Zenkichi let the silence hang for a beat too long—then clicked his tongue, quietly annoyed at himself.

"Support’s not the word I’d use," he muttered, half under his breath. “It’s more like a net.”

He didn’t look at her when he said it, just kept fiddling with the wrapper of his taiyaki like it might spare him from saying more than he meant to.

"If you fall, someone oughta be there. That’s all."