Amon falls silent for a moment, her forced joy fading fast as his talk of not being a kid strikes a chord with her. She walks with him, making to continue lending aid by his side.
"You don't want to be called a kid and you don't want to feel as powerless as you tend to do when facing down a superior foe - only to be saved by the sacrifice of an almost-stranger. You and I..." She exhales softly, thinking.
"I know the feeling, Houshi," she says, suddenly serious.
"I've spent the last two years being thought of as nothing more than a child - I almost starting believing it. That I couldn't get anywhere beyond that, that I was powerless... If you let the guilt of powerlessness set in, it never leaves. It's like I've always said." She grabs Houshi's hand, putting her mangled one in his as she holds the two of them up as close to his eye level as she can muster, showing the missing fingers all over again.
"This was the least of my losses. You think I've not been in fights like this before, where the fight turns against you? Listen to me well, Houshi and never forget it. Things turned out grandly this day. Yukiko will live, that's more than I got last time **** hit the fan. You fought your hardest and as smartly as you could; this world is filled with people more powerful than you. But never feel the fear or shame of powerlessness. I won't allow that in you. You're old enough to make something of yourself, a hero a guardian, whatever you aim for, but you're certainly too young to be collecting regrets like some venerable sod of a soldier. Okay...?"
God, the nightmares that come from having 3 people lose their lives or perhaps WORSE defending your own worthless ass... those never end. That's not something he should have to feel.