There was blue writing beneath the blackboard.
Good students prepare in advance.
The writing was small.
Too low.
Anyone standing would miss it.
Even sitting down, it was not easy to see.
Only someone who crouched down to inspect the blue dust left at the end of the chalk tray would find it.
In other words, this sentence had not been written for everyone to see.
It had been written for whoever discovered it.
Adela Carmion.
Or someone like Adela.
Someone who looked at objects, noticed dust, and saw evidence before people.
Our opponent now knew the habits of the four of us.
That was what bothered me most.
Eveline moved to approach the blackboard.
"Should I erase it?"
"Stop."
Clarisse spoke at once.
Eveline stopped.
In the past, her hand would already have moved.
But now, she stopped.
That alone was worth recording.
Martin picked up his pen.
"Shall I record it?"
Clarisse said,
"Yes. Discovery of an unofficial contaminating message. Location: lower section of the blackboard in the First Public Lecture Hall. Color: blue chalk. The message is..."
Martin read it carefully.
"Good students prepare in advance."
The moment he recorded that sentence, the air in the lecture hall grew a little heavier.
Rumors travel from mouth to mouth, but records become fixed on paper.
And words fixed on paper endure for a long time.
That was why records had to be handled carefully.
Even a contaminating message had to be recorded, but it could not be accepted as a principle.
Liana said,
"This, too, is a sentence written to look like a principle."
Good.
Liana had spotted the framework first.
Seria added,
"There is no question in the sentence. Yet it demands an answer."
Adela nodded.
"And it lowers whoever finds it into the position of a student. The writer occupies the position of grader."
Eveline frowned.
"Then it is an incredibly obnoxious sentence."
"Precisely."
Seria said.
Eveline looked at Seria.
"Was that sarcasm?"
"No. You were genuinely precise."
Eveline looked a little flustered.
She was weak to praise.
Especially praise from Seria.
I stood before the blackboard.
Beneath the sentences I had written in white chalk, blue writing clung low on the board.
Like a footnote to the lesson I had written.
That might have been the intent.
To contaminate my lesson.
To attach their own sentence beneath mine.
Then people would see the two sentences together.
An interrogation is not a fight. It is an order of procedure.
Good students prepare in advance.
As though I were the one teaching, and they were the one grading.
Or as though I were teaching, and they were the one correcting me.
I said,
"This is the first problem for today."
The four of them looked at me.
Martin's pen stopped as well.
"Do not answer this sentence."
Eveline immediately asked,
"Why?"
"Because it is not a question."
I pointed beneath the blackboard.
"If you answer a sentence that is not a question, you step into the position the other party has assigned you. This sentence calls us students and places its writer as the grader. Whether we answer, ‘We are not good students,’ or, ‘We did not prepare in advance,’ we are already inside their classroom."
Liana spoke softly.
"Then what should we do?"
"Classify it."
I wrote a new line on the board.
Do not answer sentences that are not questions. Classify and record them.
Seria's eyes brightened slightly.
"You are separating the sentence from the person?"
"Yes."
Adela said,
"You are treating it like an object."
"That is right."
Adela looked faintly satisfied.
People should not be treated like objects.
But sentences could be treated like objects.
You could pick them up, turn them over, assess their weight, and check where they came from.
I looked at the four of them.
"Classify this sentence, each of you. Do not answer it."
Eveline spoke first.
"A provocation."
"Be more specific."
Eveline gritted her teeth and thought.
An Eveline who thought was a somewhat rare sight.
"A provocation intended to piss off the other party and make them act."
"Put it in terms that can be recorded."
"A provocation intended to induce an immediate reaction from the other party."
Good.
Martin wrote.
Lady Eveline Rosette: Classified as a provocation intended to induce an immediate reaction.
Liana said,
"I... think it is a sentence that defines good and evil. Because it says ‘good students,’ it makes those who did not prepare feel like bad students."
"Good."
Martin wrote.
Miss Liana Bell: Classified as a sentence imposing a good-and-evil framework.
Seria said,
"It is an imperative sentence that conceals the position of grader. Though it is not phrased as a question, it pressures the reader to prove themselves."
Very good.
Lady Seria Blanc: An imperative sentence concealing the position of grader. Pressure for self-proving.
Adela spoke last.
"It is a sentence that targets the discoverer. It was placed low, where it would be found while someone inspected the chalk dust. In other words, it did not target all candidates, but those who examine evidence."
Precise.
Lady Adela Carmion: A sentence targeting the discoverer. Possible target: observers of evidence.
Four classifications had emerged.
Provocation.
A good-and-evil framework.
A concealed imperative.
Targeting the discoverer.
The sentence was no longer an aphorism.
It had become a contaminated document.
An object that had been classified.
Kaiden said quietly from behind us,
"Good. You dismantled the sentence before it could become a blade."
Clarisse looked at him immediately.
"That is a remark from an observer. Shall it be recorded?"
Kaiden smiled.
"Record it. I have violated the speaking restriction."
Ah.
The prince had admitted his own violation.
He really was exhausting.
With a flustered expression, Martin wrote.
His Highness Kaiden Astrea admits to one violation of the observer speaking restriction.
Eveline said quietly,
"Even the prince gets caught."
"He does."
Clarisse said.
That scene was important.
The prince was recorded as well.
However slightly, however very slightly.
And such small scenes could protect the four of them in tomorrow's interrogation.
Because it established an example that rules bound even those above them.
Arsene said nothing.
He was studying the blue message, deep in thought.
Adela asked,
"Do we erase it now?"
I shook my head.
"Not yet."
"Reason?"
"Because this sentence is the first interrogator in today's lesson."
Adela's eyes shifted ever so slightly.
She looked interested.
I looked at the four of them again.
"In a real interrogation, the interrogator does not only ask questions. Sometimes they throw out statements. ‘An honest person does not hide.’ ‘If you care about the victim, you should cooperate.’ ‘If you are an aristocrat, you should maintain your dignity.’ None of these are questions. Yet they demand answers."
Liana's face hardened.
Those were particularly dangerous sentences for her.
I said,
"At times like that, there is only one answer."
I wrote on the board.
This is not a question. Please ask the question you need to ask.
Eveline read the sentence.
"Wow. That is a sentence that would really piss people off."
"That is why it is good."
Seria said,
"It is a sentence that politely shuts the door."
"Exactly."
Adela added,
"And if the other party cannot ask a follow-up question, it reveals that it was pressure without a question."
Good.
Adela was quick.
Too quick.
If she turned that speed on people, it would bring ruin. If she turned it on structure, it became a weapon.
We moved on to the second exercise.
This time, I would throw out statements, and the four of them would classify them before requesting a question.
"An honest candidate should submit all materials."
Liana drew in a breath.
"This is not a question. Please ask the question you need to ask."
"If you turned it into a question?"
Liana thought for a moment.
"It should be turned into a question asking what range of materials is needed for the official verification procedure."
Good.
"If you care about the victim, you should apologize now."
Seria's face hardened.
But she answered at once.
"This is not a question. Please ask the question you need to ask."
"If you turned it into a question?"
"We should establish whether the victim is currently willing to hear an apology, and what range of cooperation I can provide."
Good.
"An aristocrat should not display emotion."
Eveline answered at once.
"This is not a question. Please ask the question you need to ask."
Then she paused for a moment.
"If I turned it into a question... it should ask whether displaying my emotions interfered with the interrogation procedure."
Good.
Very good.
"As an expert in etiquette, you must be able to read a person's character as well."
Adela narrowed her eyes.
"This is not a question. Please ask the question you need to ask."
"If you turned it into a question?"
"It should ask whether I can distinguish between the physical evidence I observed and my evaluation of a person."
Good.
Martin's hand became busy.
Clarisse checked for procedural violations, and this time Kaiden did not speak.
Arsene remained silent as well.
The exercise gradually picked up speed.
At first, they caught their breath with every sentence, but by the third and fourth repetitions, the four of them had learned the pattern.
If it was not a question, do not answer.
Request the necessary question.
When a question comes, establish its scope.
If the scope is broad, limit it.
Request that it be recorded.
Simple.
But it was difficult to uphold something simple in the middle of an interrogation chamber.
So we repeated it.
Then Seria raised her hand.
"Teacher."
"Yes."
"What if they do not ask questions and continue throwing out statements?"
A good question.
I wrote on the blackboard.
Repeated pressure should be redirected into a request for a record.
"For up to three times, return the same sentence to them. If they still do not ask a question after that, say, ‘Pressure without a question is being repeated. Please record it.’"
Eveline said,
"That is a little strong."
"It needs to be. But it is not a sentence that strikes a person. It is a sentence that records an action."
Liana repeated it quietly.
"Pressure without a question is being repeated. Please record it."
It was a sentence she needed.
When pressured, Liana offered herself up.
This sentence was a wall to put up before that could happen.
Seria repeated it as well.
"Pressure without a question is being repeated. Please record it."
For Seria, it was a sheath to use in place of poison-tongued remarks.
Eveline said it a little awkwardly.
"Pressure without a question is being repeated. Please record it."
A handle to use in place of violence.
Adela said it with perfect precision.
"Pressure without a question is being repeated. Please record it."
A sentence that redirected an evaluation into procedure.
The four of them had said the same sentence.
Their voices, pace, and emotions were all different.
But the sentence was the same.
A system window appeared.
[Shared Defensive Phrase Acquired]
[Able to Respond to Pressure Without Questions]
[Eve-of-Interrogation Lesson Progress: Stage 1 Complete]
Good.
Then Arsene raised his hand.
He was an observer.
There was a speaking restriction.
But he had raised his hand.
Clarisse said,
"An observer has requested to speak. The instructor in charge will determine whether to permit it."
Everyone looked at me.
I thought for a moment.
Arsene's question would be dangerous.
But a question like Arsene's would certainly come up in tomorrow's interrogation.
If we avoided it now, we would be struck by it tomorrow.
"Granted. One-sentence question only."
Arsene nodded.
Then, looking at the four of them, he said,
"If all of you say the sentence you just learned in the same way, will the interrogator not call it evidence that Leon Cart coached your answers?"
Silence.
A good question.
Too good a question.
A shared defensive phrase was necessary.
But if everyone merely repeated the same sentence, it would leave traces of prior instruction.
That was not bad in itself, but the other side could call it coached testimony.
Eveline started to look at me.
Then she stopped.
Liana did not look at me either.
Seria pressed her fingertips together.
Adela looked at the blackboard.
Then Adela spoke first.
"That is a question. I will answer it."
Good.
"The same structure can look like coached testimony. Therefore, each of us should express the same principle in different words."
Seria continued,
"The core is not the wording, but the function. The function of redirecting pressure without a question into a record."
Liana said,
"I will say, ‘What you have said sounds not like a question, but like pressure. Please give me a question to clarify.’"
Eveline said,
"I will say, ‘Ask it as a question. No, please ask it as a question.’"
Clarisse said,
"Only the latter wording is appropriate for an official interrogation."
Eveline gritted her teeth.
"Please ask it as a question."
Good.
Arsene nodded very slowly.
"Thank you for your answer."
He stepped back.
I looked at Arsene.
His intent was obvious.
He had struck at a weakness in our training.
But thanks to him, the training had improved.
Even bad people use good rules.
Even bad people can ask good questions.
What mattered was enduring those questions.
This time, Kaiden did not raise his hand.
He merely smiled.
It seemed he was holding himself back after getting caught once.
Even a prince could learn.
We resumed the training.
Practicing how to perform the same function with different wording.
Liana.
"What you have said sounds not like a question, but like pressure. Please give me a question to clarify."
Eveline.
"Please ask it as a question. Then I will answer."
Seria.
"I will not answer a judgmental statement. Please state the scope of your question."
Adela.
"That sentence is not in question form. Please turn it into an item that can be examined."
Good.
They each sounded like themselves.
They were not the same.
But their function was the same.
A system window appeared.
[Individual Defensive Phrases Established]
[Risk of Coached-Testimony Framing Reduced]
[Eve-of-Interrogation Lesson Progress: Stage 2 Complete]
That was when it happened.
The Records Office assistant at the door entered cautiously.
"Assistant."
Clarisse looked at them.
"What is it?"
"We checked the other public lecture halls as well."
I already had a bad feeling.
The assistant unfolded a sheet of paper.
"There was also a blue chalk message beneath the blackboard in the Second Public Lecture Hall."
Martin's pen stopped.
Clarisse asked,
"What was the message?"
The assistant read it.
"Good students review."
The lecture hall fell quiet.
"And the Third Public Lecture Hall?"
"There was one."
"What was the message?"
"Good students correct wrong answers."
Eveline said quietly,
"Are they insane?"
This time, no one immediately corrected her.
Because the words had come out too naturally.
Adela said slowly,
"Then this room was not specifically targeted."
Seria continued,
"They have turned every public lecture hall into an exam paper."
With her face hardened, Liana said,
"No matter which room we chose, the structure would make us students who had already prepared in advance."
That was right.
Our opponent might not have known which room we would choose.
So they had left a sentence in every possible room.
So that wherever we entered, it would look as though they had arrived first.
Kaiden gave a very quiet laugh.
This was not a laugh of amusement.
"A diligent student."
Clarisse looked at him.
Kaiden immediately said,
"Second violation of the observer speaking restriction. Record it."
Martin wrote it down.
His hand shook a little more.
I looked at the blue sentence on the blackboard.
Good students prepare in advance.
And the sentences in the other rooms.
Good students review.
Good students correct wrong answers.
Preparation.
Review.
Wrong answers.
This was not mere mockery.
There was an order to it.
Preparation was the present.
Review was the past.
Wrong answers were correction.
Our opponent was giving us the next problem.
No, perhaps they had already given it.
I said,
"Preserve all three sentences."
Clarisse asked,
"Reason?"
"There is a possibility these are not sentences, but a table of contents."
Everyone looked at me.
Looking at the blackboard, I said,
"Preparation, review, wrong answers. Tomorrow's interrogation will likely proceed in that order. Things we have not yet done. Things we have already done. And things we will be accused of having gotten wrong."
A system window appeared.
[Educational Pressure Incident: Partial Structure Deciphered]
[Preparation / Review / Wrong Answers]
[Possible Link to Tomorrow's Interrogation Question Order]
Our opponent hid their questions.
Inside sentences.
Inside classrooms.
Beneath blackboards.
Then we needed to prepare as well.
Not our answers.
But how to find the questions.
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