They came faster than Jin expected.
He'd barely had time to wash the dust of the Hall off his face before people started pouring into the courtyard. They came from the school walls and the rooftops, from the gardens, from the streets around the school. Some of them were still carrying whatever they'd been holding when the message came through, a shovel, a basket of laundry, a half-eaten rice ball. Within ten minutes the courtyard was full, and more were still squeezing in through the gates.
Jin stood on the edge of the fountain so he could see over them.
The captains were up front. Haneul, with his dark cloak hanging off his shoulders. Areum and Do-yun side by side. Yujin, Mina, Kyung-min, Hyunwoo with Pungbaek's fan tucked into his belt. Sujin, quiet, a little apart from the others, her eyes faintly green in the morning light. Yuna was right at the very front, so close to the fountain she was almost touching it.
And then the three of them pushed their way through the crowd.
