Editing Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica:Volume 7 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 13===
 
For a moment, a suffocating silence came over the room.
 
"Good grief..... Your imagination is rich."
 
To dispel the awkwardness, Chikage glossed over the atmosphere,
 
"Also, you said my bad habit was more apparent ... ... Meaning, it's not the first time, huh?"
 
"Alas.....in the sports warehouse in Babel when you were making out with that other girl, I noticed."
 
Akatsuki's tone was unchanged,
 
"Izumi -- you're not fully a lesbian, right?"
 
"............ You guessed wrong."
 
Chikage subconsciously looks away from him.
 
"When I was in Alayzard for a short period of time I was a bodyguard for a brothel. At the end of day a women's behavior comes from heart, or its simply acting. If you don't want my eyes to see through it, you have to steel yourself a great deal more."
 
Akatsuki recalled that scene,
 
"When I saw you making out with that girl I could tell you were accustomed to it. But that does not mean you had abundant experience, rather you were passively reacting to her needs. You were playing to meet the expectations she placed on you."
 
"......So you're saying I put out my hands on the girl just to act like the good guy?"
 
Chikage stared cross-eyed at Akatsuki.
 
"Of course not, else I would of said 'You're not a lesbian.' Presumably, its just like before -- you just wanted to be needed by someone, his or her."
 
He continued,
 
"Everyone who has been summoned to another world has suffer some degree of trauma. Then after great difficulty finally returning to this world only to be confined to the special autonomous region separating them from their own families. A sense of loneliness would only be natural. I didn't mean to pry into your private life, but perhaps they all were just like you in experiencing a number of things they would rather forget. Something that couldn't be endured alone any more?"
 
"........................"
 
Chikage was suddenly speechless.
 
"A good way to fill the loneliness would be to seek out a person with the same wound, who might heal the pain. And if the other was the same sex it becomes easier to talk about heart troubles. With your cheerful personality, and your liking to take care of others those lonely girls would have gathered, right? It could just be your natural disposition, or you altered yourself to pursue the feeling of being needed by someone. Which I don't know."
 
Akatsuki continued to say:
 
"If I'm right, you always listen to their troubles, heal their inner loneliness, but kept your pain and loneliness deep inside your heart. All because you worry that they are holding onto something really painful, and it must be dealt with before it's too late. How can they take into consideration the worries of another? Therefore you sit there and quietly listen to them tell of their troubles, and just play the role. Your only willing to let them unload what's on their mind, willing to give them a warmth, and willing to fix their broken heart. No doubt for those people there isn't any other ideal place to go."
 
He paused for a moment -
 
 
 
"You -- never noticed that your heart suffering even more from those people's pain and worries."
 
 
 
"..........."
 
Chikage kept silent in the face of Akatsuki's speculation. Even thought silence was tantamount affirming his words, she had no other choice. Chikage Izumi did not have the words to refute.
 
"You are trying fill the gap inside some else heart, but it's not easy. In order to meet their needs you have to constantly make changes, even if it is not true to yourself....."
 
Akatsuki paused here.
 
"......Listening to someone bare their soul, even if that someone is a girl, your friendship can gradually metamorphosis into love, also isn't strange. At that time, you should of struggled with your true feelings. However -- You still decided to meet the needs of those girls, because they need you to. It was not to fill loneliness in your own heart."
 
Chikage silently listened to Akatsuki's reasoning, and not contested until now:
 
"Althought it is quite an interesting story.......it's all in your head. Is there any reliable evidence?"
 
"We are talking about a person's thoughts and feelings, of course, there is no conclusive physical evidence. But when you take in account previous events, they can be used as a reference."
 
So Akatsuki revealed his reasoning:
 
"First, out of all your classmates, the first person you actively spoke to was me and Miu. During my entrance exam, I caused a huge disturbance. The others students would naturally shun us, but you were the only one willing to talk to us."
 
"I simply did not have the heart to, that's all..... there was no other meaning."
 
Chikage averted her gaze.
 
"Is it so? In my eyes, the other students attitudes were normal. Class B already understands what it was like have a problem child, Onizuka. I clashed with the student council president Kyoya Hikami, obviously I was a more troublesome character than Onizuka. Any normal student would not want to get involved with me, yet you tried to advised us 'It's best not get involved with Onizuka' -- however, you were aware that I was probably more of problem child than him."
 
Why was that?
 
"The reason was simple, we were newcomers to Babel unfamiliar with the school rules. If you could get close, you would definitely obtain the sense of being needed. So you, called out to us."
 
"......"
 
"Conversely, you most likely kept your distance from the people who didn't need you. Therefore when the semester started you would be independent, and alone could help Class Rep. However, after Miu became a mutual friend Class Rep opened her heart troubles to you. With them counting on you naturally your friendship developed rapidly.
 
"...... Akatsuki."
 
"The Vice President as well. When she first arrived in Alayzard Haruka insisted on neutrality, and would not listen to our reasoning. So you completely ignored her. However by fighting together in that war, and the matter when I almost lost my life was the turning point for you and Haruka to become close. After coming back to this world from Alayzard, both of yours relationship has improved a lot."
 
"...... Enough, Akatsuki."
 
Don't say any more -- Chikage was pleading in her mind to him.  
 
Please don't reveal my weak side.
 
In the next room we were able to establish a new bond. Wasn't that enough? However, Akatsuki won't stop here. Izumi Chikage knew better than anyone else why that was.
 
If he choose to stop here, she will continue to wear a mask.
 
Then one day in the future she will be left with tears of regret.
 
Akatsuki will stop them now -- her future tears.
 
So he will continue.
 
"Next you will continue to be the diplomatic person you were up til now. Maintaining the same distance from everyone equally, and one-sidedly hear their worries. For you, maybe it would be easy to do, but unfortunately the sense of distance will suddenly come back into your life. You have suffered enough for others the rest --"
 
One breath.
 
"-- Is ours."