“...”
“...My bad. I shouldn’t have said that,” he followed up with an apology.
“It’s okay,” Soukichi reassured him. To him, it seemed more like a slip of the tongue on Tokiya’s part, judging from the sincerity in his voice and the regret on his face when he apologized. Therefore, Soukichi saw no reason to hold it against him. “I’m not traumatized by it anymore. No need to walk on eggshells around me about it.”
Soukichi might have had a completely different reaction to the matter if he was still in his third year of middle school. He could easily see himself hyperventilating just from hearing those words; maybe he’d have even curled on the floor while holding his head or clutching his chest.
I’m over that now, he told himself. I’m finally able to move forward. I mean, I do sometimes loo
