[Young as Kaoru is, he's still smart, and he's definitely filing this all away to add to his reasoning arsenal later. He knows he'll sure as hell need a lot of firepower to face those people down, after all; they're very intent on keeping him well-hidden, despite the fact that they view him as burdensome garbage. It's a restrictive, oppressive way to live.]

You may have a very good point. That is - I would also like to do my best to extend a hand forward. In this day, it's best to make as many connections as possible, I believe.

[He's stumbling over the logic despite the smoothness of his speech, trying to piece together a reasonable-sounding response as he goes, but he's quite good at working on the fly as well. All it takes is a little bit of the political knowledge he's gleaned from watching and listening, and the ability to string it together coherently. He found very quickly that he has a talent for lying well, for bluffing, for making what he says sound like immovable fact when it's only a weak suggestion, and is polishing a silver tongue now that will become a formidable weapon in the future. It's only self-defense for the time being, but the skills are forming.]

The Princess is very kind to even consider such a thing.