i n [B] o x . // acata.

[abandonware]

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[bestaround]

[ 9S freezes, every little movement of his coming to a startled halt.

Then, like a belated response, he whips back around, teeth grit and moments away from biting back—you don't know what the hell you're talking about, he wants to say, but ultimately doesn't. That'd be wrong; she... does. After all, he's standing before an android that should have died alongside the rest of her comrades, who lost it all, who killed others if it meant her continued existence.

Maybe that just makes her stronger than him.

Whatever the reason, 9S' tenseness falls as quickly as it came, gaze falling back downward, replaced with a tiredness in his demeanor and hollowness in his voice: ]

I wouldn't have thought you as someone who took oaths this much to heart.

[abandonware]

[She waits for his outburst, expecting it, bracing for it like a physical blow, but...it doesn't. He concedes, though it brings her little pleasure to see, only a muted sort of surprise.

He's lost so much, she thinks. How difficult it was to stand when you had nothing left to hate. She's known this for a long time.

She keeps her gaze on him. The implied question is not lost on her, though she isn't sure how to answer it.]

...I'm not anything without an oath.

[Is what she says, finally.]

You should head back.

[bestaround]

[ He neither looks up nor nods when 9S gives his simple, empty response. ]

Yeah.

[ They're finished here. And, frankly, he would rather be alone than listen to A2 further explain why he should bother keeping his chin up. 9S waits for no response from her; silently, he turns again, and heads back off. ]