There are things that Souji never speaks about, even to him, except with a diverting smile on his lips -- that's one of them, the conscious awareness of how feared he is by most. He dresses it up with laughter -- I'm such a dangerous person, aren't I? -- and it hurts to hear it so raw and stinging now.

"Nothing you do," he says, quiet but firm, fingers brushing over the bangs of the Souji in the other picture, "is going to make me afraid of you. Never has, and never will."

Souji was always strong, but he was vulnerable, in ways that had been his alone to see. More than anything else right now, he wants to shield him from the things that have always haunted him, to let him know he isn't facing this alone.

"I manifested early, too. My brother took me in, but... he was young. It would have been a burden even with a human child.

"He met your sister in a support group. Years and years ago."