The Moment It Fell [Next Day / Main Gym]

The next day, the school blocked off the area beneath the lighting frame.

But preparations for the festival continued, and students still moved through the rest of the gym.

From across the room, Hara heard a strange metal friction.

Creeeak.

Click.

Louder than yesterday.

(Hara) : “Everyone needs to get out.”

(Teacher) : “What?”

Metal shrieked overhead.

Crash!

One side of the lighting frame tilted.

Students screamed.

Across the gym, Hara saw Kuroda slipping toward an exit.

He could chase him.

At the same time, he heard two students crying beneath the bleachers.

Hara looked away from Kuroda.

(Hara) : “Koharu! Clear the left aisle!”

He moved through the falling debris, pulling students out.

One student had fallen with an ankle trapped beneath a metal railing.

Hara lifted it.

This time, he didn’t hide his strength.

Everyone saw.

(Student) : “Hara... how are you—”

(Hara) : “Questions later!”

He pulled the last student free.

A second later, part of the lighting rig crashed onto the floor.

Boom!

Dust filled the gym.

(Koharu) : “Hara!”

From beneath the debris, Hara coughed and raised a hand.

He was alive.

Kuroda didn’t make it out of the school.

A teacher caught him at the exit.

Hara never saw it happen.

He was holding the hand of a student he had just rescued.

Koharu watched him.

The strongest she had ever seen Hara

wasn’t when he defeated someone.

It was when he saved them.