[Even through this conversation, he can feel his heart pumping hard in his neck, digesting what he fed his body, trying to process it. It doesn't hurt, not like a growth spurt where your legs ache as they grow. It feels like suddenly putting on a shirt that first for the first time. He stands still as Denji rubs conditioner into his hair and wants to ask, When did you learn that? The guy who was so pumped to take a hot bath when he first came to his apartment, now gently massaging shampoo into the strands of his hair.]

[...He shakes his head gently.]

I don't want them to see me like this.

[Housing the very entity that he swore he'd destroy. The very entity that he let destroy them. Aki can't face them while he's still living inside of him.]

[Once the conditioner is rinsed he turns the shower to Denji, washing him down and letting his grime run down the same drain his did. He's not nearly as disgusting, he thinks, but the dust is like a thin film over his entire skin that he has to run his soapy hand along to coax into flowing off with the water. Sweat, dust, grime, blood. It all goes down the drain until he can turn it on his hair, wash that down too. It allows him to think something he never bothered to ask before, though the question always sat in the back of his mind.]

Have you ever visited your family? Wherever they are.