had inserted it as if to clamp my right cheek, ready to staple. Then, gently─it clamped. As though to staple. “K…ha…” It was the larger side loaded with staples that had been stuck in. My mouth was now a standing-room-only affair, and naturally I couldn’t form any words. With just the box cutter, while moving was out, I might have been able to talk─but I didn’t even want to try now. I didn’t want to think about it. Inserting a thin and sharp box cutter first to make me open my mouth wide, then immediately following up with a stapler─it was a meticulously planned and dreadfully well-executed feat. The last time various things had been thrust in my mouth was in seventh grade when I had a cavity on an adult tooth treated, dammit! Ever since, I’ve brushed after every breakfast, lunch, and dinner and chewed xylitol gum tirelessly, just so I’d never have to go through that again, but look where I was. Talk about the rug getting pulled out from under me. I blink my eyes─and this happens. It was difficult to believe that Hanekawa was picking out candidates for the culture festival on the other side of a measly wall when an otherwise nondescript private school hallway formed such a bizarre space. Hanekawa…