"Kill him, probably!" It was said so casually, so thoughtlessly, with the tone of announcing one's dinner plans. "It'd make everything so simple, you see? Stop him thinking about things that he hates confronting about himself- flaws in his thinking, gaps in his reasoning you could drive a distressingly-feline minibus through-"

He laughed, for a moment, at the joke. "Already dead. Just a puppet. Meaningless, really. Easier to stop caring, stop trying, stop existing. Fucking coward. But you don't have to worry. I don't need to kill him, Sumire. And he can't even summon a Persona. It's sad, really. No more lies to cling to, no more hate to drive him forward, even survived the death he'd planned- at the Phantom Thieves' hands, no less! It's all, so... pathetic. It's like there's nothing left, and he's really just looking for a reason..."

He paused. "I've just realized, this is probably pretty upsetting to hear. Sorry about that. I'm-" he smiled, just a little bit- "-we're- not a very happy person. If you couldn't tell. But you... you people. You've seen us. Seen me. Warts and all, and here you are. I've never had friends, Sumire. Not before Ren, and not before all of you, as fucked up as that is. You wouldn't leave me behind, would you?"