The party with SEES went better than expected. Junpei got a stern talking to from Mitsuru and Yukari for talking with his mouth full, in which he continued to do it regardless. Aigis was quickly explained what she could and could not feed to a dog, much to Koromaru’s dismay. Nobody missed a chance to compliment Shinji’s cooking, in which he would always insist that it really wasn’t that impressive. It was nice to see everyone so happy, given how the last few weeks had been.

Although, out of everyone, Shinji found himself unable to pull his eyes away from your smile. There was something about it that he couldn’t explain, and every time he saw it he couldn’t fight back the smile that tugged at his own lips. As the party came to a close, everyone full on food and heading back to their rooms, you and Shinji stood alone in the kitchen. He had insisted he could clean up himself, telling everyone to just go ahead and rest. But, as always, you were persistent. It was as if him telling you not to do something only made you more inclined to do so. But, after forcing you not to help with the party preparations in the hopes of keeping it a surprise, he supposed he could at least accept your help to clean.

The two of you cleaned the table, carrying towers of plates, bowls, and the like. You stood side by side in comfortable silence, him washing dishes as you put them out to dry. For a while it stayed like this, until Shinji himself decided to break the silence for once. It wasn’t something he did much, if at all. Yet, around you, he couldn’t help but feel like his lips were looser, his thoughts slipping out naturally.

“Well, how about you? Did you have fun?” He asked, his eyes flitting over to look at you before quickly shifting their focus back to the dishes. He wasn’t really the best at starting conversations, but he had grown rather fond of listening to you ramble. So if it meant hearing your voice, he didn’t mind breaking the silence. He’d never admit that out loud though.