Part one of an ongoing conversation.
So it's been a while since I've drawn The Boys, so let's fix that with a warm-up earlier on the TAPP!timeline, before Kokichi really gets over himself enough to admit he needs help.
He and Saihara are also dancing around their last major interaction before everything flipped turnways, too. After... everything, so to speak, Shuichi isn't even sure how to approach Kokichi overall, let alone while the kid's hiding in an alcove. Kokichi isn't sure how he feels about Shuichi anymore, exactly; he wants to pick a side, to either hate him or get the resolve to reach out (in his way) and be friends again, but at this stage? He just... can't.
It's the little things, that draw them back together. Little tests of the waters between them.