This is wonderful! I love the bit about "any more/less of a man", and about the cut at the end. I'd love to see you do some more from Ishida's point of view, the angst is so good!

AW. Very well written, so sad. *sniff*

I really, really liked this story... The way you portrayed the characters was perfect. I could just picture this being part of an actual episode or something... I'm glad that you put an alternate ending. Personally, I think the original is more likely to happen, but poor Ishida deserves some happiness too. Very well done! You should make more great fanfics like this! ^^