[Tenka just sighs idly then, even as he looks back down at his book, though it's not clear if he's really trying to read again just yet. He shrugs, as if the gesture will actually calm his nerves and make him feel more nonchalant.]

It's a lead, if nothing else. It's more than what I had.

[Orochi medicine could save him but not heal him. Even when he had a certain dosage to keep his life, he wasn't able to move. The medicine he has now is what lets him keep walking and keep his strength and not be a burden.

He doesn't want to lose that.

If the future has a way to make amends, then it's a start. Though at that point he has to clarify:]

I don't think you can do it painlessly.

The central nervous system goes both ways. So if you feel.... [He reaches over and slaps his hand over Sousei's-] That!

It's because your hand sends a signal back up to your brain like "oh shit, I've been touched by the almighty Kumou Tenka himself!"

.... you need to cut into someone to get to their spinal cord anyway. [ . . . . and that's when he gets a thoughtful look.] I was mostly face down on the table.

I'm not really sure what was done to me.