Page 305 of Mercy Written in Blood

The word sounded wrong as soon as he said it. Haruki laughed once. Not cruelly. Worse. Disappointed.

"Containment."

Renji's chest tightened.

"You were not there."

"No. Neither were the families whose lives were rewritten."

"You did not see the conditions."

"And you did?"

"No."

"Then why does the institution receive your doubt when its victims don't?"

Renji looked away. Mori remained silent. That was deliberate. He allowed the fracture to widen because anything he said would unite them against him. Haruki saw it too.

"Do not use us to prove your point," he said.

Mori's expression did not change.

"I have said nothing."

"You didn't need to."

Haruki looked back at Renji.

"I am not asking you to pretend disclosure is safe."

"I know."

"I am asking whether there is any point at which the Accord loses the right to decide."

"Yes."

"When?"

Renji could not answer. The silence became its own answer. Haruki nodded once. Small. Controlled. It hurt more than anger would have.

Mori closed the ledger and returned it to the drawer.

"We are beyond the point where the Archive can remain contained by one institution," he said.

Haruki did not sit.

"What changed?"

"Sota has enough fragments to authenticate portions publicly."

"Then why hasn't he?"

"He wants the deeper layer."

Renji's attention sharpened.

"How do you know?"