Blaze finally seemed to sense that something was off. Tsubaki was quiet and reserved, but her silence now felt different. The young man first went into his bedroom and changed. He usually just slept in his boxers, but with a young lady in the house again, he couldn't just strut around in his underwear. Next he went to the bathroom and grabbed the first-aid kit.

"Tsubaki? Could we talk before we hit the hay?" Blaze sat on the couch, opening the kit and retrieving wraps and antibiotic ointment. In the lamp light, a semicircle of puncture wounds-- scars-- were quite visible. "Just a quick talk, changing your bandage, and going to bed."