[ Val doesn't shy away from the direct eye contact, instead he seems to look back with a certain amount of scrutiny as he takes that in. What a shitty thing to share an understanding of, indeed. After a moment, Val lets out something between a sigh and humourless laugh. ]

You too, hm?

The world can be an awfully cruel place. [ he idly swirls his glass ] For us, it was a risk we signed up for, but that hardly makes it better.

But he's here now.

[ Not that that makes the initial loss better, either. Even in a much better frame of mind than he was before he saw Kazu again, buried beneath the surface he's a little bit antsy just at Kazu being out of the apartment. He can't really afford to let that linger long term or push its way out of the background, though, that would be unsustainable. ]