[it's true; there is a stark difference between the Akira Minato is meeting now and the one back on the island. scruffy and unkempt hair, fashionable-yet-average clothing, a pair of glasses perched on his nose to emphasize his inner nerd. . . there's probably a reason for this dissonance, but. that is also a conversation for another day]

[for now? Akira pulls up a lopsided smile. an attempt at cutting through some of the lingering tension that Minato so adeptly picked up on. this guy. . . he's pretty sharp, isn't he? that shouldn't be surprising, if he's a guest of the Velvet Room]

Yeah. I'm okay.

[he could leave it there, but. . . he continues, tone light]

For a second there I was afraid you were a figment of my imagination.

[the way he puts it belies exactly how much that fear had affected him, but. considering he is still flustered over his dumb panic, he prefers turning it into a light joke!]

But I'm glad to see that you're real and solid. [. . .] And taking naps in strange places.