"Why do you always stand behind me?"

Miu tilted her head, trying to find an angle from which she could see JK as he draped himself over her shoulders, as he often did when he was feeling affectionate. It seemed like this was the only way he ever approached her, from the side or from behind, and it seemed a little odd to Miu. Truthfully, she had expected him to respond with something inappropriate, so she was surprised when his weight shifted in order to wrap his arms around her shoulders. She felt his face press into her shoulder and she looked back at him, wondering why his normally cheerful and energetic demeanor had changed all of a sudden.

"Because, I'm not enough of a man to look you in the eyes yet." JK pressed his forehead to the back of Miu's shoulder. Miu frowned a bit, trying to figure out what he meant by that. Coming up blank, she tugged lightly on JK's colorful sleeve in frustration.

"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" Miu asked with a huff.

"I'm a coward. Even after all I've been through with you and the others in the Kamen Rider Club, I still try and find a way out of anything dangerous and don't help at all with the fights." JK rest his chin on her shoulder and blew out a sigh. "I'm trying to change so that I'll be good enough for you, but it's hard."

Miu made an annoyed sound and let go of his sleeve to tug on his hair a bit, ignoring his whining as she did so. "Don't say such stupid things!" Miu demanded, "The Kamen Rider Club already has two idiots who will run swinging blindly into danger. We don't need a third." JK lifted his head off of her shoulder. He wasn't surprised she was scolding him — It was common for Miu to scold any of them when she del they were wrong. — but that she seemed to be encouraging him to remain cowardly. "You're cautious, and we need that. It causes you to notice things we might have missed." Miu continued, and then a soft smile settled onto her lips. "…And besides, when it counts, you're as brave as any of us. You've run right into situations you knew were dangerous plenty of times to help Gentaro or give us information."

Miu knew this was true. When Gentaro had been poisoned, JK had been the one to take him to Muira, even though it was obvious that a fight would break out in one way or another. And when Tomoko had figured out the secret of the Pen switch, it had been JK that had run in with her to show Gentaro even though the battle had already begun. Now that he had real friends who would risk their lives for him, he'd begun to be the same way. He cared more about his friends, his REAL friends, than himself and Miu knew it. She closed her eyes and let her head fall against JK's. "I don't need someone who will blindly follow me into any dangerous situation I make the mistake of running into." Miu told him, lowering the volume of her voice. "What I need is someone who will grab my hand and pull me back when it's something beyond what I can handle."

"Like with the Hound." JK mumbled into Miu's neck. He still didn't know what she'd been thinking that day, challenging the Zodiart like that. Miu was clever and brave and strong, but that didn't mean she could taken on a Zodiart hand to hand.

"Exactly. I don't really know how to pick my battles." Miu laughed, turning her head to press a kiss to JK's forehead.

"Then let me pick them for you." JK told her as he smiled against her neck. He still wasn't entirely convinced by her argument. Part of him felt he needed to be stronger, and be less of a coward. But he had, at the very least, realized that Miu didn't want him to be Shun. She wanted him to be JK, and he was pretty sure he could do that. His arms around her tightened, keeping her held back against him. "You stay there and find our battles, and I'll stay back here and decide which ones we're capable of fighting and which ones we leave up to Gentaro and Shun."

Miu leaned back against JK with a content smile. "On one condition." JK lifted his head, tilting it slightly, wondering what exactly the condition was to be. Miu smirked and tugged at his hair again. "You have to let me brush your hair. It's a mess today.