Maki's still leaning her hands against the door, feeling dumb and embarrassed and incompetent, when Nico's voice from the other side surprises her. And as dumb and embarrassed and incompetent as she feels now she also feels indignant and defensive. Her cheeks burn anew.

"It's not easy! It took me a long time to get the nerve up to say it and you don't make it easy, and you know it and I thought you--"

She stops herself there. She was wrong. So wrong. And she's scared it could ruin everything.