It is pretty intuitive. The darkness in his gem... wants to go into the seed. It's just a matter of letting it.

Wait bwuh? Into the seed? That's... hmm. Okay, he'll do it a little bit?

It looks like black mist or something, seeping its way into the black gem of the seed and making it even blacker.

C...reepy. Everything about witches is so creepy, brr.

Anyway he still feels bad for being useless so he stops then.

"If you're sure?" she says, holding out her hand.

He isn't. He isn't sure at all. He isn't sure of anything. But he was in fact fucking useless and he wants to earn his keep. She can have the seed.

She takes it, taps it to her throat, brightens up her gem, and then inspects the seed. "I think this has a little more capacity so it can go in the stockpile," she says.

Nod. "Do you usually go out every night?"

"Not usually, but I'm gonna, if we're going to need to be ready for a big one."

"And is it usually just one witch you go after per outing or do you keep going?"

"Usually just one, unless the first one doesn't drop a seed."

He nods again. "I'll see if I can't find guns tomorrow and then maybe I'll be more useful. I'm also getting a light measurement machine so that I can figure out how the costs of using my powers grows with—anything."

"Oh, that's a neat idea."

Yeah, it was Haru's, so it stands to reason. Honestly, Haru should be the one with this power, not him, he's too stupid to make good use of it and too prideful and immature to be able to deal with being someone's insurance and too wimpy to properly fight. But it is what it is, he's gotta do the best he can with what he has.

"I guess maybe I should figure out how expensive healing is, so I can compare properly," and not have her nag him about "wasting magic" when she doesn't even know how much magic it cost in the first place. Not everyone gets to have a big sword they can swing at things, Yamanaka using her weapon makes things die but Yutaka using his weapon makes things stop, those are...

...hm.

She starts poking her little cherry blossom nicks and cuts and they heal up in a mist of indigo magic.

That just looks painful, honestly. And he could have prevented ALL of it if she'd LET him but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

He needs to stop being so salty.

"So, I guess I ought to go home, then? —oh, but if your place is in the same direction and you wanted to wait could I get that autograph?"

"I'm going that way." Point.

"Hmm, mine's that way." Point. "I'll bring pen and paper with me next time."

Thumbs up. "See you next time, Iwasaki-san." And she's off.

Mrrrrr.

Is it too late for him to ping Haru, it probably is, also he has no reason to ping Haru, they're not friends even though he's pretending they are or used to be. But interacting with Haru was—well, it wasn't totally pleasant all the time, but it was still better than whatever this was. He doesn't have it in him to rewind this whole thing and try to do it better, he's too tired, but it did not go well.

So. Whatever. He'll hold onto those silver linings from earlier and try not to feel too bitter and go back home and take a shower and go to sleep and hopefully tomorrow he'll feel less like shit.

Haru has a familiar cheerful smile the next morning.

Oh. Oh is that what he was cheerful about last time. Oh that makes a ton of sense actually. At least with what Yutaka knows now of Haru's personality.

I suppose you won't need me to support you in your walking endeavours anymore.

It will not be necessary! It feels amazing to be able to just balance!

Was it malaria? Did you just save thousands upon thousands of lives last night?

YES