"…And that's forty." Hikari mumbled with a long sigh.
Raizen sat back and let the chair take his whole weight for the first time in about six hours.
Forty of forty. The last one had been a question about tidal load on the southern seawall that he'd got wrong twice. But on the third attempt, forced to explain out loud to a girl who already knew the answer until he heard himself, the right one arrived.
Outside the window the light had gone tall and bright, nearly afternoon. The autumn had come in properly over the last few days, and the sunlight was doing that late-year thing where it looked warmer than it actually was, laid flat across the rug and the arm of the couch that Keahi still hadn't forgiven.
