After leaving the common hall, Adam crossed the schoolyard. Fellow students shared breakfast on wooden benches.
Their debates over the last lesson faded behind him as he entered the adjacent building through the ground floor, climbed the spiralling steps, and was the first to arrive at Diane's classroom. Through the open door, he saw the same cluster of desks, separated into four sections by a cross-shaped platform. The area he had destroyed during Diane's challenge bore no marks of their conflict. Only the new cloth covering it gave it away, its dark surface pulsing with a light slightly brighter than the rest.
"Ah, the classroom destroyer." Seated on the platform, Diane chuckled at him. "Did you come up with a new method to blast the building? I'm just kidding, but I wouldn't have bet on you being first after your premature departure last time. Take your seat. We'll start in ten minutes."
