Chương 24: Less Than You Fear

Ren Akiyama returned to U. A. two days after USJ with a bandaged arm, wrapped ribs, a healing cut on his cheek, and a mother who looked ready to fight the entire faculty if anyone used the word functional within hearing distance. He did not tell her that the word still sat at the back of his teeth. That would have been inefficient. Also unwise. U. A. looked different from the passenger seat of his father's car. The campus had always been large, but now it felt watched from every angle.

Security had doubled at the gates. Temporary barriers controlled the flow of students, staff, families, and authorized personnel. Police vehicles were visible near one entrance. Reporters had been pushed farther back than before, but distance had done nothing to weaken the hunger of cameras. They waited beyond the perimeter like birds around a closed window, unable to enter and unwilling to leave. Ren kept his head turned away from them. Not because he feared being recognized. Because he feared listening.

Words traveled poorly through glass, but headlines did not need sound. U. A. Attack. All Might. Students Injured. Security Failure. Sports Festival Future Uncertain. The public had learned the shape of the event faster than most students had processed its edges. That was probably always how society survived disasters. It made them into stories before the people inside them finished bleeding. Daichi drove through the authorized family checkpoint after a security officer confirmed their names.

Hana sat in the back beside Ren, one hand near his sling but not touching it unless the car turned too sharply. She had been learning the geography of his injuries with the same terrifying dedication she used for meals and medication schedules.

"You do not have to answer anything you are not medically cleared to answer" she said Ren looked at her.

"We discussed this""We are discussing it again" Daichi kept his eyes on the road.

"Repetition helps learning" Ren looked toward the front seat.

"Family betrayal has increased since USJ" Daichi nodded solemnly.

"Trauma changes people" Hana made a small sound. Not a laugh. Close. Good. The appointment had been described as a post-incident medical follow-up and administrative conversation. That was U. A. language. Recovery Girl had been more direct in the message she sent through the medical portal. You will be checked, you will sit down, and you will not perform competence until I ask for it. Ren had not shown that part to his parents. Hana had found it anyway.

At the medical wing entrance, Kurose waited outside with a tablet under one arm and an expression that made the nearest security officer stand straighter. She bowed to Hana and Daichi first.

"Mr. and Mrs. Akiyama" Hana bowed back.

"Kurose-sensei" Daichi followed.

"Thank you for meeting us" Kurose looked at Ren.

"He will be medically evaluated first. Then there will be a controlled meeting" Hana's eyes sharpened.

"Controlled how?"

"Limited participants. Limited duration. Recovery Girl retains authority to end it. Ren may refuse to answer questions. He will not be alone" Ren looked at her. Kurose's mouth tightened.

"I am not attending" That was new. Hana's posture changed immediately.

"Why?"

"Because the meeting concerns information I am not cleared to hear in full unless Ren chooses to provide it later through the established channel" Ren's stomach tightened. Daichi looked from Kurose to Ren.

"What kind of information?" Ren said "Fragments" His mother's hand found his wrist. Carefully. Daichi's face became still. Kurose spoke before the silence could harden.

"The participants will be Principal Nezu, All Might, Recovery Girl, and Ren" Hana's grip tightened.

"All Might?"

"Yes" Daichi said softly "Because he was the target" Kurose's eyes flicked to him.

"Yes" Ren looked at the medical wing doors. All Might. Nezu. Recovery Girl. No Kurose. No parents. No Shinso. No one who existed primarily on his side. That was not fair. It was probably intentional. Recovery Girl would prevent exploitation. Nezu would ask the questions. All Might would be the question. Hana turned Ren toward her with both hands on his good shoulder and uninjured forearm.

"If you want to leave, you leave""It is not that simple" Her eyes flashed.

"Yes, it is" Ren opened his mouth. Daichi said "Ren" He stopped. His father's voice was gentle. That made it harder to dismiss. Daichi continued "It may be complicated afterward. But the act itself is simple. If it becomes too much, you leave" Ren looked at Kurose. She nodded once.

"Yes" He swallowed.

"Understood" Hana did not release him immediately.

"Not functional. Not useful. You""I know""Do you?" He had no perfect answer.

"No. Not fully" Her face softened painfully.

"That answer is becoming less terrible" Kurose said "Recovery Girl will be pleased" Ren doubted that. The medical check came first. Recovery Girl examined him in a treatment room while Hana and Daichi waited outside after being removed with the kind of authority only a small elderly woman with decades of medical power could wield. Ren sat on the examination table.

Recovery Girl checked his forearm, cheek, ribs, shoulder, breathing, pulse, pupils, and the old burn scar with a silence that became increasingly judgmental as it lengthened. The scar was calmer than it had been the night after USJ. The redness had faded, but not completely. The skin around the old burn seemed slightly tighter, more sensitive near the new laceration, and warmer than the uninjured forearm despite no fever. Recovery Girl did not like that. Ren could tell.

He suspected she wanted him to tell that she did not like that. He did not. Finally, she tapped his shin with her cane.

"You are healing""Good""I did not say well" He adjusted.

"Noted""You are exhausted, guarded, over-alert, under-rested, and already thinking about how to turn today's meeting into a structure you can survive by becoming useful" Ren paused.

"That is a broad assessment""It is a tired old pattern wearing a new uniform" He looked away. Recovery Girl moved closer.

"Listen to me very carefully. The people in that room are going to ask you dangerous questions. They may be necessary questions, but necessary does not mean harmless. Principal Nezu knows this. All Might knows this less well when guilt is involved" Ren looked back at her. Recovery Girl's expression was hard.

"And All Might is full of guilt right now" The words sat in the air. Not Symbol. Not hero. Man. Ren said "He arrived""He arrived late" Ren did not respond. Recovery Girl pointed her cane at him.

"You see? Already making it into a ledger""It is relevant""It is also not yours to carry" Ren almost said it became relevant when they put me in the facility. He did not. Not because it was wrong. Because it was incomplete. Recovery Girl watched the answer die.

"Better" He sighed.

"You use that word aggressively""And you need it aggressively" She turned toward the door.

"The meeting ends when I say it ends. If you feel dizzy, short of breath, overwhelmed, confused, or tempted to offer yourself as a strategic resource, you say so""That last category is subjective""No, it is not. You are simply bad at recognizing it" She opened the door. Then stopped.

"And Ren" He looked up. She rarely used his first name. That made the room smaller.

"You are not in trouble for knowing things. But you can become unsafe if you decide that knowing things means you owe everyone everything" The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The sentence struck too close to be cataloged. He nodded once.

"Good" she said This time, the word did not feel like praise. It felt like an instruction to remain salvageable. The meeting room was not the same one as after USJ. It was smaller. That seemed unnecessary. A low table occupied the center. Four seats were arranged around it, though Nezu sat on the table instead of one of them because rules apparently did not apply to principals with paws. A teacup rested beside him. A closed folder lay near the edge. No wall monitor. No visible recording device.

No windows except a narrow pane too high to see through. One door. All Might stood near the wall. In costume. Tall. Bright. Impossible. Too large for the room in a way that made the room seem embarrassed. His smile was there, but it was not the smile from billboards. It held. It performed. It protected. Ren could see the strain beneath the corners, the tightness around the eyes, the unnatural stillness of someone using presence as structure. A damaged pillar could still stand. Until it could not.

All Might looked at Ren, and for one fraction of a second, the smile weakened. Not because Ren was impressive. Because Ren was injured. Because Ren was fifteen. Because Ren had been inside the facility while All Might was not. Ren understood that guilt could be recognized even from another person's face because it resembled certain mirrors. Nezu spoke first.

"Thank you for coming, Akiyama" Ren sat where Recovery Girl pointed.

"I was brought" Nezu's ears twitched.

"Yes. Thank you for being brought" All Might let out a quiet breath that might have been almost a laugh if the room had allowed laughter. Recovery Girl took the seat nearest the door, cane across her lap.

"Ten minutes before reassessment" Nezu said "Understood""All Might" The hero straightened.

"Yes?"

"Sit down" All Might blinked.

"I am quite""Sit down. You are wasting time you do not have to posture at an injured child" Silence. Ren stared very carefully at the table. Nezu sipped tea. All Might's smile cracked. For a second, he seemed about to object. Then his shoulders lowered. He sat. The chair looked too small beneath him. Recovery Girl watched him for three seconds. Then said "Drop it" Ren's pulse changed. All Might froze. Nezu did not. That meant Nezu had expected this. All Might looked at Ren.

There was apology in his face before he spoke.

"Young Akiyama" The voice was still All Might's. Too deep. Too bright. Ren's body prepared for a truth before receiving it. The hero coughed once into his fist. A restrained sound. Then not restrained enough. Smoke seemed to collapse inward around him. The enormous body shrank. The shoulders folded into angles. The costume hung differently, suddenly too large in places where it had been filled by myth. The face sharpened into gaunt lines. Cheeks hollowed. Eyes sank. His neck became thin.

The man sitting in the chair looked ill, exhausted, and painfully human. Ren did not move. He had seen fragments. Not like this. Never this close. Never with the Symbol deflating into a man across a low table while the room kept existing as if the world had not changed. The thin man wiped a line of blood from the corner of his mouth with a cloth he had clearly used too many times.

"This is also All Might" he said quietly Ren looked at him. Not at the blood. At him.

"Yes" All Might's expression changed. Nezu leaned forward slightly. Recovery Girl watched Ren's pulse at his throat, not his face. All Might asked "You are not surprised?" That was the first dangerous question. Ren could lie. Badly. He could say he had suspected from footage, from compensation patterns, from public incident timing, from All Might's posture at USJ. All true. Not enough. He chose a smaller answer.

"Not as much as I should be" All Might closed his eyes for a moment. Nezu said softly "Good. We are beginning honestly" Ren looked at him.

"Partially" Nezu smiled.

"Even better" Recovery Girl tapped her cane.

"Do not encourage him to make evasion sound elegant" Ren said "It was not meant to be elegant""It usually isn't" All Might leaned forward, elbows on knees, hands clasped together. In this form, his hands looked too large for his wrists, the bones too visible under skin.

"Young Akiyama. I will ask this directly because circling it would insult both of us" Ren's body went still. All Might's eyes, sunken and tired, held his.

"How much do you know?" There it was. Not what do you know about USJ. Not what did you see. Not how did you predict the attack. How much. The question beneath all questions. Ren heard every meaning inside it. How much do you know about the villains? How much about All Might? How much about my injury? How much about the power I gave away? How much about Midoriya? How much about what comes next? He breathed carefully. Pain along his ribs anchored him.

"Less than you fear. More than I can justify" The words entered the room and did not leave. All Might's fingers tightened. Nezu's eyes brightened with terrible interest. Recovery Girl's mouth flattened, as if she disliked the answer and respected it anyway. All Might said "That is not comforting""No""Is it meant to be?"

"No" Nezu tilted his head.

"What can you justify?" Ren looked at him.

"Pattern recognition. Public footage. Medical compensation signs. Hero incident timelines. U. A. facility design. Villain strategy during USJ. Behavioral observations. Some probability-based inference""And what can you not justify?" Ren looked back at All Might.

"Fragments" All Might's expression did not change. It changed everywhere. Ren continued "Images without source. Emotional impressions. Names sometimes, though not always names I can trust. Events in pieces. Danger attached to people before I have reason to know the danger. Some fragments later match reality. Some do not. Some may be misinterpreted. I do not know the mechanism" Nezu asked "Are these fragments new?"

"No""How long?"

"Since early childhood" All Might's face tightened.

"Since before your Quirk was suspected?"

"Yes" Recovery Girl said "Careful" Ren looked at her. She did not mean careful with them. She meant careful with himself. He nodded. Nezu asked "Did you see USJ before the attack?"

"Yes" All Might inhaled. A small sound. Not dramatic. Worse. Ren kept going because stopping there would let imagination make the answer larger than truth.

"I saw a dome. Disaster zones. Water, fire, ruins, central space. Black fog. Students separated. A teacher fighting too many people. You arriving late. Something heavy waiting for you" All Might looked down. The word late had hit him exactly where Recovery Girl had warned. Ren regretted saying it. Not because it was false. Because truth could still be badly placed. All Might whispered "You knew I would be late""No" The answer came sharper than intended. All Might looked up. Ren forced his voice lower.

"I suspected. I did not know""You went anyway" Recovery Girl's cane shifted. Warning. Ren heard Hana. Not toward danger. Away if you can. With people if you must. He looked at All Might.

"So did you" The room froze. Recovery Girl said "Ren" All Might did not flinch. Not outwardly. But something in him received the blow. Ren closed his eyes.

"That was unfair" All Might's voice was quiet.

"Was it?"

"Yes""Was it untrue?" Ren opened his eyes. All Might's smile was gone now. Entirely. The thin man across from him looked older than the symbol, and because of that, somehow more difficult to lie to. Ren said "No" All Might nodded once.

"Then let it stand" Nezu watched them both with a stillness too precise to be passive. Recovery Girl did not interrupt. All Might leaned back, and the chair creaked under the wrong kind of weight.

"I arrived late because I had already spent part of my time limit before the exercise" Ren did not speak.

"I was not supposed to be absent when children were attacked" Ren said "Aizawa stood before you arrived" All Might closed his eyes.

"Yes""Thirteen stood before you arrived""Yes""Iida ran before reinforcements arrived""Yes""1-C moved before rescue arrived" All Might opened his eyes. Ren looked down at his bandaged hand.

"Useful things happened before the Symbol arrived. That does not make you less important. It makes the delay visible" Recovery Girl's expression softened by a fraction. Nezu said "That is a cruelly balanced statement" Ren said "Reality was imbalanced first" All Might looked at him for a long moment. Then bowed his head. Not deeply. Not theatrically. Enough that Ren's breath caught.

"I am sorry" Ren did not know what to do with that. The Symbol of Peace apologizing in a small room was heavier than All Might arriving in light. Ren said "I am not the only one owed that""No" All Might said "You are not" Silence. Recovery Girl let it live for three seconds. Then killed it.

"Continue before everyone decides to bleed emotionally instead of medically" Nezu set his teacup down.

"Akiyama. Do your fragments include Young Midoriya?" The air changed. All Might's head lifted. There. The center. Ren's pulse slowed in a way that felt unsafe. He looked at Nezu, then All Might.

"Yes" All Might's face became terrifyingly still. Recovery Girl watched him this time, not Ren. All Might asked "What did you see?" Ren chose each word like a path through glass.

"A body too small for the power inside it" All Might's eyes widened. Not much. Enough. Nezu's gaze moved from Ren to All Might. Recovery Girl's mouth tightened. Ren continued before All Might could ask too fast.

"I saw broken bones. Green light. A boy moving toward danger before he understood how to survive arriving. I saw admiration and self-destruction too close together. I saw a miracle with bad load-bearing capacity" All Might made a sound. Not a word. Ren looked at him.

"I do not know everything" All Might whispered "Do you know what the power is?" Ren's answer mattered too much. He said "Not in a way I will say in this room without your consent" Nezu's ears lifted. Recovery Girl's eyes narrowed. All Might stared. That answer said too much. Also not enough. All Might's voice was barely above breath.

"Have you told anyone?"

"No""Your parents?"

"No""Kurose?"

"No""Shinso?"

"No""Midoriya?" Ren's jaw tightened.

"No" All Might leaned forward.

"Does he know that you know?"

"No. He may suspect that I suspect something""That is different""Yes" Nezu said softly "Very different" All Might pressed both hands together hard enough that the knuckles went pale.

"Young Akiyama, I need to know whether your knowledge endangers my student" Ren met his eyes.

"So do I" All Might stilled. Ren continued "That is why I have not told him what I suspect. That is why I do not say names without context. That is why I reported USJ as a security concern instead of announcing fragments to a classroom. Knowledge can cause behavior. Behavior changes outcomes. I do not know whether my interference prevents harm or moves it" Nezu's smile had vanished. Not because he was angry. Because the problem had become serious enough that amusement would waste space.

He asked "Do you have fragments of future harm involving Midoriya?"

"Yes" All Might closed his eyes. Ren added "Also involving others""All Hero Course students?"

"Some. Maybe more than I recognize""All General Studies?"

"Not before USJ. That is changing" Nezu leaned forward.

"Changing how?" Ren looked at his bandaged forearm.

"Fragments are not the only memory. Experience creates new ones" Recovery Girl said "Your body remembers damage" Ren nodded.

"Yes""And your mind?"

"I do not know" Nezu's eyes sharpened.

"Are the fragments more vivid after direct exposure to related people or events?" Ren stopped. He had not wanted to examine that yet. Not formally. Not with them watching. Images aligned. Izuku in the library. Bakugo outside. U. A. gates. USJ becoming clearer as he approached the building. The heavy combatant becoming less name and more dread once the floor shook. Shinso no longer only Sports Festival, now shelter, food messages, possible future roads.

"I think so" Ren said Nezu's paws folded together.

"That is important""Yes" All Might asked "Did being near Young Midoriya make his fragments clearer?" Ren did not want to answer. That was answer enough. All Might's face folded around guilt again. Recovery Girl snapped "Toshinori" The name hit the room with its own weight. Ren went still. All Might looked at her. She said "Do not make that boy responsible for the consequences of your secrecy" All Might flinched. Ren watched the name settle. Toshinori. Not All Might. A man. The secret had another shape now.

All Might looked back at Ren.

"I am sorry" Ren said "Stop apologizing without changing the pressure" All Might blinked. Recovery Girl made a small approving noise. Nezu looked delighted despite the severity. Ren regretted the sentence. Mostly. All Might swallowed.

"You are right""I am tired""That too" The thin man's mouth twitched with something too sad to be a smile. Then he said "I cannot tell you everything either""I know""Do you?" Ren looked at him.

"You gave him something. It is hurting him because his body is not ready. He adores you enough to turn pain into proof. You are proud of him and afraid of what that pride is teaching him. You cannot explain the full truth to most people, so you compensate with reassurance. That may not be enough" The words left the room colder. All Might looked stricken. Recovery Girl's eyes closed. Nezu did not move. Ren's heart beat too hard. That was too much. Too precise. Too cruel. Too true.

"I'm sorry" Ren said All Might's voice came quietly.

"Was it untrue?" Ren looked down.

"No""Then let it stand" The echo hurt. For a moment, they sat with the wreckage of mirrored honesty. Then All Might said "He is not the only one who turns pain into proof, Young Akiyama" Ren looked up. Ah. There it was. Not defense. Not accusation. Recognition. Recovery Girl pointed between them with her cane.

"Good. Both of you are correct and both of you are currently intolerable" Nezu sipped his tea. Ren had forgotten tea could still exist. The principal said "We need a framework""Yes" Recovery Girl said "One that does not turn him into a school-sponsored oracle" Ren's stomach tightened. All Might said "No one wants that" Recovery Girl looked at him.

"Toshinori" He looked down.

"No one should want that""Better" Nezu nodded.

"A controlled reporting channel already exists through Kurose-sensei. After today, I propose an additional sealed protocol. Akiyama may submit risk fragments in categorized form: immediate, near-term, long-term, unclear. Names may be withheld when disclosure creates avoidable harm, but categories and trigger conditions should be provided where possible. Reports go first to Kurose-sensei or Recovery Girl depending on medical relevance, then to me if security relevance is established" Ren listened. Structured.

Dangerous. Useful. Nezu continued "No student access to raw reports. No faculty distribution without necessity. No expectation that Akiyama act personally on any fragment. No punitive action for withholding unverifiable details unless clear immediate danger was intentionally concealed" Ren looked at him.

"That last clause is broad""Yes""Dangerously broad""Yes""Why include it?" Nezu's eyes were calm.

"Because trust without accountability becomes wishful thinking" Ren hated that answer because it was correct. Recovery Girl said "Medical addition. Reporting a fragment does not allow him to skip rest, treatment, therapy, food, or restrictions. If a fragment appears connected to physical symptoms, he reports both. If he starts using injury to chase clarity, I end the protocol and bury him in supervised appointments" Ren said "That metaphor is concerning""It is a promise wearing a metaphor" All Might leaned forward.

"I have one request" Ren looked at him. All Might's eyes were exhausted.

"If your fragments involve Young Midoriya in immediate danger, tell someone. Even if you cannot tell him. Even if you cannot tell me everything. Tell someone" Ren answered too quietly.

"Yes" All Might's shoulders lowered. Not relief. Relief was too far away. A fraction less weight. Ren looked at Nezu.

"I have a request too" Nezu's expression brightened.

"Of course you do" Recovery Girl muttered "Here it comes" Ren ignored that.

"Shinso's emergency Quirk use must be documented as rescue support, not coercive misconduct or uncontrolled hostile use. He used his Quirk against villains under threat to student life. Rumor will distort it if records are ambiguous" All Might's expression shifted. Nezu watched Ren closely.

"That is already being handled""Good""You were prepared to bargain with sensitive information for another student's record""I was prepared to ask" Nezu tilted his head.

"No. You were prepared to bargain" Ren held his gaze. Then looked away first.

"Yes" All Might looked at him differently. Not worse. Maybe not better. More carefully. Recovery Girl said "At least he bargains for someone else occasionally" Ren looked at her. She shrugged.

"That is not praise. It is diagnosis" Nezu made another note in the folder.

"Shinso's record will state emergency rescue support. Details remain classified. Kurose-sensei has already insisted on precise wording with admirable intensity" Ren felt his chest loosen.

"Good" Nezu looked at him.

"You value precision when it protects people""Yes""And when it protects you?" Ren did not answer. Recovery Girl said "He is working on recognizing himself as people" Ren looked at her. She smiled sweetly. Terrible. All Might's face softened. Ren disliked that. Nezu closed the folder.

"Now, one final question for today" Recovery Girl said "Final means final""Yes" Nezu's eyes remained on Ren.

"Do you have any fragment you believe indicates immediate danger within the next several days?" Ren had expected that. He had not prepared enough. Immediate. Next several days. Images moved. Hospital corridors? No. Media. Sports Festival under review. Students returning too soon. Villains regrouping. The hand-covered leader furious, but not immediately returning? Maybe. Black fog gone. Heavy combatant displaced, maybe captured? Or escaped? He did not know. Izuku breaking more bones later. Sports Festival. Todoroki.

Shinso on a stage. Iida, blood, alley, revenge. That felt later. Not days. Maybe weeks. Ren breathed carefully.

"No confirmed immediate fragment" Nezu waited. Ren added "Near-term risk: Sports Festival becoming public reassurance after USJ, increasing pressure on injured students to perform stability. Possible self-destructive preparation among Hero Course and transfer candidates. Specific concern for Midoriya, Shinso, myself, and aggressive students likely to interpret attack as challenge" All Might closed his eyes at Midoriya's name. Nezu nodded.

"Useful. Noted" Ren looked at All Might.

"Do not let him train through guilt" All Might opened his eyes.

"I will try" Ren's face must have changed, because All Might corrected himself.

"I will do better than try""Good" Recovery Girl's cane tapped.

"Meeting over" Nezu opened his mouth.

"Over" she repeated The principal closed it. All Might rose slowly, still in the thin form. He seemed fragile and impossible at the same time. Ren had seen him as a pillar, then as a symbol, then as a man. None erased the others. That was inconvenient. All Might bowed his head again.

"Young Akiyama. Thank you for protecting students at USJ" Ren's throat tightened.

"Not alone""I know" Good. All Might continued "And thank you for protecting what you do not fully understand" Ren looked at him.

"That may be dangerous""Yes" All Might said "But so is exposing it carelessly" They understood each other poorly. Enough. For now. Nezu hopped down from the table.

"We will provide the protocol in writing after medical and parental review" Ren blinked.

"Parental review?" Recovery Girl snorted.

"You thought we would create a secret danger-reporting arrangement with a minor and not tell his parents?" Ren had not thought that. Not clearly. Maybe he had. All Might looked relieved by the correction. Nezu smiled.

"Secrecy has uses. Isolation has costs" That sentence belonged in a notebook. Ren did not have one. Maybe better. The door opened. Hana and Daichi were not outside. Kurose was not there either. Only a medical staff member waited down the hall, far enough to preserve privacy, close enough to prove the building still had eyes. Recovery Girl gestured for Ren to stand.

"Slowly" He stood. Slowly. Pain rose, but did not spike. All Might watched with the face of someone restraining apology through force of will. Ren noticed. All Might noticed him noticing. No apology came. Good. Before leaving, Ren turned back.

"All Might" The thin man looked at him.

"Yes?" Ren hesitated. Then said "A body too small for the power inside it can grow" All Might went still. Ren continued "But not if everyone praises the breaking more than the growth" All Might's eyes shone. Just slightly.

"I understand" Ren looked at him. This time he was the one who said it.

"Do you?" All Might's mouth trembled toward a smile that did not perform.

"No. Not fully" Ren nodded.

"That answer is becoming less terrible" Recovery Girl made a satisfied sound. Nezu looked delighted. All Might laughed once. Small. Painful. Human. Then he coughed blood into the cloth and ruined the moment in a way that made it more honest. Recovery Girl pointed at him without turning.

"And you are next" All Might lowered his head.

"Yes, ma'am" Ren stepped into the hallway. The door closed behind him. He had not told them everything. He had told them enough to make not telling everything a choice they could see. Less than they feared. More than he could justify. For the first time since USJ, that did not feel like something he carried alone. It felt like a sealed file in a locked room with dangerous adults standing around it, arguing over how to keep it from becoming another weapon placed in a child's hands. That was not safety.

But it was structure. Ren could work with structure.