[color=#E34234][b]Takumi Minamoto - This is Fine.[/b][/color]
[i]Third Ward, Sakura Clinic, Fourth Floor[/i]
[hr]
Something was wrong here.  

With his attention drawn to the wounded kakuja before him, Takumi had taken note of the rising peculiarity in her behavior. Mere moments ago this woman had tried to kill him, his family, and a bunch of ghoul kids. To see her acting so much like a meek young schoolgirl... It was jarring, to say the least, and in response, Takumi’s expression could only shift into one of befuddled ambivalence. It was good she was taking this well, but at the same time there was definitely something awry about her behavior that was somewhere in the periphery of his mind, unwilling to come forth at his beckoning.

Then it clicked at the sound of Miyako’s giggling, and the sight of everything that followed. 

Now, Takumi didn’t much consider himself an expert of social interactions - the most he could really do in a vacuum was discern lies - but he’d experienced this kind of behavior before and, contrary to what he believed it to be, it didn’t bring any great amount of comfort. All it brought was ‘if’s, ‘why’s, ‘how’s and other things he’d rather not think about right now. And this was all in addition to the sinking feeling that he’d made a great error somewhere by letting things come to this point. 

Yes, despite the fairly well-put-together demeanor, Takumi was internally screaming, and going through mental jumping jacks to connect whatever dots he could grab at. He was, in all respects, absolutely paralyzed by all these emotions, projections, retrojections and how they all just [i]did not make sense[/i] to his bird-brain. What did he even [i]do[/i] to get her to like him so suddenly? Save her life? Cerebrally, he knew that Miyako couldn’t be called a mentally stable person, but was she really crazy enough to think she was enamored with him, or was she [i]actually[/i]? Dammit, why did understanding people have to be so damn hard?

[color=#E34234][i]’...Oh fuck, what am [/i]I[i] supposed to do?’[/i][/color] Takumi panicked inwardly, making a point of not showing anything on his face. He remembered the last time a girl liked him and he went with it: everyone told him that he “should’ve just said no” and that “you don’t go out with someone just to get them to stop bothering you”. In short: not a good time for anyone, and therefore not something he was willing to repeat for fear of making everyone sad or mad again. But he also knew couldn’t just reject her here and there, which was the crux of this predicament: how could he resolve this issue without hurting anyone? [color=#E34234]‘That line about ignorance being bliss continues to make itself relevant, I see,’[/color] he thought, diverting his thoughts away from the issue at hand. 

Suddenly, he took a breath and stood from his crouch, playing with his knuckles as he pretended to be occupied looking at someone (in this case, Itsuki). After all: when in doubt, ignore all of your problems until they become problems. He scratched the back of his head. That wasn’t how the quote went. But it didn’t matter, just like how all this deliberation didn’t matter. Whatever he would end up deciding upon could come later. 

Yes, he was content with this result. 

Of course, a different statement from the woman tore Takumi from his ruminations. Miyako was looking for someone, it seemed, and fortunately that line of thought meant that she wasn’t thinking about him anymore. The corners of Takumi’s mouth turned downward. That wasn’t a bad thought; it wasn’t good to take solace in other people’s suffering. Still, Miyako’s sentiment resonated with Takumi, but perhaps not positively. Turning his eyes to their limit in order to look at the woman in his periphery, he replied simply: [color=#E34234]“I get it.”[/color]

At that point, Takumi realized he was kind of awkwardly facing Itsuki, so he shifted his body to the group in general, with his back towards Miyako, and posed the open question with a nonchalant shrug: [color=#E34234]“What now?”[/color]