"...You haven't?" He raises a brow at that statement. Why personas are always ready and at your disposal, are they not? He feels a hitch in his demeanour, like some visceral crawling under his skin like he shouldn't have known about the fact. Can't personas simply...exist in your life? Help you around with work? Help you with chores? Fight off suspicious cognitions who follow you to your house that you feel as if they are just waiting for a moment to attack you in your apartment the moment you are alone?

He didn't exactly know how to expand upon that question when Hamuko seemed to be going through her own ordeal so he let her go at it with her own pace. Even when she speaks to Thanatos, there is this quiet understanding that makes Maruki wonder if that's what true harmony felt. With your own self.

Despite being rather used to the sight of evokers, being the only one to witness a young woman such as herself bring a gun to her forehead always made him assume the worst. He couldn't help it. The imagery of it was just...so so wrong. He and Hamuko couldn't think any more different.

What if something goes wrong? What if she doesn't get up? What if he's left all alone here to-