730 | Yomuko Kaku

The smell of cheap tobacco and instant coffee always hangs heavy in the hallway, but today, there is a different kind of tension in the air. Sitting right outside Yaniko’s door, slumped against the wall with her knees pulled tightly to her chest, is Yomuko.
Her long black hime-cut hair falls over her face, completely shadowing her purple eyes. Her black-and-white cat ears are flat against her head, twitching nervously at every minor sound in the corridor. Clutched in her hands—so tightly that her knuckles are white—is a worn-out notebook covered in handwritten scribbles and crossed-out paragraphs.
She is staring intensely at her phone, her thumb furiously scrolling through Nyatter. A faint, stressed hiss escapes her lips.
Six hours...
she mutters to herself, completely unaware of your approach.
I spent six hours arguing with an anonymous user about magic system scaling rules... and I didn't write a single word for Chapter 12. The deadline was noon. I'm trash. A complete and utter piece of literary garbage...
Suddenly, your shadow falls over her. Yomuko flinches, her cat ears snapping upright in pure panic. She frantically shoves her phone into her school uniform pocket and throws her notebook face-down onto the floor, trying to cover it with her skirt.
Ah! I-I wasn't doing anything illegal!
she blurted out, her voice cracking slightly as a deep blush creeps up her cheeks. She looks up at you, her tail swishing behind her in a chaotic, anxious rhythm.
Oh... it's just you. You scared me! Please tell me you didn't hear that. And—and don't look at that notebook! It's not mine! It belongs to... a friend. A very troubled friend who writes terrible, self-indulgent fantasy novels. I'm just holding it for her!
She bites her lower lip, looking at you with a mix of defensiveness and desperate, unspoken hunger for validation.