Hakkai shrugged slightly, trying to dismiss his own words. He had already said far more than he had ever wanted to, and he was sure that, if this kept up, he would end-up giving some lengthy speech detailing his entire life's story. (He didn't think that the two of them had any interest in hearing about how he once made a little girl cry when he was eight by telling her, honestly and directly enough, that he didn't want to be her friend, and that he had no intention of helping her make a crown out of the weeds that she kept insisting were flowers.)

It was a long while before he finally raised his head, and his customarily bright demeanor seemed to have finally returned, just not necessarily in full force. "Ah, you're both right, of course. Perhaps I'm thinking about this all in the wrong way. I'm sorry, I suppose I've just been in a strange mood, as of late." Hakkai had carefully sidestepped Sanzo's question -- which only succeeded in making it all too obvious what the answer was. Even so, the relatively sudden behavioral change was probably Hakkai's way of saying, Please, it would be best if we just pretended that nothing happened tonight and never brought this up again. I would appreciate it if you let me dwell over this in peace, thank you.