There's only a select few who were able to know Shinjiro that well, that they could call him out that effectively. Apparently Ken now was one of them. It's not that Shinjiro minded, exactly, it'd be a dick move to complain - but it's a bit embarrassing.

"Hn." He looked away, faint color in his cheeks. Shinjiro bit down the urge to tell him he didn't need any cheering up. Ken was just trying to help, after all. "You're a good kid, Ken. Glad that hasn't changed, either."

A sort of tension left his shoulders, too. There's still the whole matter of - why were they both here? Why was Shinjiro alive? What was going to happen to him now, how was he going to be able to control Castor going forward? But -

Ken's going to be okay, he thought. Shinjiro tried to think of a way to change the subject before the kid did try saying a bunch of kind crap in an effort to cheer him up. He's not sure he could stand it. "So if you're not dead - what is this place? What are we even doin here?"