[Nothing like crisis to draw you together, right? He felt his chest tighten again as he heard Goro suggesting that they find him an out. Him, Futaba, and Akira together. It was strange, feeling like he was a teammate. He seemed so honestly concerned, Akira couldn't even bring himself to doubt him in the least. Maybe that was dumb of him, but he just didn't care anymore.

So what if Goro killed him in the end? Whatever. He'd rather die than not give him his chance on the off-chance that he wasn't as trustworthy as he was acting. Akira didn't live with regrets, and had gotten no reason to doubt him yet.]

Maybe he needed to hear it. Maybe I was just hurt and lashing out to make sure I wasn't the only one who hurt. I can't say for sure, but I think the only way I can really apologize is to figure out how to pull him from Constellation with as little injury as possible.

Then... I guess it'd be fine. Even if he hates me forever, as long as he's not stuck under that bastard's thumb, I can live with it.

[He paused in his mini-rant then to suck in a breath and wipe at a tear on his cheek before he looked to Goro again.]

...Thanks for this, by the way. It's nice to have someone in your corner. [Sighing, he plastered a smile on his face. No offense to Futaba, and really he didn't blame her, but 'I'm not choosing sides' meant that Akira had felt a little alone on the whole thing. Adachi kind of agreed with him, but in the end Akira had no one to run to when the fight had happened... aside from Goro, he guessed.

Go figure, Yusuke got the cute ice skating boys and Akira got the murderers. Boy.

Surprisingly, he didn't really have any complaints about that. Maybe he should?]