"What makes you think I'd want help from the person who killed Kaoru?"
He flinched at first, but he agreed. Yes, he had been the primary cause of her death and he still thought about it, wondered if anything would have changed if he'd been faster with his traps, but-
How could I tell him I regret so much more than just Kaoru?
It was complicated feeling; it made him wonder again how distant they'd really become, or rather, how different Mamoru himself had become.
Instead of breaking down at the memory, he clung to his anger like it was his only lifeboat in the middle of a raging ocean.
"I don't." He watched the brunette carefully, completely prepared to follow him out. "But I'm going to keep talking until you listen." It was a struggle to force his next words out, but he did, and later felt accomplished for it, "Keisuke, Kaoru is gone. You aren't. There's an obvious difference between you two, and there always has been. You can't deter me by bringing up my past mistakes when this is about you, not me."
