The shadows of the trees in the distance stirred for the second time, and someone stepped out from the leeward side.
It was Hashimoto.
He had not brought any Class A students with him, and the terminal in his hand was not open to the school's public page. He stopped outside the waterproof board and first glanced at the paper by Gu Heng's feet.
"You came earlier than Sakayanagi expected."
"She expected me to make a round first."
"She expected you to confirm that this wasn't Class C's temporary base." Hashimoto smiled. "That judgment wasn't wrong."
Gu Heng did not approach.
"The anonymous message wasn't sent by Class A."
"No."
"The note was tucked beneath the waterproof board by you."
"Yes."
Hashimoto answered readily.
"The message called you here. Class A was only responsible for letting you see who was waiting for you."
Several lines of records on the back of the waterproof board still faced upward.
The final-phase window had opened. Class D's public representative had been confirmed. Class C's leader guess had been received.
Every entry could be found on the public page.
Not one line involved Class D's internal route, nor did any state where Gu Heng was.
"What does Sakayanagi want me to see?" Gu Heng asked.
"Choose one of two things." Hashimoto raised his terminal but did not hand it over immediately. "First, Class A's observation records. They can tell you which public areas Class C went to after their leader guess was received. Second, Class A will not include this observation in the next cross-class record to be passed to the other classes, nor will we set a price for you on behalf of the other classes."
"That doesn't sound like two things."
"The first saves you from taking a wrong turn. The second