Ren smiled a bit hopefully because maybe he would be able to actually use his ability to help someone and not work on it in a classroom setting. He loved practical application! The only problem, he wasn't sure if it would work. He had to really focus in class and couldn't have any distractions and Ren could really feel Micah's embarrassment wafe off of him like a bad smell.
In Ren's emotions invading his defenses comparison, embarrassment happened to be like a coat of oil or acid or some other chemical. It just got everywhere and made you feel kind of itchy. Ren would still rather deal with that emotion than fear or anger. He scratched at his elbow at this thought.
"I-I don't know," Ren admitted as his cheeks flushed. "Maybe I can talk to you and you're calm so you're not slipping through the floor and when you've stopped, I can block my own emotions. Um..." He bit his lip as he tried to feel calm. Just bring it out of nowhere, but the swampy feeling of embarrassment came at him full force now that he lowered his defenses talking about it.
"One sec... I need to calm. You're... ano... projecting!" Ren turned towards the door and walked through, shutting it. Doors always did shut emotions out for him, maybe more of a placebo effect. He shut his eyes and imagined a scenario in which he felt nothing but calm. Home in Tokyo. Playing on the computer as his mother cooked nearby. She was home and happy and the food smelled great. No worries. As he harnessed it, he thought of pushing the emotion outward, like it were a big cloud to share with everyone. He made the physical motion of this before he turned around, eyes still closed so he partially stumbled back into the room, hopefully bringing the aura of calm with him.