Just because her eyes are up there doesn’t mean he’s checking out her boobs, Twitter user postulates.

Nine times out of ten, “Guys like boobs” is a succinct and accurate explanation for male behavior. Honestly, for a lot of guys, breasts are like the sun in the center of their universe, and everything else revolves around them.

The hold that breasts can have upon the male mind is immeasurably powerful, and sometimes when talking to a woman a man will be unable to resist the urge to glance down, almost as though, like the eyes, the boobs could be windows to the soul. This slipup is generally more common with men who don’t have a lot of experience talking to real-life women, a demographic into which anime and video game otaku are often slotted in popular opinion.

However, Japanese Twitter user @abc_jiji thinks there’s another reason why hard-core fans of dating simulators have trouble making eye contact, and it’s not because of a mammary fixation.

“When I’m talking to a woman and my gaze drops down, it is not because I’m looking at her chest. It’s because I’m used to the text window being there.”

As shown in the picture tweeted along with the comment, most Japanese romance simulators, visual novels, and other anime-style video games include scenes with a character facing the camera and her dialogue appearing as text at the bottom of the screen. In order to keep the character’s face and expressions visible, the box usually appears over the chest area, which is why @abc_jiji says that guys who’ve played a large number of such titles naturally find their eyes drawn to that position. Rather than being unconcerned with what their conversation partner is saying, they’re simply looking to where they think will help them best understand what she’s saying.

Online commenters were quick to voice their agreement.

“We’re innocent!”
“Exactly right.”
“Such wise words.”

We think @abc_jiji is being more than a little facetious, but there might indeed be a bit of muscle memory moving otaku eyeballs down below the chin when talking to a girl. Still, it’s probably best to fight the temptation. Not only will it help prevent misunderstandings and make the person you’re talking to feel much more comfortable, the alternative, as one commenter pointed out, is that game designers might start the weird-looking practice of putting the text boxes over their characters’ eyes instead.

Follow Casey on Twitter, for more reasons not to stare directly at a woman’s chest.

Source: Hamster Sokuho, Twitter/@abc_jiji