[No... It's a lie. It has to be. If anything happens to him, who will look out for Michi? In all of what Guts has said, that is by far the most pressing issue. He's not eager to sacrifice his own life or anything like that, he wants to live, but if it were to ever come down to it, as the older brother, he has a responsibility to protect Michi at any cost. He can't die before he can be certain no harm will befall his little brother. He can't disappear.

Shakily, Kouyuki takes one step forward. And then another. But it isn't Guts he makes his way towards this time, but the bag and umbrella he'd dropped on the ground earlier. He'll take the things offered to him. And he'll use them despite saying he wouldn't. He'll use them to spite Guts for doubting him. He'll use them to make sure nothing bad happens to his family. And he'll use them to make sure no one else is lost the way Gabe was.]

I...I'm going home.

[But before he takes a step away from the tree and Guts, before he can turn his back on the man and all his lies, he has one last thing to say. Though he doesn't dare meet Guts' gaze this time when he says it, instead staring at the ground as if he'd like nothing more than to let his feet pound the earth and carry him far, far away from this moment.]

I'm not going to accept that I'll die just because you say I will. Because I've got something worth living for. And Gabe...I have to believe that he did too. And that maybe a part of him is still alive...because you're fighting to protect what he cared about most. Right? If that was all fake, you wouldn't bother...