... It was getting a little uncanny at this point. Like he was staring into the eyes of a 'what if'. If Kanji hadn't met Souji, hadn't found friends and figured his own head out...
Would he have turned out like this man? Broken but trying to hold other people together? Or would he have continued to shove people away?
And he couldn't say Guzma was wrong with his assessment. Dojima tried to be fair, but he knew details of some families in Inaba where the kid leaving may have been the better option, if they had somewhere to go. Loyalty to ones family was admirable-- something drilled into your head as soon as you were old enough to learn in this country, but what do you do when your family doesn't... deserve that sort of loyalty? There usually wasn't a happy answer to that question no matter how you looked at it.
"Look, Guzma-san." He met the other man, eye to eye, "...Your concern is understandable. I don't blame you for not trusting me. Sometimes we-- the police--get more focused on booking a criminal than actually solving a case and finding the truth. But."
He glanced behind him, at all these teenagers, or a little older, eating bad dinner food like they'd never been happier.
"I don't have any stake in putting your... kids, away. Or forcing them to leave if they're really happy here. Sometimes life doesn't have simple answers, as much as we wish it could be."
Turning back to Guzma, Dojima nodded.
"My real concern is making sure no one else ends up like Mayumi Yamano or Saki Konishi. No one else like your kids did--" and a breath-- maybe if he put himself out there a little-- "...Like my daughter nearly did."
He didn't want to think about it, and maybe Guzma could see for a moment those wrinkles around his eyes standing out more, that even the memory felt like it aged him years-
"...So you don't need to give me answers now. This... isn't an interrogation." He was working on that, "But, if you find anything that could help prevent something like this again, I don't want you having to go through the other officers. I'm the one with the personal experience here, and I have no axe to grind against you."
no subject
Would he have turned out like this man? Broken but trying to hold other people together? Or would he have continued to shove people away?
And he couldn't say Guzma was wrong with his assessment. Dojima tried to be fair, but he knew details of some families in Inaba where the kid leaving may have been the better option, if they had somewhere to go. Loyalty to ones family was admirable-- something drilled into your head as soon as you were old enough to learn in this country, but what do you do when your family doesn't... deserve that sort of loyalty? There usually wasn't a happy answer to that question no matter how you looked at it.
"Look, Guzma-san." He met the other man, eye to eye, "...Your concern is understandable. I don't blame you for not trusting me. Sometimes we-- the police--get more focused on booking a criminal than actually solving a case and finding the truth. But."
He glanced behind him, at all these teenagers, or a little older, eating bad dinner food like they'd never been happier.
"I don't have any stake in putting your... kids, away. Or forcing them to leave if they're really happy here. Sometimes life doesn't have simple answers, as much as we wish it could be."
Turning back to Guzma, Dojima nodded.
"My real concern is making sure no one else ends up like Mayumi Yamano or Saki Konishi. No one else like your kids did--" and a breath-- maybe if he put himself out there a little-- "...Like my daughter nearly did."
He didn't want to think about it, and maybe Guzma could see for a moment those wrinkles around his eyes standing out more, that even the memory felt like it aged him years-
"...So you don't need to give me answers now. This... isn't an interrogation." He was working on that, "But, if you find anything that could help prevent something like this again, I don't want you having to go through the other officers. I'm the one with the personal experience here, and I have no axe to grind against you."