Orihime picked at her food and watched Kaito out of the corner of her vision. He looked so alone where he sat, drawn into himself and away from them despite sitting within reach. She wanted desperately to reach out and draw him back to them, but the way his eyes were flickering side-to-side reminded her of Tatsuki when she was thinking deeply and didn't want to be disturbed.

(What was he thinking about?)

"You need to eat," Chad said, pulling her attention away from Kaito and back to the others.

Ishida nodded, though his gaze darted to Kaito as he did. "Sado-san is correct. Whatever senpai wants to teach us next is going to need lots of energy."

"I know." Orihime grimaced and turned to her food with more determination than before. She was more tired than hungry, but she'd been through enough of Kaito's lessons to know the fallacy of that sensation. Eating would help her regain the energy she needed for the next lesson. "He's just…"

"Yeah," Ishida agreed with a grimace, poking at his food and eyeing Kaito. "He interacts with us just fine whenever he's teaching, but as soon as he's done…"

"He doesn't know how," Kurosaki finished. He gave Ishida pointed look, and said, "He's almost like you with that. Especially when you first joined us." Ishida sputtered in protest and Kurosaki arched an eyebrow, saying, "Tell me I'm wrong."

Orihime mentally sighed and braced herself for an argument; putting Kurosaki and Ishida in a room together, without Kaito running herd on them, was a recipe for chaos and snark. They were friends no matter how much they denied it, but their friendship was volatile at best; entertaining, usually, but it could get old very quickly.

"Kaito-san never had a reason to learn," Chad interrupted the budding argument before it could get out of hand. At the curious looks he got, he shrugged awkwardly and continued, "How many people has he mentioned from his past?"

"Two, his mother and his best friend," Ishida said.

She grimaced and glanced over at Kurosaki, hoping the other teen would have at least one more name to add to that list. It was possible that Kaito simply felt no need or desire to speak about anyone else, and she dearly hoped that was true, but…

But as Kurosaki scowled deeper and nodded in agreement, Orihime felt her hopes sink. Her instincts agreed too; he just didn't react properly to any of their overtures for friendship or a close family to be part of his life growing up. It wasn't even that he was friendship-shy, it was that he didn't seem to understand what they were offering.

(Like Ishida. Who scowled and complained and picked fights with Kurosaki, and then constantly shot the other teen wary looks whenever Kurosaki looked away. At least Ishida understood, even if he didn't precisely trust.)

Chad sighed through his nose and pointedly didn't glance at Kaito as he made a small 'point proven' gesture. "I bet his best friend was outgoing like you," he told Ichigo. "I bet he was dragged into that friendship unexpectedly, and relied on his friend to deal with others for him without realizing it. Kaito-san is a complex man, and complex things are the most fragile."

"He really is," Orihime said sadly, thinking back on all the things she'd noticed in the time she'd known Kaito. The list was depressingly long. "Do you— no, this— I— let's talk about this later, when we have some privacy?"

Chad's firm nod seemed to indicate he understood what she was getting at, what she didn't want to speak of aloud in front of Kaito. And maybe it was a breach of privacy to speak about it at all; was it wrong to talk about PTSD with his other friends like this? She knew Kurosaki and Ishida had noticed something off, but she didn't know if they had a name for it yet.

(Right or not, she still would. They couldn't help if they didn't understand what they were facing.)

(And the less chance they had of accidentally triggering the man, the better for all of them, especially Kaito. Friends didn't hurt each other if they could help it.)

(She'd need to start researching again, now that she was older and could understand more. What little she'd managed for Sora had been only enough to sooth her fears and concerns at that time.)

Ishida twitched and abruptly looked down at his food; when Orihime looked over, Kaito was watching them with a fond smile and amused expression. She couldn't resist smiling back at him, pleased to see him paying attention to the world again. But then his gaze darted away, eyes widening a bit, and he started choking.

"Kaito-san!" she yelped, putting her chopsticks down and immediately raising a hand in preparation to summon her fairies. What had happened? Why was he choking so suddenly? There was nothing where he had looked! "Are you okay?"

He waved a hand and started sipping at his water, expression shading towards embarrassed as his coughing fit began to fade with every careful sip he took. "It's alright. I just swallowed something wrong, is all. I apologize for disturbing your conversation."

"Well, so long as you're sure. I'm glad you're okay!" Orihime pulled out her best cheerful expression as she sat back, not letting it fade until Kaito was safely focused on his food again.

"He's lying," Ishida said soon after.

Kurosaki considered Kaito, then shrugged and resumed eating, feigning nonchalance. "Probably. He gets that way, sometimes. Like he's having a conversation with someone we can't hear."

"Shinigami thing?" Chad asked.

Kurosaki started to shake his head, hesitated, then finally shrugged and gave Chad a look that Orihime couldn't parse. "Maybe? I don't hear anything from my blade, though…"

"Maybe it's something that only shows up when a Shinigami has attained bankai," Ishida suggested. "Or maybe it's a power-set thing, like how Inoue-san has her six spirits."

She frowned a bit and gently touched the hair clip, considering Ishida's idea. It sounded logical, at the very least; they knew so little about Kaito's abilities and even less about Shinigami powers in general. "Does it matter?" she asked absently, as she considered what little she knew about Kaito's fighting style. "If he hears voices or not, I mean."

"No," Kurosaki immediately responded.

"Only if it gets him in trouble," Ishida added. He glowered at Kurosaki, saying, "I know you've noticed it. Where he goes distant—"

"Later," Orihime interrupted, fixing both Ishida and Kurosaki with a quelling stare. "Let's finish eating before he gets annoyed at us, and talk about this later." Like when they weren't several feet away from the person they were talking about. She wasn't entirely convinced that Kaito couldn't hear them, but a glance proved that his gaze was once more unfocused.

(Credence to the idea of spirits talking in his head, or just disassociation and evidence of how poorly he was reacting to being back?)

(Kami, let it be the spirits… Kaito was terrifying enough when fully cognizant. She didn't want to face him in the midst of a flashback.)

"Yeah, alright," Kurosaki agreed when no one else spoke up to do so.

Orihime mulled over what she knew in silence, eating on autopilot as she tried to recall everything she could.

If only Tatsuki could be here at her side. She desperately missed her friend's steady confidence, yet Tatsuki was powerless, injured, and back in the Living World awaiting their return.

(She had never realized how much she relied upon her friend until she couldn't.)

(When she got home, she was going to tell Tatsuki everything. Her friend deserved at least that much.)