Oh, stop.

[Ryou shakes his head, but he's still happy, and his protests are absolutely toothless. Atem just embarrasses him when he says that, because Ryou has spent an awful lot of time feeling unimportant. Here too, he was so used to fading into the environment, and yeah, he had some acquaintances before Atem showed up...but he feels even now that if Atem had never ended up in Ryslig, then he would have remained a ghost on the fringes of civilization.]

You're the one that's most important. Without you, I would have become someone very different here. Maybe not completely a monster. But not me either. You make everything so much better, just by existing.

[The way he looks at Atem, it's with such a determined sincerity. He means what he says. And he'll say it as much as he can, because holding all of his affection inside is practically impossible at this point. Atem had pulled that stopper out when he'd asked Ryou out in the dollhouse. There was no replacing it, no shutting him up ever again.]

Ah...but I suppose we should get back to things, yes? I've still got a game to win.

[Said with only the slightest of confidence, but he's trying!]