Mature

Leaving the Hostess of Fertility after paying for the spaghetti, Haru decided to take a ride to explore other places of interest in the city, since it was still a full day, and had not much to do but rest.

'... The city no longer looks as exotic as when I first landed here. '

On his way, Haru had wandered through several shops, noticing some of them sold higher-quality clothes than those he owned, most likely destined for the part of wealthy citizens and adventurers, as well as accessories shops, and much more. As he could confirm, the area was overflowing with adventurers even if in the middle of the day.

Since his idea was to save some money, however, Haru sighed. If it was something that could have come in handy for the dungeon. Only in that situation would he afford not to save...

Using his afternoon in this manner, Haru went to bed changing clothes as usual. Knowing the next day he would have the meeting to Mikoto and the Takemikazuchi Familia.

---

Slowly opening his eyes, Haru noticed the ceiling recognized as his. With the smile that had formed on his lips fading shortly after, Haru again found the strength to stand up.

Even though he was trying to look unfazed, thinking about when and how he would make the world a better place, he almost felt like a kid in school that at the question 'Which job you want to do when you grow up?' had a quick and firm answer.

'I'm going to do this, am I?'

His thoughts brought him a hand gripping on his chest. Almost as if to find the answer in his heart. However, no matter how much he tightened, that answer would not come effortlessly. For now, he had the determination to do this. But if he only thought of the idea one day he would have enough influence to change the reality surrounding him and that he forced himself to act passively, Haru felt like shivers running behind his back.

It was not a rare episode. Sometimes, it happened that Haru felt insecure about his choices, or about the future and anything else. Even if determined, he remained a boy in his 17 years of age, and he could not paint in his mind such a foreign future that easily.

Taking deep breaths, Haru regained his calm, loosening the grip on his chest. He didn't know if he wanted to bawl his eyes out as Haru was sure even if he had continued to live this life, once it would end, he could not see Asumi anyway. Or he wanted to transform all these feelings of love, loneliness, negativity, hopelessness, in a single force that will then be his guide for the rest of his life, just like the positive emotions in his heart were already doing.

'I miss you so much...!'

The pain of his choices was heavy to bear. He couldn't see Asumi crying after his death. But at the mere thought of the girl he loved shrieking over his deceased body, enough to almost temporarily lose the functionality of her vocal cords, Haru felt a heavy pressure on his heart

'I would've wanted to hear her saying she loved me as well.'

These thoughts were enough to fill Haru's eyes with tears, missing the part of his heart he left in his past world with Asumi.

---

After some time, however, Haru dried his tears. Having calmed down compared to before, he went to wash his body, so that he could face this day as well.

'It hurts.'

He was in another world, yet Haru wasn't immune to headaches. Looking at himself in the mirror, he could see his amber eyes were swelling, and he had a general puffiness in the face, as well as the severe headache, the result of his releasing of pent-up emotions.

'...Should I avoid going out for a few hours..?'

He felt emotionally drained, and he knew that from this morning he would have had to have breakfast at the Hostess of Fertility. However, if he had shown up in this state, probably Syr would have asked questions that Haru had no desire to answer because he didn't even know how much he could explain of his past since he came from another world.

'Probably any detail would be fine if not that I am a reincarnated from another world...'

He knew that talking about his reincarnation would cause the rise of the force seeking to stop him from disclosing information concerning the judgment room. So, Haru wanted to avoid recounting his past so that he wouldn't have to face the problem in the first place.

However, these thoughts had made their way into his mind, Haru imagined Syr was probably waiting for him to show up there. It was at one of these times that he hated the absence of modern communication system. If there were, Haru could somehow reach to her and let her know today he could not have come up with some justification. In this case, not showing up the day after he accepted her proposal without letting her know anything made him feel like scum.

He had no idea what he was supposed to do, but in doubt, choosing whether to 'betray' the trust Syr had placed on him and stay home mulling over his choice or keep his word, Haru chose the latter.

---

"Syr...do you want to do that-nya?"

To the woman's words, Syr looked elsewhere. She had just stated she would use the kitchen to prepare breakfast for a customer who had caught her attention.

"Yes, Chloe-san. You should know how difficult it is to contain your interest, don't you?"

Syr was embarrassed by this conversation, as it seemed an attempt to show romantic interest in Haru. However, she considered the latter an interest that did not result in romantic feelings. Or at least, had only realized that he was a good person, had experiences with women and was of her age, the whole was too little, even to act recklessly.

The woman with eyes with a green of a colour similar to a lawn, hair, tail and ears of black reminding hellebore, replied to his question with a smirk on her face.

"If you refer to young boys then yes, I can relate-nya!"

Her bright response somewhat annoyed Syr as Chloe was comparing her interest in something so serious and enigmatic, with having an appreciation for youngsters rather than men her age, which was questionable from different points of view.

"...I still don't know what's interesting about younger boys. Why concentrate so much on them when a man your age could be mature enough to provide you with greater security?"

She didn't have issues with younger kids. One could say she didn't pay too much attention at the age as long as she was interested in something of a person, but Chloe was too keen, almost as if a person was not young made him unfit to be with her, something conflicting with her aforementioned approach towards 'love'.

"..Why you ask-nya...? I just love teasing younger boys and their way of cherishing a woman is what I'm looking for in life. No need for a mature man if I'm the mature one in the relationship-nya!"

Syr sighed having already had the opportunity to exchange her opinions with Chloe. Knowing she could not contextualize her choices as she was free to do and think what she wanted, Syr returned to her duty, awaiting Haru's arrival.

'..He's quite late.'

Half an hour after she had finished cleaning, Syr was slightly concerned. It was strange that Haru had not yet arrived.

'..Perhaps he couldn't come?'

While she thought Haru might have had some commitment, she could hear the noise caused by the opening of the door located at the entrance.

---

He had done his best to let his face be presentable. He had decided to let a little time pass before entering so that even if she would notice, it would not seem that bad. Opening the door, Haru looked around for Syr, but to his surprise, he understood the latter seemed not to be there.

"..You must be Syr's customer, right? She's in the kitchen now-nya!"

Hearing a voice addressing at him to his left, Haru noticed the figure of a woman with cat-like features, black hair and green eyes. Besides, this time he also had a memory of this woman.

"...I understand. Thanks for the information, should I sit somewhere in particular?"

Not wanting to disturb, Haru had asked if there was a place where he should sit where they had not yet cleaned, to avoid having to clean twice the same area. However, the woman wore a smug smirk.

"You are free to sit where you prefer-nya. You are Syr's privileged customer with her services. It's her task to clean the places where you sit-nya."

Her words made Haru sigh. He didn't know her well, but this attitude reminded him a lot of Misha, even though she tended to make her tease innocent almost involuntarily, similar in a way to Syr. She instead was directly implying with her mischievous smile that Haru could enjoy special "services" emphasizing the word as if Syr were willing to do anything for him.

Seeing that her teasing had not tickled, Chloe sighed within her mind knowing Haru was not the ideal person to hook for her. However, Haru appeared as a mature person, yet...

"...A word of advice. The wounds in your heart overflow so much it's impossible not to notice them, you should try to cover them better if you want to look mature."

Now with Haru sitting and her beside him, Chloe could not resist the temptation to whisper these words in his ear. She understood why Syr seemed interested. But if Syr materialized pain as something with so many nuances and that was not continuous, Chloe was not so complicated.

All it took was a glance and some information about Haru to realize his heart had a wound so great that it left him in such a miserable almost sad to keep looking at. He was trying in every way to appear mature, and yet the pain was too much to contain. It was not up to her standards for his total lack of embarrassment.

Similarly, the wound in his heart was fascinating. That's why even she was confused about what to do. Unlike Syr however, she wouldn't try to treat him specially.

Haru knew those words were the truth. If he wanted to look mature, Haru had to act like a mature person. The only problem was one.

'... How could a mature person deal with this situation differently? I would like you to tell me this instead.'

---

(Just to clear this up, a development in his mentality is necessary. after the next chapter you'll be able to see him grow, both in mentality and strength. New characters will be introduced, he will have something additional to his training, but most of all, we'll soon go back in time to see his progress during the days in Blacksmith and Training after the Dungeon. I chose to develop it in this way so that it won't result in a mess to read. After this 'time skip' or you would want to call it 'telling the story from different points of view', Haru will have to face great fights, huge developments and more. Join the discord if you want to participate in polls btw, your vote matters! discord.gg/y8VBZAp)