Yatsuhashi kicked some sand ahead of him. A tiny crab scuttled away and burrowed back into the cooler sand below. It was nowhere near the size of a mole crab, but Coco still shuddered involuntarily. They hadn’t been much of a threat, as it turned out, but she didn’t like the idea of countless enemies burrowing beneath her feet.

“When I first unlocked my Semblance, I did some bad things with it. Some by accident, some on purpose. I was jealous of my little sister, and one day, I made my mother forget she even existed.” Yatsuhashi squinted and looked off into the distance. “That’s when I told them about my ability. They were … afraid of me.” He shook his head. “No, they were afraid of what I might become.”

“That must have been hard for you,” Coco said. “Is that why you don’t like using your Semblance?”

“Yeah. I’ve learned to control it, but it still doesn’t feel right, messing with other people’s memories like that. It’s too invasive. Even when I’m doing good with it, it feels … wrong.”

Coco peered over the top of her shades at him. “So what was it your grandfather said to you?”

“That our choices make us who we are. The good ones and the bad ones.” Yatsuhashi placed a hand on her shoulder. “No one is perfect, not even you.”

“Thanks. I was already painfully aware of that.”

“I mean, it’s okay that you aren’t. Because you’re always trying to be better. You’re always trying to do the right thing. I think our intentions matter just as much as the outcomes.”

Coco hid her eyes behind her sunglasses again. “Thank you. I … I needed to hear that.”

“That’s why I said it.”

“But I’m really close to perfect, right?”

Yatsuhashi put a hand behind his head and laughed. Then his eyes widened and he pointed behind her. “Do you see that?”

“Trying to change the subject?” Coco turned, and on the wavy, hazy horizon, she saw a makeshift settlement of dune buggies, wagons, and tents.

- RWBY: After the Fall, Chapter 9