[ He doesn't say anything at first, just continues to stroke Setsuna's fur as he lets his gaze follow the angles of the characters etched into stone. ]

He has us look up his history, back when we weren't the War Hounds yet. [ He sounds thoughtful, and maybe a touch sad. Kaz had been reacting enough for all of them at the time, so Josh had decided to keep his peace, to let the kid rant and feel hurt while Yulia looked on with shuttered eyes and Stanley had opted to stage an intervention. ]

It was just me, Yulia, Stanley and Kaz back then. We spent hours in the Arcanum going through all those documents. I got where Kaz was coming from, and in hindsight it made sense that he reacted the way that he did. The kid has a big heart, he just doesn't take well to being pushed away because the bigger the heart, the larger the are you can get bruised.

I guess... [ he sighs and looks down at Setsuna then. His hands have stilled. ] I guess I'm still trying to figure out why -- and no disrespect meant, really -- why your brother entrusted Makoto to me.

[ And then, softly, because he knows the geist is probably listening in: ] Sorry, man. Had to be said.