Walk

"I finally finished it.."

Haruto began to stretch in his chair as he had been sitting in it for quite a while. In front of him was his computer screen with end credits playing as he just finished a game that he held off for quite a while.

It was now summer break so he had more time on his hands to use, so he had started to play some of the games that Akane recommended to him. He held it off for a while since he had finals but now he had the chance to finally play some of them.

"But that final fight scene inside of that burning ship was really detailed."

Haruto spoke out as he went to the kitchen to get some water to drink. As he walked around his dark apartment, he decided to just open the curtains instead of turning his light on since it was bright outside.

Holding his cup he looked outside and saw the sunny sky with its abundant clouds floating in the air. He opened the window to feel the temperature and a warm delicate breeze brushed his face.

"I should probably go outside since I've been just playing games for the past few days."

Haruto said and decided he should go out and touch some grass.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was still hours before lunch so he went into his room to change into clothes suitable for going outside.

*Clink

A few minutes after Haruto entered his room, the front door opened and Mahiru came in with a bag of ingredients.

"Haruto, I just want to drop off some ingredients for dinner tonight."

Mahiru said in a soft tone and looked around to notify Haruto that she came over. She didn't see him come out and thought that he might have left to go somewhere.

"Haruto?"

"Ah Mahiru? Just wait, I'll be out in a second."

After calling out his name one more time, she heard him reply and after a while she saw him come out of his room wearing light casual clothes.

"Are you going out somewhere today?"

"No, I'm just going to take a quick walk outside since I've been cooped up in my apartment for the past few days. Like a change of scenery I guess."

Mahiru asked a question as she placed the ingredients from her bag into the refrigerator and Haruto answered while filling up the bottle he would bring on his walk.

"It is a nice day to go outside. I also saw that the next few days are going to be the same so I hope it doesn't change."

Mahiru said as she finished placing all the items neatly in the fridge. Haruto nodded his head hoping for the same thing since he had some plans with people to go rock climbing and he didn't want to travel in the rain.

Mahiru looked outside through the windows near the living room and saw the sun shining and also felt like it might be nice to go on a walk too.

"Haruto, are you leaving right away or could you wait for a bit?"

"I'm not in a hurry to leave so I could wait. Why do you need help with something?"

"No, I was just wondering if I could join you since I also felt cooped up in my apartment after staying home to complete homework."

Haruto heard Mahiru's reason and said that it was totally fine with her joining him. Mahiru smiled and said that she would be quick and went back to her apartment to change.

Haruto also went back to his room and found a small bag to bring so he could place items such as a bottle inside of it.

After seeing what he needed to bring, he went out and stood near Mahiru's door waiting for her to come out. Her door opened and she came out wearing casual, easy to move clothes and a small hand bag.

"Sorry if I took too long to come out."

"Nope you were fine so don't worry. If that's all then let's go."

Haruto and Mahiru walked down the steps of their apartment and made their way through their neighborhood to enjoy the wonderful weather outside.

Haruto led them into the path where he usually takes his jogs and they were suddenly surrounded by vast rows of green trees and the sounds of leaves moving from the wind was heard.

"But it's pretty diligent of you to have already finished your summer homework."

"I wanted it over with so I don't have to worry much about it when the break is almost over."

"I should also start mine too…"

Haruto whispered to himself as the amount of homework he got was hefty so finishing it early would be a good way to free up time in his summer schedule.

The two of them continued to walk and eventually reached a crosswalk splitting the path they were on into two.

"Let's go left since it says that it goes to a hill top view."

Mahiru suggested and pointed towards the sign which had a general map of what lies ahead of the path. Haruto agreed and they made their way through a rough wooden path going uphill.

"Be careful since some of the steps are uneven."

"I will try my best…"

Haruto warned as he walked beside Mahiru, carefully ready to help her in case something happened. The trail was covered in wooden chips so it was hard to see which part of the path was lower than the other.

"I'm going to hold onto you alright."

Mahiru, who felt the small mismatch in her steps, quickly held onto Haruto to get some sort of balance that she needed. Holding onto his arm she was able to get the support needed to walk up the hill faster.

After a while they finally made it to the top of the hill and saw a wide flat area that was surrounded with wooden fences. The open view peered over a small part of their area showcasing the tall buildings and busy streets it had.

Mahiru saw the open view and with her arm still wrapped around Haruto's, she pulled him to quickly see the view much better.

"Look, everything looks so tiny from up here."

"The view really is amazing. Plus this also looks like a good spot to take a small break."

Mahiru admired the view and Haruto looked around and saw many benches that they could use to sit down and rest.

After looking at the view for a while longer they sat down and reluctantly separated since they wanted to take some stuff out of their bags. Haruto took out his cold bottle and another cold drink to give Mahiru.

He was about to give it to her but he saw she was busy searching for something in her bag. Seeing her side profile exposed he slowly placed the cold drink onto her cheek which made her flinch.

"What are you doing?..."

"Sorry it was just you looked so focused that I subconsciously did it."

Haruto seriously said to Mahiru who just stared at him with a speechless expression and finally took out the item she was looking for. It was a bag of bagel chips and a container of hummus.

She also brought out some small snacks since it was still a bit early for lunch and she thought a quick snack on their walk would be a great idea.

"Mahiru you really are some kind of genius for thinking of this."

"Oh it took you that long to finally realize?"

Haruto laughed at the smug face she put on and they sat beside each other, eating the small snacks that she brought out. As they ate their food, other people also started to appear.

Majority of them who came were a bit older and they kindly smiled towards Haruto and Mahiru who waved back at them from the bench.

Mahiru watched an old couple walk hand in hand with each other and felt her cheeks grow hot as she suddenly envisioned Haruto and her like that.

"Ahem should we continue our walk now that we got a quick break?"

"H-Huh yeah sure we could."

Haruto gave a small cough to catch Mahiru's attention who's gaze stayed onto the old couple walking past them. Haruto also took a quick glance at them while cleaning up the area they were at.

They walked back towards the uneven path and Haruto stopped Mahiru with his hand stretched out right in front of her.

"Here let's hold hands so we could help each other down the path."

When Haruto saw Mahiru's attentiveness towards the old couple, he felt like she was staring intently at their intertwined hands. So he offered to do the same since it was a gesture he would do anytime for her.

Mahiru stared at his outstretched hand for a second before placing her hand right on top of his.

"I think we should go down slowly just in case…."

Mahiru gave a bashful response as she gave an upturned gaze towards Haruto. Haruto felt his heart shake due to this deadly combo and tried to quickly reply back.

They walked down the path at a pace slower than one they went up by and enjoyed the small contact they had through their hands. Continuing their walk through the vast display of lush green trees.

***

I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu