"Just like him..." Middle age was bad in that way—people tended to reminisce at the drop of a hat, and Gin Dojima was no exception. As he looked at Sogo Doma, he too sank into his memories.
If it had been a beautiful girl—well, even if not a beautiful girl, but a beautiful middle-aged woman reminiscing about him—Sogo Doma might have accepted it. But when the person looking at him wistfully became a muscular old man, all he felt was wave after wave of chills. So:
"Brother, could you restrain yourself a little?"
"Phew..." Perhaps because he had been rejected, Gin Dojima sighed. "Don't overthink it. I was just wondering whether geniuses all had strange quirks. Joichiro was like that back then, and now you're the same..."
Could Sogo Doma say that he simply did not want to destroy the world?
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Fortunately, before he could say anything, Gin Dojima turned serious.
"Hm?"
"Since you taught Miss Toka, you must have noticed it too, right?" Gin Dojima continued. "Shinomiya has been stagnant for a long time..."
"..." Could he say that he had not noticed a thing? Though Sogo Doma grumbled inwardly, he said aloud, "It was that obvious..."
"No wonder you made him lose face in public today. Unfortunately, Lady Erina doesn't understand that. She thought you..."
Sogo Doma: "..."
He had already given up, yet this could still be spun in his favor?
"It's fine. I'm used to being misunderstood anyway." He felt like he had transcended.
"Can't you be a little more honest?" Gin Dojima said, his face darkening. "Luckily, Hinako and the others noticed..."
"..." No wonder that woman had kept courting death earlier, even shouting that she would teach Kojiro Shinomiya a lesson. Still, Sogo Doma rolled his eyes.
"You