Time to go, finally. Aidou met the start of nightshift with a great deal of impatience, straightening and re-straightening the tie of his Night Class uniform until the action lost all meaning.

It wasn't just hunger and sleeplessness that made him restless, it the state of not knowing. Aidou had never been very good at not knowing. He needed to know everything, think ahead to all the possible moves, and the uncertainty surrounding the third floor went against everything he valued, just like each nasty surprise the Institute had doled out so far when information was scarce.

But the only way to find out what was going on was to commit to action. That, at least, he could do.

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