[ it's somehow more embarrassing when someone else says it to him - especially a cute-looking girl, telling him she can imagine him as the heroic self-sacrificing type?! ]

I dunno about all that...

[ he's flushing a little, but trying to hide it by looking off to the side. No way is he a knight in shining armor. He focuses on the rest of what she said, instead. ]

Things like that can happen if you're in the right place at the right time. [ he idly picks at a thread coming off one of the stars on his pants. ] Last year, I traveled across the entire country on horseback with my best friend, with the whole world against us, hunting us down... Or it felt like the world, at least. Just the same as you're describing - well, minus the romance.

[ it was definitely a Completely Platonic Bromance. definitely. ]

It was really hard, but... at the same time, it's probably the best thing I ever did. [ an awkward pause; he realizes he's been talking a lot. probably because he got embarrassed. ] Uh... I guess what I'm saying is that I know what you mean. It'd be easier to fall in love on an adventure like that than being on this dinky island.