[...Jae-ha is a good story-teller, honestly. Souji's attention drifts a little at the beginning, wandering in the sort of way his body had been moments before he was found. But the words hook that drifting attention back, and he finds himself really listening as they continue.

It's a lovely story, too. Something that would ring pleasantly with samurai ideology. The notion of being so loyal, so dedicated, so affectionate that your spirit transcends all else to continue following the one you pledged yourself to isn't anything he's unfamiliar with.

Jae-ha continues after, says he'd hated the story - and Souji makes a soft little sound of surprise, or something like it. But to view it differently, to think of his own loyalty as worth even mentioning in the same breath as such a story...

It's nice, isn't it? Even if the part of himself that acknowledges his own selfishness immediately wants to deny that it's a trait worth anything at all, he bites back the words and offers a small smile instead. It's a little weak, but having this anchor point seems to be helping him.]

...I enjoy stories like that. [Probably unsurprising.] It seems like something larger than life, doesn't it? Like something so much bigger than one single person could be.

[Wow, coherency. Incredible!]