Sudden Friend

"Is something wrong?"

"No it's nothing. Just a bit tired from the meddling of a certain old man."

"Old man?"

Mahiru looked confused after seeing Haruto with a slightly tired expression. Considering the large coffee he was holding, she began to wonder what kind of meddling would cause this reaction.

"How innocent is he~."

"What did you do this time?"

"It's nothing, my love. You will thank me in the future."

Jiro couldn't keep his gloating expression from escaping his lips which Yui caught on. She knew of her husband's nature so seeing him act like this, something interesting must have happened.

It was the next day after the small bonding experience Haruto and Jiro had in the bath where after a heartfelt conversation, Haruto was subjected to a bunch of questions that made him want to leave the bath that instance.

He thought the hot spring would help him relax but after the whole experience he felt like he got even tenser than before.

'Thankfully he stopped when we entered the sauna.'

Remembering the sauna located just near the area they were in, Haruto felt the urge to take a long nap in that small box and avoid the cold winds pressing against him right now.

As it was the next day, they decided to check out the tourist spots located near the hotel as there were quite a bit of them.

Ranging from scenery looking onto a tall waterfall to a traditional village where at its heart was about the bountiful history and craftsmanship they have.

And this exact village is one of the spots they were most excited about and were currently walking towards.

"Do you think I can make my own sword here?"

Akane said as she looked at the small flight of stairs that led up to a large wooden door that was open with people standing by the hinges.

"Do you even need another sword? I swear you already have two in your room back home."

"Uncultured. I thought you would understand, the more swords the better." Akane shook her head after hearing what Haruto said. "Plus I want at least three."

"How are you even supposed to use three swords?"

"I'll make it work."

Akane quickly brushed away her brother's doubts before running through the wooden doors and looking at what the village had to offer.

Haruto slowly followed behind and turned to Mahiru who's eyes looked at the wooden houses on both of her sides.

"Do you have anything you want to make or find here?"

Hearing Haruto's questions, she paused for a bit to think before saying what she hoped to get.

"I saw on the website that we can make bowls and containers so that's something I want to make. I'm pretty sure I sent it to you this morning?"

Haruto touched his pockets when he heard what Mahiru said. "My phone died this morning so I didn't really check it. I wanted to save some of the battery I managed to get."

He turned on his screen and saw the bright red icon that showed that his phone was at 5%.

Mahiru looked at him deeply and began to slightly worry after seeing the amount of battery he had left.

"What happens if you get lost?"

"...I'm not a child."

"Alright." Mahiru looked at him one last time but her eyes told him that she just glossed over what he said.

Haruto's mouth twitched before he began to pull onto her cheeks which were a bit cold due to the air around them. "Like I'll get lost."

***

"I really need to keep my mouth shut these days…"

Faced with a large crowd in front of him, Haruto felt the need to stop speaking out loud after realizing he had just separated himself from his family.

Reaching the main center of the village, the amount of people began to increase due to the amount of shops and attractions near them. Which can be seen as the main appeal to this village.

Haruto just turned his head for a few seconds after smelling some pastries in the distance and before he realized, he lost sight of Mahiru and his parents.

Finding himself in this ordeal, Haruto pulled his phone out in an attempt to call Mahiru but just as he was about to tap her number, the screen turned off and refused to turn back on.

"Just my luck…"

He let out a heavy sigh seeing that he needed to now find a way to contact them but the scent of some food lingering in the air tugged a part of his heart.

"I can probably have a quick snack before I look for them." Haruto turned tail towards a certain shop that he eyed right as he entered the central plaza and ignored his mouth that attempted to leak out dribbles of saliva.

Waiting in line for a few minutes, he began to eat the small pastries that were fluffy and small while he walked around keeping his eyes open for Mahiru or his family in case they were looking for him.

While he walked around, he noticed that more and more shops regarding crafts began to show up and he suddenly remembered what Mahiru told him before.

"I can probably ask one of the workers where that shop is…"

Finding that his idea was plausible, he continued to stuff down his food while he continued to look around.

"So close! Give a round of applause for the brave person who tried their best!"

Crossing a stone path leading up to another area, Haruto noticed a small crowd began to form as an announcer urged everyone to clap their hands towards her right side where four machines were.

It was an oddly shaped one where 12 black tubes were hanging on top of the person's head and as the timer went down, these tubes would fall at random.

Haruto watched for a bit and saw that the person had to catch all of the tubes without letting a single one drop which required quite a quick reaction time to do.

"Does anyone want to try out this challenge!?"

The announcer excitedly yelled into her mic and had her eyes scan around the crowd to see if any volunteers would come out.

After a couple of seconds, not a single hand was raised which made her put on a wry smile seeing that none of them wanted to play despite her attempts to have someone join.

She looked for a while longer and noticed Haruto watching from the back and her eyes shined seeing his appearance and a smile blossomed on her face.

"That handsome young man over there! Why don't you try out a game and have a chance to win a token if you catch all 12 tubes!" 

Haruto was surprised to see that he was being called out so suddenly and noticed gazes begin to follow him. 'This lady…'

Feeling the gazes increasing, he stood for a while before deciding that it wouldn't hurt to try as he was still on the lookout.

"Wah! Let's give a round of applause to this young man over here!" The lady smiled on the inside and noticed that people began to consider playing after seeing Haruto come up.

'A good looking face is top tier PR~!'

As Haruto got up to where the machines were, he saw how the tubes were more spread out than he thought.

"I didn't think this game would be here…"

Haruto who was staring at the machine in front of him, heard a deep voice appear beside him and noticed that another guy was suddenly next to him. He also noticed that one other man and a girl joined him up on stage. 

The guy beside him had wavy brown hair and matching eyes with a tall frame that stood above Haruto by a few inches. He wore a calm and friendly smile which made him give off a relaxed demeanor.

"Good luck." He noticed Haruto looking at him and gave him a quick nod before he focused on the tubes.

"You too."

Haruto returned a smile and waited for the announcers instructions on the game. It was out of three rounds where you had to catch a certain amount to move on.

First round you needed to catch 4, 8 the next and the final round you needed to catch all 12.

'It looks simple enough.'

Haruto licked his lips as he had confidence in his reflexes and hand to eye coordination and listened closely to the lady's signal.

"Ready…Set..GO!"

The announcer pressed a button and all four machines began to move and the four people on stage focused on the tubes in front of them.

'Oops there's one…'

A tube suddenly dropped to his right before another one fell towards the left side from the corner of his eyes. Luckily he was able to react in time and managed to snatch up 8 tubes before he let a few drop.

This was due to him trying to find a way to hold the tubes in his hands each time he grabbed one as it counts as a successful grab if he held onto them without dropping them. 

"Annnd! That is the first round done!"

The lady waved his arm to show the contestants and saw how only three people were successful in grabbing the minimum of four tubes. Even more, two were able to grab the minimum amount that could qualify them for the second round.

Haruto looked at the person beside him and was slightly surprised to see the guy holding 9 tubes. He noticed that Haruto was looking right at his hands and he gave out a small chuckle.

"My friend likes bringing me to games like these since he says I'm tall, I'm bound to have an advantage due to my large palms."

"Yeah, I can understand him."

The guy placed the tubes back up and Haruto felt slightly competitive seeing the number the person beside him got compared to him.

'I got the feel of how this game works so I should aim to at least get 10 this time.' Haruto thought and waited for the lady's signal one more time.

"Begin!!"

With the sound of her voice, the tubes began to drop at a quicker rate compared to the last round and Haruto slid his hands around trying to grab all the tubes he wasn't able to get last time.

Thankfully he thought of a way to hold the tubes together without wasting too much of the space he had and continued to grab as many as he could before this round ended.

"Stop!!" The lady shouted and felt surprised on the inside after seeing that only two people passed this round and that they both managed to grab 10 tubes this time!

'I even turned up the rate in which the tube drops so I was expecting to see a decrease not an increase…' the lady thought before guiding the man who didn't pass the second round off the stage.

"We managed to tie this time."

"That we did. You have some good reflexes on you." The guy calmly said as he watched Haruto place the tubes he had back onto the machine.

"I should say the same thing to you." Haruto said as he snapped the last tube in place. "Do you play any sports or is that something natural to you?"

"I actually play volleyball so I guess that's why."

Haruto's eyes widened as he was surprised to hear that the person beside him played volleyball and curiously grew inside him. "Are you part of a team? What team are yo—"

"Everyone, give a round of applause to the finalist who will now play for the prize of a token for a souvenir of their choice!"

Before he could ask the person beside him a question, Haruto was interrupted by the excited shouts of the announcer who raised a small silver token in the air which caused the crowd to clap even louder than before.

"What does she mean by token?"

"If I remember correctly, it's a special item that can be used to exchange prizes that this village specializes in. Like custom kitchen knives or containers made from hardened clay."

The guy responded to Haruto who just noticed that a prize was in store for whoever won this final round. He thought about the prizes the person beside him said and one item seemed to stand out for him

'A custom knife for Mahiru doesn't sound too bad of a gift…' Thinking about the prize, Haruto felt a bit more motivated to win.

"I'm going to win this round just to let you know." Haruto smiled as he saw the guy stare at him for a bit before showing him a small smile back.

"Good luck with that."

The guy laughed to himself before he and Haruto drowned out the noise around them. Ready for the last round.

"Final round….GO!"

With one last shout from the lady, she pressed the button in her hand and watched excitedly at the two people who quickly snatched the tubes right as they dropped each time.

'Woah,now the rate in which they drop is irregular.'

Haruto noticed a slight difference as he grabbed the tubes, it didn't fall continuously but had time gaps in which they fell. Making it harder to anticipate and placed a huge emphasis on a person's coordination.

Four, seven, ten, Haruto's sharp eyes tried to keep up with the tubes falling and rapidly approached the last two which he silently waited for.

One was near the middle while the other one was located on his far right.

Between the last two tubes, the one right in front of Haruto suddenly dropped and he raised his left hand to grab it. While he prepared his right hand to get the last remaining one just in case it dropped at the same time. 

He shifted the tubes he had and grabbed it quickly, bringing it closer to his body to secure it before he waited for the last one to drop.

As he thought of this, a blur quickly appeared from the corner of his eyes and he extended his arm so he could match the timing.

Letting his arm go first, Haruto was sure he was going to grab it in time but something unexpected happened.

–TINK

""Ah.""

Just as he was about to grasp the tube, a hard object came into contact with the tip of the cylinder he grabbed and the force pushed it out of his hands. 

It seemed like the person beside had a tube falling on his left side opposed to Haruto who had one drop from his right.

Causing them to collide and fall out of both of their hands. 

Both he and the person beside him watched as the tube fell to the ground leaving the two of them to helplessly watch it fall.

Haruto glanced at the amount of tubes the guy beside him had and saw that he had the same amount he did.

Meaning that the last tube was their way of seeing who would have won but sadly resulted in both of them losing the last one.

"Did we just tie?"

"I think we did…"

The two didn't know what to say and just looked at the announcer who was also silent seeing as she didn't think this would happen.

"Ahem… What a fierce competition! To think it would end in a… tie!!" The lady put on her business smile and looked at the table behind her.

"Since we have such an unexpected tie… I will present the token to both participants as they showed us a great battle of coordination and reflexes!!"

Amidst the cheers that suddenly erupted after her encouraging shout, the lady hopped over to Haruto and the other guy and handed them a silver token.

"It usually ends with the person who grabbed the most tubes in total but you guys made such high scores on your first attempt."

The lady gave a bright smile before quietly thanking the two and guided them off the stage. She noticed the increase of people and felt a bit happy seeing that more people were eager to join after seeing the two play.

Haruto looked at the token and felt strange but decided that if he was given it he should use it.

"Haruto!! There you are." As he was looking at the token he heard a sweet voice call out to him and noticed slivers of blonde hair ran after him.

Mahiru was slightly out of breath seeing her flushed cheeks and sternly looked at him. "I swear, I will take my eyes off you for one second and you're gone."

"My bad. Did you run around this whole time looking?"

"No, I checked around the plaza for a few minutes before I heard a crowd and saw you playing that game."

After catching her breath she managed to tell him what she did before and also informed him of where the others were. Haruto nodded his head before turning around to see if the person beside him was still there.

Just a few meters away from him he noticed that he was looking at him and Haruto gave him a small smile.

"I'll take my loss this time."

"But didn't the lady say it was a tie?"

"Bah, you got the better overall score so I don't count that as a tie."

Haruto clicked his tongue to show his annoyance before he pulled out his hand. They guy noticed the gesture and he took his hand to shake it before Haruto made his way back to his family.

Mahiru gave a small bow before guiding Haruto back.

"Ah.. I forgot to answer his question from before…"

–RING~

The guy suddenly said as he watched Haruto walk away and grabbed his phone which was ringing in his pocket.

[Oi Hirugami where did you go?]

"I was caught up in a game I was suddenly put into."

[Suddenly? Couldn't you have just refused to join?]

"Well…" The guy named Hirugami paused before he continued speaking to the person on the other side of the phone.

"Hoshiumi, didn't you say I was too uptight before? I thought I would follow the flow like this time."

[Whatever floats your boat, I guess.]

Hirugami laughed before he began walking in the other direction Haruto went.

"Oh, I also met this guy who had pretty fast reflexes. I heard he played volleyball too…"

Hirugami spoke to Hoshiumi about the guy he met while playing the game and wondered if he came from a good school.

However what he didn't know at the time was that his title of 'Immovable' would be greatly challenged by the same person he met today by chance.

***

Sorry for no chap for so long. I honestly wrote too many essays that it made me not want to think. Anyways I hope you enjoyed it. Peacu.