Chương 60: Engine Warning

Iida Tenya returned to U. A. two days after his brother was hospitalized. He returned with perfect posture. That was the first warning. Ren saw him at the gate from the second-floor window outside Class 1-C, where he had stopped with Shinso because Kurose had told them to process while walking and both of them had chosen to interpret walking as a flexible institutional suggestion. Iida crossed the courtyard in his uniform, bag at his side, glasses straight, stride measured. Not hurried. Not slow. Not broken.

Measured. Too measured. Shinso leaned beside the window with both hands in his pockets.

"Bad?" Ren did not look away.

"Controlled""That is not an answer""It is the answer" Below, Midoriya ran toward Iida from the main path, slowed before reaching him, and stopped at a distance that proved someone had coached him or he had learned restraint through injury and terror. Uraraka followed, hands clasped tightly around the strap of her bag. Todoroki walked behind them, slower, face unreadable. Iida bowed. Midoriya bowed back too sharply. Uraraka said something Ren could not hear. Iida answered. His mouth formed polite shapes.

His body did not soften. Shinso watched the exchange.

"Looks stable""Yes""That was not agreement""No" Ren's right hand rested on the windowsill. No tension. No heat. Only the memory of the cafeteria. Hosu. Alley. Blade. Engines stopped. Hero down. He had reported all of it. Kurose had filed it. Nezu had acted. Aizawa and 1-A's faculty had been warned of welfare risk without fragment specifics. Iida's family had been contacted through appropriate channels.

Manual's agency had received a formal note that any student placed there with proximity to the Hosu investigation required close supervision and no unscheduled patrol divergence. Doors. Locks. Procedures. Iida still stood below them with a spine made of grief and manners. Shinso said "Can they stop him from choosing Hosu?" Ren looked at him.

"Legally?"

"Practically""No" Shinso's mouth tightened.

"Because he can say he wants proximity to his brother""Yes""Because that is true""Yes""Because true things can hide worse true things" Ren nodded. Below, Iida placed one hand over his chest and bowed again to Midoriya and Uraraka. The movement was formal enough to conceal every tremor if one did not know where to look. Ren knew where to look because his own body had done similar things with different lies.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Shinso asked"Yes""Do you think he will listen?"

"No""Then why?" Ren watched Iida walk toward the Hero Course building.

"Because warnings are not only useful when they work" Shinso looked at him for a long second.

"That sounded like Kurose with less law""Concerning""Very" Kurose found them before the bell. Of course. She stopped at the end of the corridor with a folder under one arm and an expression that made both of them stand away from the window as if gravity had become disciplinary.

"You are both very poor at walking" Shinso said "We were conducting visual risk assessment" Kurose looked at him.

"You were lurking""Professionally?"

"No" Ren said "Iida is back""I know""Status?"

"Outwardly functional. Welfare risk remains high. His homeroom teacher has been informed. His family is involved. His internship selection is being reviewed""Can I speak to him?" Kurose looked at Ren for long enough that Shinso stopped pretending not to care.

"You may request a supervised peer conversation""Before internship forms finalize?"

"Yes. But you will not mention fragments, Hosu images, Hero Killer association, or predictive details""I know""Do you?" Ren breathed.

"Yes" Kurose's gaze sharpened.

"What are you allowed to say?" Ren answered from protocol, because protocol was easier than fear.

"I can speak from observed facts, concern, and general risk. I can say grief can distort judgment. I can say he should not go alone. I can say his brother's injury is not an instruction. I cannot say I saw an alley, a blade, engines stopped, or him acting in revenge" Kurose nodded.

"What are you not allowed to do?"

"Turn uncertainty into command. Challenge him into secrecy. Make myself responsible for stopping him alone""Good" Shinso muttered "The word again" Kurose turned to him.

"You may be present outside the room if Akiyama requests, but not inside unless Iida consents" Ren looked at Shinso. Shinso shrugged.

"I can loom in corridors""That is a skill""I am developing a portfolio" Kurose closed the folder.

"Lunch. Room 1-C consultation space. Ten minutes. I will be present. Iida has the right to refuse" Ren nodded. He spent the morning learning nothing. The teachers continued teaching because institutions were cruel in ordinary ways. Hero law covered emergency authority limits. Mathematics insisted on existing. English grammar marched forward through clause structures. Sano attempted to whisper that clauses were just sentences with unresolved trauma and was almost removed from class for linguistic misconduct.

Ren wrote notes. None of them entered his mind. Instead, the page beneath his hand collected other lines. Do not let your brother's name become an order. If pain starts giving instructions, check who benefits. Revenge can wear duty's voice. Too much. Too sharp. Too Ren. He crossed out the last two. Shinso glanced once but did not read. At lunch, Iida arrived three minutes early. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That was the second warning.

Ren sat in the consultation space with Kurose at the side table, not between them. A small clock sat in visible range. Water rested on the table. No recording device this time, because this was a peer welfare conversation, not a classified debrief. Iida entered and bowed.

"Akiyama. Kurose-sensei. Thank you for your concern" His voice was steady. That was the third warning. Kurose gestured to the chair.

"Iida, you are free to leave at any time. This is not disciplinary""I understand" He sat. Perfectly. Ren looked at him.

"Status?" Iida blinked.

"I am medically well""That is a category" Iida's hands folded on his knees.

"Emotionally distressed. Functionally capable. Concerned for my brother. Grateful for the school's support. Eager to continue my responsibilities" The answer sounded prepared. Not false. Prepared. Ren nodded once.

"Thank you" Iida's expression tightened slightly, as if thanks had not been where he expected the first cut. He looked at Kurose.

"May I ask why this conversation is necessary?" Kurose answered calmly.

"Akiyama requested to express concern. Given recent events and existing welfare protocols, I approved the conversation under supervision" Iida looked back to Ren.

"Then please speak plainly" Ren almost respected that too much.

"I am concerned that your brother's injury will start sounding like an instruction" Iida went still. Kurose's pen paused. Ren did not continue too quickly. Iida's voice came controlled.

"My brother is a hero. His injury reminds me of the danger heroes face""Yes""It also reminds me that villains must be stopped""Yes""And that heroes have responsibilities""Yes" Ren leaned forward slightly.

"All true. That is why it is dangerous" Iida's eyes sharpened behind his glasses.

"Truth is dangerous?"

"Truth that arrives while you are hurting can start giving orders in someone else's voice" Iida's mouth tightened.

"You believe I am unstable""I believe you are grieving""I am not incapable of judgment""No""I have not broken any rules""No""I have informed the school of my family situation""Yes""I have chosen an internship agency with legitimate placement""Manual's agency in Hosu" Iida's hands tightened.

"Yes" There it was. Not secret. Not hidden. A legal path toward the city where his brother lay in a hospital bed and the Hero Killer's shadow still moved through alleys. Ren looked at the water glass.

"Why Hosu?" Iida's answer came quickly.

"My brother is hospitalized there. My family may require support. Manual is a respected hero with a strong record in urban rescue, public safety coordination, and civic response. The location is relevant to my current circumstances and professional goals" Kurose did not move. Ren absorbed the answer. It was good. Too good. A grief-built answer wearing academic armor. Ren said "That sounds like the version for adults" Iida's face flushed.

"I am speaking to you as a classmate""No. You are speaking to me as a person proving he is safe to permit" The words landed. Iida stood halfway. Kurose said "Iida" He stopped. Breathing controlled. Hands shaking once. He sat again. Ren kept his voice lower.

"I am not trying to stop you from seeing your brother" Iida did not answer.

"I am not trying to say you cannot be angry" Still no answer.

"I am saying that if you hear your brother's name and it sounds like an order, stop" Iida looked up. For the first time, the polish cracked enough for something raw to show.

"You do not understand what he is to me" Ren nodded.

"No""My brother is everything a hero should be""Yes""He carried the Ingenium name with dignity, discipline, and service. He made people feel safe before he arrived because they knew what the name meant""Yes""He may never run again" The sentence broke at the edge. Not loudly. Enough. Ren's throat tightened.

"I know" Iida's eyes flashed.

"You do not""No. I know that never makes grief search for something it can still break" Silence. Kurose watched both of them with the stillness of someone ready to stop the room. Iida's fingers dug into the fabric of his trousers.

"My brother deserves justice""Yes""The Hero Killer deserves to be caught""Yes""Then what are you objecting to?" Ren breathed. In. Hold. Out.

"I am objecting to you becoming the shape of the wound" Iida stared. Ren continued.

"If you go to Hosu as Tenya, brother of Tensei, student of U. A., future hero, grieving and angry and still bound to other people, that is one thing. If you go as the injury looking for a body to move through, that is another" Iida's mouth parted. No sound came. Ren heard Kurose's pen move once. Iida looked at the clock. Not to check time. To escape Ren's face.

"My placement is not revenge""I hope not""It is not""Then build proof that does not rely on saying it" Iida looked back.

"What proof?"

"Do not patrol alone. Tell Manual when you need to visit the hospital. Tell Midoriya and Uraraka you are not available for emotional rescue if you cannot speak honestly. Answer your family's messages. Eat. Sleep. If you hear Ingenium's name and your first thought is find him, you report it" Iida's jaw tightened.

"You speak as if I am a danger" Ren's voice softened.

"You are a person in pain with an engine in his legs" That did it. Iida looked away. His hand moved to his calf, not touching the engine vents, only hovering near them. Kurose said "That statement is blunt, not disciplinary" Iida breathed once. Twice. Then he said "And if I cannot promise all of that?" Ren's chest tightened. Honesty. Finally. Kurose's eyes sharpened. Ren answered before the silence punished him.

"Then promise to tell one adult that you cannot promise it" Iida closed his eyes. The clock ticked. Outside the room, distant cafeteria noise rose and fell. When Iida opened his eyes, they were wet but contained.

"I cannot promise that I will not think about finding him" Ren nodded.

"Good report" Iida flinched at the word. Everyone did now. Kurose leaned forward.

"Iida, that sentence will be shared with your homeroom teacher and placement coordinator as welfare information, not punishment" His shoulders stiffened.

"Will my placement be revoked?"

"Not automatically""Will I be treated as untrustworthy?"

"You will be treated as a grieving student at elevated risk of impulsive action""That is a polite version of untrustworthy" Kurose did not soften.

"It is an accurate version of needing support" Iida looked down. Ren said "Support feels like insult when you planned to survive by control" Iida's laugh came out once, harsh and startled.

"You are insufferable""Yes" Kurose said "Accurate" That almost broke something into laughter. Almost. Iida removed his glasses and wiped his eyes with mechanical precision. Then he put them back on and sat straighter, but not perfectly this time.

"I will inform Manual that my emotional state may affect judgment" Kurose wrote.

"I will not patrol alone without agency instruction" Kurose wrote.

"I will respond to family messages" Kurose wrote. He hesitated.

"I will eat" Kurose looked at Ren. Ren looked at Kurose. Neither commented on the Akiyama family's influence crossing class boundaries. Iida continued.

"If I feel that my brother's name has become an instruction, I will report to Manual or my homeroom teacher" Ren let out a breath he had not noticed holding.

"Thank you" Iida's eyes shifted to him.

"Do not thank me yet" Ren almost smiled.

"No" The ten-minute mark passed. Kurose did not end it. Iida looked at Ren with something like suspicion and reluctant gratitude.

"Did you request this because of your classified concern?" Ren went still. Kurose's pen stopped. Iida noticed. He was not stupid. Never that. Ren answered carefully.

"I requested this because your brother was attacked and I know what pain sounds like when it starts planning" Iida held his gaze.

"That is not a complete answer""No""Is the complete answer mine to ask for?" Ren swallowed.

"No" Iida looked at Kurose. She did not rescue him from the answer. He looked back.

"Then I will not ask today" Ren nodded once.

"Thank you" Iida stood. This time his posture was not perfect. Better. He bowed.

"I will try not to become the shape of the wound" Ren looked up at him.

"That is enough for today" Iida left with Kurose, because procedure now had to carry what pride could not. Ren remained in the room for one minute after they were gone. Then two. When Kurose returned, Shinso was with her. He stepped inside and looked at Ren's face.

"Status?"

"Yellow. Stable. No heat. He listened partially" Shinso sat across from him.

"Partial is more than expected""Yes""Do you believe him?" Ren looked at the empty chair where Iida had been.

"I believe he believes himself when supervised" Shinso's mouth twisted.

"Bad""Yes" Kurose said "Useful" Both boys looked at her. She continued.

"Believing oneself under supervision is a starting point. The next question is what structure remains when supervision thins" Ren closed his eyes. Hosu. Internship. Manual. Alley. Blade.

"Not enough structure""Perhaps not" Shinso leaned back.

"Can we do anything else?" Kurose's face was tired in a way she rarely allowed students to see.

"Yes. And no. We can inform. Restrict. Monitor. Warn. Coordinate. We cannot make grief obedient by writing memos at it" That sentence deserved a file of its own. Ren said "That feels like failure" Kurose looked at him.

"It is not failure to learn the limits of prevention""It feels like failure""I know" No correction. No comfort. Just knowing. That helped more than denial would have. Iida's internship selection was approved with conditions. That fact spread by rumor before it reached Ren officially, because U. A. was a fortress with locks and also a school full of teenagers, which meant information behaved like water under doors. Manual's agency. Hosu. Approved. Monitored. Conditioned. Not stopped.

Midoriya found Ren after classes near the vending machines, bandaged fingers now reduced to smaller supports. Uraraka stood beside him. Todoroki was behind them, arms folded, face shadowed. Midoriya looked like he had been waiting to ask permission to panic.

"Iida chose Hosu""I know""You talked to him?"

"Yes""Did he listen?"

"Partially" Midoriya swallowed.

"What does that mean?" Ren looked at the three of them. Midoriya's fear. Uraraka's worry. Todoroki's recognition. A door with locks. An open emergency window. Not a family door this time. A friend. A brother. A city. Ren said "It means do not assume politeness is safety" Uraraka hugged her arms.

"He was so calm""Yes" Todoroki's eyes lowered.

"Calm can be armor" Ren nodded. Midoriya's hands curled.

"I want to help""Then do not chase him into becoming less honest" Midoriya froze. Ren continued.

"Ask him ordinary things. Food. Sleep. Agency schedule. Hospital visits. Do not make every conversation about revenge or he will hide revenge from you better" Uraraka nodded slowly.

"Okay" Midoriya looked frustrated.

"I should do more" Ren looked at his hands.

"No. You want to feel less helpless" Midoriya flinched. Then nodded.

"Yes""Different problem""Yes" Todoroki said "If he goes quiet?" Ren looked at him.

"Tell an adult before following" Midoriya opened his mouth. Ren looked at him. Midoriya closed it. Uraraka touched his sleeve.

"We will" Todoroki nodded once.

"We will" Ren believed Uraraka. He believed Todoroki in a different way. Midoriya was trying. Trying counted. It did not guarantee. That night, internship placements continued becoming public. Class 1-A buzzed with names. Gran Torino appeared in Midoriya's orbit through channels Ren was not supposed to know too much about and did anyway, not from a fragment this time but from Midoriya's face and All Might's increasingly suspicious attempts at restraint. Todoroki's placement remained complicated by Endeavor.

Uraraka received Gunhead. Bakugo received Best Jeanist and looked like someone had been sentenced to grooming reform. Class 1-C had its own smaller announcements. Kenta would observe one urban rescue coordination session internally before any external contact. Arai's support calibration block was approved. Sano's rescue communication logistics observation was confirmed under Kurose's direct warning that morale was not a license for volume.

Shinso would shadow Aizawa for one controlled observation period and train separately. Ren would remain internal. No field. No city. No Hosu. He wrote that in his notebook. No Hosu. Then: This is protection. Then: It feels like being left behind. Then he stared at the line until it blurred. Shinso sat across from him at the Akiyama table that evening, pretending to study while eating the second helping Hana had placed before him without calling it second helping.

Daichi was reading the news on silent, jaw tight whenever Hosu appeared. Ren closed the notebook. Shinso looked up.

"Bad line?"

"Yes""Need witness?" Ren hesitated. Then turned the notebook. Shinso read. No Hosu. This is protection. It feels like being left behind. He looked at it for a long moment. Then said "Both" Ren nodded.

"Yes" Shinso tapped the page once.

"Do not turn left behind into useless" Ren looked at him. Shinso looked back.

"I listen sometimes""Unfortunately" Hana placed fruit between them.

"Good sentence" Shinso closed his eyes.

"The family system got it" Daichi looked over the silent news.

"It was inevitable" Ren almost smiled. Safe. Small. Later, after Shinso left with the repaired umbrella because rain had been predicted and the umbrella's field testing had become an ongoing saga no one wanted to admit caring about, Ren received a message from Iida. Thank you for your concern today. I have informed Manual of my emotional state. I will proceed with dignity. Ren stared at the message. Dignity. Dangerous word. He typed. Dignity is not the same as isolation. He stopped. Too much? No. Not enough?

Also no. He sent it. Iida's reply came ten minutes later. Understood. Ren did not believe that fully. But the word existed now. A marker in the hallway. He sent one more message. If his name sounds like an order, stop. This time, Iida did not answer. Ren watched the empty screen until Hana told him that staring did not strengthen messages and might weaken soup. He put the phone down. At U. A.

the next morning, Iida left for Hosu with his internship paperwork signed, his uniform perfect, and his grief packed so neatly around him that anyone careless might have called him stable. Ren stood at the window with Shinso. Below, Iida bowed to Midoriya, Uraraka, and Todoroki before boarding the transport. Midoriya said something. Iida answered. Uraraka nodded too quickly.

Todoroki stood with one hand in his pocket and watched like someone who understood that family pain did not become safer because it wore school shoes. Iida boarded. The doors closed. The transport moved. Ren's left forearm remained cool. No fragment. No heat. No last-second certainty. Only the terrible ordinary sight of someone walking toward a future that had been warned and not prevented. Shinso stood beside him.

"You did what you could" Ren did not answer. Shinso looked at him.

"Do not make me say it again" Ren exhaled.

"I know""Do you?" Ren watched the transport disappear beyond the gate.

"Mostly" Shinso nodded.

"Good enough for morning" Ren looked at him.

"That was Hana""Yes. I steal from functional sources" The transport turned out of sight. Ren's hand rested on the windowsill. Open. Still. No grip. No release. Nothing to hold. Nothing to stop. Only the warning left behind in someone else's pocket. If his name sounds like an order, stop. Ren hoped Iida would hear it before the alley did.