The Defense

The final defense for the cross-class group project was scheduled for Friday afternoon in the Multipurpose Hall on the third floor of the Academic Building.

The Multipurpose Hall was usually used for grade-wide assemblies, but it had been rearranged for the occasion. A row of judges' seats stood to the left of the podium, occupied by Chabashira-sensei, the second-year Disciplinary Committee Chairman, and two staff members from the Academic Affairs Office. A projection screen stood to the right, displaying the covers of the reports submitted by each group in rotation. Around sixty students sat below, naturally divided into four sections by class. Class D sat by the windows, next to Class C, while Classes B and A occupied the middle and the area near the entrance. The homeroom teachers from each class had also come, seated in the observers' section behind the judges.

Kanzaki Toru sat at the far left of the group, with Shiina Hiyori, Sakura Airi, Yukimura Teruhiko, and Hamaguchi Tetsuya seated in order beside him. Sakura wasn't wearing her hat today, and her camera was in the backpack at her feet. She kept her head down as she reviewed the printed report, tracing the appendix page numbers line by line with her fingertip. Her breathing was steady. Shiina Hiyori had placed a spare index of quotations from the Old System on the armrest between their seats. Her fingers brushed lightly over the tabs, as if leafing through a book she knew by heart.

Horikita Suzune sat in the aisle seat of Class D's front row, with the defense schedule spread out in front of her. Her back was straight as a rod. She lifted her gaze from the page and met Kanzaki Toru's eyes for a brief second. Karuizawa Kei sat near the back among the Class D girls, twirling a pen in her hand. A cup of red bean soup sat unopened by her feet. Sudo and Kanji Ike were squeezed into the row by the entrance. For once, the two were quiet.

Ryuen Kakeru sat in the last row of Class C, his feet propped on the chair in front of him as he sprawled across two seats with his eyes closed. Ishizaki sat two rows ahead and diagonally from him, with Kondo beside him. Kondo leaned close to Ishizaki's ear and murmured something. Ishizaki's face remained expressionless, but his fingers tapped the same rhythm over and over on his knee.

"Second group from Class 1-D, Kanzaki Toru's group." The Student Council member hosting the defense called their names.

As Kanzaki Toru stood, every scattered gaze in the hall converged on him. The door behind the judges opened a crack, and a late arrival slipped through sideways. Her skirt passed silently through the doorway as she circled around the aisle to a corner at the back of the observers' section. He didn't need to turn around. The glimpse of pale hair in his peripheral vision and the straight-backed posture already told him who it was.

He didn't look over. He walked straight to the podium and opened the report presentation. The screen lit up, displaying the report's title. Before beginning his presentation, he gave the judges a slight nod. His voice was even. "Before the formal report, please allow me to disclose a chain of evidence directly related to our group's main conclusion, to the judges and everyone here. The evidence chain was submitted as part of the appendix and has entered the Disciplinary Committee's review process. It is currently under examination."

His words were like a stone dropped into a still lake. The whispers below grew abruptly louder. Kondo turned sharply to look at Ishizaki, who stared straight ahead with an expressionless face. But the fingers on his knee had stopped tapping. Ryuen opened his eyes, lowered his feet from the chair, and fixed his gaze on the screen. In the corner of the hall, the late arrival remained as still as a pool of water. Only the hands folded in her lap shifted slightly, changing the order in which they were stacked.

Kanzaki Toru made no response to the commotion below. He simply turned to Chapter Two of the report and began outlining the evolution of the Old System. Yukimura Teruhiko took the podium next, using three charts to concisely explain the logical contradictions in its development. Hamaguchi supplemented this with an account of how they had reconstructed the original records on cooperation models from Class B's old Student Council archives. Sakura Airi presented the visual layout logic, clearly and coherently. Shiina Hiyori briefly explained the sources of the quotations on the Old System and thanked the Library's interdepartmental research channel for its support.

During the defense, the Disciplinary Committee Chairman raised two routine formatting concerns, while Chabashira-sensei asked no questions. Just as the group was preparing to return to their seats, Ryuen raised his hand. He wasn't addressing the group, but the judges.

"I have a procedural objection." He stood, leaning at an angle against the back of his chair. His posture was casual, but his gaze was cool and restrained. "The final review of this cross-class group project is an academic defense hosted by the school. Yet the group that just presented included a chain of evidence under Disciplinary Committee review in their report appendix. Is that procedure in order? Disciplinary Committee matters should be handled through the committee, not brought to an academic defense to exert influence. I ask the judges to rule on this."

The hall fell silent for a moment. Then whispers surged in from all sides like water released from a dam. Several boys from Class C glanced toward Ryuen, but Ishizaki didn't move.

"I'll answer the procedural question."

Horikita Suzune stood and walked to the procedural statement podium beside the stage, unfolding a prepared document. "Article Six, Chapter Three of the Disciplinary Committee's review procedures states, 'Any student may cite evidence that has entered the review process and is directly relevant to the subject at a formal academic event, without waiting for a final ruling.' I was the person in charge of the application to access the historical files for this case."

She placed a copy of the document on the judges' table. The Disciplinary Committee Chairman adjusted his glasses, turned, and quietly exchanged a few words with Chabashira-sensei. Then he tapped the gavel once. "The application is in order. Continue the defense."

Ryuen didn't sit down, but his gaze shifted from the projection screen to Horikita, slowly, as if he were seeing her clearly for the first time. As Horikita turned to leave the podium, her ponytail swept over her shoulder. At the same time, she sent a brief message through her wireless earpiece to Kanzaki Toru: "Both lines are in sync." She meant more than just their response to the confrontation. At that very moment, the new evidence concerning the perjury on the Disciplinary Committee's side had also officially entered a third-party expert comparison.

After the report was finished, the judges began scoring. Kanzaki Toru walked down from the podium. Someone in the Class C section spoke quietly, but no one was shouting anymore. Sakura's voice came through his earpiece, barely above a whisper. "The rooftop lights are blinking normally. No one's approached the perimeter of the Old School Building." Shiina's voice followed. "While we were presenting, Chabashira-sensei checked something on her terminal. The Disciplinary Committee window showed that she'd accessed the sealed storage path for the Old System report attachments."

The two continued exchanging real-time observations from the seats behind him, completely unaware that he had slowed his pace. He stopped midway down the aisle. Part of the late arrival's figure in the corner of the observers' section was now hidden behind a pillar, leaving only the edge of her skirt visible. Just as he was about to keep walking, a faint rustle of fabric came from the rear of the observers' section. Kushida Kikyo rose and quietly slipped out through the side door on the other side.

Ryuen stood as well. He didn't follow her, but remained where he was, watching Kushida Kikyo leave through the side door of the Multipurpose Hall. Then he glanced at Kanzaki Toru, put his phone in his pocket, and strode out through the main entrance.

Ishizaki didn't follow. Kondo got up as if to chase after Ryuen, then turned back to look at Ishizaki, who remained seated. Ishizaki stayed in the back row of Class C, shoulders slumped. The button on his uniform collar, which Ryuen had pulled loose, still hadn't been sewn back on. He hadn't applauded Ryuen's objection just now, and he wasn't leaving with him now, either. He simply straightened the supplementary materials in his hands and put them in his defense folder.

Kanzaki Toru turned his gaze away and walked back to his seat. The ice had cracked. Ryuen had realized there was another hand on the chessboard, but he still didn't know how many pieces that hand had already placed. The defense results would be announced at next week's comprehensive review meeting. The defense was over, but all the eyes remained suspended in the air, not yet gone.