[Meanwhile, Ryunosuke is already starting to regret his little joke. Maybe... Maybe he should have just ignored it? He'd spoken up on a panicked impulse, fearing that silence as a reply would have been even worse, but now they're both in a position of embarrassment. He's also remembering the date auction now... And the evidence that there's something here between them is really starting to stack up, huh? He recalls that day all too well. How alarming and stressful being up on that stage had been... And how relieved he'd been to see a familiar face there in the end.
Ryunosuke Naruhodo isn't someone who really goes out of his way to seek romance. It's not something he craves on a normal basis, or anything he feels he needs to find in order to lead a fulfilling life. There are familial expectations he needs to meet, of course; starting his own family, carrying on the Naruhodo name and what not... But love doesn't necessarily factor into that, as far as he's concerned. It COULD... But it doesn't have to.
More to the point: for one reason or another, whenever he has developed deeper feelings for someone... It's almost always been a case of a person with whom he was already close to and cared deeply for. Or, to put it another way: for him to have feelings for someone, he has to be friends with them first. And over the course of their shared time within Songerein, he and Barok have grown much closer indeed.
In the recent past, he's had plenty of his own little moments of feeling strangely endeared towards his former courtroom rival... Hence his own flower-riddled sneezing earlier. But right now, seeing van Zieks verbally floundering about in this strangely endearing way... Hinting that he might feel similarly...? It flips another switch in Ryunosuke's brain, completes a circuit that's been building up in his head and his heart for some time now. Certain futures seem more feasible all of a sudden, and he feels... Oddly fluttery inside.
He really, really wants to pursue this subject even further.
...But this is also a REALLY inopportune time to be cultivating and fretting over feelings. They have a 10 year old to go find??? Blushing even harder, Ryunosuke clears his throat and tries to spare the both of them further embarrassment turning their attention back to the task at hand.]
Um!! Well. We should probably focus on finding Iris first... Now that I have all of my memories back...
[He also feels he needs more time to think before he can properly discuss this.]
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Ryunosuke Naruhodo isn't someone who really goes out of his way to seek romance. It's not something he craves on a normal basis, or anything he feels he needs to find in order to lead a fulfilling life. There are familial expectations he needs to meet, of course; starting his own family, carrying on the Naruhodo name and what not... But love doesn't necessarily factor into that, as far as he's concerned. It COULD... But it doesn't have to.
More to the point: for one reason or another, whenever he has developed deeper feelings for someone... It's almost always been a case of a person with whom he was already close to and cared deeply for. Or, to put it another way: for him to have feelings for someone, he has to be friends with them first. And over the course of their shared time within Songerein, he and Barok have grown much closer indeed.
In the recent past, he's had plenty of his own little moments of feeling strangely endeared towards his former courtroom rival... Hence his own flower-riddled sneezing earlier. But right now, seeing van Zieks verbally floundering about in this strangely endearing way... Hinting that he might feel similarly...? It flips another switch in Ryunosuke's brain, completes a circuit that's been building up in his head and his heart for some time now. Certain futures seem more feasible all of a sudden, and he feels... Oddly fluttery inside.
He really, really wants to pursue this subject even further.
...But this is also a REALLY inopportune time to be cultivating and fretting over feelings. They have a 10 year old to go find??? Blushing even harder, Ryunosuke clears his throat and tries to spare the both of them further embarrassment turning their attention back to the task at hand.]
Um!! Well. We should probably focus on finding Iris first... Now that I have all of my memories back...
[He also feels he needs more time to think before he can properly discuss this.]