Renjiro listens to the echo of her voice fade down the empty street. He looks at her flushed face, running a quick logical assessment of her argument.
She views herself as his caretaker. She believes his extreme laziness is a fatal condition that requires constant supervision. This is a problematic mindset. To break her habit, he needs to redirect her focus entirely away from him.
"Mako," Renjiro says, keeping his tone calm and slow. "You should find a boyfriend and focus on a guy rather than hanging out with me. You are officially a high school girl."
Mako freezes. Her eyes go wide.
"What did you say?" she yells, her voice jumping up an entire octave.
"You are officially a high school girl."
"Before that!" Mako points at him, her face turning an even brighter shade of red.
Renjiro sighs, repeating the instruction with slow, deliberate enunciation. "You should find a boyfriend and focus on a guy rather than hanging out with me."
Mako clutches the fabric of her skirt, looking completely bewildered. "Boyfriend? My high school life is still beginning. How come you mention a boyfriend out of nowhere?"
"It's normal for a high school student to be in a relationship," Renjiro explains, leaning back against the cold metal pole of the bus stop. "It occupies time and requires attention. It is the most standard social activity for teenagers in a new environment."
Mako frowns, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest. "That's also true with you too."
"But I prefer not to," Renjiro replies, staring up at a small, gray cloud drifting across the blue sky. "I just want to sleep in my room. Having a relationship will add more noise to my life. Noise is exhausting."
"Then I will not have a boyfriend too!" Mako declares, lifting her chin with a proud, defiant huff.
"I don't think so."
Mako drops her arms, looking at him with genuine confusion. "What do you mean?"
Renjiro shifts his gaze back to her face. He needs to point out the huge structural flaw in her personality. He needs to use logic to break down her naive confidence.
"What will you do if a high school boy asks you out?" Renjiro asks, his voice dropping slightly lower.
Mako blinks. "Ask me out?"
"Yes. Ask you to be his girlfriend," Renjiro clarifies, watching her reaction carefully. "A direct confession. Face to face. If you decline his offer, you will hurt the boy's feelings. You hate hurting others, Mako. That's your biggest weakness."
He watches the realization hit her. The color drains from her face.
"If someone asks you out, you will probably say yes just to avoid hurting the boy's feelings," Renjiro concludes, delivering the final blow. "You lack the ability to reject people aggressively. You will get trapped in a relationship out of pure guilt."
Mako wants to respond. Her mouth opens and her lips move slightly, forming the shape of words, but no sound comes out. Her eyes dart nervously from left to right, searching the empty street for a counter-argument that does not exist.
She knows he is right. Her empathy is a big liability.
A loud, rumbling engine breaks the silence.
Large tires squeal against the asphalt as a public bus slows down, pulling up right next to the curb. The pneumatic doors hiss loudly and slides open to reveal the dimly lit interior.
Renjiro grabs his duffel bag and the handle of his suitcase. He walks up the metal steps and steps inside the bus. The air conditioning hits his face, smelling faintly of old vinyl seats.
He does not look back.
Mako spaces out for a solid second, standing completely still on the curb.