The meal tags ran into a problem the very next day.
They had not been lost. Kiyo had actually wanted to lose his, just once, to prove that meal tags needed more complicated protection procedures. But his tag stayed securely hanging from his backpack strap, clacking against it as he walked. The one with a problem was Che's meal tag.
While retracing the route to the cafeteria before lunch, Che turned his meal tag over and found an old scratch on the back.
It was very fine, slanting from the upper left toward the middle, as though something sharp had once scraped across it. Yesterday, he had only looked at the name on the front and had not noticed. Today, sunlight streamed in through the window, and the mark suddenly showed itself.
Kiyo immediately leaned in. "It's been hurt."
Morita Yu said, "Wooden pieces get scratches."
"The meal tag is a wooden piece too."
"Don't write it a separate biography."
Che ran a fingertip over it. The scratch was not deep, but it was definitely old. The meal tag had probably not been newly made, only given a new name. The time when someone else had used it belonged to the back; only the front had become his.
Teacher Mizuno saw them gathered around the tag. "What is it?"
Che handed it to her. "There's an old scratch on the back."
"Does it affect its use?"
"No."
"Then record the visible change. Do not investigate its origin."
Kiyo raised his hand. "What if it used to belong to a cafeteria hero?"
Teacher Mizuno looked at him. "Do not investigate its origin."
Kiyo lowered his hand, looking deeply regretful.
The practice before lunch became a meal tag inspection. Everyone examined the front, back, and edges of their own tag, then wrote