At 5:30 PM and with just thirty minutes left.
Ren's felt his neck ache. His ribs still protested every breath reminding him the Kotekai fight and now tomorrow... tomorrow he would be running from school to the HQ again before the trial even began.
This is exactly what Hanagaki wanted to sabotage him through exhaustion.
Nakamura stood suddenly. "Ryūhara. Water fountain. Go."
Ren looked up, confused.
"You look half-dead. Get some water. Two minutes."
It wasn't kindness, exactly. More like... practical concern.
"I can't have a student collapse during detention."
Ren stood, legs stiff and he walked to the hallway fountain, plashed cold water on his face, drank deeply.
He closed his eyes for a moment. "One more day of detention. Then trials. Then... who knows."
He returned to Room 2-B. Nakamura didn't look up from his newspaper.
Once the clock's minute hand clicked to twelve, the words dismissed rang through the quiet classroom.
