It makes who right? was the question that hung heavy in her mind while she watched Emi's back, the line of his shoulders as she followed him. Anger had been Chou's liberation, in a way, but maybe that was only because it was the opposite of what anyone had expected from her. The perception Emi had been up against must have been of a different nature.

The most obvious conclusion, if getting angry about being hurt was supposed to prove whoever had hurt him right... well, maybe there had been people somewhere who thought Emi was dangerous, somehow. Her gaze flicked up to his spiked hair, the blond catching lamp light. It was sort of a delinquent style, now that she thought of it--no, she was sure she'd even had that thought before, if only in passing. But Emi himself was too calm and gentle to really fit a stereotype like that; it didn't work.

That thought clicked something into place, in the back of her mind, but Chou pushed away the urge to examine it further. She'd been assuming big things about Emi for almost as long as she'd known him, and she should really give him a chance to lay things out the way he wanted.

By the time she had slipped up to stand beside him, folding her hands on the railing, she knew which question to ask first. Her eyes were trained on him, even after he looked away. "What's so bad about people like you?"