[Ryou stiffens a little when Nanami asks that. It's...hard for him to answer, without tipping his hand. And he has been hiding his powers from people, other than a handful of them.

He's already exercising a great deal of trust in telling her this much, but...Ryou has limitations to how freely he can speak, even now.]

She gave me the power I need to protect myself and others. That's all anyone needs to know at this point. I'm sorry, but...I don't want to talk about that. All I know is that with Her power, I can keep from dying so easily next time.

I can't afford to lose a memory. That one memory could take something very important from me...something I can never fix, and wouldn't even know to regret.

[Ryou's tail uncoils from around his feet, then brushes against Nanami's ankles.]

Thank you...f-for listening. But as I said...what I've done, killing those men in service of strengthening myself and appeasing the Fog, it has reflected poorly on me. The things I told people to draw anger from the others hasn't helped either. Knowing all that, you should handle our acquaintanceship with discretion.

I also made humans more wary around monsters, which makes things hard for others, and likely brings a bad reputation to the shade population.