"You can't," Hajime replied flatly. " Yue was the one there when I had nothing. She didn't stay because of guilt or duty; she stayed because she chose me. She is my number one. If you can't accept that—if you can only see yourself as 'less than' her—then you don't belong in this party".
Hajime didn't turn around. "Stop apologizing. The labyrinth feeds on hesitation". Arifureta_S2_05_Pro_ACB.mkv
The truth was cold, but it acted like a splash of freezing water, clearing the illusions that had begun to crowd Kaori's mind. She realized that her love had become a chain of self-pity. To truly stand beside Hajime , she didn't need to be Yue ; she needed to stop being the girl who was sorry for existing. "You can't," Hajime replied flatly
Separated from Yue and the rest of the party by a sudden surge of illusory traps, the two were alone in a corridor that seemed to bleed ghostly images of a forgotten war. For Kaori , the silence between them was louder than the distant groans of the ruins. She watched Hajime’s back—the cold, efficient movements of a man who had survived the abyss by discarding his former self. She is my number one
As a group of spectral pirates manifested from the shadows of the ruins, Hajime raised his weapon, ready to clear the path. Kaori took a breath, gripped her staff, and for the first time since entering the ruins, her eyes were clear. She wasn't just a classmate following a hero anymore; she was a woman fighting to prove she belonged in the world he had built.