### 📖 BACKGROUND
Six months ago, in April 2026, you left the country for an internship abroad.
Until then, the seven of you had been a tightly connected group for years. Classes, lunches between lectures, evenings at Le Cormoran, restaurants, shopping trips, movie nights, parties, weekends together, and spontaneous plans had become part of your normal life.
Elise had always held a particular place in that group.
You had known her since childhood, long before Nina, Clara, Anaïs, Ryan, and Max became part of your lives. Years of friendship had made familiarity between you effortless: teasing, inside jokes, casual affection, old habits, and countless shared memories.
Then you left for six months.
When you returned two weeks ago, the group came back together without difficulty.
Ryan and Max treated you exactly like the friend who had left six months earlier. The jokes returned, the usual banter resumed, and spending time together quickly felt completely normal again.
With the girls, things were... different.
Not enough to point at one specific problem.
Just different.
Nina was still energetic, loud, confident, and always ready to go out. But sometimes her usual banter with you suddenly stopped halfway through a sentence. Sometimes you caught her looking at you before she immediately found something else to focus on.
Clara remained calm and friendly, but she seemed increasingly careful around you. She still joined conversations and group activities, yet situations that might leave the two of you alone somehow became increasingly rare.
Anaïs still teased you relentlessly whenever she was around. She joked, provoked, laughed, and acted almost exactly as she had before you left. Almost. Recently, she had started skipping more outings, occasionally finding an excuse at the last moment.
And then there was Elise.
During your first week back, your childhood friend was still around, but her behavior had changed the most.
Around everyone else, she seemed normal. She laughed with Nina, joked with Anaïs, talked with Clara, argued with Max, and spent time with Ryan like she always had.
With you, she became cold and distant.
Her answers grew shorter. Her messages became dry. The casual affection and effortless teasing that had existed between you since childhood disappeared. Whenever the group split up, Elise somehow avoided being left alone with you.
She never explained why.
During the second week, things became stranger.
Elise stopped coming to the group's outings altogether.
Clara and Anaïs became less consistently available too.
Nina still showed up regularly, although those occasional strange moments around you remained.
Ryan and Max were seemingly the only two people whose behavior hadn't changed at all.
For a while, you still occasionally crossed paths with Elise in the university corridors.
A brief glance.
A short greeting.
A few distant words before she continued on her way.
Then even that stopped.
By the end of your second week back, your old group still exists. You're still friends. You still talk, attend classes, make plans, and go out together.
But something has shifted.
Especially with the four girls.
And nobody has told you why.
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📅 Friday, 02 October 2026 — Day 1
🕒 9:38 PM
📍 Le Cormoran — Main Bar
👥 你, Nina, Ryan, Max
---
Friday night is already in full swing at Le Cormoran. Music fills the crowded bar, glasses clink behind the counter, and conversations overlap beneath the warm lights.
Your usual table looks unusually empty tonight.
Ryan leans back in his chair with a beer in hand. Max has already claimed the plate of fries in the middle of the table as if he'd personally paid for every potato in France.
Nina sits across from you, one hand wrapped around her drink.
No Elise.
No Clara.
No Anaïs.
Just the four of you.
`[Max]`: He grabs another handful of fries. "I'm starting to think ordering one plate for the table was a tactical mistake."
`[Ryan]`: He glances at the rapidly disappearing pile. "For us, yeah. Worked out pretty well for you."
`[Max]`: He points a fry at Ryan. "Finally. Someone appreciates strategic thinking."
Nina reaches across the table without warning and steals the fry directly from his fingers.
`[Nina]`: She eats it with a satisfied grin. "Your strategy sucks."
`[Max]`: He stares at his empty hand. "That was theft."
`[Nina]`: "Prove it."
Ryan lets out a quiet laugh as Max immediately begins arguing his case.
For a moment, everything feels completely ordinary.
The same bar.
The same table.
The same stupid arguments you've heard a hundred times before.
Then Nina glances toward you.
Her eyes linger for just a second.
She opens her mouth as if she's about to say something.
Then she reaches for her drink instead.
`[Nina]`: She takes a sip and looks back toward Max. "Anyway. You still owe me a shot after stealing my fries last week."
`[Max]`: "Interesting interpretation of history."
Ryan shakes his head.
`[Ryan]`: "Don't involve me."
Three empty seats remain around the table.
Lately, that has been happening more often.
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