You’re still… making things worse. Well, what had he thought would come out of kicking the issue under a metaphorical rug? He bites his lip, eyes wandering from the prospective gifts up to Shintaro’s face, which seemed an uncomfortably more urgent issue. Still, the last thing he’d expected to see was a wavering, a shimmer—surely, he wasn’t…
He knew what it was like to have a power he couldn’t control—as far as Hibiya was concerned, those eyes that were fixed on something he couldn’t know might not be all that different than his own, blinding him with places no one else could see. That… was his way of asking for a way out, right?
I have to… I have to help. “You’re right, huh? Nothing much is here, so…” With a surprising assertiveness, he takes Shintaro’s sleeve, nodding as the charms are left on the rack, eyes determined if still their usual brown. “Let’s go, Shintaro-san.” Cheeks reddening slightly—he was doing something embarrassing, he’s certain—he tugs at the older boy’s wrist, intending to steer them towards the door. Out in the fresh air, where the bad thing could at least be ran away from, that’d be—
Perhaps he’s being childish about it. Just because he would want to flee away scared—it was strange to think of Shintaro doing the same, yet… he wanted to help. With Shintaro, didn’t he have a debt to repay? He breathes out, glancing at him, before mumbling, tentative. Concerned. “Shintaro-san, are you… alright?”
The tug on his arm comes as a shock, jerking
him out of his partial trance, and he realized that
Hibiya was leading him out. Maybe he was taking
his suggestion for what it was -- but that was just
hopeful thinking. Hibiya was much smarter than that;
not to mention, Shintaro was doing a really bad job at
hiding his emotions.
His fears were confirmed when, as they finally exited
to a place where he could breathe -- Hibiya asked the
fatal question.
It was easy enough to say he was fine, but it was another
to get someone to believe it. Ahh, to think something as
simple as getting a gift could come to this...what in the
world was Hibiya thinking, asking someone like him?
“Yeah, I’m fine,” He gave a nervous grin (still, he couldn’t
exercise proper social skills), still refusing to meet Hibiya’s
eyes. In the back of his mind, he wished Ene was with him,
but that just made his train of thought spiral downward again.
“I just...I’ve never had good stamina, you know?”
