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[Souji's been feeling reflective lately, thinking over some things. It's elicited a question that he himself isn't sure he can answer. He wants to find out if others can, so, after some deliberation about whether or not it's a good idea, he takes to the network to ask.]

If you were able to change something in your life at home, what would it be?

[He's not sure he'll even get any answers. It's kind of a personal question. But he's hoping that some people will respond, if only to help him think through things himself.]

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[Souji nodded, understanding who Minato meant.]

How do you think it would have gone?

It's not their fault. Maybe their lives would've been more peaceful.

[And not so miserable.]

[Souji nodded.]

What else?

[Minato wondered too.]

We could've been friends.

They could have been saved.

[Minato's story's end would have remained the same.]

[It would've been nice, at least. Life wasn't fair, but sometimes more so for others.]

Do you think he could have been too?

I don't think he'd have wanted to be.

It seems like he had a choice. The others didn't.

[Souji nodded, but then stopped to think it over. Did Adachi have a choice but to be the way he was? And did Strega not have the choice to not kill or fight? Being angry at injustice wasn't necessarily a call to action.

Really, were the two situations even comparable? Maybe more than he'd thought.]

I wonder if it's even worth it to think about it.

[He wasn't trying to shut down the conversation. It was an honest thought.]

It's just to think about if we could change something.

[Since that's what Souji had asked.]

[Souji nodded.]

I mean...am I wasting my time? Thinking about it.

[Minato shook his head.]

It's a good way to think about how you would've handled yourself differently.

[In case similar situations to any varying degree happened again in the future.]

[Souji nodded, then listed sideways to rest against Minato.]

I really wish I could change how things turned out. But I don't think they could have turned out any other way.

[Minato leaned his head against Souji's.]

Me too. It's how it is like it was meant to be.

If I had saved Nanako sooner, she might not have been so sick.

[He spoke quietly, almost to himself.]

But we'd have never realized Namatame wasn't the killer.

[Minato nodded a little. He understood that.]

There are a lot of people we could have saved sooner. But we learned from it. We would've learned too if things had gone our way.

It would just have been different.

[But as they both knew, it had to turn out the way it had.]

[Minato leaned a little more into Souji.]

If I ask for change, then it'll only leave me with "what if."

There's no avoiding that.

[So it really had been a waste of time.]

You make it sound like I don't want to hear about it.

[Besides, it had been a segue anyway.]

[He shook his head.]

No. I just mean that what ifs are natural.

[But maybe not necessary.]

[Minato knew that.]

Sometimes 'what if' can change into 'what can be' in that we can change our future into something closer to what we want it to be.

[Eyes closed, Souji turned his face toward Minato as though to nuzzle him.]

I like that way of looking at it.

[Though it didn't change the past, it did make some things seem less bleak.]

[Minato let Souji do that, shifting closer to him too so they could be that much more intimate. It was a very long time until he spoke again.]

I think about it too. What else I would change.

[Because maybe there was one thing.]

I know.

[Souji knew what Minato was thinking of, even if he didn't say it. If he didn't want to or if he couldn't.]

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