Goshujin!
Taking a deep intake of breath, Shintaro still had his head pressed against the screen for a while. He needed some support, and as foolish it may seem to the rest of the world, he could in some way, feel Ene trying to reach out to him.
Or at least, her words are reaching him.
"It…. It’s alright." he said, recovering the strength in his tone -although barely, it still sounded fairly weak, but at least it was understandable now-. He lifted his face to meet with Ene face to face. As he had a stern look in his face, result of seeing that image flash right through his eyes.
"I’m… the one at fault here. You’ve got every right to be angry at how I acted." he said with a cold, yet serious look on his face. Usually, he wouldn’t be doing this to Ene except if she had something to blackmail him with, but this is one of those special cases in which he felt like admitting his mistakes.
"But… I don’t know how to live my life anymore. What’s the point if… if she is not here?" even since Ayano died, he thought of just ending it, the guilt and regret getting the best of him, if it wasn’t because this -fortunately- meddling virus appeared in his life.
He misses her, and without her, he doesn’t know what to do. He needs someone to guide him, to tell him what to do, to tell him where to go. He didn’t realize yet, that the person he just needed was right in front of him.
His admittance came as a bit of a surprise to Ene, who was usually used to hearing him sprouting lame excuses as cover-ups for his poor attitude and behavior. Her slightly bamboozled expression was in contrast to the boy's serious face. The look on her face would only dim very slightly as she took in his words - he was undoubtedly very serious at this time, and she recognized that it wasn't her place to be messing around; even if she wanted to. She wasn't quite sure how she was going to make him feel better this time around, he required more compassion, empathy, and patience than ever - and if it was one thing she was sure of, it's that she's not the kind of person to be good at showing those sides of her. Nevertheless, Ene thought that she could at least try, and that was exactly what she is going to do.
After some hesitancy, she began speaking in a more hush tone than usual. "Your life is so much more precious than you believe it is," she started, "and shouldn't be wasted with you confined as you are." Her face was straight but the look in her eyes showed her concern for the 18 year-old, whom she came to care for in a way that was more than what she had expected. "She wouldn't be happy knowing you're spending your days like this just because she's not with you." She knew very well who "she" was, that person was the one Ene had sworn to that she would watch over Shintaro. But over the year, she had began doing it more for himself than her.
While all of this was going on, a portion of her thigh brushed against the window of the photo she was looking at earlier and the image maximized on his screen to show him with her; with Ayano and Haruka, laughing happily together. She hadn't noticed since the window was behind her, but Shintaro could probably pick up on it faster than she could.
