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[ The flowers swoop in again before they've been able to take more than a few steps and this time Tsuruno twists out of the way to avoid them, grasping his hand from her shoulder to tug him with her.

The flowers fall silent, surprisingly,and she heaves a sigh once more. ]

Sorry. I thought that might be it, but I didn't want them to speak for you.

[Somehow, he's more affronted that she clued in on his feelings than the flowers spilling it out.

Tsuruno grabs his hand before he can smack another flower back and the flowers fall into silence. It's a reprieve.]

That's the problem with this place. [Always pulling things that shouldn't see the light up to the surface. His gaze slides sideways to Tsuruno.] They had as much to say about you.

Yeah. [ her gaze slips away, a little tiredly. ]

I'm a Magical Girl--if I put it as simply as I can, they're girls who fight monsters with powers they gained through an unbreakable contract and they have things like your Visions called Soul Gems.

Only if something happens to them, you die or turn into a monster yourself.

[ She more or less recites this as matter-of-factly as she can. ]

[There's a pause from Alhaitham as she goes into it.]

... You didn't have to tell me. [Is the first thing he states. Because she didn't, really, truly. Just because this place wants to put them in the open, Tsuruno is allowed her secrets.] That's what you were hiding, then.

I was going to, anyway. Kaveh already knows.

I just wanted to get to know you a little better first.

[ But she nods; that's what she was hiding. ]

I don't really want a whole lot of people to know, though. I really only started telling the ones I trusted last month.

[Of course Kaveh knows, he thinks. Kaveh who can't mind his own business, who is similarly altruistic and obviously fond of Tsuruno. Kaveh makes himself difficult to know, but the effect his warmth has on others is impossible to deny.]

I have no reason to be sharing your secrets. [Which is the strongest affirmation of never from Alhaitham.] Though, if it comes to trying to kill me know that I have every intention of fighting back.

[... Is that a joke. Is it serious. Who even knows when he says it like he does eventing else.]

That's fine. [ perfectly serious, even though she says it with the smile of one who is not as lackadaisical as she acts a lot of the time. ]

I won't be myself anymore, if that happens. I'd want you to survive.

[So she'd lose her mind. That makes sense, he can't imagine the Tsuruno in front of him willingly turning on someone she considers a friend.

He nods once. He'd survive, or at least try to. She would want him to.]

Is that inevitable?

There are ways to slow it down and we were working on some kind of fix back home that unfortunately got taken over, but...

[ A nod, slowly. ]

Most Magical Girls don't make it past 20.

... I see. [He can recognize the inherent tragedy of the situation, though whether it warrants any pity really depends on the nature of the contract, doesn't it? Ultimately the world turns on one person's suffering or another's sacrifice. He's never agreed with the ease which an idealist can give into it, but he can't judge Tsuruno's specific situation yet.

Kaveh's heart must have broken for her.]

[ Your future boyfriend is a bleeding heart, Alhaitham.

But Tsuruno only smiles, lightly, and keeps walking. ]

I'm not giving up. There might still be a way to get through it, I just have to find it first.

[Oh, he knows. He knows.

Once again, he regards Tsuruno with some interest. She has more reason than most to want to extend her life. It's the kind of path that could lead to obsession. It is, again, the example that she cares so much about the world without forgetting herself.]

Kaveh could learn a thing or two from you if he'll humble himself enough to listen.

I'm pretty great, right? I don't know why he was so worried you were picking on me.

[ Is this what it's like to have an overprotective brother?? ]

[Oh, that actually gets a chuckle out of him. Tsuruno is endlessly entertaining.] He isn't used to anyone being so agreeable with me. Or maybe he's just surprised that I find you interesting enough to talk to.

[ She is considering this a victory, privately. An Alhaitham laugh! Sort of!! ]

That better not mean he thinks I'm boring.

I'm sure it says more about what he thinks of me than you.

[The flowers weren't wrong, he is a difficult person who finds most people disinteresting. Tsuruno, though, is fascinating, sharp, and very funny.]

[ What a friendship this is. ]

I wasn't lying, earlier. You guys still seem close, to me.

Do we? [Okay, that's not going to work after the flowers Blabbed his feelings. He knows.

He pauses, considering his words carefully.] Kaveh often calls it "complicated". We know each other better than anyone else, but for Kaveh this is an unpleasant reality since we're not really friends anymore.

[Kaveh denies that they could be and for the sake of avoiding questions Alhaitham simply doesn't define them at all. This, too, is one of many things they fail to find synthesis in.]

Is that... not something you guys can work through, at this point?

[ You two REALLY SMART GUYS can't find a solution?? ]

[Wow Alhaitham is totally working on it. He just hasn't consulted Kaveh on the matter.]

Before I answer that, what do you think about who Kaveh is as a person?

[Because some things only make sense when you've seen the core of him. And some things are too delicate to breathe into air.]

Um... hm.

[ Tsuruno is quiet for a minute, thinking back to all their interactions. ]

I feel like... he's sort of fussy. He seems to always understand how people feel and if he doesn't, he does his best to try to understand.

But also it feels like he's carrying something and still trying to take on everyone else's somethings too. I don't know why and maybe it's just my imagination but I've been like that so sometimes the way he acts feels... really familiar to me. Like doing all of that to make up for something.

Like I said, though, I could totally be off.

[Alhaitham waits patiently through her response, tucking away the thought about why she finds it so familiar. He has his thoughts on it but this is about Kaveh right now.]

"Make up for something"... that's a good way to put it. Kaveh is haunted by his guilt. He doesn't see our fight as anything that can be reconciled because he sees his faults as undeserving of forgiveness.

[And, similarly, he'll never forgive Alhaitham for knowing him. He regretted them, Kaveh said once. It's a bitterness that's never fully alleviated. Maybe never will, because Kaveh never meant to let anyone know him deep enough to pull out the ugly parts and undo the shape of him.]

Still, even if Kaveh denies it our current relationship actually is an improvement to where it was after our fight.

[They didn't talk to each other directly for years and only printed criticisms of each other's academic journals. It was the only way to truly maintain distance after all.]

So actually you're improving! Your relationship, I mean.

[ ... Just how bad was it before, she wonders, but doesn't ask. Just like how she doesn't ask what he feels guilty over. ]

... Which means it doesn't have to stay like this, either.

[He can never point it out to Kaveh's face, but yes. They've improved.]

It would be simpler if we could just say friends when someone asks. But I'm not unhappy with the way things are now.

... So is that a "don't get yourself involved with it or I'm going to be mad" kind of "not unhappy with it"?

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