The makeup test list moved a name up one slot.
When the Academic Affairs Director laid out the makeup test list, Naruto immediately spotted the little check mark added beside his name. It wasn't an annotation. It looked as though someone had casually added it later, with a light stroke that was still enough to change the order.
"I didn't write that," Mizuki said after one glance.
"Who did?" the Academic Affairs Director asked.
"I don't know."
"Think again."
Mizuki stared at that slot, his expression visibly darkening for the first time.
"It was the Academic Affairs Assistant," he said slowly. "After I handed over the list, she must have rearranged the order."
"Who told her to change it?"
Mizuki fell silent.
Naruto stared at that slot, a chill creeping down his back. He suddenly understood why he had been called out alone that time, why the chair in the empty classroom had been set out just right, why the suggestion slips always ended up in the hands of whoever was most likely to accept them. Move a name just one slot, and everyone's position changed.
Sasuke pinned the list beneath his fingers. "Move it one slot, and who goes first?"
"Naruto," Iruka said.
"Why him?"
"Because he's the easiest to steer," Mizuki answered quietly.
Naruto didn't explode when he heard that. He only felt as though someone had gently pressed down on his chest. Before, he would have rushed to prove he wasn't like that. But now he could finish reading the paper first, then decide whether to speak up for himself.
"Then why didn't you change it back?" he asked.
Mizuki raised his eyes. "I didn't see it."
"Did you not see it, or did you want to leave it that way for the time being?"
That question