Takumi was not brought into the negotiation room.
A medical witness first read Shinkyu White Fir's terms to him, sentence by sentence.
Return to the Training Facility.
Continue receiving Wind Style training.
Obey the revised course and mission arrangements.
In exchange, the other sixteen students would have their Performance Seals removed, and the Training Facility would hand over the complete master ledger.
Takumi's first question was whether everyone else would truly be allowed to leave if he agreed.
The medical witness did not answer "yes."
One child could not guarantee that the Training Facility would honor its terms.
Nor could he be asked to bear the price of everyone's freedom alone simply because he cared about his companions.
The Land of Fire Investigation Team formally rejected the exchange.
"The sixteen students' seals and the master ledger are already evidence under investigation and matters of safety obligation."
"They cannot be treated as bargaining chips belonging to the White Cedar Training Center."
The sixteen students were also informed of the terms individually.
The notices did not state that Takumi had already agreed, much less ask them to persuade him to sacrifice himself.
Xiaoying wrote in her reply, "My seal is not his debt."
Kaito's parents stated that even if removal took longer, they would not agree to send another child back to a dormitory he could not leave.
Two students initially wanted to accept the exchange.
Their wrists still hurt, and they feared the independent Sealing Masters would never find a way to remove the seals.
The witness did not scold them for being selfish, only explained that the Training Facility had provided no actionable procedure for "removing the seals immediately after Takumi returns," nor had it offered any advance guarantees.
The two ultimately retained their reservations and were not forced to