"So I've heard." He fell into step beside her easily enough, oblivious to her staring. "Ruri, that's a nice name. Is it short for something?" He couldn't remember seeing her before either, but then this wasn't his normal part of town.

He smiled again at her worry. "I told you, it's fine." It hadn't occurred to him that she might be concerned about leading a stranger to her home. Women seemed to instinctively trust Michael; maybe some of that had rubbed off on him?

"No. Well, sort of. Really, I travel all over. I'm familiar with with this area, at least." It was true, he couldn't count the number of times he'd been there, even if he didn't know the people living there.