“I said I’d help you out,” Shinjiro protested, grumbling. Rejoining S.E.E.S. had made him soft, he thought. It would’ve been easier to intimidate this guy before, for his own good. Except here he was, petting his magic flying horse and being all friendly. How did only a month or so hanging around the others make it harder to turn someone down?

“I ain’t what I seem. I’m not really a nice guy,” Shinjiro continued to protest. But, then he sighed. “But if you want to be my friend, I won’t stop you either.”

He looked at him under his scruffy bangs, and debated how much detail he should go into. “Just because you know how t’ use a sword doesn’t make me less dangerous.”