Chou knew she assumed a lot of things about Emi--well, not too many details, really, just the broad strokes. Sometimes she worried that she was projecting, but mostly she was pretty confident that the cracks in Emi's heart were a lot like the ones in her own.

She couldn't be upset with him for not believing in her enough to question the change in temperament. But, afraid as she had been that he might hold a grudge, she also couldn't be okay with his inclination to just accept a punch to the face.

Which was why she had to say it, very softly. "What could possibly make sense about something like that?" Chou had thought she could get away without prodding any of Emi's tender spots, had thought it would be better to just let him be, forever. But now, this sense that she understood where he was coming from just didn't cut it, if the cracks in his heart were so much farther behind in their healing than her own. "If that's how things usually go, then the usual is wrong."