A Little Test

At nine in the morning, the Hot Spring Inn was still shrouded in a thin layer of mist when the hum of a bus broke the courtyard's silence.

The eight members of the First Small Group had packed up early and gathered punctually outside the inn to board the bus.

Everyone wore a hint of anticipation for the day's trip into the city, along with the lingering laziness of not being fully awake.

The bus steadily pulled away from the mountain inn and slowly descended along the winding mountain road.

Outside the window, the scenery gradually shifted from endless snow-covered mountains to suburban homes and streets. The white of snow slowly faded, while the bustle of city life grew stronger.

The bus was not particularly noisy. Kushida Kikyo and Ichinose Honami huddled together, quietly browsing guides to the city on their phones and occasionally chatting with soft laughter. Yamashita Saki sat beside them, listening quietly and nodding from time to time.

Kazehara Tetsu and Sakayanagi Arisu sat side by side in the back row without speaking. One watched the streets flashing past outside, while the other lightly spun the pom-pom on her glove around her fingertips, each lost in their own thoughts.

The fifty-minute ride was neither too long nor too short, just enough for everyone to completely shake off their half-asleep state.

When the bus pulled smoothly into the large bus terminal beside Sapporo Station, it was exactly 9:50.

Sapporo was at its liveliest in the morning.

In front of the station, hurried office workers and backpack-wearing tourists mingled with the endless stream of cars, forming the distinctive tide of a bustling city morning.

After everyone got off the bus in turn, a supervising teacher came over and handed each Small Group a thin sightseeing booklet.

The booklet had