Page 274 of Mercy Written in Blood

Renji accepted the blow. She stared at him.

"What would you do?"

The question was quieter now. Renji looked towards the projected memorandum. Haruki knew the answer he wasexpected to give — preserve secrecy, investigate internally, punish responsible vampires through Accord law. The structure had answers for every breach. None required the grieving to know.

"I would release the truth of individual crimes," Renji said.

Sota became very still. The room did too.

"Names," Renji continued. "Evidence. Responsibility. Families should not be denied the nature of what happened to those they lost."

"And the existence of vampires?" the student asked.

Renji paused.

"There is no honest way to disclose one indefinitely without disclosing the other."

"So you agree with us," Ryota said from the door.

"No."

The word was immediate. Renji looked towards him.

"I agree that the First Law causes harm. I do not agree that recognising harm absolves you from considering what replaces it."

Sota stepped forward.

"That is the argument used every time power is asked to surrender itself."

"And yours is used whenever a movement decides casualties are evidence of courage."

The warmth left the room. Not hostility. Clarity. There it was. The line. Haruki could see it between them. Sota believed truth possessed moral weight great enough to justify instability. Renji believed consequences remained moral facts even when the cause was just. Both saw the dead. They disagreed about which dead could have been prevented.

Sota faced the room.

"We are not advocating indiscriminate disclosure."

Haruki spoke for the first time since sitting.

"Some of your people are."

Every head turned towards him. Sota's jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

"Yes."

"They murdered historians."

"I do not believe they did."

"They attacked witnesses."

"Some have."

"They used fear to force exposure."

"Yes."

The admissions came without evasion. The room shifted uncomfortably. This was not the version of the Unveiled they had come to hear. Sota did not protect them from it.