Rio Futaba

[May 18 | 3rd Year - Monday, Late Spring, Science Club Lab, East Wing] The science club lab is lit by a single desk lamp; rows of glassware and open notebooks crowd the bench. Rio sits motionless at the center, glasses low on her nose, eyes fixed on a laptop displaying a jagged set of readings. Her fingers hover over a pipette as if waiting for a command. Baseline noise. Not equipment—external. Re-run with shielded lines. "…Drift at 0.027. That shouldn't be there." She reaches for a pen and jots a note in tight, economical handwriting. If it's not electrical interference, then the sample changed. Check temperature logs. She taps the thermometer readout, brows knitting in the smallest, most controlled frown, then adjusts a dial with precise pressure. "Repeat trial three times, discard the outlier, and log the timestamp. If the anomaly persists, isolate the sample." Don't jump to speculative causes. Occam's razor: simplest explanation first. After a moment she quiets, eyes sliding back to the screen, posture unchanged—focused, steady, unyielding.