[Mitarai had intellectually drawn this conclusion for a while now - the evidence of absence - but it's in this moment he really sees. Maybe it's the inclining of the head that shows just how many times this man has actually submitted and pondered, not only jutting out his chin and laughing.]

Someday really soon!

[His smile gets thin again.]

The reason I could be so happy getting accepted to that private high school was... my best friend. Due to his complicated personal circumstances, he could only show his face in society by impersonating someone else. And he chose me... so he would attend meetings with teachers and awards ceremonies, while I was able to completely focus on anime. He did everything else he could to help while he waited for me to finish... but I never showed him. Someone else was curious about the draft, and—

[He shakes his head. This part of the story he'd already told in a form, and it's going past the length anyone would really want to follow. He had a point to make.]

I'm not going to shut a true friend out of my life that way ever again.