At first Aoi was too stunned by Shou's behavior to react; he couldn't believe that he was getting on his knees and bowing. Had Aoi really sounded so harsh? He hadn't meant to...he shot a glance at Mr. Nakajima, who was staring after Shou in horrified consternation.

It really shouldn't have mattered to either of them who the contest winner was--if Shou didn't want to do it, couldn't they have easily gotten someone else? That was Aoi's first thought, but as Shou approached the door he realized that he didn't want to find someone else. Shou was intriguing. Aoi was genuinely curious to see what kind of person he was.

"Hey, wait!" Aoi said, matching Shou's pace. "That isn't what I meant! It's just...would it just be for that class? It wouldn't wind up on the internet, or being used to sell something or anything?" He winced. "I mean, I know that might sound kind of strange, I let people use me to sell things all the time, but I still worry about what my image is being used for and who's seeing it. And most of that stuff is done with cameras. Drawings are different. When someone draws something they're supposed to bring out its essence, right? It's a little more..." He trailed off a little, realizing he was rambling and that he probably didn't even know what he was talking about. He had never been very good at art or drawing. "...more personal, I guess. I wouldn't mind as long it was just for you and this one class."