His outburst feels like a knife in her chest, twisting and turning, digging deeper with each word. When he calls himself barely a person. When he says that people will turn on him. When he explains all the things he's holding back. The hollow parts of him, she knows.

"Hey," she calls to him, hoping to stall him. She reaches for his hand, having a hold and pulling him back. Her sympathy is clear on her face, but she pulls him close, wrapping her other arm around until she's enveloped him. She holds him tight, desperately so.

"You're a person. You're here, and you have thoughts and feelings, and that matters. That matters a lot. And opening up is hard. But that's why it matters even more to let people in. If you can't do it, they can for you. ...I can, if you need me to. That's why, if you need it, I want to defend you. I want to show them all the Zangetsu that I see every day."