Male Best Friend Breakup

From the beginning, me and him became really close through this whole “bestie” thing like genuinely close. We talked a lot, had routines, inside jokes, emotional comfort, checking on each other e.t.c At some point he confessed feelings for me but I told him I wanted staying friends, we still stayed close after and the friendship continued normally. The issue started sometime in April, when he randomly became colder and more withdrawn. At the time when I brought it up, he said it was family-related and eventually the warmth came back, so I moved on from it. Fast forward to now, last week we were literally fine, then suddenly this week the energy changed again. Shorter replies, less warmth, less reciprocity, barely texting me first, not asking much about me anymore, conversations feeling surface-level and emotionally flat compared to before. What hurt me most is not even the texting itself, it’s the inconsistency. It started making me feel emotionally unsafe in the friendship because I never knew what version of him I was getting. So today I finally asked him calmly if everything was okay because I genuinely felt something was off. He said he’s just been really busy lately, reassured me that everything’s okay and apologized. But the conversations still feel flatter/shorter than before. I want to know if anything is up so I can adjust to the new boundaries; someone new. I value our friendship so this hurts