63 Phone Call

*Huff Huff

"You really feel it in the forearms huh."

Haruto took a deep breath as he was standing near a tall wall with colorful wedges attached to it. He removed his earbuds and took a little break from his workout to grab his bag and get his water bottle.

It's been a week since the beach trip and Haruto was currently at the same rock climbing place he's been to before when he went with the others.

"Bouldering is a way better option for me to train in compared to rock climbing."

Haruto grinned as he noticed how his body was gradually adjusting to his new, slightly more explosive movements.

Rock climbing was his initial choice for training his body but after going for a while it started to feel stale for him and didn't add what he was looking for.

So he decided to look around the gym for a better challenge and he found out that this place had a separate area for bouldering. Bouldering required no safety rope compared to rock climbing and only had a safety mat to catch your fall.

Wanting to see how it was compared to rock climbing he took a spot to try it out and quickly started to prefer it over the other.

This being that rock climbing was more about teaching endurance when climbing while bouldering was more on teaching how to make explosive movements to go up.

"Hmm.. I think I could go for another hour before going home."

Haruto looked at his watch and saw that it was a few hours before lunch. Mahiru said to him that she wanted to buy groceries and he offered to help out like usual.

Placing his earbuds back in, Haruto rotated his wrists and started to climb the slanted wall, working on his balance and controlling the power behind his actions.

***

"I'm home."

Haruto said lazily as he opened the door to his apartment. His shoulders and core felt a bit sore after the workout and he wanted to get a quick nap before they would go out to buy groceries.

Hearing the door open Mahiru stood up from the couch and closed the book in her hands.

"How was bouldering today?"

"It's the same as usual but I tried a new wall today and it really made me feel the burn on my forearms."

Mahiru smiled hearing Haruto's answer and went up to him to give him a hug.

"Let me take a shower first since I smell from all the sweating I did."

"But you don't smell bad at all."

Haruto gave a wry smile as Mahiru didn't separate herself from him and instead gave an even tighter hug.

"You need to get your nose checked if you think so."

"Hey stop pinching!"

Haruto lightly pinched her nose and she glared at him before separating herself after getting her fill of Haruto.

Quickly taking a shower Haruto came out with cleaner clothes and saw Mahiru sitting on the coach reading her book. He was about to sit down beside her when he heard his phone ringing on the counter.

He saw who was calling and gave a sigh before answering it.

"Do you need something?"

[Why do you always assume I need something?]

Haruto replied to Akane and sat down beside Mahiru who was curiously looking at him talking on the phone. He whispered to her that it was Akane and she nodded her head.

[Hmm? Were you talking with someone else just now?]

"Yeah it's Mahiru who's right beside me."

"How are you doing Akane!"

[Haah see, Mahiru greets me well unlike my cruel younger brother.]

Haruto rolled his eyes hearing her fake crying and Mahiru giggled seeing that Akane was still being her normal self as usual.

[Haruto you need to step up and be a man! Confess and start dating already, I'm in support of her.]

"But I already did."

[Enough of your excu-]

The voice on the other side of the line suddenly turned silent and the sounds of sheets being flipped was heard.

[...What do you mean you already did?]

"I confessed to her already and now we're dating."

[....]

Akane on the other side sat up straight in her bed and tried to process the sudden realization that Haruto was now dating Mahiru

[EHHH AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ANY SOONER?!]

"Surprise I guess."

Haruto took the phone far from his ear as he heard Akane making a fuss and sending a barrage of questions on how it happened. Haruto gave the phone to Mahiru as Akane wanted to talk with her for a bit.

"Yeah I know it finally happened."

"...Don't worry I will call you if he does something bad."

Haruto heard Mahiru's responses and felt his cheeks twitch wondering what kind of nonsense Akane was spouting towards Mahiru. After talking for a while longer she passed the phone back to Haruto and opened her book once again.

[I trust that you won't hurt her.]

"Don't worry, that's one thing I never plan on doing to her."

Haruto said seriously as Akane had asked him in a similar tone.

[Hehe what a dependable person my brother has become~]

"Shut up."

Akane smiled as she heard his awkward reply and felt happy seeing that her brother had found someone special to him.

"So going back, why did you even call in the first place?"

[Ah right! Mom wanted to see if we could meet up sometime soon since she would be coming back from overseas.]

"She's back already? Why didn't she message me instead of having you call me?"

[She thought that you were at your training camp so she didn't want to disturb you. You know how weird she is when she tries to show her concern, so she'll probably message you later since I told her you weren't at your camp right now.]

"Alright I'll message her asking for the details."

Haruto said as he thought of the days leading up to the week-long training camp he would have in a few days.

Looking back to his childhood with his parents, he shook his head and grinned as he remembered the shift in their attitude they had during the time he and his sister entered elementary school.

[Hehe, alright I'll hang up now and leave you two love birds be~]

"Whatever. I'll see you later then."

After hearing Akane giggling, Haruto hung up the phone and sank onto the couch's plush cushions. Mahiru saw his actions and smiled while inching closer towards him, wanting to be directly next to him.

He felt their arms touch and opened his eyes slightly looking towards her side profile. He proceeded to lean his head on her shoulder and got comfortable as he thought deeply about the upcoming meeting with his mother and sister.

"I guess I should buy that cheesecake she likes before I meet her…"

"Cheesecake?"

Mahiru heard him muttering under his breath and wondered what he was thinking so deeply about. Haruto explained to her about why Akane called him in the first place and her eyes glittered with curiosity.

"Your mother goes to work overseas?"

"Yeah, she sometimes needs to go overseas for her clients if the case revolves around something international."

"She sounds like a dependable person."

Haruto heard Mahiru's slight bitter voice and immediately opened his eyes to look at her. Watching her impassive face, he saw the bitterness through her eyes and grabbed her hand.

"I guess I should tell my mother that she would have another daughter she could dote on."

"Another daughter?"

"Yeah, you're my girlfriend so you're already considered part of the family. So my mother would be happy she could have another person she could dote on, but she still won't beat me in it though."

Haruto said in a playful tone and Mahiru listened to his words in a daze. Mahiru, who had never had a strong relationship with her family, always had a desire to know what it felt like to be a part of one.

So hearing Haruto's words and seeing how accepting he was to include her into his, couldn't help but make her feel overwhelmed with love and gratitude for the man in front of her.

She leaned her body close to his and nestled her face near his shoulder, catching a whiff of his subtle freshly showered scent.

"I just hope she finds me acceptable…"

"Don't worry, she may not be so vocal with her feelings but she would definitely dote on you once she sees you."

Haruto said his words confidently and chuckled a bit imagining how his mother would react after seeing how gentle Mahiru's personality was.

*Ding

Haruto was about to tell Mahiru more about his mother when he heard a notification from his phone. Hearing the sound he thought it was from Akane again but was surprised to see it was from his mother.

[You have a girlfriend?]

[You already heard from Akane that fast? Yeah, we started dating a week ago.]

After sending his message, there was no response for a few minutes and he started to wonder if her signal got cut off. About to place his phone down he felt his phone vibrate and saw that she finally replied.

[Bring her too.]

Haruto gave a wry smile seeing her usual short responses and told Mahiru about his mother wanting to see her. Mahiru nodded her head and said that she would come but suddenly felt nervous about the meeting.

[Sure she said that she'll come.]

[Her name?]

[Mahiru Shiina]

Haruto once again waited for a while for a response before seeing the notification pop up on his screen.

[What does she like?]

[What do you mean?]

[For presents.]

Haruto stared at his screen not knowing what to type after seeing that his mother was already excited to be meeting Mahiru.

'I hope those two won't overwhelm Mahiru too much.'

Haruto gave a faint smile and continued to text his mother while Mahiru was deep in thought on how she would prepare for the upcoming meeting.

***

Got a ton of mosquito bites.... Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu