The next morning, Class 5 was unusually active with energy and chatter.
All the students were already inside the classroom, muttering amongst themselves in small groups and glancing repeatedly at two empty seats.
Renji sat in the back of the classroom near the window, and despite his new girlfriend Kisawa sitting beside him and occasionally trying to make conversation, he couldn't help but think constantly about Kōya.
'What the hell actually happened back there in that warehouse…? And how's he feeling right now?' Renji couldn't stop wondering, his mind replaying the brutal fight and everything that followed.
He hadn't been able to visit Kōya even once since they'd been rescued, because the Academy had immediately made him go through several sessions of compulsory trauma counseling and psychological evaluation but he was genuinely worried about his best friend.
