[When she first starts talking, it seems like she's just talking. Rohan's sure there's a point buried in there somewhere and she's taking her usual roundabout way of getting there, but a lot of it is just talking for the sake of filling the air instead of letting things settle down into silence. But then she trails off and Rohan thinks that's maybe the end of it, maybe he doesn't need to tell her to stop talking, and stop trying to explain. Then she starts talking again and Rohan can't imagine a scenario in which he'd ever interrupt her.]
[Despite all the times Rohan's accused Reimi of treating him like a kid, she's never managed to successfully make him feel like one until now. And it's not in a way that feels he's being patronized to or that she's condescending to him, leaving him frustrated and ready to instigate a fight. It's the opposite, in a way, where feeling small and even a little dependent isn't such a terrifying thing to experience. Rohan holds her a little tighter as she bares her insecurity of not belonging. His natural instinct is to scoff at that. In what reality does Reimi not seamlessly integrate with the rest of the world? He may not remember her from all those years ago, but he knows her as she is now and she's not someone who should find herself alone. Of course, he knows she spent all of those years alone with the exception of Arnold, but those were circumstances beyond her control. To do what she had to do, she had to be alone until the time was right. But now? Now she doesn't have to be, so she shouldn't and won't be because she's warm and kind and gentle, and none of those traits could possibly be mistaken for weakness.]
[Which is precisely why it's not such a terrifying thing to be dependent upon her in ways Rohan's never been really dependent on anyone because if there is one person who can handle it, it's Reimi. Of course it's her, without a single doubt.]
Don't be stupid, [he mutters, harsher than he means to be as always because it's the only way he knows to be kind.] You aren't going to get a chance to grow up like you were supposed to. There's no going back to Morioh for you either. Nothing you do here is likely going to change that. So what? Just because you're not supposed to be here doesn't mean you don't belong, Reimi. Regardless of what you think about yourself, you do. You belong. I'm the only person still here that knows what you've done, how much it mattered, but everyone can see your worth without you having to explain all of that to them because you're more than just what you did for me or for Morioh.
[And that's part of why people always throw it in Rohan's face that they can't see what she sees in him that's worth valuing. She wears her worth on her sleeve whether she means to or not, and it's next to impossible for them to understand why she would seemingly waste her time on someone as abrasive and intentionally cruel as Rohan has the capacity to be.]
That's why Koichi called you a guardian angel. It's not because you protected Morioh, it's because you meant something to each of us. You mean something to...
[It's here he falters a little. But Rohan purses his lips and at that moment pulls away from Reimi, holding her by the shoulders in front of him.]
I don't understand why you put so much weight into what others think of you. I never will. But I know it means a lot to you, so I'll say it just this once. It doesn't matter to me whether or I remember you or not. You're still the most important person in the world to me and you always will be. But it's not selfish of you to not want to let go. You're still human, Reimi. It doesn't matter that you're dead, you're still human. You still had hopes and dreams the night you died, but you still carried them with you all those years while you were waiting. You said it yourself that you wanted me to live and to be happy. That wasn't what kept you from moving on, but that doesn't mean you let go of them.
So, it's not selfish, it's just stupid to limit yourself just to me because it's familiar. You turn a blind eye to what you want — to your hopes and dreams for yourself — and to the way you matter to other people here clinging to something familiar like that. But you don't have to be afraid because you already did the hardest thing you'll ever have to do and you're never going to have to go through something like that again. At the same time though, you don't get the luxury of telling yourself that you're done because you did what you set out to do while you're here.
[One of Rohan's hands leaves her shoulder to fix a few strands of her hair that were beginning to bother him with their displacement. His eyes move from hers to look at what he's doing. It rests back on her shoulder after he's done fixing her hair, his gaze settling back down on her.]
You're not alive, but you still have a chance to live, Reimi. You just have to stop defining yourself by what you've already done and allow yourself to move on it from it in a way that you didn't plan. And if that means for right now just learning to take it one day at a time, then that's fine. But you have to give yourself a chance first before writing it off as pretend or fake.
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[Despite all the times Rohan's accused Reimi of treating him like a kid, she's never managed to successfully make him feel like one until now. And it's not in a way that feels he's being patronized to or that she's condescending to him, leaving him frustrated and ready to instigate a fight. It's the opposite, in a way, where feeling small and even a little dependent isn't such a terrifying thing to experience. Rohan holds her a little tighter as she bares her insecurity of not belonging. His natural instinct is to scoff at that. In what reality does Reimi not seamlessly integrate with the rest of the world? He may not remember her from all those years ago, but he knows her as she is now and she's not someone who should find herself alone. Of course, he knows she spent all of those years alone with the exception of Arnold, but those were circumstances beyond her control. To do what she had to do, she had to be alone until the time was right. But now? Now she doesn't have to be, so she shouldn't and won't be because she's warm and kind and gentle, and none of those traits could possibly be mistaken for weakness.]
[Which is precisely why it's not such a terrifying thing to be dependent upon her in ways Rohan's never been really dependent on anyone because if there is one person who can handle it, it's Reimi. Of course it's her, without a single doubt.]
Don't be stupid, [he mutters, harsher than he means to be as always because it's the only way he knows to be kind.] You aren't going to get a chance to grow up like you were supposed to. There's no going back to Morioh for you either. Nothing you do here is likely going to change that. So what? Just because you're not supposed to be here doesn't mean you don't belong, Reimi. Regardless of what you think about yourself, you do. You belong. I'm the only person still here that knows what you've done, how much it mattered, but everyone can see your worth without you having to explain all of that to them because you're more than just what you did for me or for Morioh.
[And that's part of why people always throw it in Rohan's face that they can't see what she sees in him that's worth valuing. She wears her worth on her sleeve whether she means to or not, and it's next to impossible for them to understand why she would seemingly waste her time on someone as abrasive and intentionally cruel as Rohan has the capacity to be.]
That's why Koichi called you a guardian angel. It's not because you protected Morioh, it's because you meant something to each of us. You mean something to...
[It's here he falters a little. But Rohan purses his lips and at that moment pulls away from Reimi, holding her by the shoulders in front of him.]
I don't understand why you put so much weight into what others think of you. I never will. But I know it means a lot to you, so I'll say it just this once. It doesn't matter to me whether or I remember you or not. You're still the most important person in the world to me and you always will be. But it's not selfish of you to not want to let go. You're still human, Reimi. It doesn't matter that you're dead, you're still human. You still had hopes and dreams the night you died, but you still carried them with you all those years while you were waiting. You said it yourself that you wanted me to live and to be happy. That wasn't what kept you from moving on, but that doesn't mean you let go of them.
So, it's not selfish, it's just stupid to limit yourself just to me because it's familiar. You turn a blind eye to what you want — to your hopes and dreams for yourself — and to the way you matter to other people here clinging to something familiar like that. But you don't have to be afraid because you already did the hardest thing you'll ever have to do and you're never going to have to go through something like that again. At the same time though, you don't get the luxury of telling yourself that you're done because you did what you set out to do while you're here.
[One of Rohan's hands leaves her shoulder to fix a few strands of her hair that were beginning to bother him with their displacement. His eyes move from hers to look at what he's doing. It rests back on her shoulder after he's done fixing her hair, his gaze settling back down on her.]
You're not alive, but you still have a chance to live, Reimi. You just have to stop defining yourself by what you've already done and allow yourself to move on it from it in a way that you didn't plan. And if that means for right now just learning to take it one day at a time, then that's fine. But you have to give yourself a chance first before writing it off as pretend or fake.