movement across a semi-permeable membrane."
XH's mind flashed back to earlier lessons. Osmosis. Diffusion. Balance. Pressure.
Mr. Kim continued, "The body works like that. It always seeks equilibrium. But your choices can disrupt it."
He paused near XH and Kitty's station, gaze briefly resting on them.
"Remember," Mr. Kim said quietly, "pressure builds quietly before it becomes visible."
Then he moved on.
Kitty glanced at XH, eyes thoughtful. "He's not subtle."
XH swallowed. "No."
They began the experiment.
They filled membranes, sealed them, placed them into solutions. They set timers. They wrote observations.
Kitty leaned over the table, reading a scale, then whispered, "Look."
XH leaned closer too.
Their shoulders brushed.
A small contact, accidental, but it made something tighten inside him.
Kitty didn't move away immediately.
For half a second, they stayed like that.
Then Kitty straightened, expression composed. "It's moving faster than expected."
XH nodded, forcing his focus back to the membrane instead of her.
"It's trying to balance," XH said quietly.
Kitty's voice was soft. "Everything does."
Behind them, June watched.
Not obviously. Not like a jealous caricature.
Just quietly.
Watching the way Kitty's shoulder had brushed XH's.
Watching the way XH had leaned in.
Watching the way they moved like they were used to each other, like they belonged in the same rhythm.
June lowered her gaze to her own lab station, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
Her partner was a random student who couldn't stop talking, but June barely heard her.
Because the truth was heavier than distraction.
June did not want to fight Kitty.
But June did not want to lose either.
Not because she wanted to win.
Because she had already given herself away quietly, and she hated the idea of being the only one brave enough to bleed.
After lab, the campus outside was louder.
Festival preparations were now fully alive.
Booths were being built. Water guns were being stocked. Students tested balloons by tossing them at each other, laughing when they exploded in small bursts.
There were signs everywhere.
WATER FESTIVAL COMING SOON.
MAJORS COMPETE.
BEST TEAM WINS.
BEST COUPLE PHOTO CONTEST.
That last one made the air around XH feel dangerous.
JP appeared out of nowhere, slinging an arm around XH's shoulder. "Bro. You saw the couple contest poster."
XH stiffened. "Don't."
TZ joined, laughing. "They're gonna nominate you without permission."
HS looked genuinely distressed. "Why do schools encourage this."
NS arrived behind them, calm. "Because people are bored."
JP pointed across the courtyard.
Kitty and June stood near the drink booth, talking with NC and Jihye. Cherry was there too, her posture confident, like she was already judging the whole festival. Anna stood beside them, smiling politely.
For a second, Kitty laughed at something Jihye said.
June smiled too, small and real.
Then Kitty's eyes flicked toward XH.
June's eyes followed.
Their gazes met him at the same time.
XH felt his stomach tighten again.
JP whispered dramatically, "Two snipers locked on target."
TZ elbowed him. "Stop."
NS's voice was quiet. "This week is going to hurt."
XH swallowed. "I know."
In the late afternoon, student council held a brief briefing in the main hall. The Headmaster stood at the front, microphone in hand, smiling like a man who enjoyed controlling chaos.
"Water festival is a tradition," he said. "A release. A celebration."
His eyes scanned the crowd.
"And also a test of unity."
Students cheered.
The Headmaster raised his hand. "Behave."
Laughter.
His smile sharpened. "Or don't. Just don't make it boring."
People laughed louder.
XH noticed something else.
Near the edge of the crowd, partially hidden, June's mother stood again.
Not close enough to be obvious.
Not far enough to be absent.
Her gaze landed on June, then slid to XH, then to Kitty.
She watched like she was memorizing patterns.
Then she turned and disappeared into the crowd, leaving no proof she had been there.
June did not notice.
Kitty did.
Kitty's eyes narrowed slightly, then she looked away as if she had filed it away for later.
That night, XH sat alone in his room, notes spread across his desk.
Lab results.
Festival posters.
Messages piling up on his phone.
He should have been excited.
He should have been laughing with the boys.
Instead, he stared at his notes and thought about membranes.
Things move from thick to thin. Pressure seeks balance.
But sometimes, movement happens too late.
His chest tightened again.
He breathed through it slowly.
A message buzzed in.
Kitty: are you okay
XH stared at it.
Another message arrived.
June: don't forget what you promised
He closed his eyes.
Two messages.
Two truths.
One week before the water.
And he could already feel the storm forming, even before the first balloon burst.