True to his word, Sadaharu called after school the next day.
"Can you come over?" Renji closed the math textbook he'd been reading. "I may have made a discovery."
"There is a 97.3% chance my mother will say yes. I'll be there in a fifteen minutes."
Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Renji heard his father telling Sadaharu that he was in his room. Sadaharu thanked him, despite already being aware of that, and knocked on the door before entering.
"You said you had something?" Renji nodded.
"I have a hypothesis, and I've designed a series of small experiments to test it." He motioned for Sadaharu to come sit down. "I've read that some aromantic people dislike romantically coded actions and gestures."
"And you want to see how you feel about them?" Sadaharu questioned.
"Exactly. I wanted to ask you if you would participate, but of course you don't have to if you don't want to."
"I'll do it. I want to help you." Renji opened his notebook and showed Sadaharu a short list he'd made of typical romantic gestures.
"I thought we could try these." Sadaharu looked over the list.
"Okay. Holding hands is first, then." He held out his hand, and Renji took it. They sat in silence for a moment, both noticing that their hands were a little sweaty, before Renji let go.
"That was rather awkward." He wiped his hand on his pants. "Though I don't think I mind the hand holding itself."
"Next is..." Sadaharu looked at the list, eager to move on. "Hugging." He turned to Renji.
"Shall we?" Renji nodded, and they wrapped their arms around each other. Another moment of silence fell before Renji spoke.
"This is nice, I suppose." They pulled back, and Renji closed the notebook before Sadaharu could see the rest of the list.
"This isn't really helping. I suppose it's true that attraction isn't the same thing as behavior." Seeing Sadaharu's questioning look, he explained. "It's something I keep seeing online in my research. Who you're attracted to and how is completely different from the things you may do. For example, we hugged. But that doesn't mean we're attracted to each other. Another example that comes up a lot is dating someone, even if you don't feel romantic attraction." Sadaharu nodded.
"I see."
"Sorry." Renji put his notebook away. "I suppose it was worth a try. Anyway, have you learned anything new?"
"Well..." Sadaharu paused. "I think I've decided that asexual is a good word for me. I know I like guys, and it seems like that's romantic attraction. So...I guess the full label would be asexual homoromantic..." He trailed off awkwardly.
"I'm glad you've figured that out." Renji smiled.
"Thank you."
Renji continued his research after Sadaharu had gone home. He'd already known he was pansexual for some time, but now he was beginning to feel like the word aromantic...well, fit. He hadn't had time to make a definite decision yet, but he was glad there was a word for what he felt. Or rather, didn't feel.