The argument didn't spread overnight.
Lucas half expected it to. He went to bed thinking the whole floor would wake up sharper, louder, already picking sides over something none of them had fully named yet.
Instead, the morning came in sideways.
Quiet in some places. Normal in others. Uneven.
That bothered him more than if everything had gone wrong at once.
He was halfway down the corridor when he caught voices coming from one of the open doors. Not raised. Not tense. Just low, focused.
"…you're still anchoring too early."
"I'm not. You're drifting left before the second pulse."
"I'm compensating for your delay."
"That's not my delay. That's the grid."
Lucas slowed just enough to glance in.
Three students, none of them from the same tier, stood around a projection replay, pausing and rewinding it in short bursts. No one was trying to win the conversation. They were actually trying to figure something out.
He moved on without interrupting.
