[ There's a small, but almost frantic movement when she moves him away like that. It's only slightly, yes, but when the movement first starts Itsuki doesn't quite know if she isn't just shoving him off altogether and telling him to go away. Will she have the same reaction as those guys back at Church? Will even Kiyomi reject him entirely now? It's so scary that he clings onto her for a moment, shutting his eyes closed tightly as if bracing himself for the impact.

Except it doesn't come. Instead she speaks on, and Itsuki slowly opens his eyes again to stare back at her.

She's even smiling at him, and he's so captivated by that and the fact that she hasn't rejected him harshly yet that he can only stare for a moment until the words slowly start to hit him. ]

That..

[ He bites his lip a little. It's words he's said to Ariga before too, but back then he said them carelessly. Exactly because he believes them to be true so deeply. But somehow it feels a little bit harder to say them so easily in front of Kiyomi - a strange kind of guilt he can't quite place.

But on the other hand, she said she's been taken advantage of so many times.. shouldn't she of all people know, then? ]

People aren't like that.. right? They just lie and pretend since it's convenient for them, or since they want to save face.. How would you know if they're for real?