The next morning. Same routine. Same hallway. Same expression on my face—blank.
I got to my locker to grab my Lit book when—
BAM.
A literal explosion of glitter hit me in the face.
"Nani !?" I exclaimed, shaking my head like a wet cat.
It was no other than… Zani.
I blew a strand of hair off my face with an irritated puff. It was sticking to my cheek—thanks to the glitter now stuck everywhere.
What did I sign up for?.
I sighed.
Then I saw it.
A note.
Pink. Sparkly. Probably illegal levels of glitter. The envelope looked like it had been attacked by a unicorn on sugar.
Obviously from her.
I opened it, already feeling like I was violating some glitter law. My hands were instantly coated in sparkle.
The note read:
---
Hey cloud boy… I mean Shin-san!
Kinou wa…uhh…subarashii desu yo?? I write this… ano…kinou no kurasu de. Before we…hang out…shimasu LOL.
Arigatou ne!!
And eto…watashi no nihongo wa…how you say…majide sugoi? Or…chotto dame? Be honesto.
Hehe ganbarimasu yo~
---
I actually laughed. Out loud.
This girl was insane-- writing Japanese that she couldn't even speak.
Seriously what's up with this glitter gremlin.
Then—flash.
I blinked.
She took a picture of me.
"You laughed!" she gasped dramatically. "I told you I'd make you smile again but you laughed, Shin!! I win!!"
She squealed like she just won an Oscar for Best Chaos Gremlin in a School Setting.
"You look like—oh my God—Mackenyu Arata or sung jinWoo when you smile, I swear!" she cried, shaking her phone like it owed her money. "God, this is the best day of my life!"
I covered my face with my hand. "You need help."
She shrugged proudly. "I am the help. You're welcome."
_______
One thing I figured out about Zani: she was chaos. Glitter-covered, loud-laughing, no-boundaries, chaos. And somehow, also trouble disguised in glitter eyeliner.
I got to class, like usual, prepared to mind my business until library time—my sacred hour of peace. But something was off. Different. The air felt... itchy.
Then the whispers started.
Not the usual "that's the weird guy" mutters I was immune to. These whispers were laced with curiosity. With attention. And if there's one thing I hated more than small talk, it was being noticed.
Zani wasn't even in the class. Not like I was looking for her. Not like I wanted to yell at her for the glitter bomb that somehow still lived in my hair. She was probably off founding a unicorn-themed cult or selling chaos bottled in perfume called "Oops."
I tried to keep my head down, headphones in, but then:
"Did you see Zani's post on IG?" a girl said behind me, a little too loud for a whisper. I didn't even know her name.
"Yhh, like, she posted that weird Asian dude," her friend answered. "Like, he was smiling. Like, I thought he was one of those freaks who doesn't talk or, like, have emotions?"
Each like made me want to throw myself out the window.
Why. What. Did. Zani. Do.
"She called him 'Cloud Boy,' I think. Isn't that, like, lowkey romantic or whatever?"
"He's actually kinda fine though."
"Yhh like, he's got that Korea-Japan mysterious brooding boy energy. Like, Sung Jin-Woo if he shopped at thrift stores."
I closed my eyes and inhaled through my soul.
"Oh my God are they, like, dating? Zani and that Asian guy?"
"Totally. Like, people have seen them together, like, a lot."
"I just don't get why Zani would pick him. She's, like, way outta his league."
I was not ready for this day.
This was Zani's fault. All of it. Her glitter bomb, her psycho Japanese letter, her freakin' photo of me smiling. Now I was the class mystery love interest. The quiet anime-coded boy being romantically linked to Glitterzilla.
Great. Just great.
All I wanted was to vibe in peace, maybe alphabetize some murder mysteries and read manga in solitude. Instead, I was the accidental male lead in a high school rom-com directed by Zani, starring Zani, produced by chaos.
For a moment, I wanted to see what she posted of me, but dang me for not being active on any social media.
God help me.
_____
Zani was gone.
For almost a while week.
She wasn't in class on Monday.
I didn't care. People skip class all the time. Maybe she got hit by a glitter truck or joined a Broadway cult. Maybe she was just bored of school. Or of me. That wasn't impossible.
Tuesday came. Still no Zani.
The whispers started to die down by then. The rumors were already old news. Apparently, the weird quiet Asian guy with the resting "do not approach" face and the chaotic unicorn girl were dating. Or siblings. Or he was her bodyguard. Depending on which version of the story you heard, we were everything except what we actually were.
I stayed quiet. Like usual. I minded my business, like usual.
But that morning, when I passed her desk—her empty desk—I hesitated.
Just a second.
Like a glitch in my loop.
Wednesday: I told myself she was just sick. Or tired. Maybe she had some kind of dramatic glitter explosion at home and was recovering from the trauma. I made that joke in my head, and it almost made me smile. Almost.
Instead, I stared blankly at my textbook while two girls in front of me giggled about their latest "like" conversation.
Thursday came, and I thought maybe… maybe she transferred.
The idea hit harder than I expected. Like a book dropped on your foot but you're too cool to scream.
She was loud. Obnoxious. A menace to library order. She called me cloud boy, which is dumb because clouds aren't even that interesting.
But.
She remembered my name.
She dragged me out of my comfort zone and threw me headfirst into chaos like it was a kiddie pool.
She made me laugh.
And now the library felt quiet in a way I didn't like. Too empty. Too still.
Every day, I shelved books like nothing was wrong, and every day, I caught myself remembering stupid things she did. Like how she tripped over her own shoelaces and blamed it on "the universe testing her." Or how she put a sticky note on my bag that said "Caution: Contains 100% brooding mystique."
Or that one time she said I smelled like "books, sad boy cologne and rain."
Whatever that meant.
Friday morning, her desk was still empty.
I didn't even glance at it this time.
Except I did.
Twice.
Okay, five times.