[Of course, these days, Souji has pretty much given up entirely on keeping an eye on the network. He couldn't bring himself to believe this world wasn't secretly hostile after everything that had happened so far, after the vines and the monster attack. Nossan had assured him that these things really were fairly rare compared to everything else, that he had experienced a lot of positive events, but Souji ... seemed to have just come in at a bad time.
However, the message to the network about what had happened had been something the two of them had agreed needed to be done: making themselves available for help (as many times as they had repeated this in the months they'd been there) and asking people for their input on the monster attack.
It was really bad timing, coupled with a lot of other things. It was part of why Souji was starting to doubt the intentions of the world even more.
He'd gotten up early that morning, far earlier than usual, and had slept in his own bed the night before more out of respect for Ian. He hadn't voiced why he was doing it or made it obvious that he knew what was going on. Souji had simply said he wasn't feeling well and was going to bed early. It was honest enough, but the easiest way to give Ian time alone, at least for a little bit, during such a vulnerable time.
Souji had skipped training (the first time he had done so since his recovery) to pick up a gift for Ian, which he had brought back to the Spirit Base with him. Carefully walking up behind the other, Souji wrapped one arm around his friend's shoulders, as gently as he could to avoid startling him, and set down a wrapped bundle of wisteria on the table in front of him.
He usually wasn't one for public displays of affection, but, well... there really wasn't anyone around other than their teammates and Souji was pretty sure they'd picked up on their shifting relationship by now.]