Akatsuya extended his hand, waiting to see how the girl would react. Maybe she'd be mad, or embarrassed, or flustered, or perhaps even grateful. The young incubus had experienced all these emotions before. But never in his life had such a simple gesture prompted the feeling that abruptly flooded his mind through the momentary contact he made with the fallen girl's hand.
Hate. Overwhelming, instinctual fear and loathing that struck his psyche like a thunderclap as his hand was batted aside. Muttering something under her breath, the girl quickly limped away, taking one last shot at both him and the crying girl as she did so. Izayoi took a moment, staring after her in confusion as he tried to calm the echoes of the feeling that had so suddenly assaulted him. What exactly had prompted that?
"T-thank you..." Murmured a quiet voice from behind him. The girl's cadence matched her appearance and attitude, her words gentle, soft, and shrill. Although her voice cracked slightly from the lingering tears she'd shed, Akatsuya could tell that she was mostly over her earlier breakdown. He smiled slightly under his hood, and turned to face her once again, donning his best smile and trying his best to forget the rather strange response of the last girl he'd reached out to help. Fortunately, given the calming feelings of relaxation she was experiencing, this was a bit easier than it otherwise might have been. Her presence seemed fragile to him, as though perpetually teetering on the brink of tears, yet at the same time, it was earnest and gentle. That explained her earlier overreaction to what had been a rather simple mistake. In any case, he was just glad she'd stopped crying.
"'No problem,'" Akatsuya said with a slight, reassuring smile, his bright green eyes peeking around the edge of his hood, just out of direct view. "-Is what I'd say if I'd actually done something worth mentioning." He added cheerily, trying to put the pink-haired girl at ease and drive away the lingering guilt she seemed to feel in regards to her earlier awkward encounter.
As she glanced down, he followed her gaze, his eyes at last falling upon the source of her regrets. It seemed that in her panic, she'd snapped the strap on her bag. It wasn't unheard of for monsters in distress to unintentionally use much more of their strength than intended, which explained why one of the metal fastenings she'd been holding onto had bent and snapped open, rather than the cloth strap itself simply tearing off like one might expect.
Cute as a button and strong enough to break metal between her thumb and forefinger, huh? Well, now I've seen everything, He thought, chuckling slightly to himself as he reached out a hand, smiling gently as he took a closer look to see what damage had been done.
"You know, the strap itself isn't damaged - just one of the clasps that holds the two parts together. I'm pretty sure you can take those off," He observed, looking at it. "Plus, these school bags are all pretty much the same, so a part from mine should work fine on yours, right?" Reaching down, he carefully removed the undamaged fastening from his own bag, then took hold of the strap of hers and casually popped out the broken piece, weaving the cloth through the appropriate slots in the part from his own bag. "See? Good as new," He said with a grin.
It was at that moment that he realized that he was currently crouching just a few inches from her, and his face was actually remarkably close to hers. If he had leaned in any further, she might have caught a glimpse of his eyes. Whew, close one, He thought, adjusting his hood slightly as he drew back, standing up and extending a hand to help her back to her feet. Let's try this again, He joked to himself as he waited to see her reaction. Surely she won't slap me too. Well, I hope she doesn't, anyway. With strength like hers, she'd probably break my wrist.