Hey.

[ he turns his head to her and gives her a small smile ]

How are you holding up? I tried to make it here as quickly as he can.

I'm okay. I'm slowly catching my breath.

[She smiles at Souji to reassure him of this.]

You seem a little different from last time we met. Have you gotten taller?

[ souji will start to open his messenger bag so he can get her that bottle of o2 but he'll talk as he does it ]

I think I've grown an inch since last year, but did I have the old man hair and eyes the last time we've talked?

[ souji can't remember when he exactly got it. he's had it for about a year now so he's gotten very used to his stupid silver hair and eyes ]

Old man ! [She's laughing again. Stop this!]

Your hair was black before. That was a while ago. I think I remember correctly.

[Akane might be a weirdo but her memory's pretty good.]

That's correct. Before I caught the Old Man Germs or OMG for short, I had beautiful black hair. You were one of the lucky few who got to meet me before I was overtaken by the disease.

[ he actually made a post about this in... march. i can't remember, it was a while ago ]

Don't worry. I don't think it's contagious anymore so you don't have to fear catching it.

It's okay. I won't be catching the OMG from you anytime soon. It doesn't look that bad, Souji.

[She pats him on the shoulder in an attempt to be reassuring. ]

You're still young.

Thank you, Akane. Your reassurance puts me at ease.

[ also, he has finally dug out that bottle of o2! it's just... a normal plastic water bottle that's empty but he has slapped on a handmade label on it. it's written with crayon and says "o2! i can't believe it's really oxygen!" and there's a drawing of a cat going :o!!!!!!!! on it. it's charming in its own way ]

Anyway, here you are. Your bottle of O2 as promised.

I appreciate your gesture of kindness!!

[She nods and accepts the bottle of O2. Akane looks at the label and smiles. ]

Do astronauts take these into space with them?

They do but it's the size of a tank.

[ he places his hands about a meter apart to demonstrate ]

They attach it to their backs and they use tiny straws to breathe in the O2. It's a little different but they have the same label.

I'm just like an astronaut then.

[Akane tilts the bottle over slightly and makes a dramatic gesture. ]

We're preparing for take off....Make sure you have your O2 properly equipped. You won't be able to survive without it.

[Oh lord.]

[ akane is just his kind of weird. he puts up two fingers to his ear as if he has an earpiece ]

This is control. You are clear for take-off. You may launch in 3... 2... 1...!

We're launching!!

[She jumps up in the air pretending to blast off. That was a little ridiculous, but it's fun so who cares? ]

Hey Souji, have you ever wanted to go into space for real?

[Just wondering man. ]

[ souji claps when she "takes off" but then looks thoughtful when she asks him a question ]

To be honest, I've never thought about it. If I was given the chance, I would take it but I'm not sure if I'll go out of my way to head there.

[ it has never really crossed his mind and space never fascinated him as much as it did with the other children. yes, a lot of the kandam series took place in space or at least visited space but he was more interested in the giant fighting robots rather than them being up there ]

How about you?

That's understandable.

[There is a whole lot of nothing in space. Going to the moon might be scary.]

I'd like to go someday. You could do the moon walk for real!!

[#priorities.]

[ he laughs ]

That's true. Do you know how to do the moonwalk on Earth, though? Just to practise when you really do go up to space.

[ please know so souji doesn't have the excuse to dance (again) ]

Not at all. I don't know how to do something like that. I've tried to do it and it looks really hard to pull off.

[HOW DO PEOPLE DO IT SO SMOOTHLY? She doesn't understand.]

How about you?

[Nope, Souji's fated to dance. Go try moonwalking.]

[ souji just looks at akane for a second before he suddenly turns and starts to moonwalk away from her with the straightest face. he does a flawless moonwalk and then stops and poses (and by poses, he does that dumb 70s dance stance where he has one hand on his hip and the other hand pointing at the sky) ]

What do you think?

Well done!

[She lets out a cheer for him.]

I didn't know you were so good at dancing! You made it looks so easy.

[Akane knows it's not as simple as it seems. Souji has those mad dance skills. ]

[ he smiles and relaxes, dropping his pose to stand properly ]

It just takes practise and diligence.

[ though souji is cheating since he regained back most of his dancing skills from the horror that is known as p4dan but he did at least practise on his own here. ]

Would you like me to teach you?

[p4dan is the reason why he gets all these freaking dance moves and trumpets, but Akane nods.]

Please teach me sensei!! I'll be a good student.

[She'll work hard and master the moonwalk too!!]