#like a lot of non-empaths he's probably got what i call Hardwired Solipsism. the struggle to conceptualize ppl as the same as you in a

[mosnet]

i think i could probably talk about the interrogation room scene with saito!boss forever. the way he uses the pronoun boku (more polite, humble, almost self-effacing in informal settings) instead of ore like i initially expected going in (more casual, self-confident, almost arrogant in formal settings). the way he calls date, 6 years older than him and senior in almost every single other aspect, date-kun (the honorific for your underclassmen at school and, more pertinently, your subordinates at work). the way he speaks more softly with boss's voice than boss does (all props go to yuko kaida for this). the way he refers to "stabbing shoko" (knowing renju is in her body) and "strangling renju to death" (knowing it's iris) and "drugging iris" (when his own father is in her body at the time). the way he seems to disregard the internal dynamics of switching bodies entirely unless it involves his own consciousness ("i was a parasite in the body of renju," "i didn't think ota had seen me," "by the time i was in the body of sou sejima..."), maybe because he doesn't care or maybe because it doesn't even occur to him. i'm mentally unwell about him