A space had been left beneath the blackboard.
Teacher Mizuno neither erased the old lines nor drew another beside them. She simply shifted the chalk box, which usually sat beneath the board, half an inch to the left, exposing a small patch of clean wall.
Kiyo saw it the moment he entered.
"Sensei, that spot is empty."
"Mm."
"Are we writing a new line?"
"Leave it for now."
Those two words made Kiyo miserable. Leaving it there was more agonizing than writing something down. He set down his schoolbag, but his eyes remained glued to that patch of empty wall. Naruto saw it too and immediately asked, "Who are we writing today?"
Teacher Mizuno straightened the chalk box. "First, we'll see who deserves to be written down."
It sounded much the same as before, but actually doing it was more troublesome. Before, someone did something and everyone decided whether to write it down. Today, there were already names, actions, and little bell-shaped dots on the wall. If they were adding another name, they had to know who deserved that new space.
Something that happened in Class One that morning quickly gave them their question.
Rina moved the water cup by the window.
The cup had originally sat at the corner of the desk, too close to the Shared Box. Naruto had nearly bumped it while taking a short pencil. The cup wobbled, and a little water spilled over. Naruto hurriedly tried to catch it, but Sasuke had already pressed down on its base. Rina, sitting nearby, saw the water creeping toward the scrap paper. Without a word, she picked up the cup, moved it to the inner side of the windowsill, then wiped the desktop dry with her own handkerchief.
She did it so quietly that Naruto took half a