Niikura had suspected all along that he was going to have to punch his way through Shiina's logic and simply force her to accept that she was sick and that it didn't make her any weaker in his eyes. If there weren't so many awkward feelings standing between them, he might have even done it earlier. As things stood, though, it was nice to hear what part of him had been saying all along from someone else's mouth.

It also hurt because man, he really was being stupid, but he wasn't going to try and save face; he wasn't that puffed up about himself.

"...right." He laughed. "Pretty bad, huh? That I'm willin' to put our goals ahead of her." It was just so much easier to deal with, for one thing.