[Juzo doesn't know exactly what Kyosuke means by that, but his response is still pretty immediate.]

. . . Don't say stupid-ass things like that, Munakata.

[Ah, he's not used to it yet. Should he be getting used to it? Is he being allowed that—? Why?

He corrects himself anyway.]

—Kyosuke.

[Saying the name makes his chest flutter, and despite everything happening right now (what is happening right now? Will it start making sense anytime soon?!), he feels the usual pang of self-loathing along with it. The reflex is too ingrained to just shove away that easily. I'm lying to Kyosuke. Every moment he spends with him is a lie . . .

But not anymore. That's right. If his heart speeds up, if his face feels warm, Kyosuke knows now. He knows and he's letting Juzo touch him anyway.

The air around them warms even more, the rain slowing to a few occasional fat drops. There's a streetlamp overhead lighting the park at night; its bluish glow begins to gradually shift into a rich sodium-burning orange-red, throwing a different light off the crystal petals still surrounding them.]

You're—you're an idiot, saying that kinda thing. . . . I'm exactly what I said I was. I'm—so much of a coward that I made you sit through that humiliating bullshit just now because I couldn't just come out and say what the hell I needed to.

[Juzo honestly isn't sure he's going to now until it comes out of his mouth. But it does.]

I. I still—I haven't stopped, I . . .

I love you.