[ once he hears aoba's voice, he looks at him, but still not directly as he fixes his bangs. he still looks uncomfortable, but when he hears aoba's sorry, there's a sincerely honest look of surprise on his face he can't hide. ] Aoba...

[ he's really not sure why aoba is apologizing. of course he blames himself even more because he thinks he did something that made aoba think he did something wrong. ] You don't have to be sorry. It was never your fault at all. [ it. for such a small word, it alluded to so much. ] You have nothing to apologize for.

[ there's another pause, and he turns away to fix his bangs. ] I should be the one. I should have known better, thought things over. I know more about this place and I took advantage of you like a selfish person. [ he leaves out that he thinks he's ruined everything... at least he assumes aoba thinks things are ruined. he doesn't want things to be ruined. he still wants to be friends with aoba no matter what. maybe he's still selfish, but he'll push down his selfish desire of wanting to still be friends if aoba doesn't want them to be. he should do what's best for aoba no matter what pain it causes him. in the end, he'll be happy because aoba will be happy. ]