Modern Dating: A Practical Guide

To Date or Not to Date

"It's not that bad."

"It's bad," Nagisa shakes his head vehemently.

Sugino just sighs. "At least a lot of people agree with you?"

"Just as many people are freaking out over the whole thing." Nagisa straightens, though. "It's not like I even really give them weapons! Not like the guns we used to have. But we turned out fine, right?"

He bites his lip. "Well..."

Nagisa raises an eyebrow. It's not a threat. At least, not really.

Sugino seems to give up. "Given the apocalypse... It could have been worse."

"That's my point!" Nagisa nods, mostly affirming himself at this point. "At least I'm not threatening to murder their entire families or blow up the planet or anything!"

"Korosensei was quite something," Sugino smiles fondly. "I guess we knew when he was just messing with us."

"...Right?"

Something in his demeanour straightens. "You're doing the right thing by laying low though... probably. I don't know. They talked about it in media training but I haven't had to use it yet."

Of course, Sugino's job isn't purely about the game, as much as he probably wishes it was. There are certain responsibilities that come with being a sort of public figure. It's not like it is with Kayano or anything, where she has to go disguised pretty much anywhere, but the odd person wants to shake Sugino's hand or something every now and then. Sugino doesn't seem to mind, from what Nagisa can tell, but it's definitely not a major motivation. Still, it makes sense that he'd be prepared on how to handle a scandal, along with the hungry journalists that came with it. Nagisa even had a briefing on this, once, back when the Korosensei story was just made public. They all did.

"A part of me just wants to set the record straight," he admits.

Sugino smiles sympathetically. "It'll die down."

His lips press together. "Karma thinks it's hilarious."

"He would," Sugino rolls his eyes, before coughing awkwardly. "How is..." he just hand gestures, dropping off the rest of his statement.

Nagisa's not sure how to respond for a moment, the discomfort from his friend more than obvious. He's just asking because he thinks it's polite, probably... Nagisa knows it's weird, from an outsider's perspective. What, they're not talking, and a few hours later they're suddenly together? It was a messy situation... it still feels that way, sometimes.

"Good," he settles on. "We're... good. It's not that different to before."

Sugino nods. "Good."

He swallows, though, finding it surprisingly difficult. "I like him a lot," it slips out of him quietly.

Sugino hums. "I know. Maybe even longer than you have, by the sounds of it."

Nagisa looks at him curiously. "Huh?"

He rubs his temples. "It's always been different for you, right? Even back in 3E. History or no history, the way you used to act around each other... it's nothing like how you look at me, for example. It always felt like he was just... different, in your eyes." He shrugs. "I mean, I don't know. But it's not exactly surprising to me."

Even back then? "Oh," Nagisa says.

Sugino straightens up, though, a relaxed smile on his face. "That stuff doesn't really matter, anyway. As long as you're happy, right?" His eyes drift to his wrist. "I wish I could hang out longer, but..."