A classroom that needed a nameplate.
That was what Kaiden had said.
The moment I heard those words, I decided one thing.
Putting up a nameplate would not be enough.
We had to open the door, too.
The secret lessons were over.
No, they should have been over.
People were already watching.
Arsene was exploiting the principles, someone was writing answers onto the cards, and the administration had sent an official notice that a preliminary hearing for temporary transfer candidates would be held at nine tomorrow morning.
What would it look like if we went into a quiet room and shut the door in this situation?
"Leon Cart gathered four candidates separately."
"He coordinated their stories before the hearing."
"The private classroom has finally revealed itself."
That was what people would say.
So tonight’s classroom could not hide.
It had to be visible.
Visible enough to make people uncomfortable.
"We will use the First Public Lecture Hall."
At my words, Kaiden’s eyes curved with pleasure.
"A public lecture hall?"
"Yes. We will leave the doors open, keep entry records, and distribute the speaking records."
Arsene asked,
"Then anyone can watch?"
"No. If anyone can watch, it stops being a class and becomes a spectacle."
I looked at Clarisse and Martin.
"Attendance will be limited. Clarisse will guide the Records Office procedures. Martin Gray will serve as the temporary scribe. The observers may include His Highness and Duke Berhardt’s son, but they may speak only when I request it or when a party involved requests it."
The corner of Arsene’s mouth lifted slightly.
"You intend to make me an observer?"
"Yes. It is better to prevent you from speaking inside than to let you imagine things outside."
The corridor fell silent for a moment.
Eveline spoke very quietly.
"That was rather satisfying."
Seria added in a low voice,
"The phrasing is rough, but functional."
Adela looked at me.
"Teacher, that sentence was better than your coat."
"Please stop talking about my coat."
"It was a compliment about your sentence."
"Then there is no need to mention the coat."
Liana gave a tiny laugh.
It was brief.
But she had laughed.
For someone facing a hearing tomorrow, that was a fairly good sign.
Kaiden nodded.
"Very well. I will enter as an observer. I accept the speaking restrictions as well."
A prince had accepted speaking restrictions.
The candidates stirred.
That stir itself had meaning.
Even those with power entered the rules.
That image would remain longer than words.
Arsene slowly bowed his head as well.
"I, too, accept the conditions for observers."
Clarisse spoke to Martin.
"Record it. Observers: His Highness Kaiden Astrea and Duke Berhardt’s son, Arsene Berhardt. Acceptance of speaking restrictions."
Martin wrote quickly.
His hand still trembled a little, but his handwriting remained steady.
We moved to the First Public Lecture Hall.
The lecture hall was beside the central corridor.
It had double doors, with long desks and a blackboard inside.
As befitted a room used by noble candidates, the chairs were excessively expensive, the blackboard excessively large, and the windows excessively clean.
I left the doors wide open.
People in the corridor could see inside, though they could not hear every word of the conversation.
Instead, I stationed two Records Office assistants by the door.
To keep entry records.
Clarisse stood at the back of the lecture hall.
She would not make judgments.
She would only guide the procedure.
Martin sat at a side desk and prepared to transcribe.
Kaiden and Arsene sat in the observer seats at the very back.
Both of them had too much presence for the word observer to suit them.
But at least they were not standing at the front.
The four girls stood before me.
Eveline Rosette.
Liana Bell.
Seria Blanc.
Adela Carmion.
Seeing all four lined up, the arrangement seemed absurd all over again.
A young lady destined to lose control with a sword.
A young lady destined to be sacrificed as a Saint Candidate.
A young lady destined to ruin herself with her poisonous tongue.
A young lady destined to drive people out through social warfare.
In the original story, they were people who would have fallen apart in different chapters, in different ways.
And yet now they stood in the same lecture hall.
What exactly had I done?
Was I preventing their ruin routes?
Or was I gathering them all in one place and increasing the force of the eventual explosion?
A system window appeared.
[Temporary Lesson: Eve of the Hearing]
[Targets: Eveline Rosette / Liana Bell / Seria Blanc / Adela Carmion]
[Risk: Failure in public questioning will simultaneously accelerate four ruin routes]
[Preparation Time: 11 hours 43 minutes]
Thanks.
That was completely unhelpful.
I stood before the blackboard.
I reached for the chalk, then stopped.
It was white chalk.
Not blue chalk.
I had checked for no reason.
Now even a single stick of chalk seemed suspicious.
I wrote a sentence on the blackboard.
"A hearing is not a fight. It is an order of procedure."
Eveline immediately said,
"Isn’t it a fight pretending not to be one?"
"That is correct."
"Then it is a fight."
"Which is why it needs an order of procedure."
Eveline closed her mouth.
I did not know whether she was convinced or simply too tired to argue.
I wrote a second line.
"Three steps before answering: Confirm the question / Limit the scope / Request a record."
"At tomorrow’s hearing, your task is not to give perfect answers."
Liana asked,
"Then what is it?"
"To give answers that will not destroy you."
Eveline frowned.
"Isn’t that setting the bar low?"
"Tomorrow, that is setting it high."
The room grew quiet.
I looked at the four of them in turn.
"Most questions pretend to demand answers while actually assigning you a position. Some make you the perpetrator, some make you the victim, some make you the witness, and some turn you into a tool. Do not answer until you have confirmed that position."
Seria said,
"Then we will be accused of being slow to speak."
"You will. That is why you decide on your first sentence in advance."
I wrote on the blackboard.
"I will not presume the intent of the question. First, I will confirm its scope."
"This is not an evasion. It is a sentence that turns the question back into a question."
Martin wrote quickly.
Adela tilted her head slightly as she looked at the sentence.
"It is a little long."
"Then shorten it."
Adela thought for a moment before replying,
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
Good.
Short and cold.
Very Adela.
I wrote beneath it.
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
"We will use that as the shared opening sentence."
Eveline raised her hand.
"I need to start by saying, ‘I’m angry.’"
"That is for preventing an emotional outburst. You may use it tomorrow as well. Just connect it into two sentences."
I wrote,
"I’m angry. Even so, I will answer after confirming the scope."
Eveline looked at the sentence.
"That is kind of funny."
"Even if it is funny, fewer people get hurt."
"I like that."
Good.
This time, I looked at Liana.
"Miss Liana Bell."
Liana immediately straightened her posture.
"Yes."
"Tomorrow, your most dangerous moment will be when you offer yourself up in an attempt to prove your innocence."
Liana’s fingertips stiffened.
Still, she nodded.
"I know."
"Then we will practice. I am the interrogator."
I deliberately lowered my voice.
"Candidate Liana Bell. A disguised Cathedral Wing sleeve has been found. Are you willing to immediately submit your room, formal attire, and private letters?"
Eveline immediately glared at me.
She did not like the question.
Good.
Real questions were supposed to be unpleasant.
Liana drew in a breath.
"I..."
She stopped.
Her fingers clasped together again.
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
Good.
"Confirm it."
"I would like to confirm how the demand to submit my room and private letters relates to the procedure of comparing the Cathedral Wing formal attire."
Good.
Precise.
I pressed harder.
"If you are innocent, is there any reason to hide anything?"
Liana’s face turned pale.
This question was the most dangerous one for Liana.
Good people were vulnerable to this question.
"If you have nothing to hide, show it to us."
Those words stripped people bare.
Liana pressed her lips together.
Then she said,
"I am not trying to hide anything. I simply do not intend to submit unrelated things first. I will comply with the scope required by the official comparison procedure."
Good.
Very good.
Clarisse spoke from behind.
"Appropriate."
Martin wrote it down.
Liana’s shoulders lowered slightly.
A system window appeared.
[Liana Bell: Successfully resisted the urge to overexplain]
[Resistance to being used as a shield increased]
Next was Eveline.
I looked at her.
"Lady Eveline Rosette."
"Go ahead."
Clarisse immediately said,
"At an official hearing, ‘Please question me’ would be appropriate."
Eveline clenched her teeth.
"Please question me."
Good.
Little by little, she was getting there.
I said,
"Lady Rosette. Do you emotionally trust Leon Cart? Is that why you cannot view the accusations of his forgery objectively?"
Eveline’s eyes immediately sharpened.
"I’m angry."
Good.
"Even so, I will answer after confirming the scope."
Even better.
Eveline exhaled once.
"It is true that I have feelings involved. But what I stated was the verifiable fact that Teacher was in the Academy Central Corridor at that time. Please record my feelings and the confirmation of facts separately."
Good.
Short and strong.
I prodded once more.
"Is there no possibility that those feelings could make you resort to violence?"
Eveline’s hand twitched.
She had nearly reached for her handkerchief.
But she stopped.
"There is a possibility."
A faint stir came from the corridor.
With the doors open, some sound leaked out.
But Eveline did not run from it.
"That is why I will not carry a weapon during the hearing, will not leave my seat, and will say first that I am angry when I become angry."
Silence.
Good.
She had not concealed an unfavorable fact.
And she had attached a method for dealing with it.
Clarisse said,
"Appropriate."
Eveline quietly exhaled.
A system window appeared.
[Eveline Rosette: Acknowledged the possibility of violence and presented control conditions]
[Resistance to provoked rampage increased]
Next was Seria.
Seria already wore a prepared expression.
That made her more dangerous.
A prepared Seria was sharp.
I said,
"Lady Seria Blanc. Lady Eloise Berhardt has said she does not yet wish to hear your apology. Does that mean you acknowledge no responsibility whatsoever?"
Seria’s eyes wavered ever so slightly.
She knew the question was malicious.
Do not apologize and do not acknowledge responsibility were entirely different things.
But at a hearing, they could be tied together like this.
Seria started to open her mouth, then stopped.
She did not smile.
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
"Confirm it."
"Are you treating not apologizing and not examining responsibility as having the same meaning?"
Good.
She had separated the question.
I answered like an interrogator.
"If the victim refuses your apology, what can you do?"
Seria lowered her eyes for a moment.
"I can respect the victim’s refusal. And I can cooperate through the records so that my words and actions do not turn the incident into a battle over reputation."
Good.
I asked once more.
"Does that mean you admit responsibility?"
The corner of Seria’s mouth almost rose.
In the past, she would probably have stabbed at her opponent here.
With something like, "Interrogator, you use words far too lazily."
But Seria stopped herself.
"I will distinguish between types of responsibility. I do not acknowledge responsibility for carrying out the poisoned tea incident. However, I will examine whether my past remarks may have made Lady Eloise appear to be an easy target."
The lecture hall fell silent.
I nodded.
"Good."
A system window appeared.
[Seria Blanc: Successfully separated the scope of responsibility]
[Poison-tongued substitute response stabilized]
[Trust Restoration Training Progress: 41% -> 44%]
Last was Adela.
Adela already looked bored.
More precisely, she was pretending to be bored.
It was the expression of someone concealing the fact that she was observing everything.
I said,
"Lady Adela Carmion."
"Yes."
"You only just joined us. Yet you evaluated the clothing, handwriting, and behavior of the other candidates as though measuring them. The interrogator asks: Do you have a habit of judging people before the evidence?"
For the first time, Adela’s eyes turned slightly cold.
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
"Confirm it."
"Please distinguish whether the things I judged were people or objects."
Good.
Just like her.
I said,
"Both."
"Then I will divide my answer into two as well."
Adela folded her hands in front of her.
"I judge objects quickly. Clothing, handwriting, loose threads, and ink can disappear or be damaged over time. I should judge people slowly. If I crossed that boundary, please record it."
Clarisse’s eyes moved slightly.
Martin wrote quickly.
I asked once more.
"Do you know that such judgments of yours can socially ruin someone?"
Adela did not answer immediately.
For the first time, it took her time.
"I do."
She spoke very quietly.
"That is why I will examine objects first. People’s reputations come later."
Good.
Short, but important.
A system window appeared.
[Adela Carmion: Accepted the condition of delaying social judgments]
[Entry into the Fake Dress Incident route delayed]
[Registered as a temporary lesson target]
Registered.
At last, the system had recognized Adela as a temporary lesson target.
There were four now.
Really, four of them.
I looked at the blackboard.
"A hearing is not a fight. It is an order of procedure."
"Three steps before answering: Confirm the question / Limit the scope / Request a record."
"I will answer after confirming the scope."
Tonight, they had to get these sentences into their bodies.
Explanation was not enough.
They had to repeat them.
Make mistakes, correct them, and say them again.
So I said,
"From now on, you will interrogate one another."
The four of them looked at me at once.
Eveline said,
"Among ourselves?"
"Yes."
Liana asked cautiously,
"Is that all right? We could hurt each other even more."
"That is why we must do it now. If tomorrow is the first time you get hurt, it will be too late."
Seria said quietly,
"You mean for us to rehearse being hurt."
"Not being hurt. Learning how to stop."
Adela said,
"A practical exercise. Not bad."
Eveline looked at Adela.
"Why do you keep evaluating everything?"
Adela thought for a moment.
"It is a habit."
"Fix it."
"I will try."
Good.
This was part of the lesson, too.
I assigned each of the four a role.
Eveline would be the aggressive interrogator.
Liana would be the defensive witness.
Seria would review the phrasing.
Adela would review the physical evidence.
And they would change roles every round.
Martin would keep the record.
Clarisse would guide the procedure.
Kaiden and Arsene would watch.
They would not speak.
Just as the first round was about to begin,
Adela looked beneath the blackboard and said,
"Teacher."
"Yes."
"Was this lecture hall empty before we used it today?"
Clarisse answered,
"I confirmed that there had been no reservation since this afternoon."
Adela pointed to the end of the chalk tray beneath the blackboard.
"Then someone came here first."
I lowered my gaze.
The end of the chalk tray.
Beneath the white chalk dust was a faint trace of blue powder.
Blue chalk.
And at the very bottom of the blackboard was a sentence written much smaller than my own handwriting.
It was so low that it could not be seen while standing. You had to sit down to barely make it out.
"A good student studies ahead."
The lecture hall went quiet.
Kaiden’s smile vanished.
Arsene’s expression hardened as well.
Martin’s pen stopped.
Clarisse’s gaze fixed beneath the blackboard.
I looked at that sentence.
A good student studies ahead.
Did our opponent even know we would use this lecture hall?
Or were they someone who could arrive first and leave behind an answer no matter which room we used?
Either way, the conclusion was the same.
We had created a classroom that could not be hidden.
But someone had already entered it.
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