[It's not the first time he's found himself faced with this sort of thing, he knows. He feels as if his loved ones have always been very patient with him, especially when he was younger. They understood he liked his willful solitude, and they hadn't held it against him against all odds.

He was used to operating alone, and much of the time, it just doesn't occur to him to ask for help. Not when he feels like he should be able to handle something on his own. Yet, he can see the cost of those proclivities here. Hadn't Himeka herself told this to him, again and again? That every time he found himself lost in his own head, fearing for what he could or couldn't do, that he needn't face it alone?

He sees now that he hadn't taken Hayame's offer as seriously as he should. He'd appreciated it, been heartened by it, but all the same he'd found himself deciding that he didn't want to bother her without cause. That she'd been offended, maybe even hurt by his choice to leave her out of what followed... his gut twists as she squeezes his hand more tightly, his eyes widening with gentle surprise. Maybe he had been reluctant to assume that he could possibly mean all that much to her.

...He's never claimed to be intelligent, with issues of the heart. And so, his brow creases with good-natured self-deprecation as she calls upon the offer he'd made to her all those moons ago.]

Aye. I was. And so you shall have it.

[He has to pause, not wanting to speak an untruth. He doesn't know what the future will hold for him, with all that has happened. But...]

...I will not be so witless as this again. Not while having such trustworthy comrades.

[Not while knowing it meant so much.]