[ Akira's quiet for a moment as he chews over that. Were his parents bad? Not by the standards of all the other parents in his life, all his friends parents. All the living ones seem pretty terrible. His seem a little worse than Ann's, in the grand scheme of things.

In the end -- and it's a disservice to them both, and he knows it -- he just glosses over the comment, because he doesn't feel like getting into the subject of his parents yet.

He still feels guilty, he supposes. About not being the son they wanted. About thinking so poorly of them. ]

I don't really know if I like being touched or not, honestly. But I know I like touching you, so it works out the same.