I mean, as much as one might not take Maki for the crying type...it doesn't shock me. As much as she may have wanted to smile, from what I could tell, she wasn't exactly used to kindness. And to be confronted with the first person to reach out to her not only about to die, but being aware of it and accepting it - she probably couldn't help it. No matter how you felt, she loved you. And you loved her. Not romantically, obviously, but in a platonic sense.

We're a lot alike, her and I. That's probably why we clashed so often. So I get it.

And if I'm being honest, at this point, if we had to do any of that again...I don't think I could. I couldn't force my emotions down, I couldn't put up that front again, I couldn't smile. I'd probably break. Worse than she did, with screaming and crying and throwing a fit. We were only able to do what we did back then because there was a distance.

Can you honestly tell me that if I gave you that script again now, if I told you to follow my plan now, if I said 'It'll be fine. This is what needs to happen.' ...would you be able to smile?

[He looks up at him, knowingly.]

You wouldn't, because I know you. You might try to force it, and you wouldn't cry - yet, but you'd still be a wreck because you'd be angry at everything. Me, for giving up when there had to be some other way. Everyone else, for not somehow finding another way. Tsumugi and her stupid mascots, because obviously. And most of all, yourself. And then and only then, you'd cry. But you couldn't smile. Even if I told you to, even if you tried, you couldn't.

So I'd say it's a wonder she just cried.

[The typical dissection from Kokichi. He gently squeezes his hand.]