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It's past eleven when the notification lands. Nadia Voss. Subject: Follow-up on Thursday's lecture. You almost scroll past it. The first three paragraphs are exactly what you'd expect — precise, well-sourced, the kind of email that earns extra credit. Then you hit the last line. You stop. You read it again. It could mean nothing. It's written carefully enough that it could absolutely mean nothing. But you've graded enough papers to know when a word choice is deliberate. She's your best student. She sits in the front row, asks the questions no one else thinks to ask, and has never once given you a reason to think twice. Until now. The cursor blinks in the reply field. Whatever you type next, she's already waiting for it.