Everyone keeps telling me to stop.

"Don't do this, Tsumugi."

"You're not Makoto."

"You don't have to replace him."

"You'll only hurt yourself."

I know.

I heard every single one of you.

And maybe you're right.

Maybe this is strange. Maybe it's unhealthy. Maybe I'm taking this too far. Maybe I should just grieve normally, take off his clothes, put away the wig, and accept that Makoto Naegi is someone I can never bring back.

But I'm not going to.

Because I don't want to.

You keep telling me that I don't have to become Makoto.

I know that.

I'm not doing this because I think I can literally become him.

I'm doing it because someone has to carry what he left behind.

You all saw what happened when he was here. He became someone people looked toward. Someone they trusted when everything else fell apart.

And now he's gone.

So what am I supposed to do?

Sit down and say, "Well, that's unfortunate. Hope is gone now"?

No.

I'm going to stand up.

I'm going to put on his uniform.

I'm going to wear his face.

And I'm going to smile.

You can call it ridiculous. You can call it obsessive. You can tell me I'm disrespecting him.

But I don't think I'm disrespecting Makoto by trying to preserve what he believed in.

If anything, I'd feel worse abandoning it just because he's gone.

So I'm sorry.

I know you're worried about me.

I know you don't want me to lose myself in this.

But I'm making this choice consciously.

For once, I don't want someone else deciding what I'm allowed to feel or what I'm allowed to do with that grief.

I'm going to do this.

I'll be Makoto's successor.

I'll be the person everyone can look toward when they're ready to give up.

And if I have to wear his smile until I learn how to make my own again...

Then that's what I'll do.

You don't have to understand it.

You don't even have to support it.

Just don't ask me to stop.

Because I'm not going to.

"I reject your opinion!"