Tsukasa's words fell flat. It was barely even greeting, just a pointed observation. However, it was worlds kinder than the pointed way he used to brush Rui aside months ago. Of course, it was still worlds cooler than his initial kindness, and the noted tone of indifference on a usually so expressive face was still rather . . . alien. Even Tsukasa felt it was strange, how the burning anger of a lie came to light was burning out into a sort of numbness. He supposed that meant he was getting over it, but there was an ache where the anger should've been, as if he missed its absence. As if . . .
oh . . . i know what it is. it's too much like an empty home. i don't like it, at all.
Tsukasa shrugged, a ritual to dispel both the thought and the feeling, but almost a declaration as well. As if to say, your presence invokes nothing, as if Rui was just a stranger. It was perhaps a worse punishment, Tsukasa thought, to know there was no impact to have been made or if the slate had been wiped clean.
He should probably try to arrest him ; Tsukasa knew that, but at this point, there really was no hurry. He had let Rui come and go so many times without so much as a fight. What's the pain in letting him get away once more? It all felt like too much routine. He almost considered arresting him anyway, for the sake of something different, but he decided not to. Rui didn't come around without reason nowadays.
" you're getting rather bold. i can't tell if that's reckless or courageous. well -- i suppose that's my fault. if i had bothered to stop you before, i'd be seeing you a lot less. " whether that's a curse or a blessing, i can't say. " what's your business this time? have i stumbled upon you committing to another scheme of yours, or are you out looking to beg for my forgiveness again? i can't say either way is going to go very well for you. "
The coolness of his last words did not escape him, but the tonality didn't lack its bite. It was a harsh, but true statement. There was no need to dress it up in anything more, though somehow . . . that made him feel worse.
Rui shouldn't have gotten so attached to someone like Tsukasa in the first place.
In many ways, it's his own fault for not remembering what always tends to happen when he starts getting to know someone. It's even more his own fault for not considering the repercussions---naturally, the nice charade that kept the two of them together wouldn't have been able to be sustained forever, even if Rui could have cleverly kept it up for a long while.
Even despite the lies Rui piled onto himself, it was nice. Tsukasa had been one of very few people to face him head-on and accept him as he was. And now...
"Tsukasa-kun." Rui speaks flatly, with a small smile. "It's good to see you again. No, I don't particularly feel like begging for forgiveness today."
It would almost sound antagonistic, were it not for the lack of any sort of emotion on his voice. Rui misses Tsukasa the most when he's standing right in front of him, these days, and that deep hole in his chest makes it hard for him to even put up a front. Tsukasa used to give him boundless energy to tease, to bite---now he does nothing but take it.
It's not his fault, of course. It's mine, for getting involved with him in the first place.
"Coming here was a habit and nothing else, so I don't have any schemes to treat you to either. My apologies; I know you've always liked them." That sentiment is more bitter now than it ever has been. If he focuses, Rui can almost taste the words in his mouth, still.
He really had only come out of habit, but...
"... I'd like to talk to you plainly. In the event you decide not to arrest me, of course. In that case, I'll run away."