Chương 15: Simulated Civilians

By the end of the first week, Ren Akiyama had learned that U. A. was very good at making separation look like structure. The school did not need to insult anyone. It did not need to announce hierarchy in cruel language or place students beneath banners declaring who mattered more. U. A. was cleaner than that. More efficient.

It separated students with schedules, buildings, doors, course requirements, supervised zones, specialized equipment access, teacher assignments, event permissions, and the simple geography of who was allowed to be where when something important happened. Hero Course students disappeared into training grounds. Support Course students vanished into workshops that smelled faintly of metal, oil, and controlled explosions.

Management students moved in clusters with tablets, data sheets, and the terrifying posture of people learning how to turn heroism into contracts. General Studies students went to classrooms. Bright classrooms. Well-equipped classrooms. Prestigious classrooms. Still classrooms. Ren did not hate academics. That would have been convenient. He liked civics. He liked law.

He liked systems, history, disaster response theory, ethics, institutional failure, and the uncomfortable precision of social structures that did not care whether children thought they were fair. General Studies offered all of that at a level his previous schools could not have approached without collapsing under their own worksheets. Kurose was an excellent teacher. That made resentment more complicated. On Monday, she lectured on the legal distinction between licensed hero intervention and civilian self-defense.

On Tuesday, she dismantled three popular myths about Quirk-based social mobility before most of the class had finished opening their notebooks. On Wednesday, she made them analyze a hostage incident from five years earlier and identify every moment where media coverage turned a rescue failure into a personality narrative because blaming one hero was easier than examining the dispatch system. On Thursday, she wrote one sentence on the board and let it ruin the room.

A society that depends on heroes will forgive systems for failing as long as someone photogenic arrives afterward. Ren copied it into RULES. Then underlined forgive systems twice. Shinso, seated behind him, leaned forward enough to read over his shoulder.

"You underline like you're trying to injure the paper" Ren did not turn.

"The paper can survive""Can it?"

"Most days" Kurose's chalk paused against the board.

"Akiyama. Shinso. If your commentary is useful, share it. If not, make it quieter" Shinso leaned back. Ren looked up.

"Relevant tangent. The quote implies hero society externalizes systemic accountability into symbolic individuals" Kurose turned.

"And?" Ren continued "This incentivizes spectacle over prevention and creates public tolerance for avoidable risk if rescue footage is emotionally satisfying" Several students stared. Kurose nodded once.

"Good. Shinso?" Shinso looked annoyed to have been included.

"It also means people with Quirks that look good on camera get trusted faster" Kurose's eyes sharpened.

"Continue" He shrugged.

"If the public forgives failure when the ending looks heroic, then the system prefers heroes who produce heroic-looking endings. Not necessarily clean ones" The room went quiet. Kurose looked pleased in the restrained way of someone refusing to reward a student too visibly.

"Correct. Both of you write a one-page extension by tomorrow" Shinso blinked.

"What?"

"You had thoughts. Develop them""That feels like punishment""It is education. The confusion is common" The class laughed. Ren wrote: Verbal participation creates workload. Then added: Still useful. Shinso muttered behind him "Your fault" Ren wrote without turning: You participated voluntarily. A folded paper hit the back of his head. Kurose did not turn from the board.

"Projectile communication counts as passing notes" Shinso said "He started it" Ren said "Inaccurate" Kurose said "Both of you now have two pages" The room laughed harder. Ren looked down at his notes. Social cost: moderate. Academic cost: doubled. Relationship effect: uncertain. Behind him, Shinso made a quiet sound that might have been annoyance or amusement. Maybe both. By Friday, Class 1-C had begun sorting itself into gravitational clusters.

Students with transfer ambitions circled one another cautiously, like animals meeting near limited water. Students without transfer ambitions watched them with various degrees of pity, irritation, or relief. Students who had chosen General Studies first moved through the classroom with a confidence the failed Hero Course applicants lacked, not because they were more powerful, but because their presence did not feel like evidence of a closed door. Ren occupied an unstable middle. He had failed the Hero Course.

Everyone knew that because he had said it aloud. He was pursuing transfer. Everyone knew that too because he did not hide it and because Kurose's eyes made hiding feel temporary. But his thirty-four rescue points had become rumor before lunch on the second day. Rumor changed faster than Quirks.

By Friday, depending on who spoke, Ren had either scored more rescue points than several Hero Course admits, pulled three people out from under the Zero Pointer, received a secret recommendation from Recovery Girl, had an unregistered regeneration Quirk, had no Quirk at all, or had been rejected because U. A. thought he was psychologically unstable. The last one was uncomfortably efficient as rumors went.

At lunch, Sano Eiji sat across from him without asking and placed a tray of curry down with enough force to make the table tremble.

"You have thirty-four rescue points?" Ren looked up from his meal.

"Yes" Sano's oversized hands curled around his spoon.

"I got six villain points and zero rescue. No Hero Course. No one is acting like that means I secretly belong there" Ren studied him. Broad shoulders. Strong grip. Failed recommendation track. Frustration converted into challenge. Not subtle.

"No one said I secretly belong there" Sano's mouth tightened.

"You know what I mean""Yes""Then answer that" Ren set down his chopsticks.

"I received rescue points because circumstances allowed me to demonstrate rescue behavior during the practical exam. That does not automatically mean I met Hero Course requirements. U. A. explicitly told me my direct combat viability was insufficient" Sano stared.

"That was the least satisfying answer possible""It was accurate""You always do that?"

"Yes" Sano looked annoyed. Then less annoyed. Then more annoyed because he had apparently become less annoyed.

"You're not saying you deserved it""No""You're also not saying you didn't""No""Why?" Ren looked at the Hero Course tables across the cafeteria. Izuku sat with Uraraka, Iida, a pink-skinned girl, a dark-haired boy with tape-like elbows, and several others Ren had not yet categorized fully. Bakugo sat apart enough to be socially hostile while still occupying the same table ecosystem. Todoroki sat farther down, alone in a way that did not ask permission. Hero Course. Chosen students. Someone U. A. already chose.

"I think deserved is not a useful admission category" Ren said Sano followed his gaze. His expression changed. He understood enough. Maybe not the details. Enough. He picked up his spoon.

"That sounds painful""Yes" Sano ate a mouthful of curry. Then said "I still don't like you""That is allowed""But if you're aiming for Sports Festival transfer, I'm aiming too""Good" Sano blinked.

"Good?"

"Competition clarifies preparation" Sano stared for two seconds. Then laughed, loud enough that several tables looked over.

"You're insane""Repeated assessment" Shinso slid into the seat beside Ren with coffee and something that almost counted as lunch.

"He gets that a lot" Sano looked at him.

"You're Shinso""Yes""The Brainwashing guy" Shinso's eyes dulled.

"The one and only" Sano pointed his spoon at him.

"Your Quirk would've been useless against robots" Ren looked at Sano more sharply. Shinso did not move. Sano continued "That exam was stupid for you" Shinso stared. Sano frowned.

"What?" Ren said "That was more socially direct than expected" Sano looked between them.

"Was I wrong?"

"No" Shinso said"Then why are you both looking like I stepped on something?" Shinso leaned back slowly.

"People usually use my Quirk as the stupid part" Sano's expression shifted.

"Oh" He looked uncomfortable for exactly one second. Then he said "That's dumb. Your Quirk is terrifying. The robots were stupid" Silence. Ren looked at Shinso. Shinso looked at Sano. Then Shinso said "You have the delicacy of a falling vending machine" Sano shrugged.

"My sister says that too" Ren added Sano's name to a mental list. Not ally. Possible blunt instrument with ethical instincts. Useful. Dangerous to furniture. The bell rang before the conversation could become anything more structured. Back in class, Kurose waited beside the board with a stack of printed packets. No slide. No opening lecture. Just packets. That was dangerous. Students entered, saw the packets, and quieted faster than usual. Kurose waited until everyone sat.

Then she wrote on the board: Cross-Department Rescue Simulation Program Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The room changed. Ren felt it happen. Chairs shifted. Pens lifted. Transfer students leaned forward. Students without hero ambitions looked suspicious. Shinso's feet moved under his desk. Kurose turned.

"Before any of you decide this is your dramatic opportunity to impress the Hero Course, disappoint yourselves early. It is not" Several students deflated. Ren did not. He had learned to wait for definitions. Kurose began handing packets down each row.

"U. A. runs multiple cross-department training exercises throughout the year. Most are internal, controlled, and designed to expose students to departments they do not belong to without pretending they are receiving that department's training" The packet reached Ren. He read the title. Civilian Role Participation Guidelines. His pulse changed.

Kurose continued "General Studies students may be asked to participate in certain Hero Course rescue exercises as simulated civilians, witnesses, bystanders, logistical observers, injured parties, or environmental variables" A whisper moved through the room. Simulated civilians. Ren's fingers tightened around the packet. This was the road. Or one of them. A narrow one. A humiliating one if misunderstood. A useful one if studied correctly. Kurose's eyes moved across the class.

"You are not combatants. You are not surprise villains. You are not there to defeat Hero Course students, test your Quirk against them, sabotage their exercise, or create your personal Sports Festival preview" Her gaze paused on Sano. Then Shinso. Then Ren. Ren looked back innocently. Kurose did not appear convinced.

"You will receive scenario roles. Some of you may be instructed to panic, hide, refuse help, give incorrect information, simulate injury, obstruct inefficiently, or behave like actual civilians, which I assure you can be more difficult than acting heroic" Yabara raised a hand. Kurose pointed.

"So we're props?"

"No" The answer came flat. Good. Kurose stepped closer to the desks.

"A prop does not observe. A prop does not learn. A prop does not evaluate the person attempting rescue. A prop does not understand how fear, confusion, pain, mistrust, mobility limitations, sensory overload, and bad instructions can destroy a beautiful rescue plan" She let the sentence settle.

"You will be civilians because civilians are not empty space around heroes. They are the point" Ren wrote: Civilians are not empty space. Then underlined it. Kurose continued "Your performance will not affect Hero Course grades unless the supervising Heroics faculty says otherwise. Your conduct will affect your own General Studies evaluation. Faculty will note observation quality, role adherence, safety compliance, communication, and post-exercise analysis.

Transfer candidates should pay attention to that sentence and not hear permission to act stupid" Shinso murmured "She looks at us a lot" Ren murmured back "We are probably why the sentence exists""Fair" Kurose's packet review continued. Rules. No unsupervised Quirk use outside assigned role. No physical resistance beyond scenario instruction. No deception beyond role parameters. No entering restricted zones. No interfering with safety staff. No provoking Hero Course students. No personal challenges.

No attempting to gain unofficial combat footage. No recording unless authorized. No refusing teacher instructions. Violation could result in disciplinary action and transfer ineligibility. The class mood shifted again. Opportunity narrowed by rules. Ren appreciated that. Rules defined usable space. Then Kurose turned the page of her own packet.

"First scheduled participation opportunity for Class 1-C will take place next week" Pens moved. Ren wrote the date.

"Participating Hero Course class: 1-A" The room reacted immediately. Of course. Shinso went still behind him. Sano whispered "Damn" Ren did not write. He already knew too many names. Kurose waited for noise to fade.

"Exercise type: rescue training" Ren's fingers tightened again.

"Location: Unforeseen Simulation Joint" The pencil snapped in his hand. The sound was small. Tiny, almost. But at Ren's desk, it was thunder. Shinso noticed first. Kurose noticed second. Ren stared at the broken pencil. USJ. Not the acronym written in fragments. Not blocks arranged by a child on a bedroom floor. Not a dome made of memory and fear. Unforeseen Simulation Joint. The name arrived complete and official. A facility. A school exercise. A rescue simulation.

A disaster that was not supposed to be a simulation when the black fog opened. Water. Fire. Rubble. Central plaza. Aizawa bleeding. Thirteen. Students scattered. Nomu. All Might late. Ren's chest tightened. Not panic. No. Panic had too much movement. This was the body becoming a locked room. Kurose's voice reached him from far away.

"Akiyama" He looked up. The classroom had gone quiet. The broken pencil lay in two pieces between his fingers. Kurose stood at the front. Her eyes had sharpened.

"Problem?" Many answers lined up and died. Yes. A villain attack. Black fog. No way to explain. No evidence. No date? Next week. Canon shifted? Maybe not. Maybe yes. If he warned too clearly, he would become the problem. If he said nothing, people would bleed. If he acted on incomplete memory, he could trigger changes he did not understand. If he did not act, memory became complicity. Ren placed the broken pencil down.

"Mechanical failure" Shinso leaned forward slightly. Bad lie. Kurose did not believe him. Good. She also did not challenge him publicly. Better.

"Use another pencil" she said"Yes" Ren took one from his case. His hand was steady. Too steady. The rest of the briefing continued. Ren heard every word and none of it. USJ was a specialized rescue training facility designed to simulate multiple disaster environments under controlled conditions. Landslide zone. Flood zone. Fire zone. Ruins zone. Mountain zone. Storm zone. Central plaza. Rotational rescue tasks.

General Studies volunteers would be assigned roles under staff supervision, primarily as simulated civilians requiring evacuation, guidance, or triage during controlled exercises. Controlled. The word almost made him nauseous. Kurose described logistics. Buses from campus. Role briefings beforehand. Safety gear. Medical staff. Heroics faculty present. Pro Hero Thirteen involved as facility specialist. Aizawa likely supervising Class 1-A. Maybe All Might? Ren's fragment twisted. All Might late.

All Might not there at first. Aizawa alone. Black fog. Hands. A monster built to kill peace. He wrote nothing for five minutes. That might have been the most alarming part to anyone who knew him. Shinso slid another folded paper onto his desk. Ren opened it. You look like you saw a ghost. Ren stared at the words. Then wrote: Worse. A pattern. He passed it back. A pause. Then the paper returned. Is the pattern dangerous? Ren did not answer immediately. He looked at Kurose. At the packet.

At the words Unforeseen Simulation Joint. He wrote: Possibly. Shinso did not send the paper back. After class, Kurose called him to the front.

"Akiyama. Stay" Several students glanced at him. Sano gave him a curious look. Shinso packed slowly enough that it was clearly not an accident. Kurose noticed.

"Shinso. Leave" He clicked his tongue. Then looked at Ren. Ren nodded once. Go. Shinso left, though not happily. The classroom emptied. Kurose closed the door. The silence that remained was different from classroom silence. More precise. She sat on the edge of the desk rather than behind it.

"What happened?" Ren looked at the packet in his hand.

"I recognized the facility name""That is not what happened""No""Try again" He could not tell her the truth. Not all of it. He also could not give her nothing. Useful lies needed enough truth to stand. Ren said "I have had recurring concerns about large-scale rescue training environments since childhood. USJ matches a layout pattern I studied extensively after the Quirk Safety Day accident" Kurose listened. No interruption. Good.

"I reacted to the name because the facility's zones match several high-risk incident categories in one enclosed site. If control failed, students could be isolated by environment type, line of sight would break, and rescue students could become casualties before staff had full situational awareness" Kurose's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Control failed how?" Ren's throat tightened. Black fog. Villains. Nomu. Hands.

"Power failure. Villain intrusion. Gate malfunction. Communication disruption. Staff incapacitation. Any multi-zone facility increases complexity under emergency conditions""All true" Kurose said "Not enough to explain your face" He said nothing. She tapped the packet.

"Did you receive information about a threat to USJ?" Ren's pulse changed. Her eyes saw it. Of course.

"No confirmed information""That was a careful answer""Yes""Do you have unconfirmed information?" Ren looked at her. This was the edge. He could say dream. He could say pattern. He could say intuition. All sounded useless. Or worse, unstable. He thought of Nezu. U. A. saw you. We hope you will choose to continue forward where we can keep watching. Maybe watching could go both ways. Ren said "I have memory fragments that do not have a verifiable source" Kurose did not move. Not even slightly. That was impressive.

"Explain""I cannot do that without sounding unreliable""That is my problem to evaluate, not yours""It becomes my problem if I am evaluated incorrectly" Kurose's mouth tightened.

"Fair" Silence. Ren forced the next words out.

"Since childhood, I have occasionally remembered things that later matched real people, places, or events before I had enough normal information to know them. Not perfectly. Not consistently. Not in useful sequence. I do not consider them prophecy. I consider them unreliable data" Kurose was very still.

"Examples""No" Her eyes sharpened.

"Akiyama""Names involving current Hero Course students and possible future injuries. I will not provide them casually""This is not casual""No. But I do not yet know whether revealing them changes the behavior that produces them" Kurose's expression did not soften. It became more dangerous because it became more thoughtful.

"You understand how this sounds""Yes""Premonition Quirks exist""I do not have a confirmed premonition Quirk""You do not have a confirmed Quirk at all""Correct""Does Dr. Kuroda know?"

"No""Your parents?"

"They know I remember things strangely. Not the full operational concern""Operational concern""Yes" She leaned back slightly.

"State the concern without unverifiable history" Ren breathed in. Carefully.

"USJ is a high-complexity enclosed multi-environment facility. Class 1-A contains multiple high-profile first-year Hero Course students, including the top practical scorer, a zero-villain high-rescue anomaly, children of known professional families, and students with potentially significant public value. Early-year exercises may have lower perceived threat. If hostile actors wanted to target U. A. students or create symbolic damage, a rescue exercise off the main campus would be attractive" Kurose listened.

He continued "General Studies students acting as civilians would increase noncombatant presence, complicate evacuation, and create additional leverage if an intrusion occurred" Kurose folded her arms.

"That is a strategic assessment. Not a memory fragment""Yes""It is also not unreasonable" Ren's chest loosened by one degree. Not enough. Kurose stood.

"I will report a generalized security concern regarding the exercise" Ren stared.

"You believe me?"

"I believe your strategic assessment deserves review""That is not the same thing""No. It is the part I can act on without labeling a student delusional or prophetic during his second week" That was fair. Painfully fair. Ren nodded once.

"Do not spread this among students" Kurose said"I was not planning to""Do not attempt independent investigation" Ren said nothing.

"Akiyama""I cannot promise that broadly" Her eyes hardened.

"Try" He looked at her.

"If the concern proves relevant, failing to observe would be negligent""If you turn yourself into an unsupervised surveillance operation, I will personally remove you from transfer consideration" The words hit. Clean. Effective. Kurose knew where to strike because she understood incentives. Ren disliked and respected her more. She continued "You are fifteen. You are not campus security. You are not Hero Course faculty. You are not a licensed hero.

If your assessment is correct, the solution is not one injured General Studies student with notebooks" He said nothing. Recovery Girl's voice returned. Do not make yourself easy to spend. Kurose's face softened by one degree.

"Give information to adults who can act. That is also intervention" Ren looked down at the packet.

"I know""No" she said "You are learning" He accepted the correction. Kurose handed him a fresh pencil from her desk.

"You broke yours" Ren took it.

"Thank you""And Akiyama" He looked up.

"If you ever again experience a reaction like that in my classroom, you will ask to step outside instead of pretending stationery failed" Despite everything, he almost smiled. Almost.

"Yes, Kurose-sensei" She nodded toward the door.

"Go eat lunch if you skipped it""I did not""Good. Then go be unsettling somewhere else" When Ren left the classroom, Shinso was waiting against the hallway wall. Of course.

"Subtle" Ren said Shinso pushed off the wall.

"Learned from watching you""I am not subtle""I noticed" They walked. For several steps, neither spoke. Then Shinso said "Dangerous pattern?"

"Maybe""USJ?" Ren looked at him. Shinso's expression was flat.

"I can read packets and faces" Ren considered. Shinso had a villain-labeled Quirk, transfer ambition, sharp perception, and a tendency toward resentment. He was not safe. But safe was not the same as trustworthy. Sometimes unsafe people understood danger better.

"I cannot explain fully""Not what I asked""Yes. USJ" Shinso's hands disappeared into his pockets.

"Villains?" Ren stopped. Shinso stopped too. The hallway flowed around them. Ren did not answer. Shinso's eyes narrowed.

"That was an answer" Ren said quietly "Do not tell anyone" Shinso looked away, jaw tightening.

"Great""I mean it""So do I" They resumed walking.

"Did Kurose believe you?" Shinso asked"Enough to report security concerns""That sounds like teacher language for maybe""Yes""Is maybe enough?" Ren thought of black fog. Aizawa bleeding. Students scattered. The dome. The hand-covered man. Nomu. All Might late.

"No" Shinso's mouth tightened.

"Then what?" Ren looked through the corridor window. Across the campus, Hero Course students moved along a training field with Aizawa walking behind them like a tired shadow. Izuku stumbled during a stretch, caught himself, and received what appeared to be a sharp comment from Aizawa. Bakugo stood apart, radiating irritation. Uraraka laughed at something pink-skinned Mina said. Iida chopped the air. They looked young. That was the worst part. Not weak. Young. Ren said "We prepare for our assigned roles.

We learn the facility briefing. We identify exits, communication points, staff positions, environmental hazards, and where General Studies students are placed" Shinso looked at him.

"And if villains actually show up?" Ren watched Izuku across the field.

"Then we do what civilians are supposed to do" Shinso's expression twisted.

"Run?"

"Survive""That's not the same thing""No" The next week became divided between normal school and USJ preparation. Normal school continued, as if the word normal had ever been honest. Kurose did not mention Ren's warning again in class. She did, however, assign additional readings on disaster-site communication failure, crowd psychology, civilian compliance, and how hostile actors exploit drills because people obey exercise assumptions longer than they should. Subtle. Not subtle. Useful.

Ren saw at least two security staff walking unfamiliar routes near Building C by Wednesday. On Thursday, he noticed an additional checkpoint on the road toward the external training facilities. On Friday, Kurose's tablet received a message during homeroom, and she paused for three seconds before continuing. Three seconds meant something. Ren did not know what. That was maddening. Shinso watched him watching the world.

"You always this paranoid?" Ren answered without looking away from a new camera near the corridor junction.

"No""Liar""Sometimes more""Better" Their role assignments arrived Friday afternoon. Class 1-C would be divided into small civilian groups during the USJ exercise. Each group would receive basic identity cards: civilian age range, injury status if any, emotional state, mobility level, cooperation level, and response instructions. Students were not to improvise beyond parameters unless instructed by supervising staff. Ren received his card in a sealed envelope. He opened it at his desk.

ROLE: Simulated Civilian — Disoriented Observer ZONE: Ruins Zone Initial Placement Condition: Minor mobility limitation. No severe injury. Confused but responsive. Provides incomplete information unless prompted clearly. Must not self-evacuate unless directed by Hero Course student or staff. May warn about perceived secondary hazard if asked appropriate questions. Ren stared at the words. Ruins Zone. Initial placement. Disoriented. Must not self-evacuate. His pulse slowed. That was not good. Shinso leaned forward.

"What'd you get?" Ren handed him the card. Shinso read it. His expression changed.

"Bad?"

"Possibly" Shinso's own card read: ROLE: Simulated Civilian — Resistant Bystander ZONE: Central Plaza Transition Condition: No injury. Refuses first instruction from Hero Course student. Questions authority. Cooperates only if student gives clear reason or demonstrates credibility. No Quirk use unless directly authorized by staff. Shinso looked at his card. Then laughed without humor.

"They want me to be difficult" Ren looked at him.

"Yes""I was born for this""Do not enjoy it too much""No promises" Ren memorized both assignments. Ruins Zone. Central Plaza. If the attack followed the fragment, students would be scattered by black fog. Initial placements might be irrelevant. Or worse, they might determine who was near which danger when the structure broke. Kurose stood at the front after distributing the roles.

"Your role is not your personality. Do not use this exercise as therapy" Several students looked disappointed. Yabara raised his hand.

"What if my role says panic?"

"Then panic within safety parameters""What does that mean?"

"Do not actually injure anyone while pretending to be useless""Harsh""Accurate" Kurose continued "You will receive facility orientation on site. Heroics faculty will manage Class 1-A. General Studies staff will manage your placements. Follow all instructions. If an actual emergency occurs, roleplay ends immediately. You obey staff evacuation orders" Ren wrote: If actual emergency occurs, roleplay ends. Then underlined it. Shinso leaned forward.

"Think the universe reads underlines?" Ren said "It should" On the morning of the USJ exercise, the sky was too clear. Ren disliked that. Disasters in memory had no obligation to match weather, but some part of him expected darkness, rain, sirens before departure, obvious wrongness. Instead, sunlight lay clean over U. A.' s campus. Students moved between buildings. Birds crossed the sky. A support course machine exploded faintly somewhere distant and was followed by a cheerful shout rather than alarm. Normal.

That made it worse. Ren had packed carefully. Water. Approved first aid basics. Notebook small enough to fit inside blazer pocket. Two pencils. Phone charged. Emergency contact card. Protein bar. No unnecessary equipment. Nothing that would look like he expected combat. Nothing that would help enough if combat came. At breakfast, Hana noticed the tension before he spoke.

"USJ today?" Ren looked up.

"Yes" Daichi set down his coffee.

"The rescue simulation?"

"Yes" Hana's eyes sharpened.

"You said that too neutrally" Ren considered lying. Rejected it.

"I am concerned about the facility complexity" Daichi leaned back.

"Concerned like academic concern or concerned like we should know something?" Ren looked at both parents. He had not told them the fragments in detail. He still did not. But Kurose's words had followed him. Give information to adults who can act. His parents were not campus security. But they were his parents.

"I told Kurose-sensei I had a security concern" he said The kitchen went silent. Hana's face paled. Daichi's voice lowered.

"What kind of concern?"

"Generalized. Multi-zone facility. Hero Course students. Possible symbolic target. Civilian role complexity" Hana stood.

"Ren""Kurose reported it" Daichi's eyes searched his face.

"You think something could happen""Yes""Today?"

"I do not know" That answer scared them more than yes might have. Hana touched the edge of the table.

"Should you go?" Every part of Ren wanted to say yes immediately. Because he needed to be there. Because if memory became real and he stayed home, absence would become another wound. Because civilians were the point. Because Izuku would be there. Because All Might might be late. Because someone had to look first. But Hana had asked as his mother. Not as an obstacle. So he answered more carefully.

"If U. A. security reviewed the concern and the exercise proceeds, refusing to attend based on unverifiable fear would remove me from observation and give no protection to others" Daichi closed his eyes briefly.

"You sound like you already had that ready""Yes" Hana whispered "I hate this" Ren did not say he knew. She knew he knew. Daichi stood and walked around the table.

"If something feels wrong, you leave the role" Ren looked at him.

"If actual emergency occurs, roleplay ends""Good" Hana's eyes filled.

"Do not wait until everyone agrees it is actual" Ren went still. Daichi looked at her. Hana continued, voice shaking.

"You do that. You wait for proof because you are afraid of acting on fear. But sometimes mothers get to say something irrational and have it count. If your body says wrong, if your memory says wrong, if whatever part of you has been carrying this since you were little says wrong, then you move" Ren's throat tightened. That contradicted almost every rule. Look first. Evidence. Do not act on incomplete data. Do not become second casualty. His mother's hand found his scarred forearm through the sleeve.

"Not toward danger" she said "Away if you can. With people if you must. But move" Ren nodded.

"I will" This promise terrified him because he did not know whether he could keep it. His parents walked him to the station. They did not speak much. At U. A., Class 1-C gathered near the bus area in assigned groups. Kurose stood with another General Studies teacher and two staff members Ren did not know. She saw Ren arrive and gave no visible sign of their earlier conversation. Good. Shinso stood near the back of the group, hands in pockets, hair messier than usual.

"You look like you slept badly" Ren said"You look like you didn't sleep""Correct""Bad?"

"Yes" Shinso glanced toward the Hero Course bus where 1-A students were gathering under Aizawa's dull-eyed supervision. Thirteen stood nearby in a full rescue suit, speaking with a staff member. All Might was absent. Ren's stomach dropped. Not proof. Pattern. Aizawa alone. Thirteen present. All Might absent. Shinso followed his gaze.

"No All Might?" Ren said nothing. Shinso's expression darkened.

"Pattern?"

"Yes""Damn" Izuku spotted Ren from the 1-A group and lifted a hand. Ren nodded once. Izuku smiled nervously. His body looked better. Still too tense. Still carrying power like a secret with sharp edges. Bakugo noticed the exchange and scowled. Uraraka waved. Iida chopped the air in greeting. Aizawa's eyes moved over all of them. Then to Class 1-C. Then, briefly, to Ren. Kurose walked to the front of the General Studies group.

"Listen carefully. You are participating in a rescue education exercise. You will follow staff instructions from departure to return. You will not wander. You will not challenge Hero Course students. You will not attempt to turn this into a personal audition. If something goes wrong, role parameters end and emergency procedure begins" Her eyes found Ren for half a second.

"Your job is to survive clearly enough that someone else can rescue you correctly" That sentence was for the class. And not. Ren wrote it in his head. Survive clearly. The buses loaded. Ren sat beside Shinso near the middle. Outside the window, U. A. shifted from campus to road to training perimeter. Class 1-A's bus moved ahead of theirs, bright with chatter Ren could not hear. Izuku sat near a window, looking down at his hands. Uraraka spoke animatedly beside him. Iida gestured.

Bakugo stared forward like the entire bus had offended him. Aizawa sat at the front, half hidden by his hair, apparently asleep. He was not asleep. Ren knew that without data. Shinso leaned back.

"So what do we do if villains show up?" Ren looked out the window. The word sat between them like contraband.

"First, confirm""After confirm?"

"End roleplay. Find staff. Avoid isolation. Do not answer unknown verbal engagement if hostile Quirk possible. Do not use your Quirk unless emergency law clearly supports it or staff authorizes" Shinso huffed.

"You had that ready""Yes""And if there's no staff?" Ren watched the USJ dome appear in the distance. Large. Bright. Curved like a memory built in steel and glass. His chest tightened.

"Then we survive clearly" Shinso looked out too. The bus approached the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. Ren had rebuilt this place with blocks at six years old. He had drawn it in secret before knowing its full name. He had told himself fragments were unreliable data. Now the dome rose ahead, real enough to cast a shadow. His scar prickled under his sleeve. Not heat. Not cold. Memory. The bus doors opened.