The words left Yuuta's mouth before he could stop them, tumbling out like stones released from a collapsing wall.
"I want to learn aura."
The kitchen fell silent.
Erza's hand paused mid-reach for her glass. Her violet eyes, which had been fixed on the curry rice cooling before her, lifted slowly to meet his.
She blinked once, as if she had misheard, as if the sounds that had left his lips could not possibly have arranged themselves into that particular order.
"…What?" The word came out flat, disbelieving.
"I am sorry. What did you just say?"
Yuuta did not look away.
His red eyes, still faintly glowing from the earlier confrontation, held hers with an intensity that made something in her chest tighten.
"I want to learn aura."
He said it again, slower this time, more deliberate, as if testing the weight of each syllable. The words sat between them on the table like a challenge.
