Maybe it would've been better if they could've had a real conversation. If Takaya hadn't - well, but what was done was done. And it was better for him to go out quick like that, where it actually mattered to save Ken's life, instead of in an alley or in a bed as his body fell apart around him. Or helplessly watching Castor wreck havoc before someone put him down like the dog he was. Yeah, it was better it happened how it did.

But.

Shinjiro fixed Ken with a look. "Don't sell yourself short. I know - I have t' imagine, it don't feel like you did too much. But you know what I did, when shit got tough? I ran. I ran and I tried to forget. I let the people who mattered t' me think I didn't give a shit, left their asses hanging in the wind, watched as those Strega assholes pushed 'em around."

"People don't usually recognize it, but," Shinjiro told him, "it takes real strength to move forward. To not give up. To keep on just plain living even when life is shitty. And you can't tell me, after that asshole Ikutsuki manipulated us and Strega kept doing their thing and you lost Arisato - that it wasn't shitty. But you kept on anyway."

"You're stronger than I was."