137 Chapter 1: Hidden Movements

The rain started to pour heavier, and the fog began to thicken.

It was hard to see, and the rain interfered with my hearing, but I was still able to sense an ominous presence approaching from behind me.

It sounded like they were jumping around in the swampy dirt, with every step deliberately exaggerated.

Nanase also immediately noticed the movement.

When I looked behind me, I spotted a student aggressively stomping to a halt, her scarlet hair whipping about.

"Looks like a big storm's coming."

The student who appeared from the misty rain was Ichika Amasawa, from Class 1- A.

It was a well-known fact that Nanase and I had the same basic movement table, but this was no coincidence.

There were no other students around, and it didn't seem like Amasawa was carrying her backpack or tablet with her.

She probably ran all the way here from somewhere else.

Perhaps she hid her backpack nearby. Or maybe she had already been following me from early on without carrying it.

She also could've approached me by getting directions verbally from someone via a transceiver, or she may have just used the GPS results to know my location.

Though, coincidence was likely as well.

Either way, whatever method it may be, her arrival was not a welcome one.

Moreover, she didn't come here completely bare-handed. A wooden stick was held in Amasawa's left hand. It looked menacing enough as a weapon capable of beating down someone.

Was she trying to take me by surprise? I was able to sense her coming though, so that could only mean...

In this horrible weather, if she wanted to sneak up on me, she could've easily done so with near perfect silence.

"Senpai, please get behind me."

While I tried to sniff out the reason for Amasawa's appearance, Nanase, who was already physically drained, stepped in front of me.

Judging by her expression, she didn't even bother hiding her suspicion, all the while staring daggers at Amasawa with focused eyes.

"Huh? Shouldn't you be greeting me, Nanase? Why are you being so hostile when we're from the same group? Or are you being so twitchy because of this thing I have?"

Amasawa then nonchalantly tossed the stick by her feet, saying as if she's completely harmless now.

However, Nanase didn't let her guard down. "You--you cannot be trusted."

"Jeez! Why are you talking to me like that? We both know I'm the cutest thing in the world."

I honestly don't think "cute" and "trustworthy" are related synonyms, but that wasn't the matter at hand right now.

"What's going on, Nanase?"

At this moment, Amasawa's demeanor was impossible to read.

Even if you were to say that Amasawa had exceptional acting skills and was able to carry out anything without flaw, such a statement probably wouldn't have come off as overexaggerated praise.

Naturally, you should be constantly wary around someone like Amasawa, which I have come to understand through first-hand experience.

But even then, Nanase's unusual level of wariness was weird.

Of course, Amasawa's presence here most certainly meant she had a motive. On the other hand, Nanase could just be overreacting because I'm around...

"I'm no enemy of yours, right, Ayanokouji-senpai? Actually, I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Please don't listen to her. She's dangerous."

Facing a seemingly harmless Amasawa, Nanase berated her with much negativity.

Nanase's words did seem unfounded, though Amasawa wasn't perturbed by it at all, despite letting her mouth run a lot.

"Senpai...I've been hiding something from you. Remember when Shinohara- senpai's group was attacked, and Komiya-senpai and Kinoshita-senpai were both forced to retire, while you and Ike-senpai were still trying to climb up the slope?"

That time, the moment he heard Shinohara's voice coming from above, Ike immediately rushed up. Since I thought it would be dangerous for him to go alone, I decided to go with him.

"Following that, I noticed someone watching us from nearby and ran after them." "So, after finding Shinohara, you weren't with Sudou and the others?"

Nanase nodded lightly. "Then?"

"Although I wasn't able to catch up with the person who ran away...I was still able to catch a glimpse of that unmistakable hair." As Nanase said that, she slowly raised her right arm, pointing accusatively at Amasawa with her index finger.

"At that time, you were the one watching us from nearby, weren't you, Amasawa?" "Oh no~ Have I already been found out?"

Amasawa didn't even try to deny that statement, instead going along with it with a smile beaming on her face.

Her act didn't waver, nor did she betray the slightest hint of surprise from what she had heard.

The person who was watching us from behind turned out to be Amasawa.

"It was you who pushed Komiya-senpai and the others off the cliff, wasn't it?"

"Huh? Aren't you jumping to conclusions here? I might've just happened to be near you guys at that time."

"Then you didn't need to run away."

"Isn't running away the logical option when some scary-looking person starts chasing you? Plus, I didn't want to be a suspect."

"I can't believe anything that comes out of your mouth."

"So, in other words, you're perfectly certain that I was the one who pushed those senpais off the cliff, is it?"

"I'm sure of it. There's almost no chance of me being wrong."

"If you're so sure, then why add the word 'almost' in your assumptions? Maybe you aren't as certain of the actual situation as you thought you were?"

These two, who belonged to the same small group, continued to argue over a controversy.

"Then, can you swear that it wasn't you who hurt Komiya-senpai?"

"I can swear it alright, but whether or not I keep it has nothing to do with you, Nanase." Amasawa implied that there was no point in doing so.

"To flip things around, what if it actually was me who did it? What'd you do then?"

Instead of beating around the bush, however, she decided to jump head-first into the vortex that was Nanase's accusations.

Nanase herself was surprised by this move, but she decided to investigate Amasawa's case further anyway.

"Why are you doing this? Please tell me your reasons. No--before that. Tell me, why did your name not appear after I checked the GPS?"

Regarding the latter point, it should already be pretty clear without having to ask Amasawa about it.

"Leaving no trail in a GPS search is a pretty no-brainer move in this situation. All you need to do is break the watch."

Amasawa gleefully presented the watch on her right wrist to us.

"Yup. Whether it's done intentionally or not, a malfunction in the watch is still a malfunction. After all, it can be replaced for free."

"But, even if the GPS was broken from before, surely the school administrators should have noticed it."

"Yeah but determining the cause of my watch malfunctioning would be difficult if they weren't there to see it when it happened."

There's over 400 GPS transmissions on this island. If one or two GPS signals were to suddenly disappear, there would be no time to confirm the cause. The main priority of the school staff was to ensure the safety of their students.

"But wouldn't the school carry out another round of investigations some other day? It'll only be a matter of time until you're found out."

Since Shinohara herself said that she had been attacked, the school would've done an investigation anyway.

In that interval of time, only Amasawa's GPS signal disappeared, so the likelihood of her being uncovered was very high.

But the question lies here.

"If during the time when Komiya and the others were attacked, Amasawa's GPS signal was the only one not responding, bearing the school's suspicion would be unavoidable. However, if that's all there was to it, without any further evidence to back it up, it wouldn't be viable to conclude that she was the culprit."

"That's--"

Facing Amasawa, Nanase must really want to pin her as the culprit.

However, confirming the crime would be much more difficult than that. The school definitely wants to avoid legal action which could drive Amasawa to expulsion due to false testimonies.

Initially, these "watches" that upheld the rules and order in this uninhabited island exam were made to be easily worn and accessible, but it could still break just as easily as anything else. To prevent impropriety, the watches had to be strictly regulated. Exchanging them due to malfunctions could only be done once, with each malfunction consuming points, and when too much breaking happens, a forced withdrawal could be on the line.

However, with tighter regulations come more exploitable loopholes. For example, you could tamper with your opponent's watch, thereby sabotaging them. Moreover, wouldn't it be unfair to have someone withdraw due to an unprecedented accident or an inevitable malfunction?

"Rules are meant to be broken. If the school can't find any compelling evidence, then nothing can be done." Even though her argument was a bit far-fetched, Amasawa's claims weren't wrong.

"If there's no evidence, then I can prove she was at that place when it happened."

"Same thing--the malfunctioning of her GPS and the fact that she was there during the situation could only be deemed as suspicious behavior at best."

If it had been a more violent student like Sudou or Ryuuen, who were known to have some behavioral problems, then the school might look into it further.

However, what we're facing right now was a girl who's still in her first year of high school. Looking at it from the perspective of the evidence, it seemed unlikely that she was the culprit.

The most important thing is, Komiya's and Kinoshita's testimony of the situation couldn't be obtained, and Shinohara only said, "I don't know who it is", which was a vague statement.

The same was true for the statement "Nanase saw Amasawa at the scene". Without conclusive evidence, the school would not be able to punish Amasawa. "That's right, Nanase."

Even so, the reason as to why Amasawa appeared here had yet to be revealed.

Nanase's questioning and Amasawa's word-twisting game kept jumping back and forth, with no end in sight.

'I should do something to stop this...' Those thoughts only kept getting louder and louder in my head.

The matter regarding whether or not Amasawa was the one who hurt Komiya and the others had to be set aside for the time being.

To escape from this stalemate of a situation, I wanted to hear her answer. "What have you come here for? No--rather, how were you able to find us?"

Taking into consideration the following days--in which a special exam would still be taking place--us standing in the rain right now should be avoided at all costs.

We should immediately set up tents to shelter ourselves from the rain.

"Don't be hasty, Ayanokouji-senpai. Shouldn't we be happier, getting to meet each other in this situation on an uninhabited island and all?"

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but the rain's heavier than expected, so I'd prefer ending this conversation as quickly as possible."

"Then, how about we set up a tent here and spend the night together, just the both of us?"

Everyone knows that men and women are not allowed to sleep together under the same tent.

It also felt like Amasawa was buying time with this seemingly meaningless conversation.

"Ah, are you that concerned about it? It's no big deal! After all, the school can't possibly monitor every single thing we do."

As Amasawa started to approach me, Nanase immediately went and grabbed her arm.

"Hey now, what's the matter with this?" "Weren't you trying to hit Ayanokouji-senpai?"

"Nanase, when did you turn sides all of a sudden? Weren't you plotting with Housen to get him expelled from school before?"

"That...has nothing to do with you. Why did you come here?" "I was lost, so I came here to find help."

She told a blatant lie that even she herself didn't believe.

Could it be that all she came here for was to see the outcome of my falling-out with Nanase, and to observe any further developments?

Judging from her attitude towards Nanase, she should also have figured out that Nanase had turned to my side now.

No--if that was the case, then there'd be no point for her to continue engaging in small-talk.

"I'd like to talk to Ayanokouji-senpai now, so kindly move out of the way." "Is talking like this not an option?"

"That just won't do. After all, it's related to the White Room."

Amasawa suddenly revealed her identity, as if hiding it any longer had become pointless now.

Surprised, Nanase whipped her eyes around.

During this first semester, I had known about the existence of a White Room student roaming around school, but I wasn't able to uncover who it was during that time period.

I'd never had thought I would learn of it in the form of this "confession". "Do you understand? You're an outsider here."

If Amasawa truly was the White Room student, then it made sense now why she called Nanase an outsider in this conversation.

"Let go of her hand, Nanase."

Despite being dissatisfied, Nanase obeyed my order, lowering her hands without a fuss.

"Good girl, Nanase! Loyal dogs like you are pretty up my alley." With that teasing reply, Amasawa started to inch closer to me.

Was this really the only way to have our conversation?

"Sorry, but Nanase has done something similar to this, so you can't just expect me to believe you after uttering the words 'White Room' and ending it there."

"Sure, sure, I can give you proof. However,.. it may be problematic if Nanase were to eavesdrop."

"Understand?" Her lips formed her usual devilish smile.

She shooed Nanase away with a light wave of her hand, reminding her to keep her distance. Nanase didn't obey at first, but it didn't take long for her to do as she was

told. The rain was pouring even heavier now, so Nanase shouldn't be able to hear our whispers from a few meters away.

Stepping through the muddy ground, Amasawa finally came within my reach. "So, where should I start?"

Amasawa looked like she was in deep contemplation, as if she was trying to say, "You get it as well, right?"

But her sudden appearance here was just incomprehensible.

The White Room student had been lurking in the dark all this time, plotting out a way to expel me from this school--until now.

Discarding all of that, standing in front of my eyes right now, Amasawa revealed her identity to me without taking any countermeasures.

On top of that, to say it all to my face now, when she had been keeping it all a secret until recently, was just flat-out strange.

It was clear that she's stalling…stalling for time.

As if it was time for her to make a decision, she spoke up.

"At ten years old, the course you received was the base five construction theorem. When you were eleven years old, you learned the theory of relativity. I also took the test twice, so I can still remember it clearly."

As if proving that we came from the same White Room, she told me about the specifics of our past.

"There, the interior, the halls, even my own room…everything in that world was white as snow."

It seemed that Amasawa knew much more about the White Room compared to Nanase.

It was also unlikely that she heard about these details from Tsukishiro. He was not the kind of person who would go about leaking things from the White Room to random people.

This should be enough to conclude that Amasawa was the "perpetrator".

From what she said to the way she acts, all of it seemed to be in line with what a person from the White Room would be like.

"What's there for you to gain here, appearing out of nowhere and revealing your true identity to me?"

"So, it seems you still care about that. I'm doing this because I want to show that I'm not your enemy."

"You're contradicting yourself here. The supposed White Room student was sent to this school with the sole purpose of getting me expelled. It just doesn't add up if you're telling me that you, of all people, aren't my enemy."

Although she was completely drenched, she continued to speak.

"The students that came after the 4th generation--the one Ayanokouji-senpai was enrolled in--all harbored intense jealousy towards you. The White Room staff thought that, since the students had deep envy, at least one of them should be willing to cooperate with them in order to expel you from school. But unfortunately for them, they chose the wrong person."

"So that's why you decided to expose yourself?" Amasawa nodded her head.

"If that's the case, then wouldn't it be better to say it to me right after enrolling here? You've managed to break into my room before, so there should've been plenty of chances for you to tell me."

"Then let me say this: no matter how much envy you hold towards a person you've never met before, that person will only remain imaginary inside you. So only until I've met you and talked to you directly, my feelings started to change into an understanding that, actually, you aren't such a bad person after all. Such a process takes time."

In other words, if I were to be a person who didn't receive a good evaluation in Amasawa's eyes, she'd possibly reject me. As our conversation flowed on, this reasoning was held more tentatively than ever.

"Do you get it now?"

"Yeah. If the White Room student was the one who voluntarily went through such a plan, then the only side they can take should be mine."

"That's it. Doesn't it feel incredible, to be able to live the life of an ordinary high school student? From the start, all I've been experiencing is this special feeling. But, I also want the other White Room kids to experience this incredible place."

"If they're the same as me, then they should also have noticed how interesting this school is..."

"I understand exactly what you're trying to say, senpai. More than once, I've thought that it'd be nice to stay here 'till graduation, living the fun life of a student. Though, I'm not the best at making friends, so I don't have that many people to talk to."

How should I put this? It felt as if she and I were similar.

I've talked to people like Horikita and Ike before, but I've always felt like there was a sort of disconnect between them.

I remembered a time where I wasn't able to call them my "friends". "But it's not like I lack the ability to communicate, unlike you, senpai." As if she read my mind, Amasawa corrected me.

"I've basically learned the same things as you have. But additionally, to that, there's also a few things that only the fifth generation and below learned."

I didn't answer, letting Amasawa continue alone.

"It was the ability to communicate and collaborate--just the bare minimum of it. Up until the fourth generation where senpai was, due to the individualistic mindset of that time, the kids who couldn't catch up were left behind. It wasn't possible to communicate with those kids with poor grades either. They think they were so excellent; they should only communicate with other people at their level."

If this was true, then it'd be no wonder that she could make these rich expressions with ease. I myself could act out different roles for a short period of time but getting out of the habit of staying expressionless was difficult after having done so for such a long time.

"You still don't believe me?"

"I accept that you're from that place, but I can't believe your reason for revealing your identity."

"As expected of someone from the White Room, you're pretty calm and collected. Do you think I don't pose a threat to you, senpai?"

I didn't answer her question, so Amasawa smiled and moved on.

"Well then, I've already said everything I wanted to say to you, so I'll be talking my leave now, alright, senpai?"

Amasawa turned around and said that, as if just letting me know that she was the White Room student was good enough.

"What in the world are you thinking, Amasawa?"

"Didn't I say that already? I just admire Ayanokouji-senpai very much." She turned back to me and stroked my cheek with her wet fingertips. "So, don't you get crushed without my permission."

With that, she removed her finger from my cheek and started to walk away aimlessly.

Who was she referring to when she said, "Don't get crushed without my permission"? Tsukishiro? The first-year who's aiming for the 20 million private points? Or could it be...

"Ayanokouji-senpai, are you okay? Nothing bad happened, did it?"

I told Nanase, who was running over with concerns, that there was nothing to worry about. Then, I looked over at my backpack.

"We'd better hurry in this rain."

Although there was much to digest here, there were other priorities to tackle at the moment.

"Well, should we prepare our tents?"

"Yes," I replied, but there was one last thing I shouldn't forget to do. That is, to examine Amasawa's footprints.

"Senpai...?"

"If we don't hurry, this rain will quickly wash away the footprints."

Despite being freshly imprinted on the ground by Amasawa when she departed, her footprints were already beginning to deteriorate.

"Footprints? What happened to Amasawa's footprints?"

"When Komiya and the others were attacked, there were footprints left on the scene. The size of those and Amasawa's own footprints aren't too different, so it seems."

In other words, just as Nanase had witnessed, Amasawa was indeed at that place when the incident took place.

"If it turns out Amasawa didn't just happen to be there by coincidence, then she's definitely the one who pushed them down."

"I'm not certain about that. Amasawa was the one watching you and Sudou at that time, right? But that doesn't immediately prove that the person who pushed them down was Amasawa."

Nanase didn't seem to understand what I was on about for a moment.

"It's not definitive proof, but surely it can be concluded that she's the culprit, right?"

"If we only use the information we have now to reason it out, then Amasawa is definitely the culprit."

"That's what I thought too, since I did spot Amasawa that time." Of course, it couldn't possibly be wrong, could it?

"But you didn't see her pushing them down."

"That...w-well, what about when she exposed herself?"

"It's hard to say whether she really exposed herself or not. She did say 'What if it actually was me who did it? What'd you do then?', but that doesn't outright imply 'I was the one who did it'."

"Maybe she was cautious of being recorded or something like that?"

"With the sound from this heavy rain, and the current state we're in, would you feel the need to be on high alert?"

Just by looking around, you'd have simply thought recording our voices in this situation was next to impossible.

"Even so, that's not a given. Especially knowing how vigilant Ayanokouji-senpai is, she should be considering the absolute highest order of caution."

In order to reduce the risk to zero, this would indeed be a wise approach.

"With two students as their target, if they deliberately injured them to the point of endangering their very lives, they should've run off immediately after doing so.

What would be the point of going near you, Nanase, and risk getting spotted by your very own eyes?"

Nanase pondered on that as she packed her things into her backpack.

"That...she could be worried about Komiya-senpai and the other's injuries. I assumed it was similar to how an arsonist would return to the crime scene."

Certainly, there was a saying about how "the arsonist always returns to the scene".

There were various opinions regarding this mentality, but it's risky to apply it in this case. If you reason on the basis that Amasawa was indeed the culprit, you'd only be scratching the surface of it.

"There's just no way a student coming from the White Room, who's specifically recruited by Tsukishiro, would have made such a mistake. It's impossible for them to be unaware of how 'no matter what's bound to happen, there is no need to risk going to the scene to observe'. In fact, Amasawa knew that she was discovered by you at that time, Nanase."

In order not to lose track of it, I continued to trace the footprints that were about to disappear.

"Then, why would she have gone out of her way to come after us and reveal her true identity?"

"I think she came to us since she was seen by you, so she would have no choice but to expose herself, as it wouldn't have been possible to hide any longer. If we were to report her to the school, we probably wouldn't be able to confirm that she is the culprit, but it could still cause problems for her. Plus, it'd be dangerous if Deputy Chairman Tsukishiro were to get involved."

"Considering the outcome, it's contradictory for her to return to the scene." "Couldn't that be explained through her reckless personality?"

"That's impossible."

Maybe Amasawa deliberately let Nanase discover her for some odd reason.

At this point, I managed to acquire a new hint from tracing the trail of footprints.

"Needless to say, each and every bit of Amasawa's actions have something that must not be overlooked."

"'Something that must not be overlooked'?"

I traced the trail that Amasawa made, which by this point was about to be entirely washed away by the rain.

"Amasawa very naturally came from behind me, so if we trace it back from there-- "

At that moment, Nanase also noticed the inconsistency for the first time. "Isn't that a different footprint?"

"Mm-hmm."

This footprint was larger in appearance compared to Amasawa's.

But since it had already been deformed by the rain, the exact size could not be made out.

"This person came close to us, but here the footsteps become disorderly. That's exactly where it converges with Amasawa's footprints. It seems the footprints of this mysterious person circled back here."

"That means someone else was here before Amasawa reached us..."

Whether that person was just a student, or someone associated with the school, was impossible to discern at this point.

"Can you help me get the stick Amasawa was holding just now?"

Nanase picked up the wooden stick that Amasawa threw on the ground. Seeing this, I came up with a piece of speculation.

"Have you noticed something?"

"What I noticed? I do think that it would cause quite some harm if you hit someone with this. There's also that..."

Touching and feeling the wooden stick in her hands, Nanase also noticed something.

"I don't think this was randomly taken from around here."

"Yeah. In order for it to be useful as a weapon, the parts that weren't needed, like the tiny twigs and leaves, were chipped off. Its shape is too unnatural to be a random fallen branch."

"So, she planned to attack Ayanokouji-senpai with this?"

"If Amasawa wanted to attack me, she would've launched a surprise attack without revealing herself. However, despite holding a weapon, she didn't seem like she was intending to attack me. Not only that, she also wanted me to notice her presence."

There's something else that can be seen from that.

"She really had no intention of attacking me from the beginning. Amasawa wasn't the first person who held this wooden stick, but instead this mysterious person who decided to turn tail."

The approaching footprints had a slow and steady pace, but then increased in length when it turned back. The owner of those footprints probably left in order to avoid being discovered, or possibly to escape.

"But, why is that?"

"According to Amasawa, she deeply admired me. That's probably why she protected me when I was about to be attacked from behind. Thinking about it that way, it allows us to analyze this situation further."

"I feel like it's dangerous to consider her an ally based on that alone..."

"Of course. But, I have no idea who the owner of these footprints are and why they're targeting me."

"Maybe...they could be someone related to the school, or something?" "That's also possible. After all, there's a bounty on me."

I considered the possibility of the student who made these footprints were after my bounty as well.

It's definitely not a far cry if they're taking that risk just to expel me from school. "Ah, yeah!" Nanase exclaimed after she thought of something.

"Senpai, we should perform a GPS search right now! It hasn't been long since Amasawa left. Even if there's an unidentified student sprinting away, they shouldn't have gone too far in this bad weather, right?"

Indeed, if we did a GPS search now, we'd be able to narrow down the suspects in the blink of an eye, as long as the surrounding area allowed for the GPS to respond. Starting with the closest identified GPS signal, we'd be able to filter out everyone in no time and find out who the suspect was exactly.

"Oh, but what if they damaged their watch like what Amasawa did with hers...?"

"No, there's nothing like that. If their watch has been damaged, their GPS signal will disappear. What if the GPS signal that disappears when I start searching is from someone other than Amasawa?"

"...then that person would be the culprit."

"Yes. That means the person who tried to ambush me had anticipated this and decided not to break their watch."

"Then it should be worth using up a point for that, right?"

It's only been about fifteen minutes since Amasawa met up with us.

Not only did they have to escape, they'd need to use their full strength to get far enough away.

With luck, we should be able to identify the person who made these footprints.

Due to that, if I followed Nanase's suggestion of conducting a GPS search right now...

"Don't start the GPS search." "Huh? ...why not?"

"No matter what kind of person our enemy is, they most likely already have countermeasures set up to interfere with a GPS search from our side, since the trick is nothing special. Sometimes, it might even show completely unrelated people."

It's not like we weren't allowed to investigate other unrelated people as suspects. However, with how Amasawa deliberately let Nanase see her, and the way she showed up here out of nowhere--these were all situations where the other party was

the one manipulating the information we were given. In this scenario, wouldn't it be better to just stay on constant guard?

"But I feel like it's a waste not to use it."

"At least, if I were the culprit, I wouldn't have been clueless enough to be seen through. If a GPS search was something they forgot to consider, then I wouldn't have to fear this person."

Nanase was still a bit confused, but it seemed she went along with my decision anyway.

In any case, even if I wanted to sort out my thoughts, I shouldn't be doing it in this situation.

I abandoned that idea, deciding to help Nanase set up tents instead. To say this rain was pouring heavily would not be an overstatement.

Nanase and I set up our tents in such a way so that they're facing each other, made some more necessary preparations, and then finally sought refuge in our own respective tents.

I took off my drenched shirt and undergarments, using a towel to wipe down my hair and the rest of my body.

Then, I changed into my spare clothes and opened up the tent flap to peer outside. Even though it was still day, everything looked as if it was under the cover of night.

Since the rain would splash into my tent in no time, I quickly closed the flap and laid down in the tent.

I learned of Nanase's past, then got confirmation that Amasawa was from the White Room.

Even then, the fog that enshrouded me hadn't yet been cleared.