There was no way to know if things would have panned out differently if Anise had come to Guy sooner about what was happening. After all, it wasn't like anyone knew Dahlia was a faker until it was far too late. The outcome very well may have been the same, regardless of whether they'd known Anise was involved. Either way, Claude wasn't saying this stuff just to make Anise feel better. He honestly believed Anise was brave, and he hoped he conveyed that through the tone of his words.

"But you thought an innocent person was in danger," he gently pointed out. "You only went along with Sync's game because you didn't want to see anybody get hurt. I'd call definitely call that a brave thing to do."

Anise couldn't be faulted for the fact that the the person she'd been trying to save wound up using her as much as Sync himself had. If anything, the only people who'd done anything wrong were Sync and Dahlia themselves for treating someone like Anise so despicably.

His heart ached to see her on the verge of tears like that, but he wasn't going to look down on her if she needed to find that sort of release. Instead, he removed his headband, and his bangs fell over his eyes as he discreetly handed the cloth to Anise in case she needed to use it.

"You know," he said, his voice quiet and slow, "Sync tricked me pretty bad once. I spent a long time beating myself up about it afterward, thinking that I should have caught onto it sooner, or that I shouldn't have allowed myself to be used so easily." Claude paused as he idly brushed some of his hair out of his face. "But now I've come to realize that he tries to make people feel ashamed for possessing qualities that make them strong."