Arifureta_s2_05_pro_acb.mkv -

"You can't," Hajime replied flatly. " Yue was the one there when I had nothing. She didn't stay because of guilt or duty; she stayed because she chose me. She is my number one. If you can't accept that—if you can only see yourself as 'less than' her—then you don't belong in this party".

"You're always looking down, Kaori . Always faking a smile while you compare yourself to Yue," he said, his voice cutting through the damp air like a blade. "You're drowning in your own regrets, and in a place like this, that makes you a liability". Arifureta_S2_05_Pro_ACB.mkv

Hajime didn't turn around. "Stop apologizing. The labyrinth feeds on hesitation". "You can't," Hajime replied flatly

The air inside the Sunken Ruins of Melusine was thick with the scent of salt and ancient, lingering magic. Hajime led the way through the labyrinth’s shifting halls, his guns drawn, but his focus was fractured. Beside him, Kaori Shirasaki moved with a hesitation that was uncharacteristic of the "Saint" of their class. She is my number one

Separated from Yue and the rest of the party by a sudden surge of illusory traps, the two were alone in a corridor that seemed to bleed ghostly images of a forgotten war. For Kaori , the silence between them was louder than the distant groans of the ruins. She watched Hajime’s back—the cold, efficient movements of a man who had survived the abyss by discarding his former self.