Nostalgia

"Are you missing anything?"

"Nope. Well at least I don't think I do, I packed everything last night and made sure to double check just in case."

Haruto combed his slightly messy hair as he placed a few pieces of luggage near the entrance of his apartment.

It was a few days after Mahiru's birthday and they were now getting ready to leave for Haruto's home as the two were going to stay there to celebrate Christmas with his family.

In addition they had planned to go on a trip to an onsen for the break as both Yui and Akane really wanted to go relax in some refreshing hot springs.

It was already planned beforehand after Yui invited Mahiru to join them on their winter trip and she gladly accepted as this was an event that she looked forward to joining.

Pulling the gap of his black long sleeve crew neck to cool him off, Haruto watched as Mahiru tapped the bottom of her chin thinking deeply on the last few items she could have brought.

Her long golden hair was tied up in a high ponytail which exposed her smooth nape which caught his eyes.

She wore an outfit similar to his as a black turtleneck complimented the light blue jeans she had on. 

Simple but fitted the aesthetic for winter. 

However that wasn't the item that caught Haruto's attention in the slightest but instead a piece of jewelry she had on.

A necklace.

"How long are you going to stare for?" Mahiru noticed how unusually silent Haruto was but saw that he was looking at the necklace she had on.

"Who knows, but I'm happy you like the gift I gave you."

"...Of course I do. It was something you gave me on my birthday so I would obviously treasure it."

Haruto just smiled hearing Mahiru's response and watched as she lifted the necklace to see it in more detail.

A silver chain held the pendant that had a deep blue topaz which represented her birthstone for the month of December. Wrapping itself around the gemstone was delicate silver vines that tried to highlight more of the stone.

'There's also one more reason why I like this necklace so much….'

Mahiru's eyes carefully looked at the blue color the gemstone had and shifted her gaze towards the color of Haruto's eyes which caused a gentle smile to blossom on her face.

"Let's just say that I really like the color."

"Really? I guess I really lucked out with my decision on what to get then."

Haruto smiled and watched Mahiru grab her jacket in preparation since she decided that everything she had was ready to go.

–DING DING DING

A series of rings from his doorbell erupted and Haruto sighed as he heard the voice of a certain person calling out to him from the other side.

"Hello hello~!"

"It must be a scammer…"

"Excuse me! But how can this lovely lady be a scammer? The only scammer I know is my luck in gacha but that is always fixed with a quick swipe of a certain card!"

Haruto looked at Akane and felt like she was oddly excited for the trip they were going on.

Akane looked inside and saw Mahiru with her jacket and her eyes immediately landed on the blue necklace resting on her chest.

"What?"

"Hmm~ Nothing~"

Haruto frowned when he saw the grin his sister was giving him and decided to ignore her which prompted her to laugh after seeing his shy reaction.

"Anyways, mom is downstairs in the car so let me help carry some of your luggage."

With the help of Akane, the three were quickly able to bring some of their items out of Haruto's apartment. Haruto took one last look inside before he locked the door and followed behind the two girls.

"I brought the two lovebirds!"

"Thank you."

Akane popped open the trunk of the car while Haruto and Mahiru greeted Yui who was looking straight at them.

"Thank you again for bringing me on this trip."

"You don't need to thank me. We also wanted you to join us."

Despite sounding a bit cold, Mahiru happily nodded her head as she was able to understand the thoughts Yui was trying to convey.

Haruto also greeted his mother and sat beside her at the front where she stared blankly at him.

"....."

"...It's nice to see you again…"

"Hmm."

Haruto hugged his mother as he felt like she wanted something like this to happen and noticed that the atmosphere around her turned soft.

"Let's go."

***

A little over an hour went by before the car Yui drove pulled up onto a driveway that led to a house that Haruto was very familiar with.

Although they had planned to go somewhere else, they wanted to go back home in order to drop off some of their luggage.

There was also Jiro who they had to pick up so they decided that they would stay at the house for a bit before they would leave.

"So this is where you grew up…"

Mahiru whispered as she looked around and noticed the display of trees and bushes surrounding Haruto's house.

She could already imagine him as a child running around the area while dragging Akane around. Maybe forcing her to join him in playing volleyball or maybe relaxing under the tree reading a book that he had picked up from his room.

Her thoughts eventually came to a stop when she noticed that she was standing outside for a bit longer than usual and hurried herself towards the front door where Haruto was waiting for her.

"Welcome to our humble abode! I hope you enjoyed this guy's birthday surprise as I noticed that he worked pretty hard on it."

"Stop, you're making a big deal out of it."

Haruto waved his hand away from Jiro who waited for the three of them at the front and had him zip his mouth from talking any further.

Aoi was also standing near the back quietly and her eyes locked onto Mahiru who walked beside Haruto.

"It was a good surprise. I really enjoyed it since I felt the amount of effort he put into it and maybe… next time I could also cook alongside him."

Mahiru giggled seeing the two talking with each other and said her honest thoughts which had Haruto simply nod his head at her suggestion.

"Don't worry I think I can take on deep frying next time!"

"I think you need a bit more practice before you do that. I think having me do that part for now would be for the best."

Haruto was quickly shut down but a glint in his eyes showed that he wouldn't mind practicing a bit more.

"We'll leave maybe in an hour so you can just relax as you wish or go out since the weather doesn't look that heavy."

Jiro spoke to the three as he brought Yui to the living room to discuss some things about the trip and left them to do whatever they wanted for now.

"Want to check out the park nearby? There's been some construction on it and it looks kinda different from before."

"Really? I really hope they fixed the squeaky swing since it annoyed me to death every time I got on and all I heard was just some ear piercing sound."

"I think they fixed it but I'm not too sure yet."

Haruto and Akane briefly spoke about the park and felt like it would be a good idea to Mahiru over there since it was a perfect spot they had used since their childhood.

"Ah, before you go take some of these and eat them on your way there."

Before they could walk out of the door, Aoi quickly rushed over to where they were and handed the three some plastic wrapping containing warm cookies.

"I hope you enjoy them."

As she handed Mahiru hers, she gently smiled and squeezed her hand softly before she told the other two to enjoy themselves.

Mahiru's eyes locked onto Aoi's departing back and a hint of nostalgia flashed through her face as she looked at the cookies in her hand.

"What's wrong?" 

Haruto noticed this and as they were walking out the door, he asked her if something happened to have her make that expression he saw.

"It's nothing really, that lady just reminded me a lot about the caretaker that took care of me when I was younger…"

Mahiru looked forward and a few memories began to flash through her mind thinking about that caretaker who she would consider her 'mother' figure during her childhood.

"She would sometimes make cookies for me whenever I finished a big test so seeing something like this made me somewhat nostalgic."

Haruto listened quietly and watched as with each word Mahiru said about her caretaker, he could feel the warmth each of those memories brought her. 

He thought for a bit before he suggested something to her after hearing her stories.

"Are you still in touch with your caretaker?"

"Koyuki-san… she quit a while back due to a waist issue but I sometimes send her messages from time to time."

"Why don't we pay a visit to her at some point before the break ends?"

Mahiru quickly turned her head towards Haruto and noticed the look he was giving her which made her slightly embarrassed.

"If it's not a bother paying her a visit, it would be a good way to introduce myself to your mother figure growing up and I know for sure that she'll be happy to see you."

"Well…"

Mahiru was still a bit hesitant but the look on her face already showed just how tempting this idea was to her.

"Plus I would like to get my blessing from her..."

"Eh, b-blessing?"

Haruto didn't say anything further and walked ahead leaving behind Mahiru who tried to catch up to him wanting to know more on what he meant.

***

I will write more slice of life moments and maybe some 'advancements' in their relationship (still deciding to what extent) during this winter arc as the next one would be Nationals and I would say it would be the longest arc in the fic. On another note, how do you guys feel about the Solo leveling anime that came out. I personally loved it so far but I just hope that they don't mess up some of the pacing… Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu