#i hope you dont mind me vaguely kinda assuming some Vibes of their old relationship based on what ive seen ingame thus far!

[quillheel]

@icyexecutioner // x

when the words left Shinjiro's mouth, he'd hoped that the more aggressively unwilling approach would've been enough to cause the other to withdraw, reluctant but refusing to force a hand so adamant about staying as it was, but if he were being truthful; he knew better. Mitsuru wasn't someone he ever expected his attitude to work on, like a null strike against her that while Akihiko's immunity came with time as he learned all the little quirks of his body language and the way he spoke to see through any bluff ( nearly any bluff ), Mitsuru always felt to him to be organically engineered to piss him off.

he stifles his irritation, half of it from a thousand years ago, when it was just them, when he could recognize their footsteps down the hall or clatter in the floor beneath and be able to tell who was who because it was only them, only them, and it's very hard to convince himself to be angry when a deeper exhaustion whittles at his stomach beneath it; one not from her. Nostalgia turns to nausea, an argument going for forever, and he pushes it down. ( a talent he's gotten good at. he wonders if his winning streak will break anytime soon. out of the frying pan, into the oven. )

the superior, winning tone did get on his nerves a little, though. endlessly, things were requested of him... ... Jeez, these two would be good for crime investigation, wouldn't they?

" Sometimes, you're just as stubborn as Aki... " Shinjiro sighs, snipping in that indirect way he so likes to; maybe hoping to get under her nerves. " I told you a hundred times, I'm not going back. It's not like they'd take me, anyway, so don't push your luck. "

Shinjiro hadn't been a terrible student, at least not in the years he'd actually attended. He was never as perfect as Mitsuru herself, as most were, but his grades would go toe-to-toe with Aki's. On the days he decided to stick around, anyhow. His habit of ditching had existed a long, long time, until it grew up and out and eventually he decided staying away was better than facing it head on.

Maybe he'd been a little bit right to do it, too. ━ he tries not to think about it.

" Plus, " he continues, perhaps as if it'd win him mercy, his guts in opposition of Mitsuru from so far back still holding strong even now. " The less distraction, the more I focus on fighting Shadows. That's why I'm here, remember? " ( he lies, as if it was the only reason. as if, as if. )