The affections die away - die of their own conscious feebleness and uselessness.
Another obvious inference from the necessary imperfection of optical images is the uselessness of attempting anything like an absolute destruction of spherical aberration.
Interestingly, Dan's name in Japanese (Hibiki Dan) can be translated as "Fire minus bullet", making reference to his utter uselessness and incredibly short-range fireballs.
But periodically he forgot the utter uselessness of arguing with the opinionated old man.
Besides, the long day had blurred both their minds to the point of uselessness and Fred punctuated every sentence with a yawn.