That's different. [he sighs, still hanging his head. really tempting to just collapse into a pile of spatiotemporal fragments and cease to exist on this plane rn, but] He... they all probably think I'm dead. I was falling apart, I couldn't stay there...

[How does he even begin to explain it? Talking to a stranger he'll never see again is easier than someone he knows, sure, but—how can he explain why it's so different? Why the way he fucked up was so bad he had to leave without a trace, and only now found he courage to try and find them again, but he's still full of doubts? What if they don't want to see him again? What if they find out the real reason he left, and they start hating him?

He grapples with his emotions, making another frustrated whine as he pulls his head back up, staring at Mizuki like he might truly hold an answer for him.]

Just— imagine your Add wasn't doing great, and then one day he disappeared! No explanation, no proof he's alive or safe, no way to track him down, no further attempts at contact for years, just... nothing. And then he shows up again, and you're supposed to accept him back without questioning it?

There's... a lot of reasons, I just... I just can't tell them it all. I can't.