[It's really just wonder after wonder, recently. Even with the constant scream of a dozen different anxieties within his mind, he notes every time that Hayame expresses care in these small ways. They are gestures that are familiar to him in a way that is particularly comforting. Small enough as to not be overwhelming.

...Which can't be said for the communion discussion he's been having. She's completely right in that regard. Every time he makes an announcement via communion he finds his head buzzing with how many people he has to speak with in short succession, the instantaneity of it making it feel impossible to escape. Everyone wants to help, they want to plan, they want to make sure he's okay.

He doesn't know how to be okay, right now. He doesn't know how to talk to all these people. If it weren't for his sense of duty to them all, he would have just said his piece and left. It would be easier.

Easy like taking a piece of jerky and just eating it. There's nothing complicated about that.]

My thanks. [He does fold his shard away for the time being. He needs a moment to reflect. His belly feels numb in the way that it does when stress overrides appetite, but he eats anyway because he knows not eating won't help it get better.

He pauses at her question. He nods slightly.]

...My mind tires of thinking. Yet... despite craving that silence... it chills me to imagine being lost within it again.