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[He nods, trusting Shintaro's judgement as he turns it. Peering into the telescope, he manages to identify the ones he's looking for. With a small smile, he straightens up.]

Here. Do you want to see?

[He's kind of proud of himself that that worked out. He hadn't calculated like that in ages and it's always nice to know you're not out of shape in every way.]

Yeah -- I want to. I haven't looked at stars before.

Never? I guess it's hard to see them in the city...

Yeah. The light pollution makes it pretty hard to see -- I think we might've gone camping or something when I was younger, but it's hard to remember anything from that long ago.

[He moves over to the telescope to peer into it, searching for the star Shinji found. The view from outside the Earth's atmosphere really is incredible -- that much he gathers. So many stars.]

[The star that Shinji's pointed him at is Sirius--one of the brightest ones out of the bunch. He glances down at the map again.]

When I was younger I liked looking at the stars. Whenever I was lonely, they made me feel less alone. I don't know. There was something about them that was soothing.

[Friends more comfortable with each other would tease for that. That's romantic. Cheesy. But it suits you. Shintaro doesn't say those because they're still on a very precarious balance.]

... Yeah. They are pretty impressive, aren't they?

[It's something he's always been a little conscious about. What sort of boy sits around looking at stars all the time instead of more practical things like motors or mathematics? His interest remained strictly as a hobby, too. He never wanted to be an astronaut or anything of that sort, much like how he never wanted to be anything.

(There was one thing he wanted to be, but he never could become it. No matter what he did would never be enough to please his father.)

In the end, it became a fondness he rarely shared unless prompted to by others.]

I used to live in the country with my teacher. You didn't need a telescope to see them out there.

Edited (added a sentence oop) 2013-10-20 07:29 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd bet. That's kind of nice too isn't it?

[He straightens, pulling his face away from the telescope, leaning back, lowering himself down to the floor to sit down and look at the sky from the window instead.]

The countryside, huh...

[Shinji takes the telescope now, looking into it.]

It was my biggest hobby, since there wasn't much to do there. [He wasn't good at making friends. He'd never been close to his teacher. But even though it'd been lonely, it'd been safe and repeating. Days blurred together. He didn't have to worry about the outside world edging in with its responsibilities.] But it was peaceful.

I'd imagine. [He draws his knees up and holds them against his chest with his arm, glancing at Shinji.]

Do you miss it?

[His eyes are fixed on the sky, sorry.]

... even if I could go back, I don't think I would. [They gave him that chance once and he threw it away.] I don't belong there anymore.

... I see.

But you at least have this, huh? That's nice.

Yeah. I wouldn't mind staying up here.

Here, the moon?

... It's not bad, I guess. I can't say I like it though. Not being able to breathe -- it's just like the ocean. If you get throw out into it you might not survive.

That's true. But it's quiet in space.

Mm.

I think anything above the earth is pretty quiet. There's a lot less, you know?

... I think I prefer these sorts of places best. I can't stand it when people are so loud.

I thought you were that sort. It's kind of nice how the observatory quiets down at night, then.

I guess -- it's weird but I guess I'm getting used to the noise now.

You seem like the kind of person to enjoy company easier. [Shinji glances down at the map.] You made a lot of friends even after you dropped out.

... Actually, I was a shut-in. Spent two years in my house and never stepping out.

I met Kido and the rest of them when I happened to go to the department store at the exact same time they did and we all had a run-in with some terrorists.

[What.]

You shut... yourself in? Terrorist attack? Um, wait, how did you get out--?!

Closed curtains and horrible sleeping schedule and Internet addiction and everything. I'm not proud of it.

But uh, I think Momo, Kido, and Mary used their eyes for some things but I imported Ene into the computers that were being sold on the floor and had her hack in to the security system. I kind of fainted after that, but we managed to get out...

[??? That's. Not a very helpful explanation. But he can understand the fainting bit. Eyes? Powers, then? Ah, he should've known that Shintaro was the sort to hang out with those sorts of people.]

Your life's a lot more exciting than you made it sound.

Not really.

Aah, but two years ago I guess I beat the second best zombie shooter player in the nation or whatever but she was really lame, and she-- [she...

Shintaro kind of pauses while he stares straight ahead. Then shakes his head.]

Well, it wasn't too bad. But I guess it's pretty "exciting" when I got dragged here the day after I met them.

[She...? Whatever Shintaro was about to say, it sounded like something happened between them.

... ah. It's not his business.]

In that case, you're just unlucky, then.

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