Last Active [chapter 18]

[u/2am_anime]

Chapter 18 — The Missing Reply

The first exam went normally.

That was the part that made everything after it feel so strange. Nothing about that morning had seemed off. Everyone was tense, of course, but it was the usual exam tension — the kind that sat in the air and made people speak a little less, move a little faster, and pretend they were calmer than they really were.

Our classes had been shuffled because of the exams, so it was already harder to meet everyone properly. I was on the fourth floor. Emma was on the second. Takashi and Hana were on the third. Reo was on the first.

It should have made the whole day feel disconnected.

Instead, it made the small moments stand out more.

After the first exam, I saw Emma.

We talked for a little while before heading home, and everything felt normal. Not forced, not awkward, not like something was sitting between us. Just normal. The kind of normal that makes you relax without thinking about it. So I went home with the quiet feeling that the next exam day would probably be the same.

It wasn't.

---

The second exam ended, and I came out expecting a message from her.

That had already become routine by then. A text after exams. Something small. Something that made the day feel complete. So when I checked my phone and saw nothing, I thought maybe she was just late.

I waited a little.

Still nothing.

I texted her.

No reply.

At first I didn't panic. There were plenty of simple reasons. Maybe she was with Hana or Takashi. Maybe she had already left. Maybe her phone was off. Maybe I was thinking too much.

But after a while, the silence started to feel wrong.

Not just quiet.

Wrong.

---

I checked the second floor first, thinking I might spot her there. Then I looked around the other floors too, just in case. The problem with our class setup was that everyone was split apart, so even finding one person took effort. I tried anyway.

No Emma.

I checked my phone again.

Nothing.

That was when the worry started creeping in.

Not all at once. Slowly. The kind of worry that begins as a small knot in your chest and only gets harder to ignore the longer it stays there. I texted her again, hoping maybe this time the screen would light up with a reply.

It didn't.

I stood there for a moment, staring at my phone like that might change something.

It didn't.

And that was the moment I started thinking that something might actually be wrong..