Ⅲ
The moonlight was bright, the candlelight pale yellow.
Dust motes drifted along the boundary marked by the doorway.
Standing outside the door, Ailier's gray eyes lit up.
She knew she had found what she had been searching for all along.
Renee, Donna, Jo Lily, and Junis also let out small sighs of relief-just now, when Ailier had suggested going back, they had instinctively felt they should.
Of course, there had been objections.
Donna, for instance.
She hadn't thought returning right after their teacher had let them off was a good idea.
After all, if they were expelled, their circumstances wouldn't be much better than Junis's.
Yet the moment Donna voiced her objection, she felt a profound sense of loss.
As though she were about to miss something more important than anything else.
It wasn't just Donna. Renee, Jo Lily, and Junis, who had also wavered inwardly, felt the same.
The strange reaction they shared surprised all four of them.
They exchanged glances.
Finally, they all looked at Ailier.
Unlike the other four, Ailier had already decided that she had to go back!
Ailier was stubborn. Once she made up her mind, she wouldn't change it!
And now, she had been proven right-
"Ms. Jennifer?"
Junis asked tentatively.
Although the voice sounded right, she grew uncertain at the sight of their history teacher in a white cloak, her face hidden beneath a hood.
"It's me."
Jennifer didn't conceal her identity.
Nor could she.
She had come here precisely to reveal her identity and draw the five girls into joining-even though she still didn't understand what use these five girls could possibly be.
Even if they had some talent.
They didn't have much.
If their talent had been readily apparent, some organization or faction would have recruited them long ago. They