Ill-tempered obedience was still obedience, but Raidou probably wouldn’t have stood for it.

“If our interim captain is anything like taichou,” Genma said, “I’d be careful not to let him know you thought his orders were a pain in the ass.”

“Interim captain won't be Taichou, though, so it doesn't really matter, does it? He can't make me run laps if I'm on medical leave.” Petulance was fast metamorphosing into insubordination. Genma opened his mouth to haul Ryouma up on it, but Ryouma backed off before he could get there. “It'd look bad for you and Taichou, though, I guess.”

Genma settled for a stern look. “It’d look bad for you, too, and Hatake and Ueno. We don’t know who Sagara is putting over us, but you can bet whoever it is will be scrutinizing the whole team. How we behave and operate reflects on taichou, and he is not in the clear until his suspension is officially terminated and he’s put back in command of Team Six.”

Ryouma's sulkiness faded as he absorbed the implications. “So... Should I put off surgery, then? I mean, I'll get the evaluation, but— If this captain's a hardass, they're gonna want someone able-bodied for an errand boy.”

“There’s never going to be a convenient time for treatment, whether it’s surgery or PT or just getting a custom-fitted brace,” Genma said. “Right now, most of Team Six is on medical or other leave — that’s as good as it’s likely to get. If the interim captain doesn’t have to do much besides approve my medical progress reports, so much the better.”

Something about that — probably the suggestion that surgery wasn’t the only option — seemed to unlock some of the tension in Ryouma’s shoulders. “Brace wouldn't be bad. My old one's pretty worn out, anyway.” He traced a finger along a prominent swirl in the wood grain, clearly lost in thought for a moment, then looked back up and pulled together a quick smile. “Okay, lieutenant. Don't worry. I'll get the knee checked out and play nice for the new captain. He'll go back to Sagara-sama all glowing with praise at how taichou and you trained me up right.”

He wasn’t all the way back to his usual sunny self, but the anger and anxiety had faded away. Genma had to wonder if it was as exhausting as it looked to live with an emotional state that churned faster than whitewater rapids. Maybe Ryouma was just accustomed to it.

“We’ve got a team meeting at 0900, and I have PT for an hour at 1100. You could get your knee looked at while I’m doing that and meet me at the hospital afterwards so we could start your first training exercise. If you’re ready to start tomorrow, that is.” It would mean delaying lunch, but he had a hunch Ryouma was going to make an unappetizing mess out of his first few practice fish. And they were definitely starting with fish.

In fact, maybe they’d better start with just learning to get a feel for healthy versus disordered chakra flow. They could work up to manipulating it.

For a long moment Ryouma almost stared at Genma, pupils wide, like he was trying to make sure Genma wasn’t going to rescind the offer. Finally he nodded. “I'll be ready.”

He reached for the paper again, and this time Genma let him take it, along with a pen. Genma pointed to the box for Agent’s signature, and Ryouma signed in a careful, laborious hand. Every stroke of kanji — and the characters in Tousaki Ryouma were complex — looked like an effort of will for him. When he’d put the last tick on the ma, he put the pen down and picked up the form, squinting at it one last time.