I love East.
"Your name is Fuuta Okeya, is it not? And this girl is Kouko." just casualy reinforcing that they aren't their past lives. Also I know some people thought his reaction was meek -- but my thinking is different. He doesn't actually think Fone was the bad guy but instead is ignoring the past lives. He wants to do w/e is possible to avoid having to hurt someone.
As for the: "I must've been a real dick." bit? Shot in the dark is he's just assuming one of the other seven past lives pulled some heinous shit.