Receiving praise over it would still be awfully tough to swallow, but admitting that he actually enjoyed chasing after a pursuit of his own choosing is... easier than it may have been even just a year ago. Even just realizing that he'd done something of his own volition that wasn't just productive, but enjoyable, had been a very strange feeling at the time, and going over it now evokes the same sense of strangeness. It isn't bad, though, the smile Kyoko's wearing assures him as much.

"I'm sure Kaji-san had his reasons for keeping his under wraps, but I don't think I'd be able to keep something like that to myself, even if I tried." The underlying desire for some kind of validation is far too strong to resist, but mostly, "Getting to share everything at the end was really satisfying, too."