[He knows, he says he knows and Sayori knows that he's seen the same thing she has. There's a certain relief in it, knowing her brain hasn't just—invented some horror involving his likeness. She watches the way he reaches for her and then stops, feels immensely grateful even though the experience of pain in her neck is somehow twice removed from her mind.
Absently, her eyes still locked on his fist:] Yeah.
[And then she takes a deep breath like she's just come up for air, swallows whatever knot of uncertainty was in her throat. She repeats, more confidently:] Yeah. You said...
[Already whatever it was is starting to feel fuzzy in the details, but more than his exact words, she remembers what she felt when she heard them. There's a pulsing echo of it, disbelief and joy, trepidation and warmth, fear and love all balled up together and impossible to disentangle. She looks him in the eye, wondering and yearning.] ...I was someone to protect. Someone to believe in. ...Right?
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Absently, her eyes still locked on his fist:] Yeah.
[And then she takes a deep breath like she's just come up for air, swallows whatever knot of uncertainty was in her throat. She repeats, more confidently:] Yeah. You said...
[Already whatever it was is starting to feel fuzzy in the details, but more than his exact words, she remembers what she felt when she heard them. There's a pulsing echo of it, disbelief and joy, trepidation and warmth, fear and love all balled up together and impossible to disentangle. She looks him in the eye, wondering and yearning.] ...I was someone to protect. Someone to believe in. ...Right?