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I don’t expect you to be fun.

[ seimei says it with a smile, though, and he starts the game without anything more biting than that. maybe things are fine. maybe he did just want to play something with soubi— ]

Are you making friends?

[ ah, there it is. ]

Everyone here is so forgiving. I’m sure even you can find people who like you.

[The insults don't really mean much. There's a sting to them when it comes from somebody like Seimei. But he's always known his place.

He doesn't know why he wants to know this, though.]

I don't really know if I am making friends. I don't know anything about that. [When does somebody become a friend? Soubi had no idea. Kio had told him they were friends and Soubi had gone along with it.] But there's people that talk to me. If that counts.

[ how funny. seimei never knows if he’s making friends either, because he simply assumes that anyone who speaks to him wants his attention. it’s up to them to work up to friendship, and decide that for themselves, because they’ll always be wrong from his perspective. ]

Tell me about them.

[ as seimei’s character jumps on soubi’s. ]

There's one person I fight with. She's a little emotional but I told her I would teach her how to make pasta from scratch. There's another woman, she's a little weird. I helped her once and so I talk to her sometimes. She laughs a lot. [These are the most basic explanations of people. It isn't on purpose so much as he doesn't think Seimei exactly cares about them but more about knowing if Soubi is socializing at all.] People are talkative here. I've met more people here than I think I ever have back home. One man asked to cook things with me. Nobody's ever asked me that before.

[It's sheer dumb luck that Soubi somehow ends up ahead of Seimei. He isn't good at these types of games so it isn't skill. Only chance. But Soubi decides to jump off an edge on what looks like an accident, costing him a life.]

…

[ …well, that’s to be expected. soubi said he wasn’t very good at these games, but the briefly stunned silence is a completely genuine reaction from seimei. it’s fine. when soubi reloads into the game, seimei just chooses not to comment on it. ]

Is that so? You sound like you’re awfully popular with girls.

[Maybe he's being too boring. This is the challenge of playing games with Seimei.

And spending time with him in general.]

I don't think I am. I was called creepy.

[ that makes seimei laugh. it’s something a little beyond his handsome chuckle—it’s amused in only the way being cruel is funny to him. ]

You have to learn how to hide it better, Soubi.

[ he continues ahead when soubi respawns, clearing the path ahead without a second thought and then stopping at the edge of the screen to wait. there are two modes of playing games for him, and he seems to have elected, this time, to be a nice person. ]

[Being with Seimei for as long as he has, he thinks he's gotten decent at knowing his moods. Apparently, he wants to be helpful and so Soubi adjusts his playing based on that and follows after.

It says a lot that Seimei's advice, though, is hide how creepy you are instead of don't be creepy.]

I don't think I'm creepy. She thought I was trying to touch her but I wasn't. She just misunderstood me.

[ soubi doesn’t think he’s creepy. that’s sweet. seimei won’t be the one to correct him on that, even if he does think that soubi wasn’t being creepy in this particular instance. ]

You’re always like that, aren’t you?

[ seimei’s tone could be mistaken for fond. he’s staring at the screen. ]

Poor Soubi.

[To be creepy, you need to have creepy intent, don't you? That's what Soubi thinks.]

I'm not very good at talking to people.

[That goes without saying.]

I know. It’s good that you don’t have to be.

[ that’s one of many reasons, seimei thinks, that soubi needs him. he’s already a pathetic excuse for a person, but he would be completely and utterly contemptible without seimei to guide him.

his character on the screen jumps a few times. ]

Oh, will you jump right there? I forgot to get the secret block.

[It wasn't important for Soubi to be able to communicate. It was true. Ritsu had told him similarly. Even Soubi would say he didn't want to talk to people.

Yet part of him did miss the way he could talk with Kio and Ritsuka.

It wasn't good to think about so instead he just goes to do what Seimei tells him to do.]

[ there’s something soothing about games with predictable patterns like this. they can get boring if they’re all he has, but every now and then, he does have to be grateful for the ability to learn a game inside and out.

he leads them both to the end, but he lets soubi take the first victory leap. when the level is done: ]

Who called you creepy? I wonder if I’ll have to apologize for you.

[It's a bit awkward when Soubi waits for Seimei to do it before he realizes that Seimei is waiting for him to do it.]

Her name is Emerald. I don't think she thinks I'm creepy anymore. She's the one I'm going to teach to make pasta.

Emerald?

[ it’s not a very common name, seimei thinks. there can’t be that many moonblessed named emerald, and it would be just seimei’s luck that soubi would run into one of his acquaintances. his character does not move on the screen, and the timer ticks down. ]

I’m sure she still thinks you’re creepy.

[Soubi is focused on the game and he notices that Seimei's character isn't moving. Is something wrong?]

Maybe. She offered to show me how to grow herbs. [He's distracted now by how Seimei isn't playing anymore.] Um, we're going to run out of time if you don't keep moving.

What?

[ seimei looks over at soubi. he smiles; it seems a little more ominous than usual, with the way he echoed emerald’s name, but he also is honest when he speaks. ]

I was waiting for you.

I'm sorry if I was slowing you down.

[But he has no idea what Seimei is bothered by but now it's obvious he's bothered by something. That he talked to people?

He shouldn't assume.]

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