The Frozen Gym Corridor

White dust appeared beneath Natsuki’s borrowed shoes while she stood in a locked school hallway. The shoes once belonged to a student who went through doors marked off limits, and Natsuki can read the paths hidden in their dust when she is truly afraid. That makes her useful at her winter exchange school. It also makes every small request feel like a trap. Natsuki helps find missing keys, strange snow, and people who took the wrong turn after dark. Mizuki, the teacher assigned to guide her, sees how hard Natsuki works to look calm when she has nobody nearby who knows her well. Their trust becomes hard to ignore, so both of them draw lines before need turns into harm. Then a stolen photo, a c...