He'd never really had to put this into words before, he was starting to realize. His entire life up until the Cell Games was never something he had to explain to others, because the only people he knew were already involved. His father, their family friends, they were the only people Gohan had ever known. Really, it wasn't until high school that he'd ever interacted with other people in any meaningful way... and the difficulties of that were starting to show, by virtue of trying to incorporate Videl into that incredibly strange life he'd always called normal.

"B-Before you ask, I don't think you're weak." Gohan looked up suddenly, as if the realization of how his words might've come off just hit him. "I-I mean, back home, I always held back because I didn't want to do anything to hurt you, but... I-I understand that there's not much of a gap between us here, so no, that's not it..."

He tilted his head down again, looking down at his legs. Biting his lower lip, and tightening his grip on his pants. "... I... I never enjoyed fighting." He finally admitted. "I mean, I'm good at it, and everyone tells me about how powerful I could be if I just trained... but..." He gulped down the dry lump in his throat. "I never wanted it. I liked reading books more. I always thought learning was more interesting, and I always get really excited to find something new to learn."

"... But I never got a lot of chances to do that when I was a kid." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes to take a breath. The more he spoke, the more anxious he got, but he needed to push past that if he wanted to explain this to Videl. "I've been fighting since I was... four, I think. Not because I wanted to, but because if I didn't, people would die." A pause. "And it kept happening, over and over. First the Saiyans landing on East City, then Frieza on Planet Namek, then the androids built by Dr. Gero, then Cell."

Finally, after another pause, he admitted out loud:

"And I think... that had a bad effect on me when it comes to training."