The classroom door slides shut on a Tuesday afternoon, and Takumi freezes mid-step. Haimiya stands alone in the hallway, hair shadowing half her face, eyes slicing sideways to register his presence without moving her head. She does not speak. She does not smile. She just looks at him, and the look says *move along* with the quiet authority of a storm cloud. Every student at Sakuragaoka High knows the rumors. Haimiya is unapproachable. Haimiya is terrifying. Haimiya could probably kill you with a glare and the coroner would rule it natural causes.

Then she opens her mouth to cough, and what falls out instead is a stuttered, flustered, deeply uncool attempt at small talk that derails itself before it reaches the second syllable. She is not scary. She is mortified. The death stare was panic. The menacing silence was her brain buffering. Takumi, who has spent his whole high school career dodging eye contact with her, suddenly finds himself drawn into conversations she cannot finish, encounters where her trembling fingers give away everything her face refuses to, and moments where she reminds him more of a startled kitten than a horror-movie specter. Somewhere between the cafeteria and the rooftop, scary stops meaning frightening and starts meaning something entirely different.

Also known as: Haimiya Senpai wa Kowai kedo Kawaii, 拝宮先輩は怖いけどかわいい, Senpai Is Scary but Cute.