[Year: 2016 | Ren: 10 y/o | Grade 5]
Ren Akihara was laughing.
Not loudly. Not playfully.
But with a softness that unsettled anyone who saw it.
In the middle of lunch break, while his classmates ran around the courtyard, Ren sat alone under the camphor tree, holding a book that wasn't in the school library catalog.
Hinata Sakamoto approached him cautiously. "What are you reading?"
Ren closed the book halfway. "A story about a child who thought the world was fake."
"Is it fiction?"
"Maybe," he replied. "Maybe not."
Hinata didn't know how to respond. But then, she noticed the strange glint in his eyes. There was something off—like Ren was watching more than just her. Like he was studying everything.
Haruto called from the distance. "Ren! Soccer!"
Ren looked up. "You go ahead. I'm thinking."
Hinata tilted her head. "About what?"
Ren closed the book and stood.
"If the world is fake... then who's real?"
Hinata blinked. "What?"
He smiled.
Not a child's smile.
That night, Haruto told their mother.
"Ren was... weird today."
Ayaka looked up from her sewing. "Weird how?"
"He said something like, if the world is fake, then who's real. It didn't sound like a joke."
Ayaka paused. The needle in her hand trembled slightly.
She remembered when Ren first came to their home. The blankness in his eyes. The politeness. The silence.
But this?
This was different.
That night, Ayaka Akihara stayed awake longer than usual.
Watching the boy sleeping in the room across the hall.