"It's not wrong," Kaito protested, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on his knees. "I mean, on you maybe it would be wrong, but when I get upset people generally want to help me. So, it's different." He started to chew on a cuticle, then dropped his hand consciously, frowning at his feet. "Even if I choke, it's mostly okay. And it wasn't like he ever left me where I could get hurt. If we didn't have an escape plan, or if something went sour, he came back and got me. Limit makes me like a fucking beacon."

He tried to shrug. "So I just... kinda learned a different Rule Twenty-Five. You gotta change the rules for students, right? That's what good sensei do. They shift things to play up strengths." And weaknesses, the little voice in the back of his mind whispered.

He braced his hands on the bench, shoulders winging up around his ears. "'Sides, I was never very good at Rule Twenty-Five anyway." Madoka-sensei had said he had an 'anxious personality.' Something about trauma, but duh, he was a ninja. He didn't tell Genma that. Ninja weren't supposed to be anxious.