COTE: Ike Kanji - The Gremlin.

Around three minutes had passed since Kanji asked Sakura why she feared looking people in the eyes.

It was an awkward silence, one that Kanji found to be faintly amusing, though the timid girl beside him was likely feeling anything but.

He took a quick glance at her, noting how her gaze was glued to the ground, as though it might offer her an escape.

Her shoulders were also stiff, and her hands clenched tightly around her thigh.

She was trembling, almost imperceptibly, but he noticed.

Indeed, the silence stretched, but rather than impatience, Kanji decided to approach her hesitance rather gently.

"Hmm... Sakura-san," he called, with a measured tone so not to startled her.

"Y-yes?" she mumbled, still not daring to look at him straight. Her words were soft and fragile, as though afraid they might shatter if spoken too loudly.

"I was thinking..." He paused, carefully choosing his words. "Would you try holding eye contact with me? Just for a little while. We could see what you're afraid of together."

The mere suggestion seemed to unnerve the little rabbit, with her chest rising and falling as her breath quickened.

She looked even more fragile now, as though the weight of his words had pressed down on her.

'Wow, she went really stiff,' he thought, 'I wonder if she might bolt.'

For a moment, it appears as if she might disintegrate, and as a result Kanji sigh lightly, light enough for her not to pick up.

"You don't have to, of course," he added gently, because of her tension. "But if you want, I'm willing to help you."

Sakura bit her lip and lowered her head further, her hands clenching the hem of her shirt.

Kanji watched her silently, finding her reaction to be quite amusing.

The seconds crawled by as she visibly struggled with the idea.

Kanji didn't push her. Instead, he waited, with a calm and steady expression, though it was most likely that her silence was a refusal.

'A failure, huh?' He mused, 'but, oh well, it isn't exactly far from what I'd expected.'

Those are his thought for the moment, and due to the fact that he'd already see the possibility of Sakura rejecting his idea, he was still able to stay relatively calm.

'Though, admittedly,' Kanji, or, the soul who is currently posessing the body monologued, 'While I was assessing Sakura, I thought trying from this angle would work.'

Eventually, because of the stillness, Kanji was about to brush off his prior preposition, but before he could, the timid rabbit had spoken up.

"I... I'll try," she whispered at last.

'Ooh?' He raised one brow, but seeing this as a positive development, Kanji's lips curved into a faint, encouraging smile and he quickly responded.

"Good. Whenever you're ready, just let me know."

'Though, right now, I have absolutely no clue why you are alone in the woods with a person with a reputation as a pervert.'

He, look skyward, thinking as such.

'Damn, this shit is about to make me tear up.'

Perhaps Kanji didn't realise then, but at this moment, there were a droplets of moisture glistening on the edge of his eyes already.

But before he could further tragify the situation that was granted to him, the submissive voice he was familliar with, addressed him.

"I-Ike Kun..."

Another pause followed. Sakura's hands twisted her shirt, her fingers pale from the pressure.

Slowly, painfully slowly, she raised her head.

Her eyes darted toward his face, skittering like a frightened bird, before finally settling on his.

"I, I-I'm ready," she mumbled.

Kanji nodded and lowered his gaze, descriptively slowly.

Until, eventually, his eyes met hers.

'Blue, huh...' He noted.

He could see the fear in her eyes—fear that made her shoulders tense and her breathing shallow, all of which Kanji didn't particularly care as of right now.

Instead, "What do you see?" He coaxed her.

'Why is she going along though? As far as I know... No, that can wait, I'm more curious...'

Sakura blinked rapidly, her lips parting as if to speak, but no words came.

Her hands fidgeted nervously, but her gaze stayed locked with his.

Her instinct was to look away, but she fought that instinc, her gaze clinging to his like a lifeline.

"W—white," she said finally.

Kanji smiled faintly.

"That's the sclera," he explained gently. "It protects the eye and helps keep everything in place."

Sakura's lips pressed into a thin line, but she nodded slightly.

"And?" he prompted, and, after a brief pause, she spoke again.

"Circle..."

"That's the iris." Kanji chuckled softly, while relaxing his shoulders.

"It's what gives eyes their color. Yours, for example…" He trailed off, tilting his head slightly. "A gradient blue, isn't it? They are much rarer and also more striking."

Sakura blinked, her lips parting slightly, but she could not formulate a response.

Kanji noticed a faint blush creep up her cheeks and so chooses not to push the comment further.

"B, Brown," she stuttered, after another pause.

"That's the colour of my iris," He nod.

"Brown is good in bright light but not so great in the dark. Yours, on the other hand, might be the opposite. Blue eyes are better suited for low light. Isn't that interesting?"

Sakura listened quietly, she didn't exactly knew what, or why, or how, but her shoulders relaxed just a little, and her gaze no longer darted away as nervously as it did previously.

For a moment, she seemed absorbed in her thoughts.

"Dark… circle."

"That's the pupil. It lets light in so we can see. It's controlled by muscles around it that expand or contract based on how much light there is."

Sakura realized, her breathing had become more even, and though what Kanji said wasn't particularly interesting, she acknowledge that it feels good just listening.

For a few moments, they sat in silence following that, with her gaze still locked with his.

"And now?" Kanji asked gently. "What is there to fear?" To which Sakura fails to answer.

Her eyes roamed around his for a moment, searching for another thing she would like to explain.

But she realise that it was just because she wanted to listen to him talked more.

With that, she quickly broke off the eye contact, looking down with a flushed face.

Kanji didn't press her abrupt shift.

Instead, he simply leaned back and let the quiet settle between them. For now, this was enough.