[ Without giving it any conscious thought, Mitsuru leans into Yukari's touch. Scant as it might be given the circumstances, her presence is still a comfort.

[ She's briefly confused by Yukari's comment about Aigis, but after a moment's thought it makes a great deal of sense ... due to the history they shared, Aigis was singularly devoted to Kotone - in a way that no one else could be. It would stand to reason that Kotone would open up to her ... to the person that it would be completely inconceivable to alienate.

[ Someone who could never react in the way that Mitsuru had ...

[ What Yukari said about her conversation with Kotone after the Hall of Mirrors, though ... that sent a wash of cold running over Mitsuru. Kotone had said the same thing to her, about being the perfect cipher to everyone that she could reach. ​]

Yukari, my mistake wasn't asking it was ...

[ She takes another steadying breath, chewing her lower lip briefly. ]

I was hurt, Yukari. I didn't understand what I was feeling, or why she was pushing me away, and when I said that she didn't mean that, she said that she frequently said things that she didn't mean. She said that what she wanted had never mattered, and that she was ... that she was dead, so it never would.

[ She looked away again, scrubbing at her eyes with the heel of her palm and choking out a sob. ]

I couldn't stand the thought of losing her again, and hearing her talk about herself in that way ... something inside of me just pulled and tore and I ...

[ She turns back to Yukari, tears in her eyes. ]

I yelled at her. That she had always mattered, that we would have failed without her, that we would have been miserable and alone without her, but I still yelled at her.