It was not until evening that Che spread open the wooden notebook.
It was not because he had forgotten.
It was because, after East Corridor Group Two returned to the old classroom that afternoon, he had never found a suitable moment. After waking up, Kiyo insisted that he had not been asleep, only replaying the morning's battle in his head with his eyes closed. Saori took the bell off the hem of her doll's clothes and sewed it back on because Class One was too noisy, and she thought the bell needed to learn how to ring again. In the corner, Morita Yu and Zhen Shu quietly argued over whether Sasuke saying, "Don't block the aisle," counted as a reminder. In the end, neither won.
Teacher Mizuno did not make them reach a conclusion right away.
She collected the morning's borrowed-seat chart, then wiped away the old chalk line beneath the blackboard.
Kiyo was the first to notice.
"Teacher, the line is gone."
Teacher Mizuno wrung out the rag. "Mm."
"Does that mean it's over?"
She did not answer immediately. She only hung the rag by the window. Drops of water fell from the wet cloth into the wooden basin, one by one, slowly.
"It isn't over," she said. "You just don't need it to remind you where you stand anymore."
Kiyo did not look happy after hearing that. Instead, he seemed a little lost. He stared at the faint mark beneath the blackboard for a long time, as if something were missing, yet he was embarrassed to admit he did not want to let it go.
Che saw it too.
That line had been there since the day of the auditing notice. It was not a door, nor was it a seat. It was merely a boundary left by