He shifts, again, against the sink, with a sudden sense of longing. That veiled expression, that soft tone—of course she sees her own Akechi, the one who's gone, perhaps dead. Just as much as he sees Ren, now, with every step he takes. As if distortion spills from his every move out here, and not just in the Palace.

"There's supposed to be two of me," he says in the end, throwing out a probe to see what she does, taking a chance on her. "My Ren's here."