The teacher's lounge wasn't supposed to feel like a battlefield.

But the second Rika stepped through the door, tray of tea balanced in her hands, it did.

Because Saki Hoshino was already there.

She sat by the window, sunlight catching in her hair, her blouse neat, her skirt pressed, her smile polite as she stacked a pile of history textbooks. Every other teacher in the room buzzed around her with warm greetings, curious questions, quick compliments. She looked every bit the new hire, calm and radiant.

But when her eyes lifted!

The tray in Rika's hands nearly slipped.

Her breath stopped. Her pulse spiked.

Saki froze, too. Just for a second. Her fingers curled tight against the book cover before she smoothed it out, masking the twitch with a practiced ease.

The room's chatter didn't notice. But Renji, standing just inside the door with me, sure as hell did.

The air thickened, silent in the space between the two women.

Rika's lips parted. One word caught in her throat, sharp and trembling.

"…Saki?"

Saki's smile softened, small, faint, the kind that said a thousand things and none of them safe.

"Rika-sensei."

The System purred in my skull, smug and hungry:

> [Mmm, delicious. Two women bound by the same wound, seeing each other alive when they shouldn't be. Watch closely, Renji. This isn't just a reunion. It's a storm waiting to break.]

My fists tightened at my sides.

Because in that fragile, electric silence, I knew one thing!

Whatever happened next was going to change everything.

The lounge kept buzzing, cups clinking, papers shuffling, teachers laughing too loud at jokes that weren't funny.

But none of it mattered.

Not to Rika. Not to Saki.

Their eyes locked across the room, and the years, the rooftop, the black water, the screaming shadows, all crashed back into the silence between them.

Rika set the tray down on the counter too hard, the porcelain rattling.

Her hand wouldn't stop shaking.

Saki didn't move at first. She simply tilted her head, her lips curved in a polite, teacherly smile that wasn't for anyone else in the room.

It was for Rika.

"It's been a while," Saki said, her voice soft enough that only Rika and I could hear over the chatter. Smooth. Too smooth. Like she'd been rehearsing.

Rika's throat worked around words that wouldn't come. Her knuckles whitened against the edge of the counter. "…You—"

"Alive?" Saki's smile widened just a fraction. Her eyes gleamed behind her glasses. "Looks that way, doesn't it?"

The air seemed to thin. My lungs tightened.

The System purred, practically moaning:

> [Mmm, look at her play it. That's not a ghost, Renji. That's a woman remade. She remembers everything—and she's savoring the shock. Two women, two loves, both tangled up in you. Delicious.]

Rika's composure cracked, her voice spilling low and rough. "How…?"

Saki didn't answer. Not yet. She rose from her chair, sliding the stack of textbooks aside, moving with a calm grace that only made it worse.

Every other teacher kept on chatting, completely blind to the gravity breaking open in that little corner.

And when Saki finally stopped in front of Rika, the two of them barely an arm's length apart, she leaned in. Just enough. Just close enough.

Her whisper brushed Rika's ear.

"Didn't I tell you… I'd be back?"

---

Rika froze. Her lips parted, but no words came out. Her whole body leaned back as if Saki's whisper had pushed her, not just her voice.

The room blurred with chatter, teachers gossiping, coffee machines hissing. Nobody noticed the quake happening right in front of them.

I did.

I wasn't letting this play out like some horror flick where the ghost keeps winning.

I stood, the chair legs scraping loud against the floor. Heads turned. Rika snapped toward me like a drowning woman spotting land.

Saki turned too. And when her eyes landed on me, sharp, glinting, smug. I swore her smile curled just a little deeper.

I walked up, planting myself between them, one hand steadying Rika's shoulder. She felt cold. Shaken.

"What the hell is going on here?" My voice cut harder than I planned, but screw it.

Saki looked at me, unblinking, like I was the punchline she'd been waiting for.

"Renji Sakamoto," she said smoothly, like she was savoring the syllables. "You've grown."

My chest tightened. She knew me. She shouldn't know me.

The System chimed in, sultry and hungry:

> [Oh, she knows more than you think. She's not just back, Renji. She's rewritten. This is no reunion… this is a power play.]

Rika's hand caught my wrist, trembling. "Renji… don't."

But it was too late.

I locked eyes with Saki, my jaw tight.

"Stop playing games. Why are you here?"

For the first time, the smile slipped. Barely. But enough.

And when she answered, her voice was velvet over steel.

"Because I was promised a second chance."

"A second chance?" I echoed.

Saki's smile deepened, like I'd stumbled onto the edge of her secret.

Her gaze drifted past me to Rika. Not cruel this time. Softer. Almost tender. "You believed in me, didn't you, sensei? Even when no one else could."

Rika's lips parted, breath catching. She didn't deny it. Couldn't. That rooftop moment, the hug, the goodbye was written in her eyes now.

"I…" Rika swallowed hard. "I held you. And then you were gone. I thought—"

"I know." Saki's voice gentled, for once stripped of its teasing armor. "But I promised I'd be back."

Silence stretched, heavy with things unspoken. Rika's hand trembled against her chest, and for the first time since this whole nightmare started, she looked less like a teacher and more like a woman caught between grief and miracle.

Then Saki's eyes snapped back to me, sharp, daring. "And as for you, Renji…" She stepped closer, close enough to make my pulse spike. "You're the reason I'm here at all."

The System's voice purred, sultry, flirty.

> [Ooooh, I like her. She's got that mix of sweetness and secrets. Careful, Renji… she's already dripping into your world.]

I ignored it, but my chest tightened.

"…Then tell me why. Tell me how."

Saki only smiled. That same smile she wore before fading from my arms. A promise. A threat. A secret.

"Not yet," she whispered. "But soon."

And then she turned, walking away with heels clicking softly on the tile. Rika reached out faintly, like she wanted to stop her, but didn't. Couldn't.

I caught the words Rika murmured under her breath, soft enough only I could hear.

"She… she really did come back."

---

The door clicked shut behind Saki, leaving the classroom hushed. Dust motes drifted in the late-afternoon light, and for once, I couldn't hear the usual chaos of the hallway. Just silence.

Rika hadn't moved. She was still staring at the door, her hand hovering near her chest, as if touching the phantom of Saki's hug all over again.

"Sensei…" I said carefully.

Her head jerked slightly, eyes snapping to me. They were glassy, too raw for the woman who usually carried herself like steel wrapped in silk.

"She was here," she whispered, voice trembling. "Renji, she was really here."

I swallowed. "Yeah."

Rika pressed her lips together, like she wanted to believe it fully but couldn't. She sank into the nearest desk, shoulders shaking just once before she steadied them.

"I thought… maybe I imagined it that night. The rooftop. The way she smiled, the way she…" Her voice broke for half a second. "…the way she hugged me."

I didn't move closer. Didn't need to. The emotion in her voice was enough to cut through me.

"You didn't imagine it," I said. "I held her, too. I felt her vanish."

Rika looked up at me then, eyes sharp but wet. "Then how?"

That was the question, wasn't it? The one eating me alive.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But she's not the same. She knows more than she should."

Rika drew in a shaky breath. "She looked at me, Renji. Not like a stranger. Not like a student. Like someone who… remembered. All of it."

I clenched my fists under the desk. The System's voice oozed into my ear, smug and almost mocking.

> [Mmm, sweet reunion. Careful, soldier-boy. The more hearts you touch, the messier this web becomes.]

I ignored it, focusing on Rika.

Her gaze softened, but only slightly. "Renji… promise me something."

I tilted my head. "What?"

"Don't let her hurt you." The words came out faster than she meant them to, desperate, protective. "Whatever she's become, whatever miracle this is… I couldn't stand watching you break."

For a moment, it wasn't teacher to student. It wasn't system to host. It was just Rika. Woman to man.

I forced a smirk, though it barely reached my eyes. "Don't worry, sensei. I'm too stubborn to break."

Her lips curved faintly, but the worry didn't leave her face.

The bell rang then, sharp and shrill, shattering the fragile moment. Rika stood quickly, gathering her things like she needed the movement to keep herself from unraveling.

"Go on," she said softly. "Kai will be waiting. We'll… talk more later."

I nodded, though my chest felt heavier than before.

Because no matter how much Rika tried to stay composed, I saw it.

Hope.

And fear.

Both aimed at Saki Hoshino.....

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