"Well... recently I made the acquaintance of this guy. He's about... 18? Real sensitive, kinda bad-tempered, takes everything way too seriously. So I figured he was just like that."

He bent down to pick up a few of the flowers. "Ran into him at the store. He was after the same tomato plant seedling I was. Ended up gettin' it, too. But then he picked a bug up off of it. He held it up and slowly crushed it to death. Like with his bare fingers. And smiled, like he'd made a point or something."

Heiji tried imitating the gesture for Clara's benefit; the expression was more like a smirk than a smile. "Anyway, it seriously weirded me out."