The next day, class began as usual. Damaz reached the college right on time. The moment he stepped into the classroom, his eyes instinctively searched for Yuudie's desk first.
Empty—
"Oh… it's empty," he muttered under his breath.
He gave a small nod to himself and walked toward his own desk. Dropping his bag onto the table, he pulled out his phone and leaned back in his chair.
Scrolling.
Scrolling.
But his mind wasn't really on the screen.
Every few seconds, his gaze drifted back toward Yuudie's desk.
Still empty.
Meanwhile, before leaving for college, Yuudie had gone to his neighbor's house and deliberately asked for an axe. The neighbor stared at him in disbelief before scolding him harshly.
"What are you going to do with an axe? Go to college with it?" the man snapped, pushing Yuudie away from the doorway.
"Why would a college kid need an axe? Don't tell me you're planning to kill someone!"
Yuudie didn't argue. Instead, he simply smiled — a thin, unsettling smile. His eyes briefly flicked to his phone. 8:50 AM.
I'll be late… because he's too kind to me, Yuudie thought quietly.
The neighbor refused to give him the axe and went back inside the house, muttering angrily, slamming the door behind him.But Yuudie didn't leave.
Instead, he quietly slipped toward the small shed beside his house. Pushing open the creaking door, he scanned the interior until his eyes landed on three axes hanging on the wall.
Inside the dim wooden shed, the air smelled faintly of rust and old tools. Yuudie scanned the walls until he spotted them — three axes hanging neatly on the wall.
He stepped closer and grabbed one, weighing it in his hand.
Too big, he shook his head slightly.
He tried another. Still too heavy.
Finally, he lifted the smallest axe from the wall and held it up, measuring its length against his backpack. Slowly, a smirk spread across his face.
"Perfect," he whispered.
Carefully, he slid the axe into his backpack, making sure the blade was hidden.
Before leaving, Yuudie paused at the door and peeked outside, scanning the surroundings. The street was quiet, no one seemed to be watching. Satisfied, he stepped out and closed the shed softly behind him.
Then, with the backpack resting calmly on his shoulders, Yuudie walked down the road toward the college — as if nothing was wrong.
Back to class—
The class had already been going on for thirty minutes. Damaz leaned lazily against his desk, half listening to the lecture. His eyes drifted toward Yuudie's desk again.
Still empty, he frowned slightly.
What happened to him? Damaz wondered. Only then did he realize something strange, Yuudie hadn't even disturbed his sleep like the other day.
"Anyway", he thought. "It's better he's absent than seeing his irritating fa—"
THUD!
The sudden sound of the door cut his thoughts short. The classroom door slammed open. Every student in the room turned toward the doorway.
Without saying a word, Yuudie stepped inside. He walked in proudly, not even bothering to ask the teacher for permission.
The entire class stared at him in stunned silence. Even the teacher froze for a moment, watching Yuudie cross the room toward his desk.
"He has no manners at all," the students whispered under their breath.
The teacher slowly tapped the desk with his fingers and shook his head in quiet disapproval, but he said nothing. Eventually, the students turned their attention back to the lesson.
As Yuudie sat down, he turned his head slightly toward Damaz. "I got a present for you," he said casually.
Damaz stared at him for a moment, unimpressed. "Animal," he muttered coldly before turning his attention back to the teacher.
"Pay no mind, students," the teacher said, adjusting his glasses. "He's absent in my class today."
Yuudie watched the teacher with a strange grin, slowly biting his lower lip.
From the corner of his eye, Damaz secretly glanced at him, and immediately felt a chill run down his spine.
He's even biting his lips while staring at the teacher…? Damaz thought uneasily.
The classes continued throughout the day. Surprisingly, Yuudie stopped bothering Damaz for the entire day.
Damaz kept glancing at Yuudie in every class, expecting him to do something unnecessary again. But all he saw was Yuudie attending the lessons quietly, still wearing that strange smile. It was as if he was planning something.
"Is he insane? Or is he high on drugs today?" Damaz kept wondering.
After a long time, Damaz suddenly felt an odd emptiness.
Is it because everything suddenly went silent? he thought. Since yesterday's conversation… he hasn't disturbed me at all.
Then the realization hit him.
"Why am I even thinking about him?"
"Ugh…" Damaz ran his hand through his hair.
At that moment, something caught his eye. Yuudie was holding up a notebook toward him.
Written across the page in large, bold letters were the words:
"DO YOU MISS ME?"
Damaz's eyes widened. He clenched his teeth and quickly lowered his head, pretending to focus on the pages of his own notebook.
A moment later, he glanced sideways again.
Yuudie flipped the page and showed another message.
"IT FLICKERED AGAIN"
Damaz frowned. "What are you talking about?" he whispered quietly, covering his mouth with his hand.
Yuudie wrote again. And slowly turned the notebook toward him.
"THE STRING"
Damaz blinked in irritation and looked away. I'm definitely going to fail if I keep sitting beside this bastard, he thought.
Without another glance, he straightened up in his seat and focused on the teacher at the front of the class.
Yuudie grinned to himself.
"He was thinking about me the whole class and still acts like I irritate him," he murmured and snorted softly, quickly covering his mouth with his hand to hide the sound.
...
Lunch time arrived slowly. Yuudie sat quietly at his desk without a tiffin, his gaze fixed on the window as sunlight spilled across the classroom floor. Around him, students opened their lunch boxes one after another, and soon the room filled with the mixed aromas of rice, spices, and warm homemade food drifting lazily through the air.
Damaz glanced at Yuudie. Yuudie was still staring outside, silent and motionless.
Suddenly Yuudie's expression changed. He quickly covered his mouth as if he were about to vomit, then rushed out of the classroom without a word.
Damaz stared at him in confusion. "What!?" he muttered, his spoon halfway into his tiffin as he paused mid-bite, watching Yuudie disappear through the classroom door.
"Haaah…!" Yuudie panted inside the bathroom.
"Who brought such rubbish today?" he muttered.
He turned on the tap, washing his hands and splashing water onto his face. Then he looked up at the mirror. For a moment he stared at his reflection.
Then he winked.
"Am I handsome?" he asked the mirror, gently touching his own cheek.
Just then, laughter echoed from outside as the bullies entered the bathroom.
When they saw Yuudie grinning at his own reflection, they started teasing him.
But Yuudie didn't seem to care at all. As he was about to leave, Gwod suddenly kicked him from behind.
This time, Yuudie didn't dodge.
He simply turned his head and gave Gwod a bloodshot glare before walking away.
The bullies flinched, Gwod even took a small step backward.
Soon the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch break, and the students slowly returned to their seats. A moment later Yuudie walked back into the classroom. Damaz's jaw dropped the moment he noticed what Yuudie was holding; an incense stick. Yuudie calmly walked to his desk, sat down, and casually lifted the incense stick to his nose, breathing in its scent as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Damaz stared at him in disbelief.
Yuudie then turned his head toward him and smiled. "What?" he asked lightly. "Do you want one?"
Damaz couldn't find any words. He simply swallowed, he watched as Yuudie slowly sat down and casually brought the incense stick to his nose, smelling it.
I don't understand him, he thought.
After a moment, Damaz muttered, "You're… unpredictable." Then he added, "Why don't you bring your lunch?"
"I was busy stealing things," Yuudie said with a smirk, knowing he hadn't had time to pack his lunch after dealing with his neighbor earlier that morning.
"That's not what I—" before Damaz could finish, the teacher entered the classroom.
The students quickly stood up. "Good afternoon, sir."
"Good afternoon," the teacher replied.
The class sat down, and the lesson resumed. Yuudie, however, continued to bring the incense stick to his nose from time to time, quietly smelling it as if he were trying to block something unpleasant. The faint scent of incense slowly drifted around his desk while the lecture went on. Halfway through explaining a topic, the teacher suddenly paused mid-sentence(Prof. Nanfe, the Education teacher).
"Yuudie!" he called out. "What is that?"
The entire classroom turned toward Yuudie. Yuudie calmly raised the incense stick.
"This?" he said, looking at it. "I couldn't bear the smell, sir."
"What smell?" the teacher asked.
Yuudie spoke in a completely serious tone, "I think someone pooped in the classroom today."
The entire class burst into laughter. Even Damaz, who was trying to stay serious, couldn't help it. He covered his mouth while laughing.
Prof. Nanfe frowned at first, but he was known as the friendliest teacher in the college. After a moment, he laughed along with the students and waved his hand.
"Alright, alright, quiet down," he said before continuing the lecture.
Damaz was still smiling to himself. He's strange… he thought. He didn't even laugh. Did he really mean it, or was he joking, He glanced at Yuudie with quiet amusement.
But when he remembered Yuudie's reaction during lunch, the thought made him hesitate. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure anymore.
Twenty minutes remained before the class would end, Damaz's phone suddenly buzzed.
Keeping his movements subtle, he slipped it out and glanced at the screen. A message from Yuudie. A photo.
Damaz paused, momentarily forgetting the argument inside his head. Is he trying to send something funny? he wondered. Almost without thinking, his thumb tapped the chat.
The moment the image opened, Damaz flinched.
It was a photo of an axe.
Startled, he quickly dropped the phone onto his desk and sat still, his heart beating faster. An uneasy feeling crept through him, and the teacher's voice at the front of the classroom faded into meaningless noise. Slowly, he turned his head toward Yuudie's side, quietly scanning his belongings, wondering if Yuudie had really brought an axe with him.
But he saw nothing.
Damaz stayed silent for a while. Finally, gathering a bit of courage, he picked up his phone again. Feeling strangely defeated, he typed a short reply.
"Liar."
He sent the message and glanced sideways at Yuudie.
Yuudie read it.
Then, without looking at him, he casually tapped the backpack resting on his thigh three times.
The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Chairs scraped against the floor as students began packing their bags and preparing to leave. Damaz, still unsettled from earlier, slowly pushed his books into his backpack.
Then—
CLANK.
A heavy metallic sound struck the desk beside him.
Damaz froze.
His eyes slowly turned toward Yuudie.
Yuudie was sitting calmly, a crooked smirk spreading across his face as he lifted an axe from his backpack and placed it on the desk with deliberate care. The dull metal head knocked against the wood again.
For a moment, the entire classroom fell silent. Students who had been halfway out the door stopped and turned around.
Murmurs spread like a ripple through the room.
"What… is that…?"
"Is that an axe?"
Their voices trembled. All eyes shifted to the back of the classroom.Yuudie wasn't looking at them. He stared straight at Damaz.
The look in his eyes made the air feel cold.
Damaz's stomach dropped.
In an instant he shot up from his chair, his bag still open, books half hanging out.
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" he shouted, stumbling toward the door.
"BLOCK HIM! SOMEONE BLOCK HIM!" Damaz yelled desperately as he shoved past the students crowding the exit.
But no one moved.
Everyone stood frozen, staring at Yuudie and the axe resting on the desk.
"Stop him?" someone whispered in disbelief.
"He has an axe!"
"That fool… he's going to kill someone," someone murmured, hesitating.
Panic exploded through the room.
Instead of blocking Yuudie, the students scattered in every direction, rushing out of the classroom in a frenzy.
"If the class rep is running, what are we supposed to do!?" someone cried as the hallway filled with fleeing students.
Soon the classroom was empty.
Yuudie stood alone among the scattered chairs and half-packed desks. For a moment there was silence. Then suddenly he burst into laughter, the sound echoing loudly through the empty room.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
He slammed his palm repeatedly against the desk, shaking it in excitement, completely amused by how everyone had fled without even thinking twice.
After a moment, he straightened up.
Still smiling, he picked up the axe and held it in his hand. Then he leaned over Damaz's desk, casually gathering the books and pens that had been left behind and stuffing them into his own backpack. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Yuudie walked out of the classroom, studying the axe in his hand with quiet curiosity.
Down the hallway, the students who had fled earlier kept glancing back.
The moment they noticed Yuudie walking out of the classroom with the axe, they quickened their pace.
Yuudie noticed.
A mischievous grin spread across his face.
He suddenly lifted the axe slightly and pretended to run toward them.
"RUN!"
The students screamed and scattered even faster.
Yuudie stopped immediately, bending forward with laughter as he held his knees.
"HAHAHAHA!"
* * *
Meanwhile, Damaz had already reached home. He nearly collapsed as he stumbled through the gate, breathing heavily.
"Mother!! Please come inside! Quick!" he shouted to his grandmother, who had been sitting outside.
Grabbing her by the hand, he hurried her inside the house and quickly locked the door before slowly sliding down to the floor.
His grandmother looked at him in shock. She touched his face and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"What happened?" she asked nervously.
"Some… someone chased me with… with an—" Damaz suddenly stopped and stood up.
"A friend, Mother," he corrected quickly.
He glanced behind him and suddenly realized his bag wasn't even closed.
"What happened?" his grandmother asked again, following him inside.
"Mother, if anyone comes here and asks where I am, tell them I'm not home."
Without waiting for a reply, he walked into his room and shut the door. Throwing himself onto the bed, he buried his face in the pillow and groaned.
"How am I supposed to go to college now…?"
"Argh! That psycho!"
He clenched the pillow tightly.
"I need to report this to the police."
—
Meanwhile, Yuudie walked slowly down the road toward home, still laughing to himself as he scanned the street ahead, searching for Damaz.
"He sure ran fast," he muttered with amusement.
He smirked and placed his index finger against his lips as if holding back another laugh.
When he reached the gate of the neighbor who had refused to lend him an axe earlier that morning, he stopped.
The man was standing outside the doorway.
Yuudie smiled casually and waved the axe in his hand left and right before tossing it onto the ground.
"Thanks for being too kind," he said.
The neighbor looked down at the axe and immediately recognized it.
"You! Piece of shit!" he shouted angrily while walking forward to pick it up.
"Bye-bye," Yuudie said cheerfully, waving his hand without even looking back.
Once Yuudie reached home, he tossed his backpack onto the floor with a dull thud. Running his fingers through his messy hair, a crooked smirk slowly appeared on his face.
"Hehehe…"
Then he burst out laughing again.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Coward," he muttered to himself.
"I didn't even mean to chop him for real."
He sighed and leaned back slightly, "Let's see if you'll still dare to step foot in college again."
"HAHAHAHA!"