"No need."
Gu Heng answered quickly.
Ayanokoji did not look away.
"You said just now that this was most like Ryuuen."
"If Ryuuen wanted to draw me away, he wouldn't have arranged for only one person to follow me."
"Maybe he wanted you to think that."
"So you stay at the camp."
Ayanokoji looked at him.
"You're arranging things for me?"
"I'm giving you a more valuable position."
"What position?"
"Watch Class D's foundation."
Gu Heng put away the anonymous message again.
"If I don't return, Horikita won't change the public statement for me. Hirata will record the gap according to the facts, and Yukimura will continue monitoring supplies and withdrawals. You only need to make sure those three lines don't break because I'm gone."
"You've taken yourself out of the foundation."
"I'm only leaving temporarily."
"And if it isn't temporary?"
"Then handle it as a gap."
Ayanokoji neither agreed nor disagreed.
He merely looked Gu Heng over from head to toe.
"You don't intend to bring anyone."
"Bringing someone would confirm to them that I still need a line of protection."
"Not bringing anyone would confirm that you're willing to place yourself in their scenario."
"Both can be exploited," Gu Heng said. "The difference is who gets verifiable information first."
He did not enter the route to the meeting on the school terminal.
He only left his departure time, latest return time, and one factual condition on Class D's internal handover sheet: if he exceeded the time limit, he would be treated as not having returned, with no speculation about his location.
The sheet was handed to Hirata.
After reading it, Hirata looked up and asked, "Do you want me to arrange a replacement?"
"Don't change the existing assignments."
"If you don't come back, won't someone need to fill