[Taking one hand off his sword to rub at the tapped shoulder, Aqua murmured:] Right…

[What his body wasn’t trained to respond to, however, his mind worked furiously to take apart. The desperation he’d just tapped into couldn’t be wrestled back so easily; might as well channel it into working things out his way.]

I’m right in thinking what you just did wasn’t easy, right? Pulling back so you wouldn’t hurt me. It looked like you had a lot more momentum than that.