[ When the mental connection between them shifts, and the passage through which shared emotion and spoken thought flows becomes constricted, J expects that narrow avenue to close tight afterward. When it instead holds fast with the strain of Makoto's will, what he allows to feed back through isn't that first blip of his surprise, but the faintest inkling of pride in his ward's determination to not buckle under the strain of his presence. What must surely feel akin to J throwing open the shuttered windows of his soul. Perhaps not to such an exposing degree, but so many layers do strip away, and not everything can be dammed up enough to hide all that peeks through in this intimate line of communication. ]

And what have you given me so far- Mako, dear? [ Was he to be satisfied with the perception of Makoto all but growling at him from a corner of the Kenoma's open mental forum? ]

I have to wonder why you went to the trouble of drawing my attention at all, unless you wanted it. [ Did you? ]