Next Monday did not arrive unexpectedly.
But Kiyo still got up before dawn, sat by his bedding, and stared blankly at his shoelaces. He had tied them in knots twice last night, yet they had come loose again that morning, as if they had deliberately decided to give him trouble before he officially entered Class One.
When Che woke up, the first thing he saw was Kiyo with his head lowered, his fingers tangled in his shoelaces.
"Are you tying your shoes, or negotiating with them?"
Kiyo did not look up. "They won't accept my terms."
"What terms?"
"They can't come undone today."
Che sat up and rubbed at the corners of his eyes. The room was still dark, with only a faint gray light beyond the window paper. Saori was already awake but had not made a sound. She was wrapping the bell on the doll's hem in another layer of cloth. She did it slowly, as if afraid the cloth would muffle the bell if it was too thick, but afraid it would ring the moment she entered if it was too thin.
Nao was boiling water in the outer room, and the lid of the pot lightly bumped from the rising steam. Hearing the movement inside, she called through the door, "Whoever ties their shoelaces into a dead knot again can untie them themselves at noon."
Kiyo immediately stopped moving his hands.
Che got out of bed, walked over, and crouched beside him. "Loosen it up a little. You tied it too tight. Of course it wants to escape."
"Shoelaces can escape too?"
"Yesterday, you said doors could hurt. So it makes perfect sense for shoelaces to run away today."
Kiyo thought about it, then accepted this view of the world.
Che untied the knot for him,