Tyler followed the flow without rushing, the strap of his bag steady against his shoulder as the sound of footsteps spread and thinned around him. The building carried noise differently than primary school. It did not swallow voices. It reflected them, letting every laugh and complaint bounce back just loud enough to be noticed.
Chris walked on Tyler's left, turning his head constantly as if afraid he might miss something important. Noah drifted a few steps ahead and then fell back again, weaving just enough to be annoying without actually bumping anyone. Kai stayed slightly ahead of the group, eyes forward, posture straight, already moving like the corridor belonged to him. Amaya kept pace on Tyler's right, quiet but attentive, while Eris walked a step behind Luna, her gaze flicking from signs to people to doors with practiced ease. Aria stayed close to Luna, their voices low and careful, blending into the ambient noise.
"So," Noah said, slowing until he was half turned toward the group, "anyone else feel like this place is trying to intimidate us?"
"It's a building," Kai replied without looking back. "It can't feel anything."
Chris grinned. "That's exactly what an intimidating building would want you to think."
Tyler watched a group of students ahead stop abruptly beneath a sign, several of them talking at once before one pointed decisively and the cluster broke apart. The corridor rewarded certainty. Hesitation drew attention. He kept walking at the same pace.
"The signs are clear," Amaya said softly. "You just have to look."
Noah scoffed. "That's easy to say when you actually look."
They passed a door marked 1-C, then another marked 1-B. The noise thinned as fewer students peeled off in this direction. The floor gleamed faintly, reflecting shoes and moving shadows. Tyler noticed how teachers stood at intersections rather than doorways, guiding traffic without engaging in conversation. It was efficient. Impersonal.
"There," Amaya said, pointing ahead.
The sign for Class 1-A hung above the final door on the left. The door was already open.
Tyler slowed slightly as they approached, not out of hesitation but habit. Inside, the room was quieter than the corridor, the air cooler, carrying the faint scent of cleaning solution and new furniture. Only three students were inside, all seated, their bags placed neatly at their sides. They looked up briefly as the group entered, then returned to their desks without comment.
Chris leaned closer to Tyler. "That's… unsettling."
"They're early," Kai said. "That's all."
Tyler stepped inside first. The room revealed itself quickly. Rows of desks were arranged with deliberate spacing, no room for clustering or casual rearrangement. Each desk had a narrow white strip fixed near the top edge, a name printed clearly in black. The board at the front was clean, untouched. Sunlight streamed in through the windows along the left wall, laying soft rectangles across the floor.
"No seat fights," Noah muttered. "They really took that away from us."
"It prevents noise," Eris said calmly from behind Luna.
Chris snorted. "You say that like it's a crime."
"In this place," Eris replied, "it might be."
They moved deeper into the room, eyes scanning for their names. Tyler found his seat immediately, positioned beside the window. He set his bag down and sat, posture relaxed but upright. Light spilled in from his left, reflecting faintly off the smooth surface of the desk. To his right, Eris took her seat, placing her bag down with deliberate care. Her arrival drew brief glances from nearby students, though she did nothing to acknowledge them. Behind Tyler there was no one, only the solid presence of the back wall.
Ahead of Tyler, Chris dropped into his seat, twisting slightly as he settled, already restless. Chris's chair scraped softly as he leaned back, one arm draped over the backrest as if testing how much movement the room would allow.
Eris looked ahead as Luna arrived and sat in the seat in front of her, smoothing the front of her uniform once before resting her hands neatly on the desk.
Luna glanced ahead as Noah dropped into the seat in front of her, the chair scraping loudly as he leaned back almost immediately. Noah turned his head to the left, where Kai was already seated.
Ahead of Noah, Amaya was already in place, facing forward with his posture straight, hands resting calmly on the desk. To Noah's left, Kai sat quietly, eyes forward, while behind Kai, Chris continued to shift restlessly in his seat.
Behind Noah, Luna remained seated, adjusting her posture slightly as the room continued to fill. To Luna's right, Aria sat carefully, aligning her desk items before folding her hands together.
Chris lifted a hand and gestured loosely across the row. "Alright, so Luna's basically the center here," he said. "I'm on her left, Aria's on her right. Noah's ahead, Eris is behind. Tyler's off by the window, and Kai's ahead of me."
Eris glanced sideways at Tyler. "That explains why Noah thinks he's being watched."
Noah twisted around again. "I am being watched."
Tyler didn't look up. "You'll get used to it."
Aria smiled faintly at that, then quickly lowered her gaze back to her desk.
The room filled slowly. Students entered in pairs or small groups, checking names, correcting themselves, occasionally whispering when they realized where they were meant to sit. Chairs scraped softly. Bags thudded against desk legs. Conversation stayed low, constrained by the fixed seating.
Tyler watched each face as it passed his row.
He recognized them all.
The hesitant ones who double checked their desks. The confident ones who barely glanced before sitting. The ones who scanned the room as if already measuring social space. It was the same class, rearranged into a different shape.
Danny Pierce entered with momentum. He pushed past two students near the door, muttering a curse word that sounded more like an announcement. His shoulders were broad, his build heavy for his age, his presence immediate. His seat was deep in the back-right corner, close to the door-side wall. He moved through the aisle without hesitation and dropped into his seat, chair scraping loudly as he leaned back.
Kai glanced back, lowering his voice. "Is he really a first-year?"
Chris leaned over Luna slightly. "He looks like he should be supervising us."
Noah grinned. "If that guy's first year, I'm filing a complaint."
Tyler said nothing. He had already placed Danny where he belonged in his mental map.
Miles Crowe followed more quietly, slipping into the seat on right of Eris. He adjusted his glasses, glanced once around the room as if checking alignment, then faced forward again.
The noise level rose steadily as more students arrived, then stabilized as the last few seats filled. Assigned seating prevented wandering. Everyone stayed where they were meant to be, conversations limited to immediate neighbours.
"This is weirdly calm," Noah said, lowering his voice. "I expected more chaos."
"Chaos comes later," Eris replied. "When people test what they can get away with."
Tyler rested his hands on the desk and looked ahead. The classroom felt contained, not hostile but firm. It was not trying to be welcoming. It was establishing terms.
The corridor outside grew quieter. The door remained closed.
Tyler noted the absence. The room felt almost complete, like a sentence waiting for its final word.
He adjusted his posture slightly, breathing evenly, letting the present anchor him.
The door opened again.
The sound was soft, barely louder than the scrape of a chair leg, but it cut cleanly through the low murmur of the room. A few conversations faltered mid sentence. Heads turned, some deliberately, others without realizing they had done it.
Clara Scott stepped inside.
She paused just beyond the doorway, one hand resting lightly against the strap of her bag as her eyes moved across the classroom. She did not rush. There was no hesitation in her posture, only a brief assessment, as if she were aligning what she saw with something she already expected.
The room reacted before anyone spoke.
A boy near the front straightened in his seat. Two girls on the right side leaned together, whispering too quietly to be understood. A ripple of attention moved through the rows, uneven but unmistakable, drawing eyes toward the doorway and then away again, as if looking too long might be impolite.
Tyler felt it before he lifted his gaze slowly, keeping his expression neutral, and recognition struck with immediate clarity.
It was not just her appearance. It was the way she stood, calm without effort, present without demanding space. The memory attached itself instantly, dragging fragments with it. Walking beside her through open courtyards. Conversations that had drifted without urgency. Laughter that had felt natural rather than forced.
Then the other memories followed.
Distance. Silence. Nights spent staring at ceilings, replaying words that had never been said correctly. The quiet weight of realizing that something ordinary had ended without ceremony.
The thoughts rose together, sharp and uninvited.
Tyler forced his breathing to remain even. He looked away briefly, then back again, grounding himself in the present room. The desk beneath his hands. The steady hum of the ceiling fan. The controlled noise of students pretending not to stare.
Clara shifted her bag and took a few steps forward, eyes moving from desk to desk, scanning the printed names.
Aaron Foster, seated ahead and slightly to the left, leaned into the aisle. "I think it's that row," he said, pointing toward the second row from the front.
Emily Parker, seated to the right, stood partway and stepped aside to clear the path. "Second seat," she added.
Clara followed their gestures, her expression polite and composed. "Thank you," she said simply.
She moved through the aisle without brushing anyone, stopping at her desk and reading the name once before sitting. She smoothed the front of her uniform with one hand, placed her bag neatly at her feet, and rested her hands on the desk.
The room resumed breathing.
Chris leaned toward Tyler and snapped his fingers lightly in front of his face. "Hello," he whispered. "You still with us?"
Noah twisted around in his seat ahead of Tyler, eyebrows raised. "That was a long look. Didn't know you had that in you."
Amaya glanced between them, confused. "What?"
Kai shifted slightly in his seat but said nothing, his attention forward, expression unreadable.
"Enough," Tyler said.
His voice was quiet, controlled, and flat. It was not raised, but it carried. The teasing stopped immediately, like a switch had been flipped.
A brief silence followed.
Eris noticed what the others did not. Tyler's left hand was clenched beneath the desk, fingers curled tight against his palm, knuckles pale. His posture remained composed, but the tension was unmistakable if one knew where to look.
She leaned forward slightly and spoke before the moment could stretch further. "So," she said casually, turning her head toward Luna and Aria, "did anyone actually understand the timetable they showed earlier, or was that just me?"
Luna blinked, grateful for the change. "I think electives start later in the week."
Aria nodded quickly. "That's what I heard too. They said something about rotating schedules."
Chris leaned back in his chair, relieved. "Good. I thought I was the only one completely lost."
Noah snorted. "You're always lost."
The room's tension dissolved into normal noise. Conversation resumed, redirected without friction.
Tyler loosened his fist slowly, fingers uncurling one by one beneath the desk. He drew in a measured breath and let it out, focusing on the present again. The classroom. The voices. The scrape of chairs as the last few students settled into place.
More students entered, filling the remaining seats. The room reached capacity, the low hum stabilizing into something controlled and contained. Assigned seating did its work. No one wandered. No one clustered. Everyone remained where they had been placed.
Tyler's attention drifted forward again. Clara sat several rows ahead, her back straight, gaze directed toward the board. She did not look around again. She did not search for reactions. She existed in the space without adjustment.
Chris leaned toward Eris. "Is it just me, or did the temperature drop for a second?"
Eris replied without looking at him. "It's just you."
Noah muttered, "I swear something interesting happens the moment I turn around."
"Focus," Kai said quietly, not unkindly.
The corridor outside fell silent.
A moment passed, stretched thin enough to be felt.