Change is hard. Maybe Yukimura will still go back to how he was before one day. Or, maybe, this is the new normal. He went through a lot, and it wouldn't be surprising if it had a more lasting effect on his psyche than it ever did on his body.

Maybe it's especially hard when that change has meant a brother whose interests have shifted from painting and orchestra to making sure his most-important-person-who-thought-she-was-nobody-important sister's future and happiness was protected, no matter what might happen to him. The illness has given him a taste of his own mortality, his own potential to be powerless. It had to be terrifying for him. He was taking that feeling and acting constructively on it, whether Lissa liked what that meant or not.

Without directly addressing any of her words, he reaches his hand over to her far shoulder and gives her a little tug into a sidelong hug.