Page 296 of Mercy Written in Blood

Not loudly. The anger had moved deeper. Mori looked up at him.

"Because confirming vampire involvement would have exposed the witness, the internal investigation and the existence of the Accord to a woman already attempting to remove restricted records."

"Aiko was searching for her daughter."

"She was also copying Takahara material."

Renji's attention sharpened.

"What material?"

"References to the Archive. Records of mixed courts. Hemomantic procedures."

"You knew."

"We knew fragments."

"You knew enough to call them restricted."

"Yes."

"Why were they restricted?"

Mori looked at him.

"Because the last time those ideas began to circulate, thousands died."

Renji felt the statement like a physical blow.

"The Takahara were massacred."

"And the retaliatory wars that followed killed humans and vampires across four territories."

"Wars erased from official history."

"Yes."

"To preserve the First Law."

"To preserve what remained."

Haruki turned away from the table. He walked to the windows, then stopped when he realised the city beyond them might not be real. Mori watched him.

"Aiko believed the records could prove the First Law had alternatives," he said.

"She was correct," Renji replied.

"Yes."

The admission came without resistance. Renji looked at him. Mori met his gaze.

"That is why they were dangerous."

The words echoed Brother Genkei. Not the same sentence. The same conclusion.

"You sound like the people who destroyed us," Renji said.

For the first time, Mori's face changed. Pain entered. Brief. Controlled.