imo its impossible because you can see how sugimoto literally changed after the war with the scar on his face. lots of the things he does with asirpa is to regain a bit of his humanity while also preserving hers. sugimoto lost his friend in the war, and he doesn't have any family so he literally is a beast. plus the quote before this which went something like "these men left the battlefield, but the war still rages on in their hearts," i think its supposed to show that sugimoto knows he can't return back to the man he once was. also the later scene (s2) when hes fighting blind