[But he knows enough from Okumura. That, in her world, he confronted the Thieves in Shido's Palace. That he "didn't make it out"—she had been careful to say she didn't see him die. And yet he walks that Palace unopposed. In his street clothes, never considered a threat. He's had jobs in there. So if he went in there after Ren and the rest—which he absolutely would, he doesn't need to think about it, or about his potential reasons for doing so—what is there about that that would make the place turn on him?....

Again, the answer he's been given weaves itself against another. Shido plans to dispose of you. A cognition appeared to confirm as much. He resists the urge to grit his teeth.]

And here I thought it was going to be some bullshit line about the power of friendship. [He wouldn't do that to me, whispers a small voice in the back of his head, a voice that flips his stomach over and threatens to drive him to his knees. He needs me. He's smarter than that. For half a pin—a fucking pinhead—Akechi would put a bullet in that voice.]

So what is this, you're looking to... change your past? Undo your mistakes? Because you must know already that the chances we're from the same world are remote. [But then, where would that gun be pointing, if he shot it? Who's the real idiot here? Oh, he knows.]