Chapter 21.11 (1/2)

Extra 1.2

May I ask a question?」

「What?」

「Is Boss Man afraid of women?」

As they were preparing to gather ingredients for unclassified potions in the bushes outside of the East Gate, Nora spoke out.

「You guys can tell, huh…」

「Watching his expression and the distance he kept between us, anyone who doesn’t think so is definitely dense.」

Nora declared, and Haruna and Mio let about a chuckle.

「Sensei went through some stuff back home.」

「I’m impressed that he can be around you two.」

「All thanks to Haru. We just copy the distance she keeps.」

Upon Mio’s answer, the two rookies remembered the conversation they had in the workshop, along with where Haruna and Hiroshi were standing. They had a comfortable distance between them, indicative of more than a little buildup of trust. Neither Teres nor Nora were unobservant enough to think that, while Hiroshi and Haruna went through the formality of conversation, they mostly communicated via eye-contact.

「Um, I have a question.」

「Shoot.」

「Are you and Boss Man… In a relationship.」

「Nope.」

Haruna shut down Teres’ question without missing a beat.

「That’s sure what it looks like to me. You two are so in tune with each other.」

「We’re in tune exactly because we’re not in a relationship. Hiroshi-kun can’t even come in physical contact with a woman for more than a second before he starts hyperventilating. No way he’s ready to be in a relationship.」

Haruna answered with an expression that was too bitter to call a smile, but too sweet to call solemn. That mysterious entrancing expression made the hearts of the other three girls skip a beat.

「I understand how Boss Man feels. But what about you, Haruna-san?」

「What?」

「How do you feel about Boss Man, Haruna-san?」

「…Best friend, slash, partner in crime…?」

Haruna said without much confidence. Truth be told, she didn’t want to categorize her feelings as romantic. Something didn’t feel right about that. At the same time, she felt ambivalent enough that it would have been difficult for her to defend that there was nothing but friendship between them. If she were to call Hiroshi a sense of shipmate on this stormy journey, she would also have to call Tatsuya, Makoto, and Mio the same. But how she felt about Hiroshi was undeniably different from how she felt towards them. Her confusion about this unknown emotion emanated from her, enough that it was evident to those around her.

Haruna didn’t quite understand romance, in the first place. She had been in more rom-com-like situations like dealing with her friends’ relationships or be given the short end of the stick when it comes to drama around her. She had made it this far in life without so much as a “trial-period” relationship. In fact, she didn’t talk much with boys to begin with, mostly because she seemed so far out of anyone’s league.

Anyone who had asked her so far were the player types that didn’t even try to look beyond the surface, and cocky narcissist types. Anyone whom Haruna (or her friends and family) would approve would never try and go for the unobtainable. As a result, Haruna had never encountered a single man (who wasn’t a family member) who looked her in the eye and sincerely respected her character. It was less that she wasn’t keen to romance, she just lacked experience because of her circumstances.

If it was miraculous for Hiroshi to meet Haruna and form a safe partnership, it might also be miraculous for Haruna to meet Hiroshi, and that they were able to understand and respect each other sincerely until Haruna had developed some sorts of feeling for him. The problem was however, that Haruna could not foresee any future that took their relationship further in any direction.

「…I see. I think I understand.」

「Poor Haruna-san… And Mio-san.」

「Wait, what?」

「Haru, you never notice things about yourself…」

「What? What?」

Haruna really didn’t seem to see it. Mio let out a sigh in response. Everyone would have accepted this excuse, if she had given it any time before the first ball in the castle. But, after the assassination scare and the battle against Barold, Haruna’s emotions were clearly changing, albeit slowly. The only ones out of the core party who couldn’t see that were Haruna herself and Hiroshi.

It may be cruel to call Hiroshi unobservant in all of this, though. How could anyone expect him, out of all people, to consider romantic feelings towards him from the opposite sex? In fact, he wasn’t unobservant, and must have been noticing the slight changes in Haruna’s behavior, but he was too untrusting of women to deduce that to be an indication of romantic feelings. Considering his experience back in middle school, anyone could imagine that, even if Haruna had confessed her undying love to him as bluntly as humanly possible with not an inch of room for misunderstandings, Hiroshi would not believe it, barring a powerful (incredibly powerful) show of it.

「Herself… You too, Mio-san…?」

「Mio is fine. I don’t deny it. I just don’t trust my emotions and instinct enough to confidently say that I’m in love.」

Hearing Mio’s confession, Haruna flashed an expression. OF course, she had noticed Mio’s complicated emotions towards Hiroshi. Mio harshly reacting to Hiroshi whenever he did something sheepish, then regretting it (shown by an expression that Haruna assumed could only be picked up on by those who knew her well) while Hiroshi wasn’t around was telltale of the turmoil that was Mio’s adolescent heart.

「And what do you two think of Sensei?」

「I’m sorry. I don’t think he’s that charming.」

「I’m sure he’s a kind and honest person, but…」

Haruna and Mio could only chuckles at their honesty. Unfortunately, Hiroshi’s charm required an acquired taste. They were confident that, once these girls watch Hiroshi craft something (if they didn’t have very negative preconceptions about craftsmen for some reason) their impression would change. They also understood that most people could not see that quality in Hiroshi from a time as short as their interview.

「A fair first impression.」

「That was my impression back home.」

Haruna dropped, to which the girls looked surprised.

「Um, how long have you all been together?」

「Hiroshi-kun and I for three months or so. Everyone else came together like a month after that.」

Haruna added another bombt to Teres’ timid question.

「J-Just three months…?」

「Until we got transported here on accident, we didn’t interact much other than the occasional hello.」

In just three months, they had synced up as much as a couple married for decades. It was hard to imagine that Hiroshi would take any steps to close their distance, so they assumed that Haruna had carefully observed her partner, and kept a distance while carefully closing it. At first, it might have been out of necessity, but it was crazy to continue making that kind of effort with someone whom she had no special feelings for. This was way too much to chalk it off to her general kindness.

According to Teres’ values, anyway. There was another part of her that was wondering if Haruna was able to maintain that kind of relationship with most everyone.

「I guess some humans are truly extraordinary.」

「Haru’s very special. In a lot of ways.」

Mio interjected, not wanting Nora to think that Haruna was anywhere near the average human being. In fact, Mio didn’t want to be grouped in with Haruna just because they were the same species, especially since Haruna was practically a character from a romance simulator in the olden days, who would set up a bunch of events, only to lead to the game over screen after a single mistake.

Non-human species, like elves, would sometimes call people “humans” but it was never taken as an insult by anyone. Intuitively, the term did encompass all humanoid species of intelligence.

Haruna did give a little frown to Mio treating her like an outlier. But before she could say anything, Mio added: