"Isn't this a bad time to talk about that?"
"Y-Yeah..."
You're talking about it right now. What is this guy, the king's personal barber? I'm not some cave you can confide your secrets in...
"Even if you know it's impossible, hearing a rumor like that still freaks you out, right?"
I reflexively understood what Tobe was trying to say.
"...Yeah, impossible."
I went along with Tobe out loud, while worrying that we were talking about completely different things.
He went straight for the heart of it, which surprised me a little, but looking at it another way, that was probably for the best.
"After that rumor started spreading, did Hayama... react at all?"
"Well... not really, I guess."
Tobe made baffled noises like, "Oh..." and "Hmm..." with a puzzled look on his face. As he jogged along slowly, he kept tilting his head, swaying left and right. It looked seriously dangerous. Finally, as if he had thought of something, he slapped his fist into his palm.
"If I had to say, it was probably that, right? More than Hayato himself, the people around him changed?"
"What?"
That was an unexpectedly sensible answer from Tobe, so I accidentally asked him to repeat himself. Tobe should be more Tobe-like. What was with you suddenly making a valid point? Quit acting all cool! Tobe needed to be more aware of the fact that he was Tobe. When he talked, he should throw in things like "hey," "whoa," and "right?" and be loud enough to annoy everyone. Otherwise, I couldn't tell it was Tobe-speak, and that was troubling.
Unfortunately, my prayer didn't reach heaven, and Tobe continued saying sensible things. Worse, because I had asked him about it, he explained in greater detail. Tobe was generally annoying as hell, but at times like this,