[ That earns a grimace, Shinjiro eyeballing his own drink with a light click of the tongue. Harsh way to put it, but it's not like he's wrong...unfortunately. ]

...Too much for me. [ That's what he's going to admit; he's never been the type to really clamor for praise to begin with, and the way these people seem to revere and fear all in the same vein leaves a bad taste in his mouth. ] But can't blame'em for wanting the security.

[ An idle sip. ]

It's all they really know, considering they're pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place down here.