The next day, Takuya really did make them practice three questions.
It was not a metaphor, nor was it some training Che had casually talked his way into. Three shallow dishes sat beside the sink, each with a small slip of paper in front of it. They read: Who keeps it? Who can see it? Will it affect evaluations?
When Kiyo saw the slips, he was so shocked that he forgot to bite his rice ball. "Teacher, were you eavesdropping on students?"
Takuya set down his record book. "You weren't exactly quiet by the sink."
Morita Yu turned to Che. "Your fault."
Che raised his hand. "I request an examination of the blame."
Takuma passed behind them. "Denied."
Kiyo murmured, impressed, "Teacher ruled really fast today."
The training rules were straightforward. Each person had to stand before the three dishes in turn, maintain a complete hand seal and Fire Line control, and answer the question on each slip. Their answers did not have to match, but they had to distinguish between "I know," "I heard," and "I guess." If they presented a guess as something they knew, or let their Fire Line cross the water mark because of a question, they had to start over.
After hearing that, Che actually felt a little more at ease.
It was a rare kind of ease for him lately. Not because the problem had been solved, but because it had finally been placed beside the sink and turned into something they could practice. The ninja academy teachers had not pretended the list did not exist, nor had they shut down all the children's questions. Even opening only a narrow gap during training was better than leaving everyone to privately crush half-formed answers in their hands.
Keisuke went first.
He stood before the first