The Intertwined Awareness

A Message Left Behind

The words stared back at her from the page.

"You finally noticed."

Yuer's breath hitched. Her fingers tightened around the notebook.

She hadn't written this.

At least—not her.

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stay calm, but the last few days played on a loop in her mind—

The shifting way she held her pen. The handwriting that looked like hers but wasn't quite. The sensation that someone else was there.

Her pulse pounded in her ears.

"Who are you?"

She scrawled the question onto the page, holding her breath as if expecting an answer.

Seconds passed.

Nothing.

She sighed, shaking her head, ready to close the notebook when—

Her left hand moved on its own.

Yuer watched, frozen, as the pen scratched out a response in perfect, fluid strokes.

"Takeda Ryūsei."

Her breath caught in her throat.

That name—she had never heard it before.

Subtle Changes

She turned the pages of her schoolwork, scanning over the handwriting.

Some of it looked… off.

Some letters were sharper, written with a different slant. Too precise, too practiced.

And then there were the moments—the small, unfamiliar choices.

Like when she normally walked to the canteen with Cher but had, for some reason, stayed in class instead. Or how, at tutoring the night before, she had chosen a different seat, without even thinking about it.

She hadn't even noticed these things at first.

But now?

Now she couldn't unsee them.

The Growing Awareness

"Yuer."

She looked up from her untouched food. Cher was watching her, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.

"You've been weird lately."

Yuer forced a laugh. "Hah? What do you mean?"

Cher tapped her drink against the table. "You're spacing out all the time. And your handwriting's changed. And today? You let Zoey go to the bathroom alone. Since when do you let her go alone?"

Yuer's stomach twisted.

Cher wasn't just noticing one thing. She was picking up on everything.

Yuer swallowed, gripping her spoon. "You're imagining things."

Cher didn't look convinced.

The Written Exchange

That night, Yuer sat at her desk, notebook open in front of her.

She hesitated before writing.

"Takeda Ryūsei, why are you in my body?"

Seconds ticked by.

Then, slowly, her hand moved on its own.

"...I wish I knew."

Yuer's heart pounded in her chest.

This wasn't just a feeling anymore.

It was real.

She wasn't alone.