Heyyy thanks so much!!! I am really glad that you have played all of the games before. I kind of wonder who you ship everyone else with!
Malik's route is like the anti-hero one, maybe it seems depressing because being a real hero means sacrificing your own needs... And Ash sacrificed her friends for the sake of 'what's right' in her point of view.
Also his route and zen's ending 1-2 was written during 2020 so I was in a pretty dark place loll