[She contemplates keeping the act up, but all things considered, it wasn't what Subaru needed right now.]

A variant of it, I guess. In retrospect, I just... I wonder if I preferred being alone because I was didn't know what it was like not to be lonely, if that makes sense. I didn't have any friends in the castle. The other students in the castle wouldn't talk to me unless forced. The healers... same thing, really.

[Erk takes the opportunity to take a bite out of one of her brownies.]

It's weird, isn't it. Maybe it was-