[ An awkward kind of half smile as Alex turns away for a moment. ]

He was like... I told him about how I... [ The smile falls. ] How Ogata killed me. And...he was explaining about it, abstractly, and said he'd...you know, vow to protect me from that kind of thing...happening again.

...And then it just...happened. But...I like it. It feels nice to...have an emotional connection like that.

[ Silly. But, you know...nice. ]

So you... You became a paladin?