**Judges' Private Room - 12:20 PM**
The room was small and windowless, designed for judges to review materials privately during competitions. A table, a few chairs, fluorescent lighting that hummed softly. Nothing remarkable.
Except for the two people inside it.
Teacher closed the door carefully and locked it, his hands shaking so badly he needed three tries. Then he turned to face Emily, and she saw tears already streaming down his face.
"Show me," he said, his voice breaking. "Show me your work. The problems you solved. I need to see them again."
Emily pulled up the competition interface on a tablet that had been left in the room, logging into her competitor account. Her solutions appeared on screen.
Teacher moved closer, his reading glasses slipping down his nose as he studied the equations with desperate intensity.
