Ren stays quiet, closing his eyes against the threat of hallucinations and trying to force his brain to work. It's like trying to swim through syrup.

He doesn't know what he'll be like without his distortion, because he still can't grasp its nature. He remembers what Akechi told him, but it still feels screechingly, gratingly wrong to think that's a distortion. That anything about it could ever change. But. In order to protect Akechi, all that has to stay is Ren wanting to protect him. More than anything, more than his own life. And he remembers accepting that desire, months before the disappearance of Owain. So if it came before the Palace, it should stay after it as well, right...?

And he trusts Akechi, to an extent, at least in this. Akechi has had plenty of time to fuck him over in the past weeks, and he hasn't. Hesitantly, he nods. One arm wraps around Akechi's back and pulls him closer.