Affection

"So, you actually are mute, huh? But, I am quite sure I heard you talking with your partners back on that avenue."

Hina nodded her head, confirming what Hayato said.

"I see. So you actually talked. How come?"

She leaned her head to the side and lowered the high collar of her shirt, exposing her neck.

'Hm... new fetish acquired', Hayato thought as he squinted his eyes.

'No, no, no. Focus. Focus.'

Hina had something like a metallic choker on her neck. However, of course, that was no ordinary accessory. Hayato had seen many devices and tools in that world, even though he was there for just a month or so. People were using extraordinary things everywhere, from poor people to nobles. That's just how chaotic the technological development of that district was.

Hayato didn't need a second thought to figure out what was the purpose of such a device.

"Oh, so that's the thing that helped you, huh? It somehow makes you talk."

She nodded with an uncharacteristic sweet smile on her face. Hayato's heart throbbed, sending shivers across his body.

Hina pointed to the device on her neck, then agitated her fingers and made bzzz sounds with her mouth. She seemed to have a lot of difficulty making any kind of sound. That was something that Hayato interpreted as...

"Hmm, electricity? That's what you mean?"

She was insecure about her bad mimicking, so she nearly jumped from where she was seated. She clapped both hands and let out something that resembled a giggle, but laughing was another thing she seemed to have a hard time doing. However, despite being a bit strange, that was too cute for Hayato.

'C-Can I die from diabetes just by looking at something this sweet? My heart isn't gonna take it if she keeps doing this kinda stuff.'

Hayato was not used to interacting with girls, much less alone. Tess was the only person he ever talked to intimately.

"Well, then that means your device got electrified, got short-circuited, or is out of battery or energy to function. Which one, though?"

She raised three fingers.

"Oh, ok. It's out of battery, then. Is it too difficult to find some way to recharge it?"

Hina nodded, disappointed.

"I guess that, even if I could help you out with this, you cannot even explain it to me right now..."

She nodded again.

"Hm," this time her groaning had a sad tone.

"Well, once we can get paper and ink or something alike, we will be able to communicate even better. Once that happens, you explain it to me."

Hina blinked dramatically, then her smile widened in gratitude. She was so excited that her cheeks even blushed, though Hayato couldn't notice this detail when it was so dark. But it was better like this. If he had noticed, only God knows for how long his heart would keep beating. He had seen enough.

'Never once my intelligence helped me this much to talk to a girl. Well, actually, I think she is already a woman, though she has a very young face. But, well, Mr. Satoshi was an old man and had the face of a person two decades younger than him. Since they are just like the Asians in my previous world, their diet and lifestyle contribute to delaying their aging.'

Hina was about to make more gestures. Apparently, she was relieved to find someone who made an effort to talk with her despite her limitations. That was not an opportunity she often had.

However, before she even started, someone's voice sounded.

"Glad you guys are getting along. That will be important when you start to put in the work to... wow, what a subtle change. But you had such a bright face a moment ago. How disappointing."

Once Hina realized that it was Daichi who had sneaked into their conversation, her face changed immediately and she crossed her arms. Her expression was now solemn and her body expression clearly showed that she was not in the mood to talk with anyone.

Daichi seemed quite depressed for being received like that. However, it was hard to tell when Daichi was talking seriously or when he was just joking around.

'I hope that this episode won't make her get even more distant from me than before... Damn you, Daichi! We were starting to get relaxed around each other. Hmm, she was, actually. My blood pressure was touching the skies.'

Daichi went straight to the pile of sticks and leaves that they made and before their eyes, with no fancy tools whatsoever, he lit up the bonfire. The old man carefully put rocks around it, to not offer any risk for them. If that fire spread, they would be in trouble.

Now, Hina was again isolating herself. She only looked at their faces when it was her time to get her food, which, indeed, was a bunny. Hayato didn't comment, but he found it amazing that Daichi could track and kill such a fast animal when it was so dark.

Anyway, more than worrying about how Daichi made that deed, he preferred to worry about Hina. Now that he talked to her and knew that she was a good girl, he pitied her.

'Is Hina's situation here right, at all? I mean, despite not having any explicit criminal intentions towards her, Daichi is still using her for... whatever it is that he wants to do. The only thing I know is that she is a key piece to take down the empire, nothing more. Now, how he will use her for this matter... I have no clue.'

"Daichi..." Hayato called him as he approached the old man. He decided to leave Hina be. Approach her might not be the best option.

"What is it, boy? Wanna more meat?"

"No... I want to ask you a question."

"Babies come from the woman's..."

"No! I know from where they come. Why would I ask you this kind of thing anyway?"

"My son approached in this exact way when he wanted to know about it."

'Oh... so he has a son.'

"I am not a ten-year-old, you know? A-Anyway, that's not even the issue here. I just wanted to ask about Hina."

Daichi's face suddenly went all serious. He glanced at Hayato while throwing some sticks on the fire.

"What's with her? Did she say something to you?"

"She doesn't talk, you know? She is mute."

"Regardless. Mute can still communicate."

Hayato found his overly straightforward responses quite strange, but decided to overlook it.

'I barely know him, so maybe he reacts to things in this way, usually. Maybe he is just the crude type of man.'

"She didn't say anything suspicious to me if that's what you want to know. We communicated at some point, but just enough for me to discover ordinary things about her."

Daichi took one of the cooked bunny's legs and wolfed it down. He was still hearing, though he didn't bother answering Hayato.

"Well, the question is... Why don't you just leave her be? She obviously doesn't want to be with us."

"She is important. That's what you need to know."

"But, in what way?"

"Boy, if you truly want to take down the empire and kill the person whom you hate, you need to be tough and understand that sacrifices are needed in a war. This girl's freedom is the first sacrifice we need to make. If you start off by pitying her and freeing her, we will have no choice but to take fishing rods and spend the rest of our lives in a frustrated retirement."

"W-Wait, I didn't say anything about wanting to let her go. I just asked why we can't do it", Hayato raised both hands defensively, taking a step back.

"Don't ever step back while I am talking to you or looking at you. That's the first lesson I am teaching you. Got it?"

"G-Got it", Hayato made sure to keep both his feet planted on the ground.

'His tone right now... It was just like those militaries I would see in movies. Coarse, direct, imperative. The type of voice and expression you would rather die than go against.'

"Second thing. Since you brought this up, I bet that you are getting ahead of yourself and creating affection for that girl. It's easy to guess what's going on inside your mind after figuring it out. You obviously think that the right thing to do would be to free such a pure and cute, girl, right?"

"Hmm... Well, I would be lying if I said I didn't think about it for a second."

"Listen well to this old and decaying man, little boy", Daichi put one of his hands on Hayato's back like an understanding father trying to comfort his son.

"That woman over there, she is dangerous despite her looks. She's killed more people than you would ever imagine, both directly and indirectly. She is often referred to as a misfortune charm, a walking chaos. Another thing is that she is seen as a tool by most people who know her story. Nearly nobody sees her as a human being. So, you shouldn't treat her like one.

"Remember that we don't speak to our tools, we don't idolize our tools, we don't create affection for them. We USE then, that's all. As soon as you realize this fact, the quicker it will be for you to get used to how the dynamic of our relationship will be."

"I... I see", Hayato lowered his head.

"I said for you to get along with her, which is fine. You two will be partners, after all. But don't let this camaraderie surpass certain limits."

Daichi got up and walked toward his sleeping bag. He didn't utter a single word more for the rest of the night.