"Well...I know that?" Declan replied once there was a long enough pause for him to gauge that it was time to speak up. Of course, he fully misunderstood. Not willfully, and not ignorantly; he'd simply accepted things the way they were. Words didn't mean what he had hoped, before, so that wasn't likely to change. Like, like friends, that's what Aoba meant. Of course they were friends.

"I like you, too. All of you. I'm not changing my opinion just because you have a complicated situation. What...sort of friend would I be? And...I guess, if you want to fight, I shouldn't try to stop you. I just wish you'd let me teach you how to protect yourself without...magic...or whatever it is you do."