The Day of Thunder

"I mean, yeah lots of weird folks around, I guess... but what is it you're feeling bad about then? And thinking about?" Maybe Ranmaru had found some growth in this?

She did lean back to give him some room now.

"I feel bad about hurting her, obviously! I mean, even if I'd just hurt her feelings." Ranmaru thought about bringing up that he only choked the lady for like a few seconds but that didn't sound that much better.

Instead, he took a bit to collect himself. "I've been thinking that maybe I've been hurting other women too without thinking about it. Like one time, this girl came over to my mom's forge and I was carrying heavy things for her. She was obviously impressed by my muscles and offered to massage them if I got sore. I knew what she was getting at so I laughed in her face." His mom hadn't commented on it but she had seemed a little disappointed that day...

"Well, no offense, Ranmaru, but..." she hesitated a little bit, but only a little bit, "you are kind of an ass sometimes to women."

"Like, I get it! It's annoying when people are like trying to get on your good side because they think you're pretty. But you don't have to be mean to them because of it."

Ranmaru pressed his lips together. "I do actually want to do better than that. It's rather pitiful to watch the gentle ones cry." Change really didn't come instantaneously.

"Does that happen a lot to you? I mean like how do you even help someone without them taking it the wrong way?" Ranmaru shook his head. "There as this girl who twisted her ankle so I decided to carry her. She whispered into my ear that I could do anything I wanted to her and I asked if I could throw her off a cliff... Which was probably a bit of an overreaction."