[ If Akechi wanted out of having to answer for his shit then maybe he shouldn't have done the equivalent of saying how about this weather eh? Neither of them know what the hell is going on and why Akechi remembers dying and yet Akechi is still desperate to stay separate like their wishes weren't the same in the end.

All but a smolder, an ember that flares and is lost in the dark, Ren scorns any kind of litmus paper that Akechi has. How dare he think that he is anything resembling the monsters in Akechi's closet, that he'd discard Akechi because he wasn't "useful" to him in some way. How dare he still think he deserved it if he ever did put Ren in the position to do so. ]

Condescending prick. [ Strangely that has no heat to it at all, rather a wry weariness while Ren stretches his neck a bit. ] I don't need to hear it; it was your dying wish.

Don't misunderstand me: I'm pissed. But you didn't succeed in taking a thing away from me that I didn't already have. I'm not who you should apologize to.

[ Which is a patently ridiculous claim to make being the victim of attempted murder twice over but it makes emotional sense to Ren very much in spite of it. Haru actually lost her father, Futaba actually lost her mother, though Ren had his doubts as to whether or not Akechi had the first clue as to what would happen at the time he presumably invaded Wakaba-san's little slice of the Metaverse.

Nice to see him actually reacting; Ren's mouth tips up in a faint smirk. Now he knows he's getting somewhere underneath the skin. Fact is that the only thing Akechi took from Ren had all to do with himself. ]

I don't care about punishing you. It's not for me to decide.

[ Stand your ground or don't - Ren steps forward and uses all one inch of his height advantage to tilt toward Akechi, gray eyes staring solidly back in a compassionate brand of defiance. ]

But stop pretending that nothing means anything to you.