Everyone stared, completely taken off guard all the way until Kafka wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and exhaled through a grin that was both bitter and oddly lighthearted.
"But you know what?" He said between laughs. "Even though I'm saying all that, I should probably be thanking you."
Everyone blinked collectively.
"Yeah. You heard me." He chuckled again, looking around at all of them. "I should thank you. Every single one of you."
"Sure, the lies, the plans, the manipulation—it's all a little too much. But let's face it...without all this nonsense, I'd probably still be denying what I was feeling. I'd just keep burying it deeper and deeper until even I couldn't recognize it anymore."
"And who knows what kind of disaster that would've caused later on."
He chuckled softly.
"So, in a way...I guess all that scheming, all those little deceptions—it all led to the best possible outcome. I really should thank every single one of you for that."
