[He can't disagree entirely with Motochika's final point. People can still be trusted, if not easily, and he is not as "dead" as he'd once thought himself to be. He needs reminding of these things sometimes, but on the whole he's accepted them.

"If both parties still live"...

Mitsunari glances down at the little bird he's still holding. If Ieyasu were dead, what would he hear the bird say? Would he hear an apology? Ha. Hardly, he thinks. Ieyasu is too proud. Would he curse him, then? Or would play the role of the self-righteous saint he clearly thinks he is and act like he's above that?

Ultimately Mitsunari can't say for sure what Ieyasu would want him to hear, because when he calls on those long-tarnished memories of his former friend, it's as if he's watching a stranger who happens to wear his face.]

I could never stoop to reconciling with Ieyasu...! Not if my very life depended on it!

[Forgiveness would do a disservice to Hideyoshi's memory, he believes.]

Ieyasu's heart... The Ieyasu I believed I knew, he is as lost as can be!

[That man is gone and he's never coming back, and Mitsunari is sure he would hate him all the same even if he did somehow return, grovelling for forgiveness he wouldn't deserve. He would kill him without question no matter how sorry he was, because there's no other way to make up for a sin this grave.

Maybe if he had just left Hideyoshi alive... maybe then, things would be different, but --

No, it's useless to think about. Mitsunari frowns. How could he entertain such a stupid thought, even for a moment?]