[It's just as well it's audio, because it makes Minato feel freer to answer Ken's soft laugh with his own edge of a smile. There'd been a few days there where he'd been convinced he'd never hear it again. Elizabeth's promise seems, as time passes, to become a distant dream-- what's real, what's in front of him, is who's here. And there's nothing to say that Ken won't one day leave this world and not return.

There's nothing to say all of Minato's friends won't leave one day, and he'll be here where even death isn't an answer.

Right now, though... right now... All he can focus on is how much easier his breath is coming without that weight on his chest.]

I did tell you I was 'cheating'. But even so, I still have faith that you'll be alright.

Do you know what you'll do next, or is it the same as it was before you left?