Bingo. The response didn't surprise Emi in the slightest. He kept careful watch of his friends' expression, knowing full well that the only examples that he had to answer that question were sensitive subjects. It was that very sensitivity that made them the only ones that could work, as far as Emi could tell.

When he spoke again, it was frank and devoid of any of the resentment that Eiji might have feared would be there. However much they might have shaped him, Emi knew the logic of the facts. He just wanted to help Eiji understand.

"Leaving me behind was the right thing to do," Emi stated. For which time, he didn't specify. All of them? "It was absolutely the correct course of action."

"But I don't think that's what you wanted." He hoped not, anyway.