Several months have passed since that night Maria stormed off. In school, Danzo had no issue returning to his normal routine, albeit the environment was different. The other kids would blatantly gossip about his cold demeanor, and for some reason, they became a bit bolder about it, not even trying to hide their mocking tones. During his free periods, he would just revise notes at his desk and eat lunch alone. For the first couple of weeks, he still had the eerie feeling that Maria would interrupt him, but to his disappointment, she never appeared. On his way home, he would often bump into her, but when they saw each other, they barely acknowledged each other's presence.

  It has been a month or so since his parents last sent a letter to him. He wasn’t bothered by it as he felt he had already said goodbye to them long ago. Now it was just waiting to leave home. His training, in contrast, progressed smoothly. While he wasn’t able to compress the blood like he had hoped, he instead was able to strengthen the structure, strong enough to form firm shapes and push over objects without leaving a stain behind. As the weeks progressed, he noticed the money being sent to him slowly decline. Unsure what to make of it, he did his best to spend it wisely.

  On a cold morning, Danzo wakes up and suddenly feels a chill down his spine. Ugh, what is that? He quickly stands up, but suddenly the world goes skew for a couple of seconds. Catching himself, he feels weak and colder than usual. Is it winter already? Looking out his bedroom window, the sun is shining brightly, and the people walking past are wearing light clothing. No, it must be me. Quickly looking at the time, he realizes his next class is in thirty minutes.

  With no time to lose, he prepares himself for the day. Pushing past the vertigo and weakness, he takes a sip of cold medicine and puts on his winter uniform. He quickly runs out of the house and, with immense struggle, reaches the school an hour late. Upon walking past the school gate, he fell to one knee as his body felt heavy. What is going on with me?! Focusing on his body, he forces himself to stand up and walk inside. The hall monitor catches him and gives him a ticket for being late and for wearing the wrong uniform. Upon reaching his class, he steels his nerves and abruptly opens the door.

  “Danzo Yamamoto, reporting for duty!” He shouts firmly. After a brief moment, he quickly notices everyone staring quietly at him in surprise.

  Ms. Delia breaks the silence and says, “I will speak to you after class, Yamamoto. For now, please take your seat and pay attention.”

  “Sir, Yes, Sir!” He says, although he is unsure why he is responding like so. As he makes his way to his seat, he notices some of the students turning around to their friends to say something. As he sits down, the world finally settles, but the cold still lingers.

  After class, Ms. Delia, with concern evident on her face, points to a chair near her and says, “Danzo, please take a seat.”

  He obeys and slowly sits on the chair; the symptoms from the morning are weaker.

  She looks around before slightly leaning in, in a hushed tone, “Is everything alright at home?”

  “Yes. Everything is fine. Why do you ask?” He responds confused.

  “Well, lately you have been coming to school more pale, often late, and now are behaving unusually.”

  “No, everything is alright. I'm just a little sick today,” he responds, failing to waive suspicion.

  “Well, I would accept that, but it's not my only concern. You spend all your time in class alone and don't speak to anyone. What happened to you and Maria? Are you no longer friends?”

  His eyes look away from her, trying to stop himself from remembering what happened that night. “Everything is fine. We just…we just drifted. That's all.”

  Unsure of what to say, Ms. Delia leans back and finishes, “I understand, but I wish to speak to your parents.”

  Danzo suddenly sits up in surprise and tries to refuse, “Wait, I-” but before he could finish, she interrupts him.

  “No, buts. I will be visiting your home tomorrow evening. Please ensure that either one of your parents is aware and there. Both, please.”

  “But-”

  “No excuses, Danzo. I will see you tomorrow. Have a good evening,” she finishes, ending the conversation. Unable to argue further, Danzo leaves, worried about the day after.

  After an arduous journey, he finally reaches his home. Before he can close the door, he catches a glimpse of Maria returning from school. She is surrounded by her friends who are happily chatting away before saying goodbye. Danzo closes the door, not giving much thought to the issue. Finally at home, he collapses to the floor, his willpower and body at their limits. With what little strength he can muster, he begins crawling to the bathroom, desperately wanting to warm his body up.

  What is wrong with me?! He slowly closes his eyes, feeling a strong yet gentle sense of exhaustion wash over him. His mind calms down as he drifts off to sleep, not enough energy to muster even a thought.

  He opens his eyes slowly. The sun was peeking through the door, and the laughter and chatter of people passing his home could be heard quietly outside. Sitting upright, Danzo feels cold but a little stronger. Looking around, he gathers his thoughts. Did I sleep here?... What is happening to me?… He looks at his arms and notices his skin has a tinge of red in it. Up until now, he has slowly gotten used to his pale skin. Was I using too much blood? He only realises now that his training regime was too excessive. Clenching his fist, he drags himself to the kitchen, school being the furthest thing on his mind. Still feeling weak, he makes himself an early lunch and slowly eats it, forcing the food into his mouth.

  After eating, Danzo spends the rest of his time resting and preparing for the teacher's arrival. He considered running, but in his current condition, he would not make it far. He next considered telling the teacher the truth, but they could send him to an orphanage or try to contact his parents or relatives, neither of which he wants. He finally came to a decision. Although it was the simplest of the options, he will pretend no one is home. To prepare, he closes all the curtains and makes sure nothing would give away his presence. To wrap things up, he takes a note, writes on it: “Sorry, we aren’t home. We had a family emergency and will only be back next month. -The Yamamotos” and sticks it on the front door. Now all he has to do is wait.

  Several hours later, the house becomes darker as the sun begins to set. Danzo lies in his bed, staring at the ceiling and fighting off the occasional chills. He hears the quiet chatter of people passing by his home. Hearing a mixture of adults talking and children shouting. After an hour, the surroundings become quiet as everyone has already reached their homes. Sitting up, he exhales. I was worried for nothing. He stands up and concludes that she must have forgotten or is too busy. Taking it as a sign, he decides that attending school would just draw attention to his situation. Finally letting his guard down, he gets ready to take a shower.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  Danzo realises he celebrated too soon as he hears the knocking on the door. Damn it, did the note fall off the door? The knocking continues.

  “Excuse me for the intrusion, but it’s Ms. Delia from Danzo’s school!” Ms. Delia Shouts at the door.

  After no response, she suddenly quiets down. Danzo then hears footsteps as she walks away from the house. Surprised by how well the plan worked, Danzo subtly peeks through the curtain. He notices her walking to the house across. To Maria’s house. Damn it! I’ll need to hide!

  After several moments, Ms. Delia returns with Maria behind.

  “That’s strange. I just saw Danzo yesterday.” Maria says as she looks at the note on the door. “Family emergency?”

  “It’s really unfortunate timing, right?” Ms. Delia sighs and shakes her head before continuing, “Thank you for coming with me, but all I wanted to know was if you saw him, Maria.”

  “No, it's not that. It’s just that his mom and dad have been in Quillvet for months.”

  “What?!” The teacher responds in shock, “How horrible.” She begins knocking again, this time with more concern. “Danzo, please open up. I only want to talk!”

  Maria turns around and picks up a small stone by the mail box, “It’s pointless. He’s too stubborn to ask for help.” She turns it around and pulls out a key that was embedded underneath it. A trick she saw Danzo use when he forgot his keys one time during summer. “His mom and dad have been sending him money for the past couple of months.” She places the key in the door and effortlessly unlocks it.

  Maria walks inside, and Ms. Delia carefully follows behind her. “How do you know all of this?” She asks.

  As Maria looks around, she bitterly responds, “I’m just nosy, that's all.” They search each room and cupboard, even checking behind doors, but after several minutes, they are unsuccessful. “Where could he be?” Maria says to herself while searching Danzo’s room.

  “I don’t think it’s necessary for us to be rooting through his personal belongings, Maria,” Ms Delia says nervously as she watches from the hallway.

  “We need to be thorough. Can’t let any clue slip by,” Maria says as she forcefully pulls open a drawer, breaking the weak lock.

  “Alright then,” Ms. Delia responds as she is unsure what to make of her students' behavior. “Well, I’m going to check the surroundings to see if he is hiding outside, Maria. Please shout if you find something.” Maria nods in acknowledgement before Ms. Delia leaves.

  Maria takes the opportunity to dig through Danzo’s drawers that he purposefully kept her away from. Searching the top one, she finds his toy that she broke when they were younger. “Honestly thought he threw this away,” she smirks. Underneath it is a drawing she made for him for his birthday. Although it was evident on his face that he didn't like it when he received it, she smiles a little as she stares at it. “Such a weirdo. And he said it was garbage.” She notices the sauce stain on the edge of the drawing and smiles a bit more. Probably from when he tried to throw it away.

  She continues digging through his desk drawer, finding more of the stuff she gave him. After satisfying her curiosity by violating every aspect of her friends' privacy, she feels more motivated to find him. Although she told Ms. Delia she had searched every aspect of the house, there was one spot she didn’t tell her about. When they used to play hide-and-seek, there was one spot Maria found that even Danzo didn’t know about. It had been years since then.

  “I wonder where he could be,” Maria says to herself as she cheekily grins, her eyes drifting toward his cupboard. She takes a few steps toward the cupboard, “I already checked here, but I may as well check again.” She opens the cupboard doors again, only to find his clothes and shoes, but Danzo is still missing. “Ehhh, so weird, I swear we checked every corner of the house,” She gasps in fake surprise, “Unless there is a secret compartment I don’t even know about!”

  After she says that, her eyes immediately shift to the back panel of the cupboard. She slowly walks toward it and places her hands on the panel. Instead of immediately opening it, she sighs and takes a step back, “You know, it has been lonely without talking to you all this time. Half the time, when I saw you, I didn’t know whether to run up and hug you or knock you upright the head.” Finishing that, she steps away and sits on his bed, fixing her hair slightly. “Mom and dad spoke to me at length about it, telling me to speak to you, or maybe suplex you like a’ did las’ time,” She cuts herself off as she slightly chuckles, “As you can see, I still haven’t become a full-fledged lady. Still can’t stop my accent from slipping,” She pauses for a brief moment before continuing, contemplating her next words, “I honestly had to hold myself back. I shouldn’t be the one always crawling back and apologising. Or forcing you to apologise. Otherwise, we will just be going in circles again and again. So this time, I’ll wait for you a bit longer. Until you are ready to speak to me. I’ll wait here. For as long as it takes. And as long as you need.” She closes her eyes as she waits quietly in the room, hoping for a response from Danzo.

  She-...I-...I think-...What do I think?... I guess everything needs to come to an end.

  The wall opposite the cupboard suddenly slides open.

  “GYAAAAAAH!” Maria screams in surprise, “That’s where you were hiding?!”

  Danzo stands there quietly and looks at her, ignoring her reaction. After a couple of seconds, Ms. Delia and Maria’s parents rush into his room.

  “Maria, are you alright!” Vito, Maria’s fathers, asks as he steps inside.

  Recollecting herself, she clears her throat, “Yes, I just didn't expect Danzo to sneak up on me like that.”

  Tearing her attention away from Maria, Ms. Delia focuses on the young boy, “Danzo! We were looking everywhere for you!” She quickly walks toward him and crouches, “Are you alright? Maria told me about your parents, and surviving this long, my word, I don't even know where to begin!”

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  “We knew about Luke and Orin’s long trips and leaving Danzo behind, but we didn’t realize it would go this far,” Elizabeth, Maria’s mother, responds worriedly as she stands next to her daughter. Hearing this, Vito looks away and scratches his head, immediately drawing his wife’s attention. “Vito? I hope for your sake it's ‘we’,” she sternly says as a serious expression forms across her face.

  “Wellllll…” he awkwardly responds, “Maria told me about the situation a while ago.” Danzo shoots Maria a sharp look, to which she infamous expression that says, ‘Was that me?’ when caught. “To give the full story, I’ve actually been the one checking his mailbox daily. I dare not open the letters, but at one point, I started having to leave money there.” Upon hearing this, Danzo could feel his pulse tighten and the world begin to tilt again, his mind racing with thoughts and fearing the worst.

  ”I also-” before continuing, Vito immediately notices Danzo’s expression. It was that of someone barely keeping it together, someone using all reason to stop himself from breaking down. After reconsidering his words, he continues, “I noticed the letters stopped coming through. So as a good neighbour, I travelled to Quillvet to check up on them. It seems the bills went up, and your mom barely has any time to write letters. She asked us to keep an eye on you and make sure to help whenever, even giving us some of the letters to hold you for a couple of months.” The room goes silent for a moment as Danzo processes this. During this, Vito shoots Ms Delia and Elizabeth a concerned look, as if he is uncomfortable with something.

  After a minute, Danzo sighs and slumps his shoulders. Looking down, he finally speaks, “So what is going to happen now?”

  Ms. Delia looks at Elizabeth and Vito, unsure what to say, “Well, it looks li-”

  Before Ms Delia could continue, Elizabeth interrupts her, “Well, as Luke and Orin wanted, he will be under our care from now on.”

  Everyone looks at her in surprise, taken aback by her suggestion. Reeling from the surprise, Ms. Delia blurts, “Wait, are you serious?! Is that allowed?”

  “I don’t see why not. Danzo could either stay with us, and we will watch over him.” She pulls out the letter from Orin with her signature, “As you can see in this letter, she already approved of us taking care of him, even requesting it.”

  Ms. Delia quickly scans the letter, surviving the brutal bombardment of words from Elizabeth, “We have known him since he was born, and our daughter is good friends with him. We are more than willing to accommodate him.” Ms. Delia looks at Vito and Maria for help, but as if in sync, they both give an awkward look and give a small wave.

  After several moments, Ms. Delia looks defeated and says, “I suppose then, if Danzo is fine with it, then I won’t have a problem.”

  Everyone in the room turns to the boy. The adults stare at him, waiting for a response, while Maria has an excited look on her face, a look he missed. After taking a second to prepare himself, he gives a slight nod and answers, “I am fine with it.”

  “YAY!” Maria shouts as she jumps in excitement upon hearing his answer.

  “Then it's settled. I'll prepare the second room for you, but for tonight, we will just figure out where you'll sleep,” Vito says with a smile, “just grab some stuff for tonight, and we can come back to grab it later.”

  Danzo gives a weak nod in agreement. Maria's parents and Ms. Delia move to the hallway in the meantime to continue the rest of their conversation while Danzo begins to collect some of his belongings. New start, huh. I'm going to need to figure out my training schedule and monitor my blood usage better. Is mom and da- his thoughts are interrupted as he notices his broken desk drawer. Feeling a sudden surge of shock flow through his body, he slowly turns toward Maria, still sitting on his bed.

  She holds the drawing up, and a grin appears on her face, “Garbage, huh?”

  He defeatedly sighs, wishing he had chosen a different spot to keep his personal belongings. “It's good to speak to you again,” He says to her, giving a gentle smile.

  “Finally admit you miss me? But what should I do,” she suddenly stands up and places her hand on her chin, as if thinking.

  This is fair. I was quite brutal to her when we last spoke.

  “Oh, what should I do? You were so mean to me…” Maria continues, milking the opportunity for all its worth.

  Danzo remains composed, albeit becoming more impatient as she continues. She can reel it in now; she made her point.

  “I don't think my heart has healed yet. I don't know if I will ever be able to speak to you again.”

  A sharp feeling of annoyance passes through Danzo. Why did I miss her? “Never mind, we can go back to not talking again.” He bluntly replies to her as he leaves his room.

  Caught off guard, Maria's facade begins to slip, “Huh, wait, I was just kidding,” it's too late as Danzo has already left the room. She quickly runs out after him, shouting, “It was a joke! A joke! I'm sorry! I forgive you!” She catches him and grabs onto his arm.

  Danzo's patience finally running out, “Let go, Maria! You're too heavy!” He shouts as he tries to free himself.

  “Rude! Who says that to a lady!” She retorts as Vito watches the ensuing chaos, while Ms. Delia and Elizabeth are busy ironing out the details.

  “Eh, you really need to get in shape if you're struggling with her of all people,” Vito comments as he watches him struggle with his daughter.

  “Hmmm?” Danzo pauses after hearing Vito's words. He takes a quick look at his body and notices that, besides the pale skin, he barely has any muscle on him, even for a boy his age. How much have I let myself go?

  After overcoming the shock of his condition, Danzo finishes packing and leaves for Maria's house with her family. It was hard to feel comfortable with his decision, but he saw no other choice. Either he would gradually decline alone, or he should accept help. After saying goodbye to a worried Ms. Delia, Danzo enters their home for the first time in months.

  Compared to his own house, theirs was much neater. The walls were decorated with pictures of Maria and her family. Looking into the living room, it seemed the television was tiny next to the bookshelf that covered the whole wall. Danzo sensed it was used more by Elizabeth than the other two residents. As he took in the rest of the house, he felt a mix of simplicity and calmness, a feeling his home would never quite match.

  “Welcome to our home, Danzo,” Elizabeth warmly greets as Danzo sets his bags down. “It looks like Vito is still preparing the guest room, but for now, you can sleep in the living room.” The couch looked comfortable enough for him to stay on.

  While setting up his bed on the couch, Maria comes from the kitchen with a smile, “Hey! We are having dinner! Come, Come!”

  Before Danzo can answer, she disappears to the kitchen. Putting his preparations on hold, he follows her to find Elizabeth and Maria waiting at the table, Vito nearly done preparing the meal. Turning to Maria, she points to a seat she saved for him, making it hard for him to ignore. Taking his seat, it takes but a couple of moments before Vito is done preparing tonight's meal. “And now for a Vito Howell signature dish, I present Taste De Poweruscion!”

  He serves a healthy yet delicious savoury dish, more delicious than Danzo had ever been served.

  Elizabeth closes her eyes and sighs, “Those aren’t words, dear.”

  Vito pouts jokingly as he serves her, saying, “It's Vitonese, Liz. A new language I made up.”

  “Poweruscion! Poweruscion! Poweruscion!” Maria chants as Vito serves her, the drool escaping her mouth.

  “Dear, please be careful with what you say. Remember what happened to Maria’s last language score because of the ‘Specularitastic’ incident?” She replies.

  Vito serves Danzo’s portion before responding, “Pfft, how can you call yourself a language teacher if you can’t comprehend the beauty of Vitonese?” Danzo notices that Vito is giving him an extra helping.

  “Wha-, no fair! How come he gets more!” Maria complains.

  Vito places the pot in front of him as he sits next to Danzo, “Didn’t you tell me he wanted to be a Slayer. If he wants to kick ass, he will need more muscle!” Vito laughs as he gives a slight slap to Danzo’s back. Unfortunately, this causes Danzo to spill the drink he was holding, leading to Elizabeth shooting a stern look at Vito. “Heh, heh, my bad…” He chuckles nervously as he fetches a napkin.

  “Please forgive us, Danzo. We are not used to having company over, as you can see,” Elizabeth apologetically tells Danzo.

  “It’s alright. I’m used to Maria’s shenanigans,” Danzo says, unsure how to react to everything.

  “Mean!” Maria and Vito say in unison as Vito returns with a cloth, Elizabeth giving a slight chuckle at his response.

  “Alright, now that the mess has been cleared and the mood is good, time to dig in!” Vito announces.

  As soon as Maria takes a bite, she gives an expression of joy.

  “Mm! This is well done, Dear!” Elizabeth says smilingly.

  Vito gives a proud smile before, “Now, now. You embarrass me with all this praise.”

  Turning to his plate, Danzo takes a bite as well. As he bites into it, a burst of vivid flavors explodes in his mouth. The texture and taste blend into something indescribable. Whether it's due to hunger or because he's used to sandwiches, he's never tasted anything so wonderful before in his life. Suddenly, he starts digging into the food like a ravenous yet composed beast, making sure not to make a mess.

  “Careful, Dany. You don't want to choke,” Maria nervously says as she watches him eat, her parents watching him with a smile.

  After dinner, Danzo washes himself and prepares for bed. As he does so, Maria sits on the couch and chats with him. Vito and Elizabeth busied themselves in their room, preparing to turn in for the night.

  “...Then Kate was found hiding in the bathroom on her phone. It was pretty embarrassing,” Maria laughs as she recounts the story of her friends getting in trouble.

  “Knew it was going to be a matter of time,” Danzo responds as he finishes preparing his spot to sleep on.

  “Ehh, but I thought they hid it really well. Didn’t expect them to be caught like that,” she responds disappointingly.

  Before Danzo could sleep, he needed some water. As soon as he stands up, the world starts to tilt, and he loses some control in his legs. He falls on his right knee and grabs the couch for balance. Noticing this, Maria stands up in surprise, “Dany, are you okay?!” she asks worriedly.

  “Yes, I am alright. I just went too far with my training, is all,” Danzo answers as he slumps to the floor. He then asks Maria, “Sorry, could you get me some water?”

  Maria gives a worried nod before leaving. She returns with a large bottle of water and hands it to a confused-looking Danzo. After giving him the bottle, she sits next to him, “It’s unfortunate that blood control thingy takes so much of a toll on you.”

  After struggling to take a sip, he rests the bottle on his leg and answers, “It’s alright, I have gotten used to it. The progress I have made…I think I am more than ready to use it in battle.”

  “Have you been making sure to take breaks in between? You know it takes like a month to get your blood back to normal, right?” She answers, surprising Danzo.

  “I know, I know bu- How do you know that?” Danzo replies, realising something is off with her depth of knowledge.

  Maria suddenly looks away and nervously answers, “I-Is it really surprising for me to read up on this kind of stuff? You know information and ways to gather it are exponentially-”

  Danzo realises that Maria is hiding something, and his expression becomes serious, “Maria, I know you’re flunking biology. You definitely didn’t learn about this on your own.”

  “Wha- you were keeping track of my test scores! Creepy!” She answers in shock.

  Danzo places his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from escaping, “Don’t change the topic. Who did you tell? You can trust me not to get mad,” He says, giving a smile that failed to hide the anger behind his expression.

  “Liar! That’s what you say when you’re going to confiscate my sweets!”

  “Maria…”

  Finally caving in, she weakly responds, “I told my dad about it…”

  Danzo smilingly sighs and lets go of her shoulder, “I had a fee-”

  “I also told him about when you called Ms. Delia ‘mom’…” She continues unprompted.

  Danzo is caught off guard by the further reveal, “What?”

  “I also told him about when I borrowed your calculator without telling you, which was indirectly the reason you also failed last month's math test.”

  “That was you…”

  “I also told the person handing out free samples I would buy their products next time, but I was only interested in the samples and never bought their stuff.”

  “Everybody does that!” Danzo says as the topics are becoming irrelevant.

  “Really, so I can still eat more samples from them?!” She answers in excitement.

  “That's borderline shameless- Wait, wait, we are getting off-topic,” Danzo says before they get further away from what Danzo was curious about. “As I was saying, I had a feeling since your father knew about me wanting to be a Slayer.”

  Maria looks up in surprise upon hearing Danzo’s response, “Eh, really? Am I forgiven then?”

  “Yes. If it were anyone else, then it would be a problem, but I don’t mind your parents knowing.” Upon hearing that, Maria relaxes as if unburdened.

  The two continue to chat happily with one another, catching up on the time they had lost together. After an hour or so, Elizabeth interrupted their conversation, telling them to head to bed. But before that could happen, Danzo could feel something still weighing on him and kept thinking about what she said. Stopping Maria, Elizabeth reads the room and gives them five more minutes.

  After Elizabeth leaves, Danzo turns to Maria, who is a bit confused and visibly nervous, making sure not to waste the opportunity, he takes a deep breath and speaks, “Ummm, Maria…about what you said in my room…”

  “Oh, that…i-it was nothing…” She nervously blurts as she begins to blush.

  “It wasn’t. You’re right about what you said. I…at some point, need to own up to the times when I was wrong. I wasn’t strong enough to handle the feeling of being left alone by my own parent. I guess that after some time, I deluded myself into thinking more and more that it would make me stronger.”

  He pauses before continuing, contemplating his next words. “If you never hung out with me, I often wondered, ‘would I even have anyone in my life?’. I know I am cold and off-putting. Sometimes, I wonder if my parents were put off by that.”

  He pauses again before continuing, the words still cutting deep. He looks at her and says, “I’m sorry for what I said that day…these past couple of months made me understand how important you are to me…I-... From now on…Could you always be by my side, and can I always be by yours? I’ll try to be better for your sake andl be more honest.”

  Upon saying that, Maria’s face turns bright red, and a muffled squeal sound comes from the hallway. Did I say something weird?

  “We-we-well, Yeppity, yep, yep. That is super fine with me,” Maria responds after a couple of moments, shoots with finger guns. Weird, why is she so nervous? She quickly stands and does a lot of erratic stretches, “Well, that is how the time goes over the cold moon, I-I am off to bed to catch the sunnily wunnily.”

  Danzo looks at her, confused, “Are you alright, Maria?”

  “Yes, captain. I am off to the sunset, night night!” Upon saying that, Danzo hears some footsteps from the hallway scatter before Maria goes to her room, leaving Danzo alone and bewildered by what just happened.

  “Okay?” He says to himself.