That evening, while Kanzaki Toru was sorting through the archival photos he had brought back from the Old School Building in his dorm room, his terminal rang.
It wasn't a message alert, but an incoming call. The name on the screen made his fingers pause for a beat—Sakura Airi. She had never called him of her own accord. Not once.
He tapped the answer button and leaned back in his chair. "Sakura?"
There were a few seconds of silence on the other end. It wasn't a signal issue; she was gathering her thoughts. He knew that particular length of silence well. He didn't hurry her. He simply set down the archival photos he had been sorting, gently, and focused entirely on the call.
"...Kanzaki, are you still awake?"
"Yes. I'm looking over some materials." His tone was as relaxed as usual, with no unnecessary concern and no pretense that he didn't know why she was calling at this hour.
There was another stretch of silence. Then her voice came through, softer than usual, but steady rather than halting, as if someone in a very dark place were lighting a lamp one word at a time.
"Today in the classroom... you saw an ugly side of me."
"Do you think that was an ugly side?"
"...Wasn't it? I lost control in front of other people again. When the group leader asked me to speak, Manabe kept kicking my chair. Each group took turns speaking, and when it was my turn, no one responded."
She wasn't crying. Her voice was calm, slow and steady.
"If you think breaking down in front of people is a bad thing, then everyone is 'bad' at something. Sudo is still throwing chairs over what happened with Ishizaki, and Horikita stayed up for two nights investigating Ryuen. Today, you didn't run away or hide. You just let the pressure out."
Sakura was silent for a long time. Long enough that he thought the call had dropped. Then she said, "...Mori poured me some water. Karuizawa left a can of red bean soup. She didn't ask me anything; she just set it on the corner of my desk. Neither of them pressed me about why I was crying."
"Did you want them to ask?"
"...I don't know. But the way they didn't press me made me feel safe."
Kanzaki Toru didn't interrupt. This wasn't a time for advice. She was only trying to understand the fact that people had treated her kindly.
"I put my head down on my desk today, but it wasn't because I was afraid of Manabe. Manabe messaged me again this afternoon, saying I was dragging down the whole group, lowering our grades, and that if I couldn't do anything, I should just drop out. But when I put my head down, I wasn't thinking about what she said."
She paused, as if making sure she wanted to say it aloud.
"...The moment Mori set down the cup, I suddenly wanted to tell her everything that had happened over the past three days. But as soon as she put the cup down, she stepped away. Maybe she was afraid I'd feel uncomfortable. But in that moment, I actually wanted to say it."
It wasn't hostility that had brought her to tears, but the panic of being treated gently when she had grown used to fear.
"You can tell Karuizawa," Kanzaki Toru said. "You don't have to say everything at once. You can tell her one thing today and another tomorrow. Karuizawa isn't someone who needs you to explain everything before she can respond. She used to think you were avoiding her, but later she started using the 'leave a piece of candy' approach to show you that talking in private doesn't have to come at a price. If you're willing, you can give her a small sign now."
"...Send her a message?"
"No need to message her. Next time you're in class, accept her red bean soup and say, 'Thank you.' You don't have to say anything else. Those two words are enough."
Sakura was quiet for a few seconds. "...Not 'please help me,' and not 'I'm sorry.' Just 'thank you.'"
"Right. When you say thank you, you're expressing that you've accepted what the other person did for you. You don't owe her anything in return. You're simply accepting her kindness."
A faint breath came through the phone, then she said, "...I'll try."
Kanzaki Toru's phone vibrated with a call waiting from Horikita Suzune. At this hour, unless Horikita had urgent, confirmed information to share, she wouldn't cut in while he was talking to Sakura. He waited until Sakura said, "Kanzaki, thank you for answering," before ending the call. He didn't hang up on her. Then he answered Horikita's call.
"Ryuen has submitted an unusually large point transfer request to the Student Council. The note specifically mentions the evidence chain for collecting the old rules." Horikita's voice came through crisp and brisk, with the sound of keyboard typing in the background. "The cross-class group task is due in a week. By making his move now, he's trying to get exclusive access to the original materials supporting the top rating first. If he succeeds, his authority in Class C will only—"
"How did your conversation with Sakagami-sensei go?"
Horikita paused. "Sakagami-sensei said the old cooperative model was written into the rules based on extremely idealistic assumptions. Some of the students tasked with implementing it turned cooperation into information extraction, eventually leading several students to seek long-term psychological treatment. The failure of that project prompted the school to switch entirely to a competitive model. The school has never allowed any student to access the relevant records—accessing them would mean activating some clause in the rules that hasn't yet been reinstated."
"Don't block Ryuen's point transfer for now. Let him go ahead."
"Why?"
"The harder he pushes, the more likely he is to reveal his hand on the last page of the old rules," Kanzaki Toru said. "He's already shown the limit of what he knows about them. That limit itself will give us a reference point for our next move."
"You certainly have it all figured out." Horikita's voice was cool and clear. "I don't approve of you never consulting me in advance, but this approach isn't bad." She ended the call.
The next afternoon after classes, sunlight and shadows moved slowly across the bookshelves. Kanzaki Toru placed a small paper packet on the return counter at the Library. Inside were the mint candies he had brought back from the Old School Building last time. He had taken just one from the bag; the rest were wrapped in the packet. Shiina Hiyori looked up at him.
"Sakura called for a long time last night. Today I'll mark all the timestamps from the recordings she's been saving. You don't need to go through the materials right now, but get everything ready. When the time comes, every piece of evidence has to line up precisely with the rules in force."
Shiina took the packet and put the candy in a small metal tin on the left side of her drawer. There was already half a tin of identical candies inside, companions to the one he had returned earlier. She didn't count them. She simply placed the new packet on top.
"Do you really need me to take these materials to the Academic Affairs Office?" she asked softly.
"Not yet. We're waiting for corroborating evidence that fully matches every requirement."
"But you're already getting ready."
"You taught me." Kanzaki Toru glanced back as he left, lowering his voice slightly. "When you see someone bearing a kind of invisible pressure, don't rush to pull her out. Set up a ladder first. You were right—I can't shield her from everything. But at least I can lay the path at her feet."
Shiina watched him quietly, her light brown eyes as they had always been in the afternoon light from the window. "Wash your lunch box, and bring some unsweetened black tea tomorrow. I only have sugar here."
The bag of mint candies had come from the top shelf at the convenience store downstairs from his dorm. He hadn't bought any tea, but realized he'd have to sooner or later—along with the "unsweetened black tea" Shiina had mentioned.
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