Ah... I don't think I'd like to see that one in action very much, Asahi. I'd rather not see you hurt, and--particularly not because of me.

[He shrugs a bit self-consciously. It's odd to articulate feelings in such a straightforward manner for him, indubitably true as they are (well, who would want any of that stuff? To happen to anyone at all?). It's not hard for him ordinarily to compliment people, even to flirt--it certainly wasn't when he began this whole mess--but the difference between "Itsuki" saying it and he himself saying it is vast.

Still, what assuages his own feeling of awkwardness is her evidently greater one. In the widest sense, he's usually there to make things easier for people (read: Haruhi; recently read: Rapunzel), and this evidently is pretty hard (or at least takes an effort) for her. That reminder makes it easier for him to smile down at her and say in a softer tone:]

But, after all, that's one of the things that makes me like you. Do, ah, remember, though, that... you should take care of yourself, too. For my sake, at least.

[He lets a slight pause pass, and then, to lighten all this a bit, adds:]

Well--would you like to go to dinner tonight, by the way?