For real? Or is that just you recounting the memories you could never expand upon? Or the promise you may have made for the future reaching an ultimately tragic end?

He didn't voice any of those thoughts of course. It was much easier to claim a more neutral stance with it.

"Overcoming grief through a good support system," he nods as if considering her words with no hidden glint underneath. "I am glad to hear that, Hamuko-san. You have been a wonderful person to speak to, believe it or not. Perhaps even more mature then the other adults and patients I have spoken to."

"...and I think I might put a pin on it for future meetings. I know the shadows only attack us here when we strike the shimenawa but I don't want to run into...exceptions." He looks on ahead to stare away at the fog, tapping his fingers away on his clipboard. "...I also have a running theory that the mention of names and every step we take shapes the cognition around us so uh- we should take things more carefully."