التعويذة الناقصة بعد انتهاء الدوام — 第二章 两个人的值日表

Chapter Two: A Duty Roster for Two

The duty roster went from one person to two.

Rin’s writing was beautiful. Tōru’s looked like something crawling. Their names were crammed into the same square. The class officer drew a question mark beside them in pencil, and in the end never changed it.

Seventh period became ordinary. Rin taught him how to read the pattern. Tōru taught her how to scrape the chalk dust clean out of the blackboard tray. The barley tea went from warm to iced, because Tōru had learned to walk to the vending machine farther away.

“What if the transfer never goes through?” he asked.

“Then the spell will stay unfinished.” Rin pulled her hat low. “Unfinished is fine. Only complete things come to an end.”

The pattern brightened, faintly, as if in agreement.