[Even now, it's amazing how starkly different the two of them can be. The idea of being noticed and what that might do to his reputation sends a shiver of fear through his heart, as much as he tells himself it doesn't matter, here or anywhere else. He doesn't have much of a reputation to loose, and any association with Ren, good, kind, helpful Ren can only be a benefit. But it's there all the same, visceral and uncontrolled.

And then revulsion, even stronger than the fear. Prisoners. Of course they're prisoners. They need to focus their power and energy to break free of this place, rip it apart and shred it until there's nothing left of it, not Heavenly Blanc, not the bathhouse, not a single fucking thing in this stark-white, empty world.

And then, finally, a hopeless kind of amusement, a laugh bubbling up from somewhere deep inside him and finally making it out, a raw noise of pure, unstoppable emotion.]

It's that easy, is it? [And maybe his voice is a hiss, like a shout that he just can't get enough air into, because of all of that, he can't understand it. He can't make sense of why, if he wants to live without regrets, Ren even bothers associating with someone like him.] To live a life without regrets? Did you forget what I did to you? To you and your friends? Is it more convenient for you to forget everything I've done because you're lonely?

[It's a snap, a sharp rebuke, a reflex slap away of a kind and gentle hand that he can't understand.]