Haruto & Erza (1)

꒰ঌ Haruto & Erza 1

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"You seem sleepy today, Haruto?"

"I guess. I haven't been getting enough sleep lately… oh, thanks."

I felt a refreshing breeze blowing gently on my sweaty face. Sitting at the seat next to me, my cousin Erza was using a desk pad to fan me. Desk pads were very valuable cooling devices for students in the summertime, and I don't think anybody can disagree with that. Around the classroom, I could see many classmates fanning themselves as well with desk pads.

Uzumaki Erza, my cousin from my mother's side. She is a gentle and kind hearted girl. She has long red scarlet hair and brown eyes. She's also occasionally filled the role of a private tutor for me at home. She was an honors student. Her grades were the top of the class. She did not belong to any school clubs, but her hobbies were cooking and reading. She had many well mannered friends, but in terms of close friends she would hang out with after school, those were almost nonexistent. She was the polar opposite of Naruko. They like day and night.

"Feel nice? The test is coming up soon, so don't strain yourself too much, okay? If you stress yourself out and get sick, then there's no point, right?"

At her caring words, I gave her a smile. "Yeah… I'll be careful."

Hah… I felt a strange pain in my chest. It's probably because I'm carrying a pretty shameful secret. The real reason why I seem so sleepy is that every night, I've been playing eroge deep into the nighttime. It's not like I can say that to anyone. Especially to this girl, who's putting all her effort into fanning me with the desk pad. This girl seriously thinks that I've been staying up late at night because I've been trying hard to study.

"Oh, right, Haruto. Today, do you want to come over to my house? We just made some cold kuzukiri. You need to take a break once in a while, right?"

"I guess that would be fun."

"Heh heh great." Erza sent me back a warm happy smile. "Alright, Haruto. It's a promise! I need to go talk with Yang now. Later."

Saying that, Erza went away from my seat, and went to talk with Yang. My American friend Shirayuki Gray came over and took her place.

"Hey, Haruto."

"What's up? You look so gloomy."

"This has been bothering me for a long time, but are you going out with Erza?"

Taken by surprise, I widened my eyes a bit. "Huh…? No. She's just my cousin and a good friend."

"Oh. So… you don't have romantic feelings for her or something like that?"

Raising my eyebrows, I tried to hurry him along. "None."

"Really?"

I responded reluctantly. I don't think I have any feelings like that for Erza. If I had to say it, I would say she's more like a big sister… nah, that way of explaining things is wrong too. Hm, how should I put it…

"Hey, Gray, take this for example. Imagine that ever since you were young, you've lived with a really nice grandmother. And suppose that you're naturally very attached to that grandmother."

"This doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything, Haruto." Gray narrowed his eyes, and I stuck out one of my hands at him.

"Just let me finish… and then, one day, by some magic your grandmother got 50 years younger and she's now the same age as you. Try to imagine what you would feel about that girl."

"How did this suddenly turn into a fantasy…?" Gray just became more bewildered, and I nonchalantly continued.

"It's sort of like that."

"What am I supposed to understand from that?!"

"Well, then whatever. It's not like it bothers me if you don't understand!"

Increasingly losing interest in this topic, I tried to stop the conversation then and there, but Gray wasn't satisfied. For some reason, the conversation felt like it had suddenly turned serious.

"Well then, if you two are not going out, then is it safe to assume that you also have no plans to go out with her in the future?"

"Huh? What exactly are you asking, Gray?" I responded to his question with a question of my own. I was getting a bit testy.

"For example… if I am to ask out Erza, you wouldn't mind, would you?"

"Huh? Of course I would mind. I wouldn't allow it. She's my family and you better watch out for me." At my immediate, irritated response, Gray seemed shocked.

"But, you said a few seconds ago that you don't like her in that way."

"So?"

"So… why? Haruto… why would you say something like this? If you really are just friends with Erza and she's just your family, then it's not like you two are going out. And it's not like you're in love with her."

"Something wrong with that?"

"You're saying some really selfish things, Haruto… don't you feel sorry for poor Erza?"

"You know, you have no right to be saying that Gray! If the person herself said it, I would consider it," I said that with the intention of getting him to cut it out, and with that Gray fell silent.

Acting quite naturally, I looked around for Erza. She was talking with Yang and her friends in another part of the classroom. I gave her a quick glance, and then, suddenly, our eyes met. Erza sent me a worried look, as if she was asking "What's wrong?" I snorted, trying to tell her "It's nothing."

***

After school. With Erza beside me, I headed towards Erza's house.

My mother and Erza's family, the Uzumaki, ran a Japanese confectionery, their house was done in the old style, and was a bluish two-story building. Honestly, it wouldn't feel too out of place if it were placed in the middle of Edo Wonderland. At a glance, it was a sturdy, relatively large house. A part of the first floor was a Japanese confectionery, so we could always eat and drink there. By the way, they didn't only get old people as customers; surprisingly, their main customer base came from young girls. Even though it's such an old-fashioned shop… I don't understand it. Well, certainly, depending how you looked at it, you could say that it was a well-known shop that boasted a long tradition of making confections.

"I'm home."

"… I'm home."

We entered the house through the back entrance. The minute we entered into the entranceway, I could smell the scent of incense drifting around in the air. It was a smell you would expect in an old people's house out in the countryside. Erza let me pass into the Japanese-style living room, and then…

"Wait just a second." With that, she went up the stairs. I raised one hand to send her off.

" Phew… let's settle in then… " Stretching my legs out on the tatami mats, I felt quite at home. In fact, without Naruko here, you could say I felt even more relaxed. As I was thinking this, I heard a voice.

"Oh, is that you Haruto-kun?"

"Hello, Irina oba-san. Sorry for intruding."

"You're not intruding. Feel free to make yourself at home. By the way, how's Naruko-chan? It's been a long time since she last visited here."

"Naruko is fine, oba-san. She has been busy with school lately."

"That's good to hear but I hope she doesn't push herself too much. Mother, Haruto came over, please bring the watermelon."

Erza's mom, Uzumaki Irina, my aunt and my mother's older sister, looked happy as she called down the hallway. I then heard the pitter patter of footsteps as my grandmother came into view.

"Well, Haruto-kun. Did you come to take Erza as your wife?"

This was her idea of a classy joke, and probably her favorite thing to say. I responded as usual, with a wry smile and with a "No no, that's not it." With that, she pouted.

"Mother, please cut the watermelon that Father just bought a little while ago."

"It's still a bit early to be eating that watermelon, oba-san."

Erza's home consisted of Erza, her younger brother Menma, her mother, and our grandparents. Like me, Erza lost her father in her early age too.

"I'm back! Ohhh, who's here?!" With heavy footsteps, Sho came into view.

"Ah! It's you Sho! What's up? Hey, what's with your hair?"

"Oh it's just you, Haruto, I cut it! Hehe… what do you think? Super cool, right? Now I look like that rockstar Chester Bennington!"

Standing in front of Sho's 'super cool new hairstyle', I was at a loss for words for a moment. Sho patted his own head, and puffed out his chest with a proud expression.

"Haruto, did you know!? This hairstyle is the skinhead style that's really in fashion right now!"

"No no no no! That's just a close shave! It's not a skinhead style or anything!"

Sho put on an expression like a millionaire who had just discovered that the hard-earned, prized painting in his collection was fake.

"Huh? Huh? What are you saying, Haruto? You don't know much about this stuff, do you… no matter how you look at it, this is a skinhead style, isn't it?"

"Where is there a skinhead with hair that shade of blue!?"

Stroking his hair, Sho let out a scream like he was the subject of Munch's 'The Scream'.

"Really!? Dammit… that guy in the barbershop completely lied to me!?"

"Well, if it's the barber you usually go to, then he probably didn't want to give you a skinhead haircut even if you asked him to, or else your mom might complain afterwards."

"U… ughh… dammit!" Sho seemed heartbroken. Something he seemed so proud about turned out to be a flop… there was also a more cynical explanation, that the barber was just agreeing to give him a skinhead haircut jokingly. It's probably better if Sho didn't know about his haircut, but I had already let the cat out of the bag. Well, to some extent it's his fault for getting the haircut in the first place.

"Ugh, maybe I should cut it again myself… "

"Stop that. You wouldn't be able to do that well. They used a special razor to cut it in the first place, right?"

"… But nobody told me about this… "

Right then, Erza came back, having changed out of her uniform. She brought tea with kuzukiri on a tray with her. "What are you two doing?"

"Not much, he just had something shocking happen to him… " I spoke while rubbing Sho's closely shaven head. Erza faced her heartbroken brother and smiled.

"I see. Well, I don't know what happened, but cheer up. Here, I also brought Ben's portion."

"What do you mean 'Ben'?" I asked expressionlessly, and Erza smiled.

"A while ago, Sho-kun came back from the barber's and told us 'Hahaha… with this super cool haircut I'm gonna be as cool as Chester Bennington, my name up to now is not adequate anymore! From today, call me Ben, Nee-chan!' "

"I see. Alright, I'll try that too. Nice to meet you, Ben. That's a really stylish haircut you have there."

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Sho ran out of the room while bawling. Having heard his own embarrassing idea come out of someone else's mouth must have really brought him to his senses.

Poor guy. And he's probably been spreading the same idea at school, so there's a distinct possibility that this might become a very long-running nickname for him… and if that happens, he won't be able to shake that name until graduating school, and even then he'll still be tormented by it during class reunions.

Seeing her brother off, Erza blinked, confused. "What's wrong with him…?"

"For men, there are things in the past which we want to forget."

"Huh… I see… hm, that's pretty cool."

You were the one who finished him off though. I stopped myself from saying this to Erza.

"Oh. This is really good, this kuzukiri. Although I usually eat it with ponzu… "

"It's nice with brown sugar syrup once in a while, isn't it? We made a lot, so be sure to fill up."

"Ahh, I'll do that then. By the way, did Baa-chan make the most of this?"

"Yeah. But… I also helped."

"Really, pretty impressive."

It was really a very normal conversation between me and Erza. There was nothing exciting about it… which is exactly why I always loved the conversations I've had in this house.

"Haruto, if you become Erza's Husband, you'll be able to eat these delicious sweets everyday, you know."

"W-waah… Obaa-chan, stop it! You're annoying Haruto! " Erza blushed.

"Good thinking, dear! Haruto, you really should! If you get together with Erza… umm… lots of good things will happen! If you do it now, I'll also follow you to the end!"

If I do it now… stop treating this like a limited time offer or something… Seriously, Jii-chan! Those extra few words you tacked on at the end were just too much!

"Geez, Ojii-chan. Don't say unnecessary things."

"Hm? So, you don't need your old grandfather anymore? Such words being told to me by my granddaughter… there's no more point to living!"

Swish. As Grandpa Uzumaki seemed to fall over dead, Grandma Uzumaki faced him with a smile. "Ah, your idiot Ojii-chan is playing dead again. Don't take it seriously, alright? He gets too caught up in the moment sometimes…"

"Heh heh." Erza began to play dead as well, but when I realized Grandpa Uzumaki was joking I wanted to smack him.

Absolutely ordinary, without standing out, without making lots of noise, living out my life quietly and in a laid-back way… the life I wanted was probably something like this. Also, of course, there were no annoying sisters around.

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