"It wasn't anything so formal, was it?" Koumyou asks, raising an eyebrow. "Exposure therapy, you called it? It would mean fooling around with it active... if I let it do anything besides block the stairs..."

It may actually be even better therapy, in the long run.

But Koumyou smiles up at him, warm and gentle, the hand lower on Devero relaxing. "We don't have to. I just... wanted to offer."