Chapter 6 - KAIA REFUSED TO BECOME THE SCHOOL’S HEROBy Monday, videos of the cafeteria incident had spread online.

Students called Kaia:
The Black Belt Transfer.
The Lunchroom Assassin.
She hated both.
Nobody had been assassinated.
She asked the school to stop sharing her martial arts background.
Principal Benton agreed.
During assembly, he said:
“This situation is not a story about finding the one student strong enough to fight bullies.”
Kaia watched from backstage.
Good.
Then:
“It is about why students believed adult systems would not protect them.”
Better.
He explained that self-defense policies would be reviewed.
Students would not be punished merely for using proportionate force to escape physical aggression.
But neither would fighting become celebrated entertainment.
Good.
Then he said:
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“No child should need elite martial arts training to feel safe at lunch.”
That became the sentence students remembered.