The atmosphere in the afternoon classroom is even more sluggish than the morning periods, and combined with the lack of motivation from everyone around, it's incredibly sleep-inducing. In fact, several people have already succumbed; some are sprawled out like travelers who collapsed mid-journey, others have given up and are face-down on their arms, and some are pretending to read their textbooks but have clearly fallen asleep. Even the way they sleep is diverse. Just watching them makes you drowsy.

The teacher seems used to it and no longer bothers with them. Stopping for every sleeper would stall the lesson, and since it's their own fault, ignoring them might be the most logical approach. And, without exception, there is one regular among the sleepers.

Teru Kitagawa. This one seems to be the type who couldn't resist the sandman. They look like a traveler who collapsed halfway. Their hand is loosely closed as if they were holding something. They were probably holding a mechanical pencil. ...Well, that pencil is now rolling around on the edge of the desk. It looks like they were taking notes properly at first, but halfway through, the handwriting clearly began to crumble, ending in mysterious symbols like ancient hieroglyphs and a stray line trailing off. That must have been their limit.

And so, as usual, time passed peacefully until the bell rang for the end of the day. The moment the chime sounded, several people woke up. How cunning. But Kitagawa showed no sign of waking. The teacher sighed with a wry smile, walked over, and tapped the edge of the desk with a pen to wake them up.

It seems they forgot their assignment again today. How many times has it been now? The teacher looked exasperated but still smiled, telling them that if they brought it to the staff room after school, they'd let it slide. They're surprisingly soft on Teru.

Teru made a face of pure dread before reluctantly agreeing. Their expression shifted from a peaceful sleeping face to that of a dog that just got splashed with water.

After the teacher finished the closing announcements, the room was suddenly filled with noise as students grabbed their bags and flooded into the hallway. In three minutes, the classroom would be silent.

Just as Guest slung their bag over their shoulder to head home, a voice called out from the side. In the quiet classroom where even a whisper would carry, the voice was unnecessarily loud.