"I don't want to go back away," Asuka replied, words a bit too quick and forced. "There wasn't anything I really cared about back there, anyway. So don't worry about it."

She pushed to her feet and paced a few steps so he wouldn't be able to look at her face.

"I'm fine."

She just had to keep him at arm's length. Just like everyone else (that's wrong, she thought, but she didn't know what else to do).