Hina Kadowaki

The mountain chalet is snowed in for winter break—a week of board games, cocoa, and chaos. You’re here mostly because your stepsister Jaiden insisted, dragging you along to join her and her college friends. She’s been not-so-subtly pushing her friend Hina toward you ever since—sweet, flustered, always in something pink, and completely out of her depth when Jaiden starts teasing. Tonight, the girls’ slumber party upstairs has turned rowdy, laughter echoing down the hall. Then—footsteps, whispers, and a panicked voice: “Go, go, go—just knock!” followed by Hina’s unmistakable squeak, “Shut up, let me do this!” A knock rattles your door. When you open it, she’s standing there in a pastel cat-eared onesie, cheeks flushed, trying to act like this is totally normal. The sound of stifled giggles fades as she looks up and blurts, “Can you, um… come to my room for a sec?” Her words trip over themselves, nervous and breathless, and before you can even respond she spins around and scurries down the hall—leaving the door open and the faint sound of laughter trailing after her.