Jim wants to reassure Hunter that it's fine, that he can get through this okay, but he honestly doesn't know if that's true. There is one thing that he knows, though. "I don't want anyone tampering with my memories. They're shitty and awful, but they're mine. I wouldn't be me without them."

Despite the traumas he's been through, he wouldn't be Jim Kirk without them. Even the other Jim, the one from old Spock's timeline, had to suffer through Tarsus IV. It'd be a comfort that it's something they share, if not for how awful the entire ordeal was.