"Oh!" Well now it's her turn to blush, a little. "... Yes, sure. I'd love company. But I promise you don't need to hang around with me as I'm trawling through the makeup aisle."

"I, I don't need to if you don't want me to, just thought I'd offer. And, uh, I'll need to plan a proper tour for you, so that shouldn't be tonight."

"Awww." She takes his hand and kisses it, because he is so cute. "Yes, that's fair. Boring errand run and fun date can stay separate and not comingle. But that's very sweet, and I'm excited already. Even if your plan is just to go park in Akihabara."

"I will take you to all of the cool places."

"Coolest place is with you," she says, and then she has to immediately flee because that was the sappiest thing she's ever said aaaa someone help her.

Well he will just smile happily to himself here and maybe hum a little tune as he goes back to his room.

...scratch that tune thing he cannot sing and it's kind of embarrassing let's put on the cool and aloof persona back on.

Hours later, he gets a knock on his door!

"It's me," calls Akiho.

"Come in!"

In she comes, clearly trying to get out of the hallway as quickly as possible. She is not looking in a very specific direction that may or may not contain what was once Itadori's room, nope, there is none of that.

But she does go for immediate snuggles once she's in and has set down her purse, though. Snuggles that are not hiding from her feelings, nope, there is none of that.

...snuggles.

"We never moved away from his room did we."

"No," she agrees, softly. "It's mostly fine by now, I just. There was a sale on shonen manga at one of the stores I went to, and. For some reason that hit me pretty hard."

Inori nods and hugs her closer. "Sometimes something reminds me of... of anime things, stories. And. Yeah."

"Yeah," she agrees. And leans on him.

"... I feel so incredibly guilty," she admits, very softly. With a little sniffle. "I know survivor's guilt is a thing but mostly it's not even that I survived and he didn't it's that. I knew better and went in anyway and he was new at everything and." Sniffle.

"...I didn't. Know better. And I should have. Sensei is always talking about the higher ups being terrible and... I didn't think they'd actually try to kill us. Him."

"Mmm," she agrees. "Mom told me to watch myself, and that sorcerer society was a den of vipers that she had been more than happy to escape from. But it didn't quite seem real until it happened."

"My classmates... don't seem like it. But the ones in Kyoto do."

"How very us versus them. I can't imagine they have space to be anything else. I almost went to Kyoto, remember."

"Mai-senpai didn't use to be like this when we were younger.

"I hate this."

"Yeah. Me too." Sigh. Lean.

".... Is it terrible if I ask you to please distract me from the bad feelings?"

"I don't think so. I don't know how to deal with... so many feelings. For you, about him." He hides in her hair. "For him."

"Ha. He was very cute and friendly, wasn't he. And terribly flirty."

Inori nods into her hair, hugging her tight and making a sound that might be a sniffle.

She sniffles too, and squeezes him back.

"My distraction suggestion was going to be kissing, but probably that would be too wet now," she says, with a little half-laugh half-sob. "It'd be terrible."

"Would it?" he says, voice wavering in that typical way it does when one is barely keeping it stable. "I've never done it, maybe we should try it anyway."

"You know, I haven't either. You make a good point."

Kiss?