What does 席を開ける mean here?


I came across a paragraph on s.c. 距離感覚, the overall meaning of which is
eluding me:

>
> 人間に限らず、生き物なら誰でも自分のテリトリーを持っている。それは親しくもない赤の他人に侵されたら、不快に思う個々人の距離感覚。喩えるなら公共の食堂やトイレ、遊戯場、なんでもいい。
> **隣の奴から一つ二つは席を開けて** 、無意識のうちに間合いを取るという行為がそれだ。一般に、若い男であればあるほど、その範囲は広いらしい。

What does 奴から席を開ける mean here?

If 席を開ける were to mean "to open a seat / to make a seat vacant", and if 奴 were
the agent, why isn't 開ける followed by passive られる auxiliary (開けられる)? More so,
"to move away unconsciously" (無意識のうちに間合いを取る) wouldn't make sense this way.
From 無意識のうちに間合いを取る, 席を開ける would be expected to mean the opposite, for "seat to
be taken", but that just doesn't fit with any of the meanings of 開ける I could
find in dictionaries so far.

In other words, I'm looking for some help on what's going on in:

> 隣の奴から一つ二つは席を開けて、無意識のうちに間合いを取るという行為がそれだ。

Thank you for your patience.




Hope the following helps.

隣の奴から 一つ二つは 席を開けて by letting one or two seats between oneself and the nearby
bloke unoccupied

無意識のうちに 間合いを取る unconciously secure a neutral zone (Caveat: this is _not_ a
verbatim translation.)




Hope the following helps.

隣の奴から 一つ二つは 席を開けて by letting one or two seats between oneself and the nearby
bloke unoccupied

無意識のうちに 間合いを取る unconciously secure a neutral zone (Caveat: this is _not_ a
verbatim translation.)

