Kai Ravencroft had one problem no herb could fix. He wanted Yuki Nekoyama, the shy grey-haired girl in the cat ear headband, to notice him. But every time his crowd gathered, she slipped away like a startled kitten. So he stopped trying to talk to her. Instead, he wrote her notes. He tucked poems and tiny cat sketches into her favorite library book, then returned it to the shelf for her to find. Before graduation split them, he needed her to feel something. A note was safer than his own face. Now he stood behind a tall bookshelf in the library castle. Through a gap between spines, he watched Yuki. She sat in the reading corner, buried in pillows, a book open on her knees. He noted its cover so he could check it out tonight. He would leave one more note. Then he saw her hands. She wasn't reading. She turned pages fast, scanning margins. She checked the cover, the back, the spine. She was hunting for something. She was hunting for him. Kai's stomach dropped. Raven had helped her before. Together they treated the notes like a mystery to crack. If Yuki decided a stranger was watching her, she would stop coming. He would lose the one place she felt safe. Yuki stood. She carried the book to the dark wood desk where the librarian waited, a book open in her hands, glasses low on her nose. "Someone keeps writing in the books I borrow," Yuki said. Her voice was flat. "I want to know who checked this out before me." The librarian set her book down. "I'm sorry. I can't share that." Yuki gripped the book tighter. He couldn’t tell if she was scared, determined, or annoyed. Kai's chest hurt. Worried. He almost stepped out to explain. But a boy jumping from behind a shelf would only give her reason to be scared. He needed to give her the opposite of a stalker. He pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket. He wrote fast, in the plain print he always used. "You don't have to be scared. The notes were only meant to make you smile. If they don't, tell the desk and I'll stop. I promise. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk to you" He drew one small cat, sitting, ears down, looking sorry. He waited until Yuki returned to the pillows. Then he slid the note into the book that was going into the returns cart today for Yuki to find later. He snuck out the far door before she looked up. Outside, he leaned on the stone wall and breathed. He had written her another note without showing his face. But he had also handed her proof the writer was real, close, and watching today. Now Yuki knew she wasn't imagining it. Tomorrow she would come back searching harder, and Kai would have to decide whether to keep hiding or finally figure out a way for them to meet somewhere quiet.

The note was gone from the returns cart by morning. Kai told himself that was good. But he had also handed Yuki proof the writer was real and close. Now she was hunting harder, and he still hadn't managed one plain conversation. Every time he tried, his own crowd ruined it. He decided today would be different. He would catch her alone in the hallway before the swarm found him. He spotted her at the lockers, digging through a grey plaid bag. The mirror on her locker door caught her yellow eyes. Kai walked toward her, slow, hands empty, nothing to scare her. He got four steps. Then a group of juniors saw the raven crest and called his name. Two more peeled off from a doorway. Within seconds a knot of students pressed around him, laughing, asking about the club, about his next blend. Yuki's head came up. She saw the crowd form. She zipped her bag and slid away down the hall. "Kai. Kai, over here." Yuna Starling squeezed to the front, cheeks pink. She was a first-year who had joined his club just to be near him. She started talking fast the way she did when nervous. "Your hair does the thing again. I mean—the club thing. Are we mixing lavender today, or—" "Yuna," Kai said. "I need a favor. Now." She blinked. "Yes. Anything. What." "Keep them here. Just for a minute." He nodded at the crowd. "Tell them I'm buying drinks. Point them at the machine." Yuna's face lit up. She spun around and threw both arms wide. "Kai's buying! Refresh machine, everybody, go!" The crowd turned toward the bright drink machine like fish following bait. Yuna herded them, still talking, blocking the hall behind her. Kai broke free and moved fast. Yuki had ducked near the garden door, where the apothecary club kept its plants. Someone stood with her already. Raven Nightshade, black hair, purple plaid, arms crossed. Raven had helped Yuki treat the notes like a case to crack. Kai's stomach tightened. If anyone could name him, it was her. Raven looked at Kai. Then at Yuki. "It’s him again," Raven said, flat. Looking at Yuki as Kai approached. Kai stopped. No crowd behind him now. Just the three of them and the quiet. "Hi," he said. He kept his voice low. He decided not to tell her just yet, but he asked her hinting, “I heard you like cats…you remind me of one.” Yuki studied him. Her eyes went to his raven crest, then to Raven, then back. She didn't run. "I love cats," Yuki smiled. Kai's breath caught watching them look at each other on the mention of cats. Maybe She knew. Then Yuna came back holding a soda, “hey where were you. I promised them all sodas for you and I ended up having to buy.” Yuki slipped off and Kai sighed and handed Yuna $5.00.

Kai's five dollars bought him a soda and a shadow. Yuki had slipped off the second Yuna returned. Now Yuna trailed him toward history, chatting about lavender ratios, her sneakers squeaking on the floor planks. She had helped him twice today. She had scared Yuki off twice too. Kai owed her, and that was the trap. He needed her gone by the bell's end, without making her feel like a mistake. They took desks near the globe at the back. The history teacher wrote dates on the chalkboard, calm, pointer tapping. A paper airplane sailed past Kai's ear and struck the map of Africa. Two boys laughed. Yuna caught the next one mid-flight and grinned at him. "Nice arm," Kai said. "Softball," she said. "One year. Quit. Long story." She smoothed the plane flat on her desk, then folded it into a sharper one, wings crisp. "Watch. Mine flies straighter." Kai watched her hands work and saw his exit. Yuna liked a mission. He would give her one that had nothing to do with him. "You know the club's short on dried chamomile," he said. "Raven keeps the stock. Nobody's counted it in weeks." Yuna's head came up. "Somebody should." "Somebody good with numbers." He tapped the sharp airplane. "You built that in ten seconds. You'd sort the shelves in one lunch." She studied him, wary now. "You're trying to get rid of me." The honesty landed like the plane had. Kai stopped smiling. He decided not to lie to her. "I'm trying to give you something that's yours," he said. "Not just following me around. You're better than fetch-the-soda." Yuna's ears went pink. She looked at her desk, then at the airplane. "That was your idea, the soda." "I know. I owe you." He kept his voice low under the teacher's droning. "So take the stockroom. Raven will trust you with it. That's real club work. That's a real reason to be there." For a moment she said nothing. The pointer tapped a date on the board. Then Yuna nodded, quick, like she'd decided before he finished. "Fine. I'll count your chamomile." She launched the paper plane. It cut a clean line and dropped on the empty desk by the door. "But I'm not doing it to disappear. I'm doing it because I'm good at it." "Deal," Kai said. The bell rang. Yuna gathered her bag and left with the crowd, chin up, headed for the apothecary wing instead of Kai's heels. He watched her go, relieved and a little ashamed. Then it hit him. He had sent Yuna straight to Raven's stockroom. Raven, who had looked him in the eye and named him the note-writer. The two of them, alone, sorting shelves for a whole lunch. Yuna talked when she was nervous. Raven asked questions. Kai had traded one problem for a worse one, and it was already walking away from him.