[Hypothetical Daves just aren't important when the one standing in front of him is perfectly fine. It's a weird thing to think about, honestly. Even if they were the same person, did traveling into the future create conditions for them to be separate people? It's too confusing, and Ryuji wants to latch onto the simple fact that this one, his favorite out of an endless string of Daves spinning plates in hypothetical air, is the one that was just... meant to be there. In a really roundabout way, of course, like everything else they work through. He has such warped opinions of what feels right sometimes that it makes him lash out and try to defend the best possibility, the better outcome. And right now, it looks like that outcome is keeping him from splintering off.

He'll look back later at this entire conversation and come to a similar conclusion on his own, probably- with the addendum that he should've brought up that dumb karate master metaphor. Oh well. It was good chance to slice it back in there, but if that's not how the conversation went, it's just... not. He'll be okay with that, too.]

Yeah, dude. Cherish that apple you got there in your hands. And stop offerin' to share it before I end up eatin' like... most of it for you.

[Ryuji smiles back at him. Because really, the promise of things only happening once puts more meaning behind it? Or something like that. Dave said that Ryuji gets it, but he probably doesn't get it that well to begin with.]

I... did.

[He's so bad at lying.]

It's... super... [Weird. Sucky. Lame.] Well, maybe since it's just you, you can come see it. I ain't proud of it.

[He points over to the cupboard in the far side of the room. This was his own nightmare, clearly.]