On the last Monday of December, Advanced Nurturing High School welcomed its final day before winter break beneath the thin winter sun. A peculiar air of looseness filled the Academic Building corridors—not the restlessness before a holiday, but the calm, slightly weary relaxation that came after every exam had ended, every grade had been announced, every argument that needed to happen had happened, and everyone who needed to reconcile had reconciled.
Kanzaki Toru entered the Class D classroom at 7:40 in the morning. The winter sunlight came in at a low angle, slanting through the windows and casting a long bar of light across the desk by the window in the back row where he had sat last semester. That seat was empty now. A tiny succulent sat on the desktop, one Ishizaki had bought at the gardening club's charity sale last week. He had said the plant did not need watering every day and would not die even if no one looked after it over winter break. Karuizawa had mocked him for suddenly taking up plant care, but after she was done laughing, she had quietly stuck a label beneath the pot, noting the watering dates and the number of milliliters each time.
Not everyone had arrived yet. A tied paper bag sat on Sudo Ken's desk, containing a box of protein powder he had bought at the Shopping Center yesterday. It was not for himself, but for Ishizaki. He said Ishizaki had helped correct several of his gym postures this semester, ones that could easily have injured his joints, and the protein powder counted as payment for the tuition he owed from last semester. On Ishizaki's desk, meanwhile, sat an unwrapped basketball. Written across its surface in marker was a line: "Starting lineup for next semester's joint training