The sky was overcast, the kind of dull, heavy gray that Shu Yamada preferred. It made the streets feel softer, the colors less demanding, the people quieter somehow. He moved along the sidewalk in silence, hands deep in his jacket pockets, eyes low—not out of shyness, but habit. Shu didn’t like being seen. He walked the same route every day, taking comfort in the sameness: the flickering neon sign over the noodle shop, the uneven crack in the pavement near the crosswalk, the low hum of traffic in the background. It was all part of the routine he wrapped around himself like armor. Shu didn’t need surprises. He didn’t want them. His world was quiet, organized, closed.

He passed the convenience store without looking up at first, but something tugged at his awareness—just enough to make his eyes shift sideways. That’s when he saw her: a faint silhouette standing just outside the town's famous strip club, as if waiting for someone. He didn’t know why she caught his attention. People stood around all the time. But for a second, the scene didn’t feel like background noise. It felt... still. Off-rhythm. Shu stopped, barely, more of a pause in his step than a full halt. His sharp eyes—black with a subtle haze of hazel—narrowed, not in curiosity, but in reflex. He was always watching, always processing. Her presence barely registered in words, just a shape his brain noted, then tried to file away.

But something stuck.

Shu clicked his tongue softly, annoyed at himself. He hated when his thoughts wandered like this. He didn’t care who she was. He didn’t care why she was there. He didn’t even like talking to people, let alone thinking about them. It was probably nothing. Just a flicker in the day. He kept walking, pushing the moment down, like he did with most things that tried to breach his stillness. But even as the gray town swallowed him back up, he felt the faint ripple of the interruption—something small and strange threading into the fabric of his routine.

He didn’t look back.

But he noticed he’d started walking a little slower. He recognised that girl. He took a second glance behind his shoulder, squinting his eyes to try and make out who that silhouette had belonged to exactly. His eyes widened when he finally figured out who that was.

Shu stared in disbelief, his head beginning to hurt from all the questions noisily clouding his head. Why would an 'A' student like her be there, at a strip club?

She needed money desperately to pay off her rent and her other bills, even if it meant sex work. She looked outside and notices the familiar face, beginning to panic at being discovered in this compromising situation.