When the exam ended, the waiting room door opened again.
"You may leave. Once you're outside, keep your voices down, and don't gather in the hallway to discuss anything. The other classes are still taking their exams."
"Understood..."
The Class A students tiptoed out.
Outside the waiting room, the hallway was very quiet.
The first few Class A students to emerge had plenty they wanted to talk about, but when they saw Sakamoto Suguru watching behind them and remembered the students from other classes still suffering through their exams, they could only swallow the discussions already on the tips of their tongues.
They gestured to one another to say, "Let's talk downstairs," then left in small groups with light steps.
Within ten minutes, most of Class A had left.
The hallway grew emptier until only a handful of students remained, still packing their things or waiting for someone.
Kazehara Tetsu was in no hurry to leave.
He leaned beside a hallway window, looking down at the Sports Field.
Behind him came the faint sound of a cane tapping the floor.
One tap, then another, at an unhurried pace, each distinctly audible in the quiet hallway.
Kazehara Tetsu did not turn around, but he already knew who it was.
At This School, there was only one person who walked with that rhythm and would go out of her way to approach him after an exam.
"Things went very smoothly today."
Sakayanagi Arisu's voice came from a short distance beside him, carrying a faint smile.
Kazehara Tetsu turned his head.
She approached slowly and stopped at the window beside him, tilting her head slightly as she, too, looked down at the Sports Field. Her expression was composed, as though the exam that had kept countless students on edge for three weeks had