In some ways, Zouichi is the older of the two, and in some ways, Howard is, having survived in his world without the benefits of training, special abilities, or experience. Zouichi find that he likes Howard, although he doesn't necessarily understand all the pop culture references. Also, something about Howard makes it easy to relax and skip the formalities. In fact, Howard is probably the person Zouichi is the most comfortable with speaking to right now, next to Fuyu; he wouldn't banter back and forth with anyone else on the ship.

He gets the distinct impression that what he hears from Howard isn't necessarily the whole truth. But regardless of what Albert says Howard's guilty of so far, Zouichi still intends to defend Howard should a life-threatening situation arise; it's generally more his duty to protect than to judge.