Scarlet Strings

  Yuki was warned about Tsukihana Academy before he ever stepped through its towering iron gates. They called it the School of Secrets, a place where elite students thrived and troubled ones disappeared. Nestled deep in a mist-wrapped forest, the academy looked more like a gothic cathedral than a school. Crimson roses bloomed year-round along the black brick walls, and every hallway felt like a whisper away from becoming a nightmare.

  But Yuki wanted a new beginning—somewhere to reinvent himself, where no one knew his name or his past. He didn’t expect to catch anyone’s attention, much less his.

  Seiji.

  He was quiet, always watching, always alone. His uniform was always pristine, shoes spotless, hair slightly tousled in a way that looked too perfect to be accidental. He had a calm, eerie beauty about him, like an antique doll that moved when no one was looking. The first time their eyes met in the courtyard, something inside Yuki twitched. Seiji smiled—not big, just enough to show he’d been waiting.

  That same night, Yuki found a letter beneath his pillow.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  You looked at me today. I’ve never felt this alive. Don’t ever look at them again.

  They don’t deserve your eyes. Only I do.

  Yuki laughed it off, chalking it up to a weird prank. But more notes came. Always handwritten, the paper soft and scented faintly of roses and something… metallic. As the days passed, things grew stranger. One girl, Reina, who had gotten a bit too close to Yuki during fencing practice, was found unconscious in the music room with long scratches down her back. “Wild animal,” they said. No one believed it.

  Then another student—a boy who had asked Yuki to the winter festival—just vanished. His dorm was cleared out overnight. No announcement. No memorial. Like he never existed.

  Yuki started to piece it together. The notes. The accidents. The way Seiji’s gaze never wavered. He confronted him one night under the red spider lilies, where the petals glowed faintly in the moonlight like they were stained with blood.

  “Was it you?” Yuki whispered, clutching one of the letters. “Are you doing this to me?”

  Seiji stepped closer. His voice was soft and honey-sweet, but underneath was something rotten.

  “I didn’t do anything to you, Yuki,” he said. “I’m doing it for you. They were taking your light. I had to snuff them out.”

  Yuki’s blood ran cold. “You’re insane.”

  Seiji tilted his head, smiling wider. “If loving you means being insane, then yes. I’ve lost my mind. And soon… so will you.”

  He pulled something from his coat. Not a weapon. A ribbon—scarlet, frayed at the ends. It pulsed faintly in the darkness.

  “Welcome to the game, Yuki,” he whispered. “The real Tsukihana. You belong to me now. And in this academy… love is the deadliest curse of all.”