Pulling her book to his side, Kou rattled his right-hand fingers, and felt like he shouldn't be helping her at all. This was not the sort of company he kept, if he had it at all - he knew he would be getting something from this exchange, and that was to deal with Ikeda indirectly.
What he wasn't was rude in asking about that.
He flicked through the work and observed Kozue's handwriting. It was neat, very smooth - he had almost nodded appreciatively, except his gaze had caught the doodles of hearts and other stuff. Now his expression was blank. What could he say about that?
"Have you made plans for the future? Some day, this will be over. Maybe I'm a little too young to be asking, but I think it's a good thing to know."