They made it to First Bell on time, which felt like a small miracle and a large lie.
The Lotus courtyard was already full. Banners hung high and barely moved in the faint breeze that always seemed to live here, even when the rest of the city was completely still. Uniformed students streamed through in neat lines, slate tablets tucked under arms, hair tied the right way. Everything looked insanely practiced.
Then the royal scholars cut across that order like they didn't belong to the same day.
No uniforms. Badges catching the light anyway. Eight people moving with the shared stiffness of someone who's been awake too long and refused to admit it.
Raizen walked in the middle without thinking about it. Hikari matched his pace on his left. Lynea was already scanning the flow of people like she was tracking time itself. Hikari reached up, casual, and straightened the edge of Raizen's collar.
He didn't even register it until her knuckles brushed his jaw.
