"Can't expect a kid who's had to arrange his own death to be as deceptive as possible to be all that well adjusted."

It's Dan's use of the "us" that gives him a moment of pause, makes him think out clearly what he was unaware until this second he was operating on. "To be honest, I thought it was gonna be just me," he says, and after a moment, claps Dan on the shoulder. "Nice to have someone else around who gets it."

Without the other Guardians he didn't expect anyone here to take nearly as much of the attitude of protecting the kids, naughty and nice as he planned to.

It's real pleasant not to be doing it alone.

That said - "given his comments about the kids having to kill each other, I do wonder if he has killed before. Or would here under certain conditions."

If Dan approached this from any place but watching out for Kokichi he wouldn't have brought it up at all. "I don't mean I think he needs anything but protection. He's been victimized. Cornered animals do what they can to survive." He would know. "Jorgmund may use it against him, though."