My feelings aren't that delicate. [They were, but she isn't going to admit to that. She doesn't let anyone point out that someone truly strong and unaffected, who didn't care what people thought would never have to keep repeating it to themselves.]

Fine, maybe I'm the only who gets embarrassed. [But she smiles as she says it, a little bit flustered still, but warm and bright nonetheless. Just because a truth was lighter doesn't mean it won't still bury deep and bloom, bursting through and wedging itself deep into the painful cracks like some kind of glorious flower, reminding her that there was good in her, and that people saw it no matter how hard she hid it.] And no, it doesn't count. I mean, I was the one telling you that you were cute, and that you were talented and honest and a huge flatterer.

But yeah, I've known her for that long. Almost eleven years. [Every time she talks about Kaoru, her eyes soften. She can't help it because there would be no Shiho as she is now without Kaoru, that feeling of knowing that there was someone in this world who understood what it was like to be five years old and to think that you were a monster. Whose greatest fear was hurting someone else.]