Cultural Festival 2

"So do you have any recommendations for us to have?"

Akane spoke out as she opened up the small menu that was placed on her table. Her eyes faintly shined when she glossed over the various foods before looking back at Haruto.

'She's really enjoying this.'

Noticing the anticipation in her eyes, Haruto inwardly sighed before putting a faint smile on his lips to entertain the wishes of his sister.

"Although our menu is limited, our fluffy pancakes are currently our most popular choice but if I were to recommend you something I would choose our strawberry parfait as I think it will suit our beloved guest's tastes."

Placing a hand on his chest, Haruto finished his words with a gentle smile which made Akane and the other two at her table let out a small clap as they were impressed by the nice impression he had given them.

"That definitely boosted your score up to an 8 now. Let's see now… what should I order~?"

Akane repeatedly tapped her finger on the base of her chin as she contemplated on what to order after hearing Haruto's recommendation.

"...Just order something you damn idiot."

"Did you say something my kind sir?:

"It was nothing, I think you must have been mistaken ma'am."

Haruto managed to whisper out a small curse but the smile on his face seemed to have never waver making Akane giggle out in amusement.

"I'll get one of the parfaits then."

"One parfait it is."

Akane decided that she had enough of her fun and chose to order something quick since she appreciated seeing Haruto placing more effort in his acting to entertain the three of them.

"I'll get some pancakes."

"Me too."

"Two pancakes and one parfait coming up."

Hearing Akane place her order, Jiro and Yui also placed their's and watched at how Haruto was quickly writing their preferences on the small notebook he carried around with him.

"Haruto."

"Hmm?"

"Smile."

Taking his eyes away from the notebook, Haruto looked at Yui who suddenly called out to him and noticed that she was suddenly holding a large camera while staring at him with a blank expression.

The corner of his lips began to twitch seeing the large camera and he felt helpless when he saw the look of anticipation that radiated off Yui's eyes despite the stiff look on her face.

"Is this good enough?" Haruto quickly put on a small smile for the picture and silently allowed Yui to take one.

*Click 

"Are you done yet?"

*Click Click Click

*Click Click

"Why are you putting your camera on burst mode?!"

Yui didn't even bother to reply as the rapid clicks from the camera's shutter continued to go off even when Haruto stopped posing for the camera as he tried his best to finish writing their order on his notebook.

Finishing what he needed to do, Haruto quickly excused himself and left the table, still hearing some instances of a camera's shutter going off behind him.

"Was that your family that came in?"

"Yeah and they seem pretty excited for some reason too."

Kageyama peered over Haruto's shoulder who was giving the back row the order he received and saw that his family was looking in his direction.

Akane and Yui waved their hands and Kageyama did the same as he was quite acquainted with the two of them.

'That should be Haruto's father right..?'

Kageyama thought to himself as he noticed the man sitting beside Yui who looked very similar to Akane and also gave a small greeting to Kageyama from afar.

'I guess Haruto takes after his mom the most.'

With that small thought flying through his head, Kageyama felt a bit curious but he decided that he should finish up some of the tasks being handed to him in order to create some free time later into his shift.

As the inside of Haruto's classroom busied themselves with their customers' orders, the line outside started to become a bit noisy as the appearance of one person started to turn some heads.

"...Is she here for Watanabe..?"

"..I probably think so."

"She's pretty cute wearing that outfit."

Hushed whispers began to surround Mahiru as she came over to Haruto's stall right as she was finishing her shift at her class and still had her maid outfit on.

The students of the school were amazed by her outfit but not as stunned compared to the visitors that came from other schools who were instead captivated by her lovely appearance.

"E-Excuse me you look really g-good in that outfit.."

A person who stood in front of Mahiru and Yaichi in the line suddenly called out to Mahiru who in response just showed a faint smile and thanked him before she continued her conversation with Yaichi.

"Next person in line please."

"Miss if you like would you like to come join—"

"No thank you."

Mahiru quickly cut off the person's words as he placed her signature angel smile to swiftly reject the person who tried to offer an invitation towards her.

The guy felt a bit awkward by her quick rejection and rubbed the back of his neck to ignore the embarrassment that was rushing towards him.

"You must be a student here so I would like to hear some of your recomm—-"

"Sir, are you the next person in line?"

Trying for a second time, the guy tried to offer another invitation hidden behind an excuse but he was sharply cut off when he felt a hand hold onto his shoulder.

He turned around to see who he was and what he saw was a tall guy with sharp blue eyes showing him a cold smile.

"You are unfortunately holding up the line sir."

"S-Sorry."

"Would it just be for one person?"

Facing Haruto's intimidating presence, the guy eventually relented and went inside the cafe leaving a happy Mahiru behind him as she saw Haruto appeared before her wearing a suit.

"You came here pretty fast."

"We changed shifts pretty quickly since we had lots of people helping out..."

Haruto chuckled as he listened to Mahiru's words and watched in amusement at how she stared at him quite intensely.

"You're going to burn a hole through my body if you keep looking at me like that."

"I don't know what you mean."

Mahiru quickly retorted to his phrase and slowly followed him inside while Yaichi was quietly doing the same behind them.

"Oh yeah my family is here."

"Your family?"

Mahiru tilted her head as she followed Haruto's gaze towards a certain table and slowly tensed up when she saw a new person sitting beside Yui and Akane.

"I-Is that your father?"

"Yeah I was pretty surprised he managed to visit alongside mom and Akane."

Haruto's words suddenly fell on deaf ears as Mahiru quickly examined herself and tidied up her appearance since this was the first time she was meeting with Haruto's entire family and she felt strangely nervous doing so.

Yaichi who overheard their conversation noticed the area Mahiru was looking at and glanced around the cafe before showing Mahiru a bright smile.

"Watanabe, do you think I can sit at Tsukishima and Yamaguchi's table?"

"Hitoka?"

"Sure they would probably let you but are you alright with that?"

"Yup~ I'm totally fine with that."

Haruto nodded his head and quickly brought Yaichi to ask the two guys if she could join them. Yaichi noticed Mahiru looking towards her and quickly raised her thumbs up to give her a sign of good luck.

"Ah! Mahiru is that you?!"

Akane's voice suddenly reached Mahiru's ears and saw how she was gesturing her to come sit with them as there was still an empty seat situated beside them.

After taking a deep breath, Mahiru quickly sat down beside Akane and watched at how all the attention at the table went to her.

"You look very cute in your outfit!!"

"Very beautiful."

"T-Thank you."

Mahiru bashfully bowed her head as she accepted the complements that came her way.

"So you must be the Mahiru I had heard so much about."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Mahiru Shiina and I have been in Haruto's care as his girlfriend."

"Hmm.."

Quickly introducing herself to Jiro, Mahiru felt tense watching at how he was just staring at her with a blank gaze and instinctively swallowed nervously.

"Stop acting like that."

"What could you ever mean my dear wife."

Yui's words broke the blank look on Jiro's face which suddenly turned into one of accusation feeling like he did nothing wrong.

"Tsk I wanted to give out an impression but now you ruined it."

"Want me to hit you?"

"How rude you know. But I can accept it since I know my wife would never do that right~?"

"...."

Jiro wiped a fake tear off his face before leaning his face closer to Yui showing her an innocent smile.

Yui who was drinking a coffee she ordered from before removed her eyes away from her husband and confounded to calmly drink but Mahiru was able to see a tint of blush on her cheeks.

Mahiru felt a bit stunned seeing Yui act a bit different than what she was used to and continued to watch the interaction between the two.

"How cute." Jiro noticed the tint of blush on his wife's face that he blurted out a compliment which earned him a smack on his thigh from Yui.

"It's nice to meet you Mahiru. As you could probably tell I'm Haruto's father and I have heard a lot of nice things about you from both my wife and children."

Jiro ignored the blushing Yui beside him and said his greeting to Mahiru who was still a bit stunned by their interaction from before.

"It's a pleasure to have now met you and I hope you will continue to take care of my son despite his flaws."

"I should be saying the opposite J-Jiro-san."

"Hmm.. Jiro sounds a bit stiff. You can call me father or dad like how you do with Yui you know."

Hearing Jiro's words, Mahiru felt the gazes of the gazes of other two people sitting near her and an indescribable warm feeling spread throughout her chest.

"Alright f-father…"

"How adorable. She reminds me of how you used to act, Yui."

"Speak anymore and your mouth is tied shut."

Jiro began to chuckle seeing Yui's cold gaze but it didn't shadow the fact that her cheeks were burning red with embarrassment.

"Akane, are they always like that..?"

"Yeah pretty much. Dad likes to tease mom a lot but he always knows when to stop before eventually pampering her."

Akane ignored her parent's way of flirting and began to talk with Mahiru about the outfit she was wearing and asked about how her day went so far.

A cheerful atmosphere suddenly enveloped the table where Mahiru happily conversed with the Watanabe family letting her previous tense self finally relax.

"Here's your order." Haruto quickly interrupted their conversation and gently placed their orders on the table.

As he placed each of the foods down, he went to Mahiru's side and slowly placed a strawberry parfait in front of her.

"I asked them to add a bit more honey."

Haruto whispered in her ear and Mahiru was able to see the drizzle of honey that seemed to be a bit more abundant in her portion compared to the other one she saw at the table. 

"Is this discrimination I see?"

"I don't understand what you mean madam."

Akane narrowed her eyes at Haruto who stared back at her with an innocent smile.

The two of them began to bicker while Mahiru who was in the middle of it began to giggle as she found it pretty entertaining.

"She's a nice child."

"Hmm."

Jiro muttered out a few words and looked at Haruto, Akane and Mahiru with a fond look. Yui who was beside him hummed in agreement and gently raised the camera in her hands, snapping a quick photo of the three of them with a soft smile gracing her lips. 

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu