"Huh?" Yuichiro looked a little confused.
"There's a distance between people. No matter how close two hearts are, you can't know what the other person is thinking."
Tetsu no Sosuke said, "That's true even for brothers, for married couples, and for parents and children."
Yuichiro listened intently. "Then what do we do?"
"We have mouths." Tetsu no Sosuke smiled. "We can tell them. If you care about him, say so. Only when he hears it from you will he know, So Yuichiro doesn't hate me. My brother really cares about me... Otherwise, how could he know?"
"But that's so embarrassing." Yuichiro's face reddened.
Tetsu no Sosuke laughed, then said seriously, "Saving face matters, doesn't it? It's tied to a person's dignity. But when you're with family, what could you do that would cost you your self-respect? Would saying a few words to show you care, letting him know how you feel, really do that? I don't think so."
He paused. "And right now, this is about you and your brother. Someday you'll grow up, leave here, go out into the world, and meet a girl you like. Are you going to expect her to guess how you feel? If you don't tell her, how will she know? If I hadn't told my wife how I felt back then, we'd still be nothing more than acquaintances. For a relationship to grow, someone has to take the first step, and someone else has to respond. If neither person is willing to make a move, they'll never get anywhere."
He smiled again. "I seem to have gone off topic. You said you were curious about this, didn't you? If you'd like, I can teach you."
"Really?" Yuichiro had yet to take in everything Tetsu no Sosuke had said, but his eyes lit up.