[ the hit lands, but instead of akito shutting up in response to it, he stumbles a few steps forward, and presses against Ikki's chest. his fingers curl around his shirt, gripping on hard while his face rests against his lower chest. ]

--I don't want you to leave. I don't want you to disappear forever without me being able to tell you so many things but here seems like the weirdest of places to tell you. There's no real reason to, aside from-- I'm scared you'll never know. That you'll go back home, I'll still be there like I never left in the first place and things will go in a way that makes me unable to say it out loud.

Or maybe I will-- but what if that me isn't really 'me'? What if that person is a different me, and that's why time keeps going on and on without us noticing it? Like how Kazu came here first from a time way before Agito and I. Maybe we're not even real. Maybe home isn't real. Maybe nothing's real and--!

..but, Ikki-- Iloveyou, you know? I know you'll never, ever return it because you like girls and not boys like me, butIjustwantedyoutoknow that I really do! More than each of the stars in the sky, I really love you. [ he pauses, shoulders trembling. ] I'll-- I'll try not to bother you much, okay? Iwon'tevenkissyouanymoreifyoudon'twantmeto. But I just, Ineededtosayit, so you wouldn't disappear again without knowing.

[ --then he stops. finally. takes a deep breath, tries to curl himself closer to Ikki. ]