[Ichigo doesn't make any indication he's heard - at first, anyway. But the slight tensing of his body, the tightening of his jawline and the way he swallows, hard...

It's enough to tell that Akira's words have effected him, deeply.]

....I know.

[His voice is quiet - nowhere near the passion that he had earlier - but it's all the more genuine for it.]

...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have dropped all of this on you like this - it's my issues, not yours.

[But yet again, Ichigo closes in on himself - takes on and shoulders the blame, because that's all he knows how to do at this point, with the memories that burn in the back of his brain.]

...But I really do mean it - I want to do everything I can to make sure you make it out of this.

[There's a pause, and then -

He smiles, but it's a self-demeaning smile.]

...Then again, maybe I shouldn't be talking like that - the last people I said that to ended up dying in front of me.