The First Shift In Routine

Chapter 4: The First Shift in Routine

By the fourth week, Tasha no longer felt like a new student.

Not because she fully belonged, but because she had begun recognizing things—where people sat, who always arrived late, who never paid attention unless something truly interested them.

And Emis and Shimy had become the easiest to recognize.

Not because they were loud.

Because they were consistent.

They always arrived together. Always argued lightly about small things. Always moved through the world like a pair that had already figured out its rhythm.

It was the kind of balance that looked unbreakable from the outside.

Tasha noticed that first.

One morning, she arrived early and found Emis already seated in the lecture hall—alone.

That was unusual.

He was looking down at his phone, expression neutral, almost unreadable.

“You’re early,” she said as she sat beside him.

Emis looked up slightly. “So are you.”

“I like quiet mornings.”

He nodded once. “Same.”

A pause settled between them.

Not uncomfortable.

Just unfamiliar.

“You’re alone today,” she said.

Emis glanced at the empty seat beside him. “Shimy is late.”

"That surprises me."

“It shouldn’t."

Tasha smiled faintly. “He seems like someone who’s always talking.”

“He is.”

Another pause.

Then she tilted her head. “But you’re different.”

Emis looked at her. “Different how?”

“You don’t talk unless you have to.”

“That’s accurate.”

“Does it ever get lonely?”

The question came out gently, not intrusive.

Emis didn’t answer immediately.

Not because he didn’t know—

but because he wasn’t used to someone asking him that directly.

“I don’t know,” he said finally.

Tasha accepted the answer the way she always did—without pushing.

Moments later, Shimy burst into the classroom with his usual dramatic energy.

“Okay, I almost died outside,” he announced as he dropped into his seat. “Why is the gate so far from civilization?”

Emis didn’t look at him. “You’re dramatic.”

“I walked at least five kilometers.”

“That’s a lie.”

“It felt like five kilometers.”

Tasha smiled, watching them.

“Good morning,” Shimy said quickly.

“You survived sitting next to him alone?

”Tasha blinked. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“He has a reputation.”

Emis finally looked at him. “I have no reputation.”

“You do,” Shimy insisted. “It’s called ‘emotionally unavailable but somehow always correct.’"

“That’s not a reputation.”

“It is now.”

Tasha let out a quiet laugh.

Emis noticed it again.

That same laugh.

Short. Unplanned. Real.

And Shimy noticed something else—

the way Emis didn’t respond immediately to her laughter like he usually would to anything.

The lecture began, but something small had already shifted.

Not in words.

In attention.

After class, Shimy pulled Emis aside while Tasha walked ahead.

“You were talking to her alone,” Shimy said casually.

“She sat next to me.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Emis looked at him. “Then say what you mean.”

Shimy hesitated—rare for him.

“I just mean… she talks to you differently.”

Emis frowned. “How?”

“Slower,” Shimy said. “Like she’s not in a hurry to leave.”

Emis didn’t respond.

Because he had noticed that too.

Later that day, they ended up walking together—Emis, Shimy, and Tasha.

It happened naturally.

No plan.

No agreement.

Just coincidence turning into pattern.

Shimy was talking, as usual.

“So I’m telling you, if I had one superpower, it would be unlimited energy. No sleep, no fatigue—just pure chaos.”

Tasha glanced at him. “That sounds dangerous.”

“It is. That’s the point.”

Emis added quietly, “You already act like that without powers.”

“Exactly,” Shimy said proudly.

Tasha smiled. “That explains a lot.”

They walked past the sports field where students were practicing.

Shimy pointed. “Emis is actually good at basketball, by the way.”

Tasha looked at Emis. “Really?”

“He exaggerates,” Emis said.

“I don’t,” Shimy insisted.

“He just hates attention.”

“I don’t hate attention.”

“You do.”

“I don’t.”

Tasha interrupted lightly, “You’re arguing again.”

Both stopped.

Then Shimy laughed. “We always are.”

But Tasha didn’t seem bothered.

If anything, she looked like she was beginning to understand their rhythm.

And Emis noticed something else—

Shimy was talking less when she spoke.

Not dramatically.

Just slightly.

Like for the first time, he was listening more than filling silence.

That evening, after they parted ways, Emis stayed behind on campus for a while.

Tasha was already gone.

Shimy had left earlier.

But Emis found himself sitting alone near the empty court, watching nothing in particular.

He didn’t understand why the day felt different.

Nothing had happened.

No confession.

No conflict.

Just small changes in how people looked at each other.

And for the first time, Emis realized something quietly unsettling:

It wasn’t obvious yet.

But something between the three of them had already started moving.

Slowly.

Away from what it used to be.

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