Shotarou has to remind himself that he killed his mentor. Without that, he thinks he would've killed this kid a lot sooner.
Really...how can one person be this useless?! Everything is new to this kid. (Phillip) Birds, squirrels, leaves – god one day it was grass! And then he just goes into this, this – trance thing and it'll be all he thinks about for days on end. It's frustrating! And he can't let him just wander around outside unsupervised or else Foundation X will get him, which is a whole other list of worries. So guess who gets to be on the receiving end of how the greenest grass grows the shortest? This guy.
"If I didn't need that kid to fight, I'd probably lock him up in the garage and forget about him." He doesn't mean it, of course, but there's only so much Shotarou can take without venting. (His brain is reminding him Phillip. Not 'kid', Phillip. That's what Boss named him.)
The lights flicker unnaturally. Shotarou groans. What had the brat – Phillip – gotten himself into this time?
When he comes down the steps, there's a smell in the air. Something's burning...burning?!
He storms in, trying to spot the fire. There's a whole lot of smoke and black marks and...why is that kid sucking on his palm?!
"What the – what happened in here?!"
He looks up at him with those big eyes and smiles. "Did you know that you can make omelets in the microwave and they will turn out fuller and fluffier than when you make them in a frying pan?" He goes back to sucking on his fingers.
Shotatou...he's blinking. This...this can't be real. "You – you tried to cook eggs in the microwave? Are you insane?! You can't do that! They blow up! Anybody can tell you that."
Phillip shrugs and pulls the hand away again. "Research trumps common knowledge. More often than not, common beliefs are nothing more than accepted anecdotes that have been passed down throughout one's culture."
This is one of those moments where Shotarou really wants to murder this...Boss really wouldn't like all the curse words running through his head at this moment. Suddenly Shotarou notices something. "Are you...did you burn yourself?"
Phillip doesn't even hide it – just nods in the affirmative.
Shotarou seriously thinks he feels his head just pop! "You idiot!" He crosses their small living room and grabs Phillip's wrist.
Phillip tugs back. "I'm fine. Salivary Epidermal Growth Factor, a polypeptide hormone, is one of the –"
"I don't care about Salivary whosits whatsits – come here!" He grabs Phillip even tighter and tugs him to the sink. He takes a small amount of satisfaction in the jump Phillip does in reaction to the ice cold water. Shotarou presses and prods at the skin and luckily enough, he didn't burn himself too bad. It'll blister, but it'll heal in a month at most.
He's bandaging the hand when he realizes the ki – Phillip – hasn't said a word since he tugged him up. Shotarou gives him a glancing look up and just as his character, Phillip is staring at him. It's not weird for once just...odd. "Why are you staring at me?"
"Is this what it's like?" Phillip asks.
Shotarou raises an eyebrow. This is how it always is. Now he'll ask something about seared flesh or the feel of water. "Is what like?"
"Having friends."
Shotarou is shocked, he pulls the gauze tight and Phillip winces. "What?"
Phillip, probably thinking that Shotarou is done, tried to take his hand back. Shotarou kept him still, so he continued. "I've read about friendship in the Gaia Library but...never being outside the Research Facility..." Phillip's face fell, only a little.
Shotarou blinked. "Never? Not even once?" Phillip just shook his head.
Oh, did Shotarou feel like a jerk. All Phillip had ever known was the logical and theories found in that library of his; he'd never put them in practice. No wonder he was so use – curious.
The bandaging as done. "Stay there." Shotarou crossed the room, approaching the radio. "Well, since you're going to live here now, you're going to have to live like a Fuuto citizen. And that means engaging in the usual customs." He flipped on the dial.
Sonozaki Wakana no Healing Princess!
As the music played, it seemed like a flip switch. Phillip's eyes...they were the biggest he'd ever seen. He...he waddled over to a new seat, eyes trained on the radio. Shotarou thought it might be from the thing itself, but passed over the thought. Phillip had a hand in making the memories – he had to have seen a radio before.
Hello everyone. I'm Sonozaki Wakana. I'm sending this to you today with 130% of my energy!
As Fuuto's beloved Princess Wakana talked, Phillip's smile came back. He was enthralled by the program. Shotarou laughed a little, sitting back and listening in only halfheartedly.
For once, he was happy to have Phillip here.