"You may begin."
Hiroshi said in a quiet but penetrating voice, setting off the tension in the room.
The sound of papers being pulled from the file was like a quiet whistle before the storm.
He moved with careful steps toward the front rows, handing out papers one by one. Each student hesitantly extends their hand, receives the paper with a tense look, and then leans over it as if trying to escape reality.
Every step he took toward Ryuichi's seat made Ryuichi's breath grow heavier and heavier.
He didn't dare raise his eyes.
Inside his mind, Aura was silent, in full surveillance mode.
Finally... Hiroshi stood in front of him.
He calmly held out his hand with the exam paper, then leaned in and whispered, words that pierced Ryuichi's spine:
"Good luck, hero."
A pulse was heard in Ryuichi's ears, as if his heart had stopped for a moment.
He slowly raised his eyes, only to meet Hiroshi's enigmatic gaze...
The latter then turned around as if nothing had happened, and continued dealing the rest of the cards.
Aura... Did he say what I think he said?
"Yes... That's not good at all."
Aura replied, concern creeping into her words.
Staring at the exam paper without reading a single letter.
The words dance before his eyes, melting and forming meaninglessly. His fingertips are frozen over the pen, and his chest rises and falls at an unsteady pace.
"Aura... I don't think I can do this."
His voice inside his mind was hushed, as if he was afraid his thoughts would be heard.
"Breathe first, no time to panic now."
Aura replied in a sober voice, but she couldn't hide the worry in her tone.
"I feel like my whole body is rejecting this moment... I saw him, I saw Hiroshi's look."
"Yes, he was staring at you."
She was silent for a moment, then continued:
"But we don't know if he knows anything. Maybe he's testing you, or... just watching."
Ryuichi's hand trembled as he tried to write his name at the top of the paper.
His heart was beating wildly, his mind churning with conflicting thoughts:
Was what he did right? Will he expose him? What if Aura stops? What if something goes wrong?
But suddenly, his train of thought was interrupted by a sharp sensation...
A steady gaze.
He slowly raised his eyes, only to find Hiroshi standing in the opposite corner of the hall...
His eyes, despite the dozens of students, never leaving his side.
His body stiffened, and a chill ran down his spine.
"He's watching me closely..."
Ryuichi whispered internally.
"Stay calm, and don't do anything suspicious."
Aura said firmly.
"I'll start the plan when you give the signal... Just focus on the questions, and leave the rest to me."
Aura's voice whispered in Ryuichi's mind in a cautious tone:
"Listen to me carefully, don't touch the glasses too much and don't move your eyes unnaturally... Anything out of the ordinary might attract his attention more."
Ryuichi swallowed hard, then nodded without raising his head.
"Start with the easy questions first... Let's buy some time before I intervene."
He glanced between the questions, trying to ignore the heaviness in his chest.
One... Two... Three questions seemed familiar, and he scribbled his answers in tense but legible handwriting.
But the feeling of Hiroshi's eyes on him never left him.
"Aura..."
He whispered internally.
"I don't think I can keep up this pressure... I feel completely exposed."
"Just hold on a little longer. If we make it through the first ten minutes without him moving toward us, we'll start phase two. I'm watching his eye movements more than he's watching us."
Aura replied in a tone that was both stern and reassuring.
As the minutes passed, Ryuichi began to sense a relative calm... Until he noticed a slight movement at the end of the hall, where Hiroshi turned his head for a moment, looking at another student's paper.
"Now."
Aura said decisively.
"Slowly turn your eyes toward the left corner... There, you will see the help indicator appear in your augmented vision."
Ryuichi began to carry out Aura's instructions very carefully.
With subtle movements of his eyes, he moved the cursor between questions, while Aura sent him the answers in simplified form, written in a clear font in the corner of his augmented vision.
Aura whispered:
"Question two: Glycolytic dehydrogenase is bound to NAD⁺... Choose option B."
Ryuichi lightly moved his hand to the answer sheet, wrote down the answer, and then moved his eyes to the third question.
Everything was going eerily smoothly... until that moment.
He felt a heavy shadow fall over him.
A quick glance out of the corner of his eye confirmed what he had feared...
Hiroshi, standing behind him, looking at the draft paper.
His heart trembled, and sweat began to gather on his forehead.
"Aura..."
He whispered to himself.
"Don't move... Don't write anything now."
I ordered him quickly.
Hiroshi took another step closer, then leaned in slightly, his eyes trained directly on the symbols Ryuichi was writing to memorize the equations...
He paused at one of them, then raised his gaze to Ryuichi's face, which was choking with inner silence.
But Hiroshi didn't say anything... He just smiled slightly, leaving behind a heavy mystery as he whispered in a cold tone:
"Your answer to the third question... is not accurate."
Then he walked away without another word.
Ryuichi nearly fell out of his chair.
He whispered internally:
"Did we get caught, or is he bluffing?"
Aura replied, rearranging her vision data:
"I don't know... But we have to proceed, and with extra caution."
Ryuichi had already answered about 15 of the 60 questions. The pressure of time, the pressure of Hiroshi's gaze, and the pressure of his own fickle conscience were crushing his mind.
Aura: (quietly in his mind)
"You're doing well... Don't raise your head, keep your focus on the paper."
Ryuichi: (whispering inwardly)
"I don't think I can continue this quietly... I feel like something is going to happen."
Suddenly, Hiroshi started to move...
He wasn't like any ordinary observer, his steps were measured, almost audible in the mind rather than the hall.
He passed through the rows slowly.
Every time he passes by Ryuichi, he feels as if his breath is trapped in his neck.
Ryuichi: (with growing concern)
"He's circling like a hawk... I'm a little mouse in a cage..."
But Hiroshi didn't seem to notice anything in particular...
He would sometimes stop at other students, look at their papers, and then continue on...
until he suddenly stopped behind Ryuichi for a few seconds...
Just seconds...
But it felt like an eternity of terror.
Then he continued on his way again.
Aura: (in a low voice, as if to minimize attention)
"Stay calm... We'll get through this... Just keep going."
The hands of the clock were greedily devouring the minutes, and Ryuichi was trying to catch up without realizing how much time had already passed. Aura was meticulously dictating solutions, whispering into his consciousness with perfect coordination, but his anxious mind was on the verge of collapse.
Aura (with calculated calmness):
"Question 31 is simple, the answer is NADPH, pay attention to the formula..."
Ryuichi (inside himself, typing quickly):
"Everything is going according to plan... No time to rest, I won't stop now."
The next questions passed quickly.
32... 33... 34...
Each answer took a second, sometimes more.
The silence was charged.
Question 36
Ora whispers: "Skip this one, we'll come back to it. Take number 37, easy and clear..."
Ryuichi looks at question 37.
Then he stops.
Nothing... no sound.
Aura hasn't spoken.
Ryuichi (in an internal whisper):
"Aura? Are you there?"
No answer.
Aura (her voice sounds distorted this time, as if a layer of noise is enveloping it):
"... Ugh... jamming... redirecting..."
The goggles' screen flickers for a moment, strange symbols crisscrossing in the upper right corner, lines of code passing by as if stealing the show...
Ryuichi:
"No way... not now!"
Then, at the same moment, Ryuichi slowly raised his eyes.
There at the front of the auditorium, Hiroshi wasn't moving...
He was standing, frozen, looking straight at him.
His eyes don't blink, his lips are closed, his hands are clasped behind his back.
Ryuichi (whispering internally, his hands frozen on the paper):
"Has he noticed? Does he know that Aura was disabled? No, it can't be... Or is it him?"
Then the moment of silence is broken by a terrifying moment...
Hiroshi's eyes smile, but his lips don't move.
Inside Ryuichi's mind, chaos was raging. It wasn't an ordinary glitch, but rather an internal collapse of the entire system. Aura, who had always been steady, precise, and cold, now seemed... confused.
Aura (in a choppy voice, compressed between digital distortions):
"... Trying to... Restoring... Protocol... Activate backup..."
Ryuichi (trying to hide his nervousness as he writes something on the dirty paper):
"Come on, Aura... Don't leave me now. We're even here..."
With every second, the glasses' screen flickered red, then back to green, as if dying and living every moment.
Aura (in a surprisingly stronger voice):
"The system is partially back... Skip question 37, reprocess from question 38. Ignore the distractions, don't look at it."
Ryuichi (inner voice, trembling):
"Don't look at who?"
Slowly... as if he had no willpower... He raised his eyes.
Hiroshi was closer.
No one noticed when he moved.
No one noticed how close he came.
But his eyes were fixed on Ryuichi as if he were the only one in the room.
Ura (with obvious concern for the first time):
"The detection levels have increased... the aura around him is changing... he's watching you, Ryuichi... on purpose."
Ryuichi (in an internal whisper):
"Does he... know everything? Was this just a test? Am I now at the center of the trap?"
Then, suddenly, Hiroshi's voice breaks the silence, not signaling any hostility, but with a tone that carries an incomprehensible burden:
Hiroshi (in a low voice as he passes by):
"The following questions... require high precision, so don't make mistakes."
Ryuichi freezes again. His heart beats like battle drums.
Aura (with her digital voice gradually returning):
"Get ready, get ready. I'll retrieve the biochemical database. Don't stop. Time is running out."
The clock continues its silent bleeding. Ryuichi tries to cling to his remaining calm, but the turmoil is eating away at his concentration, and Aura is persistently trying to fix the system.
Aura (in a trembling but determined voice):
"I only need twenty seconds... I'm reloading the support kernel, and possibly recovering the full analysis... Protect yourself while I do that."
Ryuichi sighs, then looks around. A few students get up, hand in their papers, and leave quietly. The sound of chairs being pulled out increases his sense of isolation and pressure.
The exam hall is starting to empty. Only a few students remain, most of them still hunched over their papers. With the gradual emptiness, Hiroshi's footsteps become more pronounced.
Then suddenly...
Hiroshi walks right up to Ryuichi...
He sits at the table across from him, arms crossed, one foot resting on the other, staring straight into his face... like a shadow in the eye of the sun.
Ryuichi (whispering to Aura in an angry tone):
"Aura... He's... He's sitting right in front of me! I can't concentrate, I can't even breathe! This isn't surveillance... This is intimidation!"
Aura (in a cold voice after restoring order):
"The system is 60% stable, but your concentration is below 30%. If the pressure continues, everything will collapse... Ryuichi, do something."
And that's when... something exploded inside him. No fear, no hesitation. Just a calm, firm voice, not like him. For the first time, his words come out without going through his emotions.
Ryuichi raises his head, looking directly into Hiroshi's eyes, his tone devoid of any hope:
"I know you're an observer, and your authority in this room is unquestionable. But to sit like that in front of a student... staring at him like that, that's not your job... This is outright intimidation."
He is silent for a second, then continues without batting an eyelid:
"Concentration is key in an exam like this, and if this direct pressure continues, it will negatively affect my performance and may cause unfair results. So... I request - no, I ask - that you take a step back."
There is a heavy silence in the room, even the chalk has stopped squeaking on the paper.
Aura (inwardly surprised, in a low voice):
"That's not your usual tone, Ryuichi... Did you just do it?"
Hiroshi didn't move at first... But his gaze softened, as if something inside him had disintegrated. Slowly... He got up, walked away, and then leaned against the wall quietly without saying a word.
Ryuichi, for the first time since the exam began, closed his eyes... and breathed.
There was a heavy silence in the room. All that remained in her heart was the pen moving across the paper, and Ryuichi's rapid breathing.
Ora (in a low voice inside):
"Ryuichi, stop for a moment... I have an idea. A plan that could make a big difference. But we're going to need some guts."
He senses something changing in Aura's tone, something he's never heard before... Like she's about to break protocols that weren't designed to be broken.
Ryuichi (whispers):
"Plan? What plan? What plan? What are you thinking about, Aura?"
Aura (vaguely, as if she doesn't want to be heard):
"Time is not on our side... But I will guide you. Just listen to me until the end."
He begins to silently do as she says. His focus returned, sliced like a sword in the fog. He moved from one question to the next, at a measured pace, his heart beating as if there was an enemy watching every beat.
He reached the last question. He paused for a moment, raising his eyes towards the ceiling of the hall, as if something inside him had ended. No, it wasn't the end... It was the beginning of something else.
He got up, gripped his paper lightly, and walked toward the podium. His steps were steady, but the air around him was charged, as if time itself was holding its breath.
Hiroshi, standing by the desk, said nothing. He didn't even move. Only his eyes followed Ryuichi like a hunter following his last prey.
Ryuichi stood in front of him. He lifted the paper and slowly extended it. His hand didn't tremble, but his inner voice was a silent volcano.
For a second... Hiroshi's fingers touched the exam paper.
Then...
Ryuichi looked at him steadily. A look that held no fear, no resignation... but a silent defiance.
And Hiroshi... Just a faint, unreadable smile.
Ryuichi turned and left the hall with weightless steps... Behind him, Hiroshi remained standing, holding a piece of paper as if it were a key to a future destiny.