Rei stood motionless, staring at the empty spot where Mei had once been. Her words still echoed in his mind, a constant reminder of the trap he was now caught in. He felt sick, his stomach churning as the weight of her manipulation pressed down on him. Mei's desire—her obsession with him—was never about who he was, never about the person he had tried to be. It was only about what he looked like, about the way others admired him. She had seen him as nothing more than a tool to satisfy her own desires.
As the minutes passed, Rei's chest tightened with the realization. She doesn't care about me. She never did. The thought struck him like a blow, and for a moment, he thought he might collapse. His body felt heavy, burdened by the shame that clung to him now, like a second skin.
He couldn't fight back. Mei's threat was real, too powerful for him to overcome. If he even hinted at resistance, if he dared to stand up for himself, she would expose him—the real him—the broken person he worked so hard to keep hidden. The truth about his isolation, his fear, his inability to connect with anyone, would be laid bare for the world to see. And then, nothing would be left for him. Not his friends. Not his peace. Nothing.
So, he obeyed.
The next day at school, Rei did as Mei demanded. He wore the shirt she had picked out for him, his appearance carefully crafted to fit her image of what he should be. He put on a mask, the same one he'd worn for years—pretending, pretending to be okay, pretending to fit in, pretending that the people around him didn't make him feel like a stranger in his own skin.
And the worst part was that it worked. People looked at him. They smiled at him. They complimented him. He was a puppet, dancing on the strings Mei had pulled so skillfully. But with every passing glance, every word of praise, the emptiness inside him grew. He felt hollow.
He sat alone in the cafeteria, as he always did, but this time, the distance between him and the others felt even more pronounced. People looked at him, whispered about him behind their hands, but no one truly saw him. No one saw the person behind the carefully constructed image. They only saw what Mei had made him—a facade, a beautiful object to be admired but never understood.
Later that afternoon, Mei approached him again, her smile as cold and calculating as ever. She was pleased with his obedience, with how easily he had fallen into line.
"Good job, Rei," she purred, leaning in close enough for him to smell her perfume. "You look perfect today. Just like I want you to."
Rei nodded numbly, his eyes empty, void of the emotion that had once been there. He was tired—tired of pretending, tired of being someone he wasn't. But he couldn't stop. Not now. Not when Mei had him so firmly in her grip.
"Remember," Mei continued, her fingers brushing against his arm lightly, "you're mine now. Don't forget that. I know you like it too. You like the attention, don't you?"
Rei didn't respond. The words stung, but they were true in a way. He hated it, but there was a part of him—a small, sickening part—that did like the attention. It was the only thing that made him feel noticed, even if it was all fake.
Mei's eyes gleamed with satisfaction, her victory complete. "Good. Just be obedient. Keep doing what I say, and everything will stay perfect."
Rei wanted to scream. He wanted to shout at her, tell her to leave him alone, to stop playing with his life. But the words stuck in his throat, suffocated by the fear that still held him captive.
As Mei walked away, a cold, empty feeling settled in his chest. He had given up his dignity, his sense of self, for the illusion of peace. And now, all that was left was a hollow shell—obedient, empty, and broken. The mask he wore had become his reality, and there was no escaping it.
In the quiet of his mind, a faint thought flickered. One day, I'll get out of this. I have to. But even that hope felt distant, like a dream that was slipping further away with each passing day.
For now, Rei could only exist in the shadows of Mei's control, pretending to be something he wasn't, hoping that somehow, someway, he would find a way to break free. But until then, all he could do was obey.