[FIN] Let's Be Honest

[Akira Midoriyama]

Allowing her to push him back with no resistance from his side, he adjusted his balance before responding. "Maybe I can guess. But just to clarify, who is that one person who's holding you back?"

At her last comment, he shrugged. "Perfection is a matter of opinion. I'd thought you were fine just the way you were, and I'm pretty sure you did, too."  

[BlackFireKitsune]

"I never said holding back - you're putting words in my mouth again. I said the one at the top of the list who says I'm not perfect - I would've thought you'd know that. But, since you can't guess, it's me; the rest of the names on that list aren't mine, though, in case you thought they were," she added with a casual shrug, as if she wasn't talking about a list of people who had legitimately insulted her over her nonconformity.

"Well, you said it yourself before, didn't you? When you said both she and I had changed. You're right about me, I have changed. My opinions changed, too, and it's as simple as that," the brunette ended with another shrug, stuffing her single hand into her pocket. "I was fine the way I was before - but that's just it. Before. That obviously isn't the case anymore." She would've thought he'd realized that already, though, but perhaps not.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

He shook his head, still smiling. "You don't get it, Sera. That's my point; by saying you're not perfect, you're holding yourself back. You're the only one because, like you said, the rest of the people on that list don't matter." He waved a hand in a careless gesture. "I mean, if you already knew that and want to keep from returning to your old, confident self, that's your choice. But I just wanted to make sure you knew you had one."

Akira tapped his head with a finger. "The real change I see is the change up here. I know you can overcome the rest. It's your mentality that you're having trouble with. Why can't you be the way you were before? Does anyone treat you different?"  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She merely shook her head at him. "That's much easier said than done, and besides - I can't go back to being something that isn't there anymore." Her old self was little more than a ghost, at this point. Even if she did go back to acting and thinking like she did before, it wouldn't be the same. Nothing was the same.

"Seriously?" She asked, her tones becoming a little incredulous. "You're seriously asking me that? That's like asking if my hair is brown. Of course people treat me different. Almost everyone does," she said bitterly, her hand removing itself from her pocket to ball into a fist. The brunette seemed to realize this shortly after, and she reigned in her emotions with a sigh and relaxed her hand. "But, that's getting into the range of 's**t I don't want to talk about' that we seem to be unable to get away from," she said as she shrugged again, turning towards the exit once more. "Text me if you want, maybe you'll have better luck that way."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"No. But you can take what you liked about that version of yourself and reinvent a new one that's even better," he offered. "And I know it isn't easy. Believe me, I know. But it can be worth it."

Looking irked at her response, he sighed. "I mean the people that matter - if they've ever treated you like anyone other than their friend. But naturally if you're going to act like a different person, they'd have to treat you like one," he called after her, feeling frustrated.

Waving her off, he turned away. If she didn't want to see or hear what he was trying to show and tell her, he knew she wasn't going to. No amount of luck would change that, but at least he could say he'd tried.  

[BlackFireKitsune]

She had quite a few responses to his words, though she said none of them. He'd been done talking to her a while ago, which was why he left her originally. Staying any longer was completely unnecessary, for one thing, and for another the conversation continually diverged to topics she didn't want to even think about, let alone discuss. With a sigh, she grabbed her jacket on the way out and departed to go back home.