Medrod Pendragon
Aoyama Ruins

"You're being way too hard on yourself."

Again Kazuya says it without dancing around the issue, as if seeking to limit the amount of ways you could start up your own mental track towards self-loathing and blame again; indeed, it didn't take much to realize that Medrod Pendragon was most 'comfortable' finding ways to blame himself for the things that happened around him, something that had been true even for the self that had been the 'One-Eyed Man,' and...

"You're hardly scum, not even close to being the worst person ever either. Sure, wanting to be a knight is kind of old-fashioned, but it's not like wanting to save people is a crime. I thought it was kind of cute myself, everyone is always so cynical nowadays... Was it a little awkward? Sure. But everyone is awkward the first time. Kazy here used to stutter constantly whenever he talked around me, and our first meeting was him jumping in front of a demon in an attempt to save me even though I was the stronger one at the time, so..."

"...Why bring it up...?"

The 'Mom' here seems to agree, really...

It's not a road that should lead one down to absolute despair, but well...

The first times always hit like a freight train. Really, while hints of an abnormal upbringing in your past had been things they had both noticed and processed from the start of meeting you, it's only now that they realize how far the extent of it might just spread within you.

"Regardless, I doubt any of them will hate you for it... They're not storybook maidens or damsels true, they probably won't agree with being put on a pedestal, but it seems like you've all taken turns saving each other... Noriko-chan also seems to like being a hero, and I'm sure that desire stems from a similar place as your own so really... If you talk to them about it, I'm sure you'd find that it's not as big a problem as it might seem at first glance."

A pause, then:

"Anyways... Crushes are normal, responding to them in weird ways that sometimes make you look silly or awkward is also normal, so it's probably for the best to accept that you're a teenager and that these sorts of things are gonna happen to you. It's gonna be rough, you're gonna beat yourself up over it more than once when you think you've screwed up, but that's..."

She pauses again, then:

"That's part of growing up. If you let everything bring you down, then you'll be stuck in a hole your whole life."