Hasegawa's eyes were hard.
"You think you can just... go home? Transfer schools? Disappear? You're already marked. Already involved. The question now is whether you understand what you chose."
Ren thought of Aoi's blood on his hands. The bikers' pounding fists and boots. The motorcycle bearing down.
His body hurt. His mind hurt. Everything hurt.
"I chose..." Ren's voice broke. "I chose not to let someone die. Not again. Not like..."
He couldn't finish. The image of Kaito bleeding on the apartment floor superimposed over Aoi in the alley.
"Your brother chose to carry everything himself," Hasegawa said, voice sharp. "Every fight. Every injury. Every failure. He thought that's what leadership meant—bearing all the weight so others wouldn't have to."
Hasegawa stepped closer. "It broke him. Not the violence. The isolation. He wouldn't let anyone help him. He wouldn't share the burden. And three weeks ago, someone put him in a coma for it."
