Whoa, what? Even with his eyes hidden, Togusa can probably read the lines of Dante's posture to see that he's a bit taken aback by the intensity of his response.

"No, that's not what I--" Dante shakes his head again. "I've gotten better since August, sure, but the other guy had years of experience behind him where every day was like that fight at the end of August. He was a lot better at fighting than I was. That's not me being hard on myself, Togusa, that's just a fact."

He meets Togusa's gaze now though, staring directly at him. "I'm not going to make the same mistakes he did, though. I've got people around me that'll help keep that from happening."