Chapter Seven
The Council of Idiots Convenes
"My friends have many fine qualities. Discretion is not among them."
Shota was already at the shoe lockers.
"Eight and a half," he said, before Kaito fully arrived. "You texted me eight and a half."
"Good morning."
"I've been up since eleven. Walk me through the geometry."
"No."
"Kaito."
"Absolutely not."
Ryu materialized from the corridor. The mild expression of a man who had also done calculations but had the self-control to present them differently.
"The changing room incident," he said, as a greeting.
"Not discussing it."
"Annex. Shared wall. Broken connecting door. Post-training timing." A tilt of his head. "Who was in there."
"No one."
"Kaito."
"Multiple people."
He regretted the precision immediately.
Shota made a sound like a man who has been hit. "Multiple."
"Was Valcrest in there." Ryu. Flat. A verdict.
Kaito said nothing.
Shota lost the ability to walk in a straight line.
Daichi at the first staircase. One look at Shota's face.
"Something happened."
"Multiple occupants. Eight and a half."
Daichi stopped walking. "Hana?"
Silence.
His onigiri lowered slowly. "The PE uniform," he said, with quiet devastation, "does a very inadequate job of — the structural situation — the volume alone—"
"We are in a school corridor," said Kaito.
"D-cup minimum," said Shota. Under his breath. The tone of a man paying respects.
"Kaito." Daichi gripped his arm with genuine feeling. "What happened to you last night is the kind of thing lesser men make up and nobody believes. It happened to you. By accident." He searched for the word. "Cosmically bewildered."
"What did Valcrest do?" Ryu. The point. Always arriving eventually.
Kaito thought about the upside-down book. The forty-five seconds on the hair. The color at her cheekbones.
"She scheduled maintenance," he said. "To fix the latch."
"Least informative answer possible."
"Very much on purpose."
Cafeteria. Lunch.
Hana chose today — of all days — to wear the summer variation of the uniform.
Two buttons lower at the collar.
She dropped into her seat, reached across to steal from Mira's tray, leaned forward completely unselfconscious. The collar gap doing considerable editorial work.
Shota made a sound Kaito chose not to document.
"On purpose," Shota said. "She knows we're watching."
"She does that every day."
"Not like that every day. I have been watching this school for three years." Pause. "She winked at him. Just now. Specifically at Kaito."
"She thinks it's funny," said Kaito — correct, and having a somewhat difficult time with his soba regardless.
"Kaito." Daichi. Deeply. "Hana Ozaki thinks it's funny to wink at you. This is your life now."
"I know."
"I went home last night and thought about every choice I've made that led me to sitting here while my oldest friend is winked at by Hana Ozaki." He picked up his chopsticks with the calm of a man who has achieved resolution. "Reevaluating."
"Also," said Ryu, watching the peerage table, "Valcrest just looked over here."
Shota's head snapped up. "Where."
"Book. Then up. Then back." He folded his hands. "She looked directly at him. Not the table. Him."
"Three years," Shota said quietly. "Three years I have never seen Seraphina Valcrest look at anything outside her immediate sphere of interest." He pointed his chopsticks at Kaito. "Two weeks before the whole school figures this out. I'm telling you now so you can prepare."
"Two weeks is generous," said Ryu.
"One," said Daichi. Eating. Resolved.
He was not wrong.
Kaito walked back to the peerage table. Sat across from Seraphina.
"Your friends are staring," she observed, without looking up.
"They'll recover."
"Mm."
She turned a page. Then, low, only for him:
"I've scheduled maintenance for the connecting latch. Repaired by Thursday." A pause. "The connecting latch. Not the primary door. The primary door requires a specialized part. It may take some time to source."
He looked at her.
Reading. Composed. The color at her cheekbones perhaps a half-shade warmer than usual.
"Understood," he said.
Mira, behind her tea cup, mouthed at him very deliberately:
I told you so.
The bond pulsed. Warm. Unreasonably satisfied with itself.
Some things develop better at their own pace. Specialized parts and all.
End of Chapter Seven