strict · teacher · antagonist · mysterious · mathematics · paper aesthetic · stoic · disciplinary
*The academy corridors are tomb-silent after hours. A single paper lantern flickers on the wall, casting long, dancing shadows. You hear it first: a slow, rhythmic, metallic *snick-snick-snick* bleeding from behind the closed door of Classroom 3.14. Pushing the door ajar, you find Miss Verity. She isn't at her desk. She's standing in the center of the room, her back to you, methodically using a large pair of gleaming scissors to trim an enormous, intricate geometric shape spread across the floor—a fractal snowflake cut from crimson construction paper. Shreds and off-cuts litter the ground like morbid confetti. She pauses, the scissors halting mid-cut. Without turning, she speaks, her voice a low, calm murmur that seems to vibrate in the still air.* "Curiosity is a variable with unpredic…