Date

Haru felt as if his time with Misha flew imperceptibly. During their 'date' Misha had shown Haru different areas to eat and relax quietly.

He knew Misha was a beauty of this world. Her figure was charming, and her eyes were of a kind nature that hid behind a seriousness probably no one would have succeeded in shaking. But on top of that, Misha had a sincere smile on her face, which attracted a lot of attention.

As if Misha could read his thoughts, however, her smile widened. Bending forward so that their eyes could meet, she met his eyes after a second while trying to tease him once again.

"Are you sure you can relax with all these jealous looks? If you want we can go somewhere more private"

To her teasing, Misha's eyes shone with an expression that was trying to hold her smile, as scared it might make her look silly.

However, when asked, Haru looked back in front of him.

"It doesn't matter. Let's just say I have been living with these nasty looks for a long time, so I'm pretty used to it by now. All these people can do is have time to envy someone else instead of building a story for themselves, their looks don't bother me at all."

His answer was different. Misha expected Haru not to care at all about whatever looks they might throw at him, yet his gaze trying to hide the pain behind an expression without any emotion whatsoever, led Misha to drop her smile.

She understood the way he said it implied someone had probably walked beside him in the same way, and this made him accustomed to the looks he received.

"...I'm sorry"

She did not know what had happened or why it was painful for Haru, but in any case, she did not want him to feel uncomfortable. She felt like a jerk for assuming he had no problem with anything she said to him, but as these thoughts invaded her mind, he shook his head.

"You didn't do anything wrong that you have to apologize for. Maybe one day I'll tell you why this situation reminded me of the past, but for now, we can continue with our 'date', or maybe you prefer that I leave now, with this awkward atmosphere between us?"

At his words, Misha, who had taken her gaze to the floor, feeling disappointed in herself, returned to look at him. Even though the pain was still present, Haru had a small smile. She had no idea what he went through, nor did she know anything about the girl who was no longer at Haru's side, since she was the 'past'. Yet, his trying to calm her down in his unique way, made Misha not able to restrain a giggle from escaping her mouth.

"If you put it that way, I can't say no, can I?"

Deciding to continue their 'date' the conversation became less and less awkward, and in no time at all, the two had returned to the relationship they had just before she teased a point she shouldn't have teased at all. However, even though things had now returned to normal, she had only one thought in her mind.

'I need to be more careful...'

---

Although this had happened, Haru felt the date had passed in the blink of an eye. He felt pained when the situation had reminded him of his time with Asumi, yet Haru was unnoticeably weakening the hold on his past.

'I do not know what's wrong with me. Misha has no reason to apologize for something purely personal. I have to enjoy this life, but if I lock myself in my past, I won't make anyone happy, that's not what I want.'

These were his thoughts when Misha apologized as if she had committed a grave sin. He wanted to say she was wrong, yet Haru was unable to express his feelings clearly. His relationship with Misha had been pleasant up to that point, and whether he had to choose between remaining attached to his past or try to live the present, then Haru chose the latter.

Of course, for him it had not passed more than a few weeks since he had seen Asumi, making it tough to swallow, but at the same time, Haru wanted that these memories could become a part of himself, to help him live even better the life he would have lived from now on. Long story short, Haru had found the confidence to continue with this 'relationship', although it certainly would have taken some time, he had set himself a goal. Since he already had so many, he did not worry that this road would in no way differ from the original and which, if nothing else, would make it even brighter for him to pass through.

And that is how their date ended with Misha who saluted Haru with the determination to continue this friendly relationship further, while the latter had been able to understand another important matter that would shape his future for the better.

With the sun settled, however, Haru still had some time. Instead of going home, he had the idea to go to Hephaestus to let her know that everything was okay, but also because he wanted to have a small conversation with her about what will be his sword. He wasn't looking for a sword in particular, but if there was someone who could help him with this problem, then it was Hephaestus.

He could have asked her to forge a weapon for him, but Haru knew how much the weapons she created were worth, and asking her for such a favour right after what he told her, was nothing but shameless.

'With a little hard work, I might even be able to learn how to forge a sword, so I can start making them myself. The problem is, I was used to using a Grade E sword, I don't think I could make that kind of sword in such a short time.'

The blacksmith in his village defined a Grade E sword as her masterpiece, instead here basic weapons more or less hovered on the same grade. Still, he was pretty sure he could not produce a grade E sword in such a short time.

'I still have about two days off to find a sword on my own though, I can think about it at a later time'

With these thoughts, Haru wasted no time heading to Hephaestus' chambers, even though he had just come out the Tower of Babel. The realization made Haru think about how much time he spent in this tower, yet he ignored this thought shortly after.

Knocking on the door, Haru was surprised as the door opened before him. He used to open the door of the house, already left open by Hephaestus, then go directly to the room dedicated to forging. Yet, there stood Hestia who with a sigh left the door open as she returned to the kitchen. She was too hungry to wrap her head to think about why Haru had shown up here.

At this sight, Haru did not bother to greet her with more than a good evening. While Hestia responded to his gesture of politeness with a more informal one, Haru knocked at Hephaestus's door to make his presence known.

"Hephaestus, can I enter? It's Haru..."

His words were neutral, but at the same time, he felt guilty for making her worry. From how much Misha had been wrong in thinking that Haru had acted recklessly, he knew there was no real explanation for what happened besides this, so he wanted to clear up this misunderstanding as soon as possible. Hearing her reply he could enter since the door was open, he did not hesitate to do so.

Upon entering, Haru saw that Hephaestus was what she had taught him was the final part of blacksmithing process when it came to repairing a weapon as if it had just come out of the blacksmith's furnace. But after asking if she was sure he was not interrupting, Hephaestus reassured him by explaining she could have a conversation without worrying about ruining the weapon. So Haru didn't hesitate to sit far enough away from her so that he wouldn't get in the way of her work.

"...As you know, I was attacked by Killer Ants on the 7th floor and came out with wounds that will heal in a couple of days. However, I wanted to make it clear that I followed the procedure perfectly as taught by the guild's advisor, killing the Killer Ant as quickly as possible, and yet..."

Before he could finish the sentence, however, Haru was stopped by Hephaestus who, with a smile on her face, replied

"...I know."

The truth was, she didn't need him to tell her. Even the news itself seemed suspicious to her, but that was not all. Hephaestus couldn't observe his blacksmith skills, yet she could still figure out what kind of person Haru was, and she expected so much from him, but certainly not that he would try to draw a swarm of Killer Ants to himself like this.

For this reason, Haru's words did not surprise her at all but only made her smile, since she didn't even need to look at him to understand he was sincere, which had made Hephaestus take on confidence. She understood she knew Haru better than could be expected, although it was relatively little time ago since the boy had joined her Familia.

To her words, Haru was surprised. He expected Hephaestus to be angry and that she would scold him, but this reaction was new to him. It made him happy to know she believed in him so easily, but...

"...How could you have known before you could verify the truth of the facts?"

He knew from the moment he spoke to her, Hephaestus could sense that Haru was telling the truth, yet that was only after he explained the situation from his mouth. Her confidence seemed to have been there even before he could do so. Proof of it being she hadn't scolded him throughout the conversation at all.

When asked, Hephaestus took her time to answer. She could answer his question in many ways, either by explaining the truth or by answering without explaining concretely, but after a few seconds, she had found the perfect way to reply.

"...It was just a feeling. Is wanting to believe in you, wrong?"

---

(Some character development. Tomorrow chap may be late. Oh and don't forget to join the discord and vote whether I should develop Bell's situation directly. Discord Server: discord.gg/y8VBZAp)