Ren shudders, at the touch and at the words. You matter. You're important. That's never been true, except when the fate of the whole fucking world hung on his decisions. Brief flares of significance, unfortunately for everyone.

"He is," is all Ren can say. "I don't even matter, compared to him. I'd do... I've done so much worse than this. For him."

He can't even say, He matters more than anything. Because Akechi will hear, He matters more than you, when Ren would be saying the opposite.