[When Souda asks: what if it hadn't just been Nanami or Hinata, he's not sure what to say. Even now, as foggy as those memories are, he thinks back to their time at Hope's Peak... and he wonders, was there ever an opportunity for there to be anyone else?

Maybe... at some point, there had been Mikan. In the simulation too, she had cared for him religiously, as twisted as her motives were.

But really, it's like pulling teeth to think of the people who had treated him like anything more than a stranger. And it's not even that he minds that fate—so why is Souda apologizing?]

You don't have to apologize, Souda-kun.

[It feels out of place. It makes him feel awkward, because even now—even knowing that Souda was an Ultimate Despair just like he was—he feels undeserving of it.]

I mean, just the fact that you would do something like this for me...

[He shifts beneath his classmate's touch, twisting his arm as needed to help him get the measurements.]

No... even just helping me in the arcade, that was more than enough.

So don't apologize... it feels strange.