[As much as he wanted to argue, to insist that this was his fault, that he shouldn't have pressed when he was so emotionally vulnerable, that he had tried to rush in without a proper plan... it wouldn't get them anywhere. What mattered was not the past, but the recovery.]

Now... now we... reevaluate. Throw away our old presumptions, and... consider for the future...

[His voice broke. The attempt at cool and calm planning made him feel sick. He'd been speaking from the disconnect and logic he knew, that he fell back on so easily.]

Ish...Ishimaru, you have to know that you're so much more than some... some title, given to you by this place!