West-side low-score stronghold confirmation timed out. Class D Class Points -1
Rows of terminal light spread across their faces.
Ike Kanji stared at the `-1` on his screen, his finger hovering without pressing down.
The stronghold that had been in chaos moments ago now had only terminal light flickering back and forth across one face after another.
Yamauchi stood where he was.
The tips of his ears were still red.
But the hand that had been clutching his clothes slowly loosened.
Karuizawa was the first to raise her eyes.
"So. Is this the result of you insisting on questioning Yamauchi?"
Gu Heng lowered his gaze and did not answer.
Shinohara folded her arms.
"Aren't you always so accurate? How did seeing someone 'afraid' let you pin theft on them?"
Ike Kanji lowered his head to look at his terminal. "It was only one point..."
He swallowed the rest of his words.
Because everyone knew.
That point had not dropped on its own.
It had fallen while they watched.
Hirata stepped forward.
"Questioning is fine."
"But don't crowd people again."
Hirata had said only those six words, yet his shoulders were already positioned between Gu Heng and the crowd.
Karuizawa glanced at him.
"Hirata, who you choose to protect is your business."
"But you weren't the one being interrogated today."
She loosened the ends of her hair.
"Today, it was Yamauchi."
"What about next time?"
"Who will have their private affairs laid out for him to inspect?"
As those words fell, several people around them shifted their gazes.
Someone looked at the status restriction sheet in Sakura's arms.
Someone else instinctively clasped their terminal in their palm.
Shinohara stared at Gu Heng.
"You kept saying that physical conditions and personal reasons wouldn't be announced publicly."
"But you were the