Too close. Too personal. And yet, his heart was open here, in open display for Kuon to see and perceive. To dissect and hypothesise.

With one hand on his chest, his fingers curled around the ring hanging off the chain, one that couldn't be perceived under the shirt. "The heart is a powerful...wonderful thing."
This time, the grief had reared a different head, making him turn towards her with something like delight in eyes that witnessed and recollected death like colourful shattered glass pieces, sharp edges and all.

"It's funny...I thought I was helping her by being there, but it was actually the complete opposite- I'd become a trigger for her. Her cognition must have linked me to her trauma, with how she lost her parents." He patted his chest. "Meanwhile I made it out mostly unscathed."

"Back then, I didn't perceive Azathoth the way most users do." He explains. "When she begged me to forget it all, recovering from her screams, I hypothesised that if you could alter a subject's cognition by changing their heart, any trauma-related incident can be eliminated."

He practically hung off the bench now- worked up, only slightly, like he was talking to himself just as much as he was talking to Kuon. "Azathoth answered to me."

"I got my wish."

He chuckled lightly, eyes closed as tears welled up within. Moisture threatening to break out.

"She forgot so many things and I..."

"I was one of them."