For the first time in a few days Watanuki remembered the strangeness of his current situation. Maybe it was because he always had Domeki around, but he had almost forgotten that almost nobody here knew him for more than a week. Back in Tokyo, he had Yuuko, Maru and Moru, Himawari, Zashiki-warashi and everyone else. The thought that someone could believe him capable of saying and doing such awful things made him sadder than he would admit to Domeki.
When Domeki told him about the clone's words, Watanuki was so shocked that he couldn't reply for a long while. He wanted to deny even thinking about those things, but there was enough truth in them that it was hard to pretend. It was true that he often complained about Domeki imposing on him and making him prepare his bento, and that he always seemed to appear when he could be alone with Himawari. And he never said thank you once, or apologized for calling him an idiot. But... to be honest... neither had Watanuki.
Watanuki shook his head vehemently. "Idiot," he said in a loud voice, trying to pretend his words hadn't bothered him. "If you were that much of a bother, I wouldn't be hanging around with you." Then he brought one hand to his eye, unable to look directly at Domeki. "And I never thought it was a mistake to take the spider's curse on me," he added more quietly.