[When he's not putting it to use through narrowing his eyes and moving his big mouth, Arakita usually stores most of his tension in his shoulders. He surprises himself, then, when he feels his shoulders falling as soon as she says she's grateful for her life. It's coated in more of that familiar self-hatred, but she's come to at least a little bit of goddamn sense.

Even if she was a virtual stranger, he could accept being satisfied with her wanting to live instead of losing the will to. He could admit to himself that he cared about her on that level.

But now, after she sputters out a declaration about him, well, now he almost wishes she was still talking about what she was before, because no matter how little he knew about how to deal with that, he was still vastly more knowledgeable on how to react and process it instead of what she just said now.

It may go without saying that not many people (girls especially) approach him often, and even less with any sort of positive intention- he's not used to being told someone likes him, or cares about him, outside of that someone being within his team. Especially in such an earnest, fumbling, clearly blushing sort of way.

So Mikan isn't the only one turning pink here, even if Arakita does (tries) much more to cover it up.]

I'm not being nice, moron. I'm telling you crap you should already know.

[Maybe it is a sign of his growth that he doesn't say "so you shouldn't care about me", but he leaves his words hanging awkwardly in the air for the moment. More tellingly, his next words are mumbled.]

...Call me whatever you want, I don't care. ["Friends" or "someone to care about"- it's his way of saying that she can care.]