A name off the book is not a name off a list. The book is what the school swears on, and a name off it is a name the school no longer owes anything to.

CorvinaIt is the roll of the school. If she comes off it she is not expelled, she is unwritten. She has no placement, no papers, no witness that she was ever here.

MioneAnd the clause comes back and her father walks out of it. That is what the blank is offering. One name for one name.

The three of them stand around a warm lectern at two in the morning with a full bowl and a waiting line, and nobody says anything for a long time.