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[earphoned]

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[infiltrationtools]

[....did he say something wrong? He probably said something wrong.]

[Akira goes quiet after that, just reaching for some of the pizza and breadsticks.]

I'm not gonna steal food off your plate, Minato, chill.

[What's left on the serving dish is first come first serve, though.]

[earphoned]

That's the kind of thing people say before stealing your food, you know. I'm not gonna steal food off your plate, Akira.

[ There's a reason why he's not telling him to chill. ]

Thanks for coming along.

[infiltrationtools]

[He was being serious, though... this is just getting more and more awkward. For a while it was fine, he was able to talk to Minato like normal, but that's starting to fall apart. He chews on some pizza for a little bit, mostly to avoid having to speak immediately.]

...you invited me, so.

[He shrugs.]

I'm... sorry. About everything.

[earphoned]

[ The thing is, Akira didn't have to tag along. And yet, he did. ]

From now on, if you say sorry then you owe me one drink. [ Minato offers him a smile. ] I'm sorry, too. I just started wondering how my friends are doing.

[infiltrationtools]

[Instead of going into his hair, interestingly, Akira's hand goes to his other wrist, where he starts pulling on the sleeve of his sweater.]

I— yeah. [He nearly said it again.] I've been getting better. Mostly just hanging out with Yusuke the past couple of days.

[Why is he still feeling so weird about all of this? And why does Minato seem so altogether unaffected?]

It's getting better.

[earphoned]

[ Because he's exceptionally good at bottling things up :) ]

Distractions are good. [ Minato was the person to drag Shuichi into a surprise camping trip on the edge of the island after what went down with Sosyne, after all. ] I'm glad Yusuke has your back. We can hang out together some time, too.

[ If he'd like to. Well, they're doing it right now, but Minato was the one offering to go out. As far as he knows, he might be forcing Akira to do something he doesn't want again. ]