#(nobody can be mean to fuuka it's illegal)

[still-breathing-au-p3r]

It’s Takeba and Yamagishi today. Aki too, of course– but that’s a given at this point. Shinjiro hasn’t done the math or anything, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Aki is actually spending more time in his hospital room than the dorm these days.

Takeba starts off by trying to apologize that she couldn’t visit sooner, but Shinjiro waves her off. It’s not like she’s obligated to visit him. Nobody is, though Aki would probably argue with him about it if he ever tried to say that out loud.

Takeba brushes off getting brushed off, smiling and rolling her eyes with theatrical flair, and starts telling him about a new recipe she’d tried her hand at recently, and how she’d roped Arisato into playing guinea pig.

Yamagishi looks troubled today, for some reason. As Takeba proudly relays Arisato’s verdict on her cooking (raised eyebrows and a nod, and saying ‘yum’ out loud, which coming from him was roughly the equivalent of jumping onto the table and shouting praise at top volume), Shinjiro keeps glancing over at Yamagishi, wondering if she’ll actually speak up. Eventually, Takeba also notices.

She squirms a little in her seat, uncomfortable with suddenly being the center of attention.

Understanding dawns on Takeba’s face. Whatever Yamagishi wanted him to hear, Takeba already had, apparently.

The words and the tone he actually says them in are so mis-matched it’s almost hilarious. There’s no bite at all in his voice, even though usually he finds this kind of waffling deeply annoying. 

The thing is, though, that he just doesn’t have it in him to be annoyed– ever, to any degree– with Yamagishi. This soft-spoken slip of a girl who couldn’t hurt a fly doesn’t deserve that.

She takes a deep breath. Shinjiro wonders if what she has to say really is that intimidating, or if he’s the intimidating one. He knows how he looks to most people. Sometimes he even leans into it. 

But Yamagishi being scared of him… doesn’t feel right. It feels pretty shitty, actually. She’d been skittish in the normal shy-person-dealing-with-a-stranger way when he’d first come back to the dorm, but that had pretty much evaporated within a week. She’d acted perfectly comfortable around him since then.

There’s really only one thing that’s changed that would explain why she was suddenly nervous around him again. Aki said that nobody thought any different about him after learning the whole ugly story, but–

Well. That’s about the last thing Shinjiro expected to hear. All he’s been getting are lectures and apologies since he woke up. Where the hell would any kind of thanks be coming from?

She pauses and rubs at one eye with the edge of her sleeve. Oh god, if she starts crying, he absolutely will not be able to handle it. He wonders vaguely whether the windows in this room can be opened. 

Takeba puts a hand on Yamagishi’s shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze, which seems to work like a charm to calm her down.

How the hell is he supposed to respond to that?

Shinjiro is once more at a loss for words. Over the month he’d spent running with the team again he’d watched Yamagishi become far less meek, but this is still the first time he’s heard her sound downright stern. 

Okay then. He’s been underestimating her. After growing up with Miki, you’d think he really ought to know better.

Yamagishi beams at him and he has to look away. Takeba and Aki are both snickering to his side; Takeba is at least making an effort to be kind of subtle about it, but Aki doesn’t even bother. Shinjiro does his best to ignore them, which doesn’t do a damn thing to deter them. 

Ugh. It makes him actually wish for a fresh delivery of school work from Kirijo, if nothing else so he would have something to pointedly focus on instead.

Still, despite his annoyance, he can’t deny the candle-flame glow of pride he feels for Yamagishi and her growing confidence. Aki’s Senpai-fever really is contagious, apparently.