The answer sends a chill down Ken's spine, but he appreciates the honesty. He nods along, accepting Magicman's answer as nothing but his own, and telling himself that it doesn't mean that one of them is right or wrong. It's just what they would do. It's just who they are. He wraps his fingers tightly around the cup in his hands.

"I've always been the one that gets protected. My mom... I wanted to protect her, but she ended up saving me." And Shinjiro, too. And everyone else here did so much to protect him. From others. From himself? "I don't... I don't know. But I don't think I will place my own life over anybody else's, if I had to make the choice."