The leader guess had entered pending settlement.
Yet the status on Class D's public page had not stopped.
Public representative: Suzune Horikita.
The current public stronghold, supply consumption, and withdrawal records were still awaiting final confirmation.
Someone read those lines twice before finally looking away from outside the public confirmation point.
"So Gu Heng was guessed correctly, and Horikita is still going to stand here?"
The speaker was Hashimoto from Class A.
He had not brought many people, leaving only two students by the public walkway while he approached the boundary outside the school's confirmation line.
"The school has already confirmed the public representative is valid," Horikita said.
"I'm not asking the school." Hashimoto raised his terminal. "I'm asking Class D itself."
"Then you should ask me."
Hashimoto tapped the edge of his terminal with one finger.
"Did you decide to say that yourself, or did Gu Heng tell you to?"
Gu Heng stood behind her without looking up.
Horikita did not turn back to look at him either.
"The public representative sends the replies."
"Sending them isn't the same as deciding them."
"Then you can wait for the result," Horikita said. "If you want to know whether Class D recognizes this public position, watch whether I change it next."
Hashimoto did not respond immediately.
He moved a public inquiry on his terminal to a position where both classes could see it.
Class A inquiry: After Class D's final leader guess enters settlement, does the public representative still retain decision-making authority over final submissions?
The question was written cleanly.
It did not ask who Gu Heng was, nor did it demand that Horikita prove she was not a puppet.
But once they answered, Class D would have to define the boundary between its public representative and final leader