[ A different person... It surprises him to hear those words, even though it shouldn't, and his chest feels tight. It's that same feeling that he had when arrived, but different now; it's more painful now, though there's no reason that it should be. It's one thing to hear such words from a person who never knew them, but there was no reason for neither Sara nor Shin to see him as anything but an extension of the company that controlled and destroyed their lives.

His chin dips as those words sink in, and he raises it quickly to transform it into a nod. ]

Yeah. I'm sure you can do better.

[ Those in ASUNARO were individuals who were trying to escape the past - by reliving it, by rewriting it, by erasing it, without ever managing. It seems to him that Sara had already erased a piece of her past, and perhaps that's what worries him. But she doesn't have to. ]

Ah, did you?

[ She might hear him mumble that bastard under his breath, though he's not particularly surprised to hear that he was playing games like that. Still, hm... ]

Well, dolls don't really die in the same way humans do. So as long as somebody was willing to salvage that, so I can't say it's impossible.

[ There were other issues, but - well, no need to get into all the semantics right now. ]