[ he closes his eyes for a few seconds and lets that sink in. it's not a good feeling, but he can't pretend like the words haven't been said. izō may not be able to stick to it but ryouma doesn't know that. ]

And I hate that, y' know?

[ emily told him not to edit, so that's what he's doing. he had a lot of time to think about this when he was trapped alone in here for days, he just didn't expect he'd be having this conversation. ]

I hate that I keep lettin' ya down 'cause all I've ever tried t' do is the opposite. Wasn't always like that either, so I figure... me not tellin' ya everything's where it all started, right?

[ he doesn't necessarily expect an answer, but he is understandably curious to see how izō reacts to any of this. maybe his timing could be better, considering what they've both been through, but there's that thing again about not knowing how much he has to spare. ]

If I'm gonna get it right this time, then I gotta start there. I don't wanna lose ya, Izō. I'll do anything to keep that from happenin'.