On Monday morning, an unusual mood hung over the halls of Advanced Nurturing High School. It wasn't the tension before an exam or the restless excitement before a holiday, but something deeper and harder to notice—a subtle shift in the air pressure before a storm that made everyone unconsciously soften their footsteps. Kanzaki Toru sensed it on his way to class. More groups of students than usual were huddled together, whispering in the halls. When he approached, they would lower their voices in unison or stop talking altogether. It wasn't hostility, but a cautious attention, as if he had some conspicuous mark pinned to his clothes.
A large crowd had gathered in front of the bulletin board on the first floor of the Academic Building. Sudo and Kanji Ike were at the very front, and Sudo's voice could be heard three classrooms away. "What's this supposed to mean? What do they mean, 'cooperate with an investigation'? Wasn't that matter from last semester already closed?" Through a gap at the edge of the crowd, Kanzaki Toru saw the notice: an official announcement from the Student Council's Disciplinary Committee, printed in black and white and stamped with the Student Council's seal. The notice was brief: the Committee would reopen its review of three cross-class disputes from last semester on Wednesday afternoon, and the following students were to appear on time and cooperate with the investigation. Ryuen Kakeru's name was first, Ishizaki Daichi's second, and Kondo's third. From Class D, Ken Sudō's name was also listed, along with another that made his eyebrows lift slightly—Manabe Shiho from Class C.
Manabe's name was under the witness section, not the investigated parties. The summons was signed by the Disciplinary Committee Chairman, with a small note beside it: "This review will be conducted independently by the Student Council's Disciplinary Committee. All relevant evidence has been filed, and no out-of-court settlements or private withdrawals will be accepted."
He took a photo of the notice and sent it to Horikita Suzune. Her reply came quickly: "I saw it. Manabe's name was added at the last minute this morning. She wasn't on the final version filed last night. Someone submitted additional materials to the Committee overnight."
Horikita sent him a compressed file as well. It contained scans of the original Disciplinary Committee records for the three cross-class disputes from last semester. The first was the Tanaka theft case, the second was the shoving incident between Sudo and Ishizaki, and the third—its file title contained only one line: "Communication difficulties between groups within Class C; student involved applied for sick leave." The student involved was Sato Kenichi. The same name appeared in the investigator signature field on all three files: Ryuen Kakeru. In the assistant investigator field, the first and second files bore the signatures of a second-year Committee member, which had been covered with correction fluid and then signed over. The assistant investigator's signature on the third file was clear, the handwriting neat, and the ink blue—Kushida Kikyo.
He saved a screenshot comparing the signatures to an encrypted partition, then walked into class. The atmosphere in Class D was even more delicate than in the hallway. Sudo sat at his desk, clutching a photocopy of the summons in both hands. The paper was crumpled. Kanji Ike tried to reassure him quietly that he wasn't being accused of anything, and only had to explain what had happened, but Sudo said nothing. Karuizawa Kei and several girls had gathered at the back of the classroom, discussing something in low voices. When she saw him come in, Karuizawa looked up, a questioning expression in her blue eyes. Kanzaki Toru took his usual seat in the back by the window and gave her a slight nod. The meaning was clear: stick to the plan. Karuizawa looked away and continued talking to the girls beside her, her tone casual, as if they were discussing which dessert shop to visit over the weekend.
Sakura Airi came in through the front door. She was wearing a hat today, but the brim wasn't pulled low as usual; it sat squarely above her brows. She hung her bag on the side of her desk, took out her notebook and camera, then turned to look at Kanzaki Toru in the back row. Her purple eyes seemed especially composed behind her thick red-framed glasses, and the faintest curve touched her lips.
The first class of the morning was homeroom with Chabashira-sensei. When Chabashira entered, she carried no extra materials, only the usual roll sheet and a thin homeroom record book. She adjusted her glasses and announced the week's routine matters in her usual flat tone. Students involved in Wednesday afternoon's Disciplinary Committee review could use their summons to request leave; everyone else was to attend class as usual. As she said this, her gaze paused on Sudo for a beat before moving on. Before homeroom ended, she turned on the projector and displayed a page from the semester schedule on the left side of the screen. Most students only noticed the announcement that next week's swimming class had been moved to Thursday, but Kanzaki Toru stared at the upper-right corner of the screen. There was a tiny note there, in text two sizes smaller than the rest: "Early June: Special Exam preparatory briefing." Beside the words "Special Exam" was an abbreviation in parentheses: LD-B1-0401. Early June.
He quickly looked away and wrote down the characters in his notebook. The last four digits of the abbreviation matched the date on which he had first recorded Ryuen using the Disciplinary Committee's authority last semester. The preceding letters matched the prefix of a frozen pilot program number for a collaborative model in the Old System records. As Chabashira passed by his desk on her way out, she slowed for half a beat but said nothing.
At lunch, Kanzaki Toru found Shiina Hiyori on the third floor of the Library. She was sitting by a window with a thick volume of records on the school system for upperclassmen spread out in front of her. Her light chestnut hair was loosely tied with a plain ribbon, and there were flecks of old paper on her fingertips. He placed the summary of the Disciplinary Committee records she had sent him and the three examples of Ryuen's forged signatures in front of her, pointing to one of the altered marks.
Shiina glanced at them, pulled a thin booklet from the pile of records, and opened it to a page before sliding it over to him. The title read, "Advanced Nurturing High School Special Exam Preparatory Regulations." The first clause stated: "Once the number of disciplinary cases handled during the current academic year reaches a certain threshold, the Special Exam preparatory procedure will be triggered. After the procedure begins, each class's exam theme, grouping method, and scoring weights will be set differently according to records of cooperation or conflict accumulated beforehand. Relevant records include, but are not limited to: evaluations of cross-class group tasks, cooperation with Disciplinary Committee cases, and records of voluntary mediation between classes."
In other words, every side plot—the cross-class group research reports, the Committee's reopening of the case involving Ryuen's false testimony, Ishizaki's shift from betrayal to cooperation, and the outcome of the bullying incident involving Manabe—everything that seemed unrelated to the exam would become actual bonus or penalty weights in June's Special Exam. This school never wasted a single conflict. Every conflict was data, every choice was recorded, then converted into cold numbers for the next exam.
Just as he was about to photograph the key pages of the regulations, his phone vibrated several times in quick succession in his pocket. There was no sound, only the vibrations. He took it out, and an encrypted message with no sender's name appeared on the screen. It was very short: "She's going to hand over the shoes this afternoon." There was no context or explanation. He turned the phone over, glanced at the back, then turned the screen off.
"What's wrong?" Shiina paused her writing.
He put away the photocopy of the regulations and showed Shiina the anonymous message. Her eyelids lowered slightly, and her light brown pupils shifted. A few seconds later, she looked up again. "Three days ago, she was already looking through old records of requests for recusal by the Disciplinary Committee in the borrowing room. This morning, she checked out a manual on managing surveillance footage. 'Shoes' must mean the piece of evidence she plans to remove before the Committee's formal review."
Their eyes met for a moment in the quiet Library. There was no need to say who "she" was. He put his phone back in his pocket, stood up, and carefully slid the photocopy of the regulations into his binder. The timeline was now squeezed taut: Wednesday afternoon's Disciplinary Committee review, the possible transfer of evidence that same morning, and the Special Exam preparatory procedure in early June. All the events were lined up tightly, like dominoes. And somewhere in the shadow of the last domino on that timeline, the anonymous informant was quietly marking today's date.
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