[There's a pause. He can hear Akira's voice in his ear, an echo of something he's said before, and it ripples through him like a drop in a pond, plucking at the hazy memories. He was bleeding. He was staring at his own face, as if in a distorted mirror. He was listening to Akira tell him - ]

It's not like what? Like it was real?

[Goro swallows hard, shifting in his bed to sit up. Akira's voice echoes in his mind. Losing so much blood made him feel cold, shivering as if submerged in an ice bath. There were monsters all around him. The door was dark - no, metallic - no, it wasn't a door at all, it was something else, some kind of shutter...

He squeezes his eyes shut, unsure if he's trying to push the memories back or draw them in closer. Something tells him that he shouldn't try to remember this. Something tells him that he's being foolish, it's just a dream, like what Akira is saying.

But part of him - a small, struggling part of him - feels like this is more important than anything he's ever done in this life.

'I'll hold onto your glove.']

You... [He pauses. His voice is soft, breathy.] ...I sometimes feel like when I close my eyes, I'll open them again and be somewhere else. Somewhere without you. Or worse - I'll be nowhere at all.

[Goro reaches his spare hand up, fists his fingers in his hair. Akira doesn't seem to want to be the one to verbalize his doubt first - doesn't want to be the one to say 'but what if this is, somehow, real?', and so Goro does it for him because he's not sure if he can live with not knowing anymore, not when it's becoming apparent that he's not the only one with those thoughts.

He takes a deep breath.]

Close your eyes. Think about being there again.

[He does the same. His mouth opens almost subconsciously as it plays out again, clearer now that he's forcing those few moments to repeat themselves over and over again. When he speaks, he echoes his own words]

'After all this, that's what you have to say?'