Stars and Fireflies

"..."

Aokiji silently lowered his head and met the gaze of someone looking up at him.

"Ah, young man."

One of his brows lifted slightly as he spoke softly. "Eavesdropping on someone talking to himself isn't a very good habit, you know."

"I've been standing here this whole time. You're the one who climbed over the railing and came over next to me, okay?"

Noah spread his hands innocently. "I'm a handsome young man in the bloom of youth. It's not like I'd be interested in some old man's self-pity and deliberately come over to eavesdrop, right?"

He was only twenty-eight, and people were already calling him an old man?

Aokiji fell silent. After a long while, he finally shook his head helplessly.

"Self-pity would be putting it too strongly. It's just that something I've always believed in suddenly feels rather meaningless..." He paused here. "How should I explain something like this to a brat like you... Young man, is there anything you've always persisted in?"

"Of course. There's a whole lot of it."

Noah thought for a moment, then answered earnestly, "For example, working out twenty hours every day, soaking my feet in hot water after every bath, drinking a cup of hot milk before bed every night..."

"That's not what I mean..." Aokiji rubbed his brow, suddenly feeling a headache coming on.

Gion had been right. This kid was more polite and courteous than anyone with strangers, but once he got familiar with someone, he started spewing nonsense, making it impossible to tell truth from lie.

Training twenty hours a day? What kind of person in this world could possibly do that...

"I mean in terms of conviction."

Aokiji reorganized his thoughts and looked at Noah. "Take justice, for example. Young man, it'll be carved onto your cape