(one can only see things from their own experiences, after all. manjiro is trying to see this through the curse, just like yu finds the link between the curse and his own journey. his eyes close, simply so he can focus on yu's words and skin as the sole stimuli he wants to pay attention to.

this is not exactly the same for his experiences, he comes to find. he'd reject it as much as he could, he'd become depressed and dissociated to keep it quiet. he accepted it, he'd lose everything he ever had. he wasn't meant to know what would have happened if he accepted any sort of help, what would have happened if he never leaped back in time. he was meant to take these experiences and fix it from ground up.

... this is a conversation, probably. he'll speak, too, alcohol moving the words out of his mouth before he could think on them.)

... That's not what I think, Yuchin. You're a leader, there's nowhere else but to face your own shit, whether for yourself or others. Maybe it hadn't taken form because you had accepted that and all your own shit already. I can list all your flaws to your face right now and I'm sure all you'd do is listen, composed as fuck, and all you'd say is 'you're right'. Ain't that facing and accepting it, in a way?