After meeting Dabi again, Shine and Wally laid low for the next couple days... at least, when it came to investigating. No one seemed to have caught them sneaking out, but they wanted to wait and be sure.

Class 1-A and 1-B were training together again off and on and being less hostile than before. At least most of them were-- it couldn't be said that Monoma was really any nicer, just more cautious. The others began talking to each other more, though, and discussing how things had been when joint training first started.

"I kind of felt like you held back," Kendo admitted to Momo at one point.

"Oh...uh... yeah..." Momo thought back, "Maybe I was just trying to help my classmates more."

"Yeah, but... I kind of wondered why you didn't just make a taser or something," Kendo said.

"Isn't that kind of violent?" Momo said with a straight face.

"I knocked you out!" Kendo cried.

"Oh, well that was just for training," Momo said, "and after all you said about us being grouped together, I didn't take it personally."

"Yeah..." Kendo said.

"Anyway, your plan was good," Momo added.

"Eh, we only won because of Komori's sneak attack," Kendo said.

Shine came up to their table at that juncture, carrying her tray. She looked kind of stressed.

"Is something up, Miss Likstar?" Kendo asked.

"Oh, just the usual," Shine said, "Eri had a bit of a freak out again-- A door slammed... Anyway, Wally got her to calm down finally, but I had to help. She still responds better to women..."

"I don't know how you can handle that all the time," Kendo said.

"It's a gift," Shine said offhandedly, "So, what are you girls talking about?"

Kendo repeated what they were just saying to her. 

"This is the first I've heard of her sneak attack," Shine said, "but, I do remember someone went to Recovery Girl, didn't they? A few people, even. That's why I thought things were going too far."

"Well, I admit that sneak attack was probably uncomfortable," Kendo admitted, "A mushroom in your windpipe would probably hurt."

Shine was just taking a sip of tea when she nearly choked. "I'm sorry, did you just say a mushroom was in a windpipe...?"

"It was how Komori took down Tokoyami at the last minute," Kendo said.

Momo saw Shine's face harden.

Uh oh, she thought, I know that look by now. She's angry.

"Can you describe exactly how that works for me?" Shine said in a deceptively calm tone. Shine could sound completely relaxed when she was angry, up until she actually blew up. It was what made it frightening to anger her. Momo wanted to warn Kendo not to explain... though she wasn't sure why it was so upsetting, but she couldn't catch her eye.

"She grew a surprise mushroom inside him. She's so crazy powerful, right?" Kendo said, "He started choking. He had to stop fighting."

Shine stared at her in amazement.

"What did Vlad say about that?" she asked. 

"Nothing. He was proud of us," Kendo said, "Though I felt it was a hollow victory. Momo could have beaten us if it hadn't been for that mushroom."

"Oh... well. I completely sympathize with you there," Shine said, in what was beginning to be a sarcastic tone. 

Kendo caught on that something was wrong. 

"Uh, Miss Likstar, is something bothering  you?"

"Why would that bother me? It's just this flipping school," Shine said in a tight voice, "I swear, with all the goshdarn drama I have to deal with just in the downtime, you'd think they could handle the actual training... That therapist cannot get hired fast enough... I'm losing weight because this crap makes me lose my appetite..." she shoved her food away, "Excuse me ladies, I need to...think... Uh, one question, was this the only time a strategy like that was used in your joint training?"

"Like what?" Kendo said. 

"Like one that would be that incapacitating," Shine said, "I don't mean just restraining, I mean like, it was physically hurting the person."

"Yeah, stuff like that happens a lot," Kendo said.

Shine bit her lip. "Momo... did 1-A do anything like that in that fight?"

"No, Miss Likstar, we tried to keep it as non-harmful as possible," Momo said, "but I can't speak for Bakugo."

"Yeah, outside of Bakugo," Shine said.

"I was passed out for a portion of the fight, but I don't remember anything like that," Momo said.

She was really hoping this would mean Shine didn't blow up at the class later. "But, Shine, you know, it's just training, and we have to try hard. So, if you're thinking that 1-B was a little harsh, I think it's.... fine."

Shine gave her a look. "Uh... right... Okay, sweetie... I'm sure you believe that..." she got up, "Like I said, I'm not hungry anymore."

"But you didn't even eat... Are you feeling sick?" Kendo said.

"A little, yes. Gotta go." Shine left the room. Todoroki got up and came over to their table.

"What was that about? She looked upset."

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling it has something to do with how my match went in the first joint training session, " Momo said nervously, "I hate causing these problems... Should I warn Mr. Aizawa?"

"What can Likstar do? She's just a supervisor. She can't get you in trouble," Kendo said, "I mean, she did get Monoma in trouble with Vlad King, but you know, he's kind of more tightly wound than Aizawa..."

"No, that's not why I want to warn him," Momo said.

"What did Shine say?" Todoroki said.

Bakugo was leaning over from his seat not that far away. So were some of 1-B.

"She seemed interested in how Tokoyami was defeated," Kendo said, "but I told her Vlad King was fine with it. I think she thought it might have hurt him, but he was fine, wasn't he?"

"I think he had a sore throat for the rest of the day," Todoroki said, "and, I wondered at the time, couldn't that have been really toxic? If he was allergic to spores... or got a fungal infection... I mean, I assume it was safe."

"I don't know about any of that. The mushrooms disappear after 3 hours," Kendo said.

"And no one in your class ever got affected?" Momo said.

"Uh...well, no, a few of us have gotten a little affected," Kendo said, "but she's got pretty good control of her power."

"Did she ever grow a mushroom inside of you?" Todoroki saw nothing odd about this question.

"No..." Kendo said, "Why is this such an important question?"

"Did Shine ask that?" Todoroki frowned.

"No," Momo said, "but she asked if Vlad King said anything about it... Uh oh..." She got up. "I think I should catch up to her before she talks to him."

"She's going to talk to Vlad King?" Kendo said.

"We better run," Todoroki said, catching Momo's drift.

Well, half of 1-B and most of 1-A ran after them. The only ones who didn't were Shogi , who didn't care, and Koda, who was too scared. Monoma, Testsutetsu,  Komori, the Beast man, and the other girls, except for Horn Cannon, all came from 1-B.

Momo rightly guessed Shine had gone right to the teacher's lounge. Vlad King was in there drinking coffee with Snipe and Midnight and Nezu.

"Oh good, all of you are here," Shine said, glaring at them.

"Miss Likstar, isn't it your break?" Nezu looked up, "Why are you in here? You usually eat with the students."

"I came here because I just found out something happened weeks ago that I didn't know about," Shine said, "Is it true that Tokoyami went to Recovery Girl because he had, and I quote, 'a mushroom in his windpipe'?"

Midnight blinked at her.

"Yeah, so?" Vlad Kind said, "I forgot about that..."

Shine clenched her fists. "Yeah... and... was anything done about the situation?"

"What situation?" Snipe asked.

"The part where that could have left him with permanent damage situation," Shine said.

"I think you're exaggerating," Vlad said.

"Am I?" Shine said. Her eyes flashed. "Vlad, did you know strep throat can permanently damage the tissue in the throat? And that's from inside your body. Do you know how much more damage a fungal infection would be, if it was that far inside your throat? What if the kid was allergic to mushrooms? Did you test that beforehand?"

"No, but he isn't," Vlad said.

"Uh huh, and you do know that all mushrooms are indigestible and some are toxic before being cooked? And had he swallowed some or all of it, he could have gotten sick or died?" Shine said.

Nezu and Midnight and Snipe began to get strange looks on their faces.

"I don't think Komori's shrooms are that toxic," Vlad King said.

"Did you test that?" Shine asked.

"No..." Vlad said, finally looking a little uncomfortable.

Shine put her hands together like she was trying not to scream at them.

"And do you know how permanent damage can be caused by swallowing a hard object like that unchewed? Or you could throw up...It could damage the ability to swallow. I should know, I had problems like that when I was younger due to injuries. He could have just touched his throat wrong and tapped it into the tissue. Am I not making it clear how dangerous that is?"

"Well--" began Vlad

"But finally, if he was choking, then oxygen was getting cut off from his brain, and you do know that causes brain damage, sometimes permanent, correct?" Shine said, "Do you think Recovery girl can fix everything? I'm waiting for a very good answer here."

"Uh..." Vlad looked at Nezu. Nezu had the most cornered look on his face, like even he wasn't going to be able to weasel out of this one.

Midnight looked a little sick. "Is all this actually possible, Nezu?"

"Uh....well, with any quirk there's always a certain amount of risk..." Nezu said.

"Risk?!" Shine finally exploded, and all of them jumped, even Snipe.

"Risk?! He's a freaking 15 year old boy, who's your flipping student, and you are talking about serious possible injuries that only some miracle prevented actually occurring, and you want to come at me with risk? I'm sorry, is your student completely abusing her powers in the most stupid, reckless way imaginable just a risk to you? Or is that poor instruction on your part!!!?"

"Hey---" Vlad began, angrily.

"Vlad, if you say anything to me right now, I swear," Shine said.

She might have been small and weak compared to him, but the she had an anger radiating off her right then that was terrifying, and Vlad was at least affected enough not to attack.

"I cannot believe we're even having this conversation. Do you want them to die before they graduate?" Shine said, "Forget villains, maybe they need restraining orders for all of you. Have you ever considered what will happen if they tell their parents how you train them? I'm sorry, a mushroom in someone's throat? Their throat! What part of HERO training makes you think putting anything down someone's throat is a fair or noble way to defeat them? But I guess I shouldn't be surprised, Vlad, you've poisoned your class's minds so much against 1-A with this stupid fake competition, that literally no one would care about if not for you pushing it, that they probably would risk their lives to beat 1-A, because, we all know, in today's climate, that's the thing to focus on. Making other heroes their enemies... You know, I said nothing about this to you before because I knew you all didn't want to hear it, but if that kind of crap is going down on a regular basis, then I have a real reason to be concerned that my class I'm supposed to be watching is actually more at risk while they're around your little protegees!"

"What?" Vlad said.

"I know I was hired as a joke," Shine said, furiously, "but I actually do take my job seriously, and let's just make this clear, the next time I hear about any of this happening to any of them, in your class, and it's not certifiably an accident, I will be hunting you down to every corner of the earth to get an explanation. There will be nowhere for you to hide. And I will be contacting their parents."

She looked Nezu right in the eye. "I dare you to try to stop me. If you refuse to take their safety seriously, then I will."

"Miss Likstar, this is hyperbolic at best," Nezu said.,"We were not fully aware of the situation---"

"Oh, that makes it so much better. You never do know what's going on," Shine cut him off, "I detest all of your styles from the depths of my soul, but I won't be reporting you, because I can't, and you know I can't. But don't think I won't protect the students however I possibly can, and if you want a DJ as your enemy, keep endangering them, see what happens." She glared.

"You're threatening us?" Snipe said.

"Oh please, we all know you're already terrified of us anyway," Shine waved, "but if you refuse to trust me, I guess I can use that to my advantage. But kick us out by all means, It won't look suspicious at all, and it will totally work and not backfire on you." She crossed her arms. 

"You've already thought of it, Nezu, haven't you? Maybe the rest of you haven't, but I know you're aware of what happens from here. I want to be allies, I really do, but this is insanity, and I hope to goodness you all lose your jobs before the kids lose their lives or sanity or health."

"That's a bit strong," Midnight said.

"Don't you even talk to me, Miss Sexual Harasser," Shine snapped at her, "I don't know how you even got hired here. The R-rated hero? Seriously? At a high school?? What part of R-rated sounds like a good match with High School? You all are sick and negligent, and you know it. Ugh, I can't even look at you anymore. Good bye." She turned...and saw all of the students in the hallway listening to this. The teachers couldn't see them from their angle.

Shine never let on that she noticed them. Instead she just stormed past. The students cleared out as silently as they could before a Pro could spot them.

"We were too late..." Momo whimpered.

"Oh no," Kendo said, "Vlad King is gong to kill us!"

"You? What are they going to do to us? They'll think we told her for sure!" Mineta squeaked, "Miss Likstar is so selfish. Doesn't she even think what the consequences for angering the school might be? What if they crack down on us even more?"

"Our teachers are trying to keep us safe, Mineta," Tsuyu said, "I think Likstar should be fired for an outburst like that."

"Bakugo hasn't been expelled yet, and you think they'll fire her?" Monoma said. 

"What did she mean, a DJ?" Tetsutetsu asked, "I thought that was kind of random."

"Oh...that's just a pet name for what they do, in America," Ojiro lied quickly. 

"How odd," the Beast guy said.

"At least All Might wasn't there to hear that..." Deku muttered.

"Maybe he should have been," Todoroki said oddly.

"What do you mean?" Iida said.

Todoroki turned to look at them with a strange expression.

"Didn't you think some of what she was saying made sense? I mean, her tone was really aggressive, but she was just defending Tokoyami's safety. It's not like she just stormed in there because she was threatened, and what she said was true-- It was really dangerous to do that, and I really don't think the situation justified it. I thought so at the time, actually."

"What do you mean?" Komori asked, "I just wanted to do what it took to win."

"Yeah," the black faced kid said (Todoroki knew none of their names.)

"If we followed that logic," he said, "Momo could probably have won if she made a gun, a bomb, or some other weapon like that. Or even if she actually fired a real canon ball."

"Uh, Todoroki, I would never do any of those things," Momo said.

"That's my point. Isn't it just a matter or how far they were willing to go?" Todoroki said, "Our class treated it like they were fighting fellow heroes, you acted like we were villains. Was it really worth going that far just for one victory in training? There would have been other chances."

"If we went too far, Vlad King would have stopped us," Tetsutetsu protested.

"Just like they stopped Bakugo from pulverizing Uraraka at the Festival?" Kendo said, grimly, "or Midoriya from breaking most of his bones...?"

"Hey, Bakugo wasn't trying to kill me!" Uraraka protested. 

"Yeah, she'd be dead if I did that!" Bakugo declared, "Your dumba--- classmate was just freaking stupid. Don't put that on us!"

"And Midoriya was only hurting himself by doing that," Iida said loyally, "not anyone else."

"Todoroki froze me," Sero pointed out.

"It was an accident!" Todoroki said.

"Isn't that kind of not better?" Sero shrugged.

"Wait, are you on Likstar's side?" Tsuyu asked, "She's not even a hero. Do you really think she's an authority on this? It was so disrespectful to go in there and yell at our teachers over that."

"Why?" Todoroki asked, "Why is it disrespectful to want to protect a student and express real concerns that were actually possible..."

"She threatened them!" Iida said.

Momo looked down. 

"That was a bit much, maybe," Todoroki admitted, "but she was angry. I'm sure she'll think better of it. Anyway, maybe if they had listened to her, she wouldn't have done that. It was a fair point to make, and they just blew it off. Isn't that a bit concerning?"

"Uh... Todoroki, are you saying our teachers were wrong?" Midoriya said.

"Would it really be their first time?" Todoroki made an irrefutable point. "I respect them, but I think they should not have allowed things to get that out of hand."

"It's true that any one of us students would probably have stopped in there," Ojiro admitted, "but we're not Pros yet."

"Does that make it okay, thought?" Mina said, "I kind of thought Tokoyami might actually be in trouble when he started choking."

"Oh, he was fine," Monoma said. 

Kendo smacked him to the floor. "Shut up! Your opinion is invalid here. You'd probably be fine with it either way."

She looked at the others. "I hate to say it, but you guys are making sense... I didn't think about it before. We definitely took it too far. I kind of felt bad about it anyway... I'm sorry, Tokoyami-san."

"It's all right." Tokoyami was embarrassed. "I didn't make an issue of it at the time, so I don't need an apology."

"Guys," Kaminari said suddenly, "am I the only one who just realized that Likstar-san probably went back to the dorms or to the cafeteria, and that means she's waiting for us to walk in there."

"That is paranoid," Sato protested, "She probably just finished her lunch."

"Uh, no, that's her, totally," Jiro said, "I'm not going back in there."

No one else did either.

But the students underestimated Shine. She didn't do anything during school hours and went about her duties with Eri normally. Aizawa didn't even hear about the incident till after he picked Eri up, but Wally heard the whole story while Eri was occupied on her own, and Shine gave him the 411.
He was equally disgusted, but he wasn't sure going off had been the right thing to do.

"I would have punched him," he said.

"Wally, please be the rational one here," Shine said, "I already think I went too far. I should stop acting on stuff when I'm in a rage."

"Shine, they endangered their own students for practice," Wally said, "I can't believe the school gets away with this."

"You are so not helping me calm down," Shine said drolly.

After they were done for the day, they went back to the dorms. 1-A tried to pretend that things weren't awkward... unsuccessfully... Koda and Shogi really regretted not witnessing the whole thing in person. 

Shine couldn't take it anymore. "Are you guys going to say anything?"

"Uh, say what?" Kaminari said.

"Anything. Ask me something," Shine said.

"Are you trying to get fired?" Tsuyu said. 

Shine choked on a laugh. "Well, that was direct."

"Seriously," Jiro said, "you're going to get fired."

"No, I won't," Shine said. 

"Why did you talk to our teachers that way?" Kirishima asked.

"Because they deserved it," Shine said, "Did that girl ever apologize to Tokoyami, by the way? I saw her watching."

"No, but that's really not necessary," Tokoyami said.

Shine sat up.  "Are you FREAKING. KIDDING. ME?" She jumped up and ran out of the dorm.

"Oh no," Tokoyami covered his beak, "Mr. West! Stop her."

"Stop her? I want to watch!" Wally said, grabbing snacks and dashing out the door.

"You know, he's not any better," Jiro stated. 

"We must intervene!" Iida cried, "We were just finally starting to get along with class 1-B. We cannot let them jeopardize it!" He raced out. A lot of the class followed.

Momo looked up. "Isn't it because of them that we are even getting along better? Wouldn't it be more fair to give them more credit?"

"The he-- am I missing this," Bakugo said suddenly, rushing out with his phone in hand. 

"Since when is Bakugo a memer?" Kaminari joked.

Well, they ran out too.

Shine was banging on 1-B's door.

Kendo answered. 

"Oh... Miss Likstar... uh... um..."

"Where's Komori?" Shine asked, the way someone might say, "Where's the murderer?"

"She's right in there," Kendo chickened out, "but, Likstar-san, we already apologized."

"Just send her out here." Shine crossed her arms.

Kendo waved Komori over. Komori peered at Shine out of her bangs. "I didn't do anything wrong!" she said.

That was the wrong thing to say. Shine had actually intending not to scold her if she was actually sorry and was going to ask her nicely if Kendo was correct, but when that was the first thing she heard, she lost it.

"Are you kidding me?!!" she shouted--not deafening, but enough to make all the kids jump, except Bakugo. He started grinning. 

Wally tapped Shine's shoulder, and she took a deep breath.

"Sorry for yelling...Do you understand what you could have done to Tokoyami? That is was life threatening, and there's about 5 different ways that could have been severe."

"It was fine," Komori said, "You're just being a buzzkill. My shrooms are totally awesome."

Shine was really mad now. "What part of 'could have killed someone' do you not understand, young lady? Did your parents never teach you how to be considerate of other people?"

"Miss Likstar, please," Tokoyami spoke up, "I'm all right."

"You're not all right," Shine glanced at him, "If you were, you wouldn't be okay with this. Your low self worth issues are sad, Tokoyami, but that is no excuse to treat your life as something to be tampered with in a stupid training exercise. It's like all of you can't distinguish between actual life and death stuff and a practice test. As for you," she turned back to Komori,

"I've known villains less careless than you are. I'd have expelled you on the spot, but since this school only ever threatens to expel people for doing the right thing, I guess we can't hope for that."

"That's going too far!" Tetsutetsu came up to Shine, which took some guts. "Komori deserves to be here as much as anyone."

"Perhaps 1-A just can't handle the pressure," Monoma said.

Shine turned to Monoma. "You do realize that 1-A could actually blow up your dorms if they wanted to, right? If you don't shut up, I'm gong to let Bakugo kick your rear end, and pretend I saw nothing."

Monoma's mouth fell open.

Bakugo looked up. "What makes you think I'd do that just 'cause you said it, Likstar?"

"If you don't want to, then that's fine," Shine waved him off, "but I think if 1-B wants to fight dirty, they should be willing to suck it up. If your class had stooped that low, they could have demolished all of them. I hate to break it to you, 1-B, but I've observed both of you, and 1-A are clearly the superior fighters."

"I don't think you're allowed to say that," Sero said.

"I don't care," Shine said, "I really don't care who's better at fighting. I think it has little to no bearing on your hero potential. Wally, you agree, right?"

"100%," Wally said firmly.

"That's not the issue," Shine said, "What's the issue is that this happened. I know it was weeks ago, and you've been doing better, but the fact that none of you saw a problem with it, even up to now, is extremely concerning. You have no empathy, no compassion, and no mercy for people you see as rivals. If that's changed a little, it's not enough. Komori, you can never be a hero with that attitude. I feel like a broken record. How long before this point gets across? If you don't care about my opinion, what about the opinion of the public in general? Is this what you want to be known for? Nearly choking people, picking petty fights? Being reckless? I'm ashamed of all of you."

She seemed on the verge of tears now, instead of rage.

This was far more effective than just yelling would have been. The kids started to feel guilty. Well, not Monoma, but Bakugo gave him a look, and he didn't say anything.

It was funny, no one had ever tried to get Shine's good opinion, but her standards were such a challenge to the norm, they couldn't help but want it. After all, being competitive and goal driven was ground into them. And Wally was such a nice, laid back guy, him looking kind of disappointed cut deep.

"We... should do better," Kendo said.

"Are you really ashamed of us?" Ibara asked.

Shine nodded. "For the lack of compassion... not for you, yourselves."

What was the difference? No one knew.

"Hey," Shine turned to 1-A, "enough of this. All of you get back inside. They don't need an audience. This is messed up. I wanted Tokoyami to see us defend him, but you don't need to hear this part."

No one moved. "I said go!" Shine said more firmly.

They all moved...Well, Bakugo hesitated.

"Bud, I'd get inside if I were you," Wally said firmly, "It's not cool to gloat."

Bakugo shuffled away grumpily.

Shine and Wally turned back to 1-B. 

"Maybe it's not totally your fault," Wally said, "I mean, it's kind of just normal around here."

"But who do you want to be?" Shine said, "Do you want to be kind? You know, what you do now, shapes the rest of your life. How you treat people now, that's how you'll treat them always, most likely. If you make bad habits, those will stick. You kids still have time to change all that. You can still be real heroes... Stop caring about 1-A. They have no real effect on you. Anyone who thinks so, is an idiot. They're just trying to get through the school year, same as you, and, forgive me, none of you have any idea what the kind of pressure they are under is like. It's not getting any better either. But you don't have to be part of it. They have absolutely no interest in taunting you. You all started this fire, and you're the ones who'll burn on it, you can be sure of that. But you can put it out, right now, by casting aside this stupid comparison game and just being the best heroes you can be."

She shook her head. "If your teacher does not teach you that, he is doing you a disservice. I'm not a hero, but I am a human. You need to get being a decent human being down before you can get to the level of hero. It's a choice everyone makes for themselves, but a hero puts what they want aside from what is right. They can't give into petty grudges, and jealousies. Frankly, they don't have the time. You can cultivate that attitude right now... or you can stay mediocre. But I can promise you, that class next door, with only a few exceptions, is already much closer to that threshold. They aren't doing better than you because they have more talent. That's preposterous. Your talent is evenly distributed, you may even have more of it, for all I know. They are doing better because they put each other first. Even Mineta and Bakugo have the class's back, and they are infamously hard to deal with. They put other people first. They risk their own safety for that. All of them. Not just one or two."

She nodded at Kendo and Tetsutetsu. "If all of you cannot be that way, then your class can't be as strong, but it's really more important to be strong in character yourself, not always looking at someone else's back to see if it's enough to the wall. Just... let it go."

Silence followed that speech.

"I can't add to that," Wally finally said, "That's just exactly what me and my friends think too. You said it, Shine."

"I learned it partially form you," Shine smiled at him, "Well... I guess that's all I need to say. Good night, all of  you."

They went back to the next door.

"Wow..." Tetsutetsu rubbed his head, "That was... not exactly what I expected."

Kendo shut the door. "You know, I think they're right... Enough of this. We've already said it's not helping, but we aren't actively really trying to kick it... Really, what did they ever do to us? I remember I even said to Momo I didn't like being in the same group as her, but it's not like she asked for that. Maybe I was just pushing my own insecurities onto her... I don't even like it when Monoma does that, but I still did it... Is this just what we do?"

"I don't think all of us do it," Rin said.

"I feel terrible," Ibara said, "How could we commit such a transgression?"

They looked at Komori, who looked very awkward.

"Well, none of us said anything about it at the time," Kendo sighed, "So we have no right to talk... but... you know, it's true we've been really pushing the line of what's safe and what isn't in training. I don't want to be the reason a class 1-A student has to drop out of school...Yikes."

That seemed to settle it for most of them. Any holdouts kept their thoughts to themselves.