[ And he would have rather be told or figured things out, the way it should have been in the first place. This accidental discovery had done nothing to satisfy his curiosity, for it was merely a string of information written by a foreign hand, and ever since, he'd been avoiding that section of the laboratory with caution.

The thought of offering the lecture of his own file briefly passed through his mind, only to be disregarded as one of the ways to completely miss the point of the issue. It suddenly seemed like such a childish argument to throw back and forth if they were to treat one another as companions rather than test subjects Palitutu wanted them to act like.

He would strive to achieve that in his own way, ready to answer any questions she might have had about him. After all, each of their backgrounds played a major role in how they'd come to see each other. Even if one chose to live in the present, there was still so much relevance to be found within the past records.

Without a doubt, the melodist must have arrived at a similar conclusion if her reaction was anything to go by. What was exactly that she feared he'd come to know on his own...? ]

I assure you that any events Palitutu might have described in her project are safe with you. [ He's rarely ever behaved so solemnly around her, and for once, he has a solid reason for that. ] While it's too late for me to pretend I'm not familiar with the collection of data on the first page, I've never gone beyond that.

[ I wouldn't consciously choose to hurt you. Resting at the tip of his tongue were these words, never to be spoken. She would have known that, he hoped, so there was little reason to focus the attention on himself. ]