Studying.

It has already been two weeks since I moved to Hanami-san's place and since then everything has been unexpectedly peaceful. So peaceful that I grew suspicious of her "activities".
Point is, she usually leaves early in the afternoon and comes back right before dinner, that is, around 7PM. I hardly imagine her as a casual career woman, but at the same time I highly doubt she would not have some kind of job or activity at all.

"A black market merchant perhaps.. I can picture it quite easily."

"Lost in thoughts Haruka-san ?"

"Yes, I was wondering what Hanami-san's occupation could possibly be."

"I am honestly surprised she has yet to tell you about it."

"What do you mean ?"

"Of all the people that I met since I worked for her, Hana has never seemed to take a liking to anyone specifically. And I felt like you were the first one to make it happen. Moreoever, you two talk so casually to eachother that I thought you would already know something as obvious as her occupation."

"Is her attitude this unusual towards me ?"

"Very much yes. I mean It may sound like an assumption based on my interpretation but I am convinced that is the case. For instance, she would make a point of not having any guest meet her on this particular floor, but she allowed you on your first visit. She also fed you some details about me and my past, which would be unthinkable if she did not have at least some trust in you. Although I imagine you could think of it as a bait to have you lower your guard, but believe me or not, at the very least I am certain she does have some interest in you. What is more, she slept with you on her own accord."

"I meant to ask for a little while now, what about the other floors of this building?"

"That is yet another unexpected question. I would expect Hanami to show them to you sooner or later considering the deal going on, however I don't see any reason not to tell you ahead of time since you asked me. So, the first floor is vulgarly called a nap room, it has couchs, beds and TVs as well as a Bar and it was built so the guards and other staff can have a break or spend the night when needed. The second floor serves as a gym and is open for staff and Hanami's guests only. The third floor is comparable to a sentô from the 20th century but with a single large mixed bath. Staff only. The floor 3.5 has two changing rooms, one for men and one for women, and toilets. The fifth floor is Hana's, where she lives when she is not at the main estate in the first district. I also live and work here as you witnessed. Then the sixth floor is a research lab, there she hires people to do experiments and research about various things only she knows of, and she also allows the floor or some of the labs to be rented by companies and individuals. And lastly the seventh floor, is a large and soundproof gaming room with computers, VR devices, tables, but also a boxing ring in a separated room on the back of that floor. Hanami prepared the area to host competitions but she also welcomes people wanting to use it as a training ground. There is a membership system for regulars, but you can also come here free of charge for a month as a trial period before you have to pay to continue."

"I certainly would have never expected so much in this tiny looking building. However I have to say it definitely sounds like something she would do. And at the same time I got the answer I was looking for initially. Thank you very much."

"Oh sorry I gave you the wrong idea, she does not manage all of this as her main occupation."

"How comes ?"

"In fact she leads her own squad as part of the civil force as her main job, which is what she is doing when she is not home."

"So that's what it was.. I am genuinely impressed. I figured she was one to dirty her own hands in order to achieve what she wants to, and to make money, but never did I imagine it would be to that extent."

"Yes, and yet she will not be recognized as the heir of her family.."

"Because of what her parents have done I presume ?"

"Indeed. As you must have heard it was one of the most taboo act to perform in such crucial situation, and I can't help but think her parents must have known what would happen to their daughter in the future, and yet for a reason I cannot begin to understand, they decided not to hold back on their choice."

"It surely is quite the burden for Hanami-san, however I doubt it affects her that much. From my point of view, she would be more likely to curse the fact she inherited different duties due to her name, which means less freedom, more than the fact she is poorly treated as the family heir."

"You may be right, however we cannot ignore the fact this treatment does have a substantial effect on ojou-sama's fame and thus her activities and actions in general. Which is what truly worries me."

"You have a point."

"If you'll excuse me I want to prepare dinner before she is back so if you have any more questions, I would appreciate if you could keep them in mind for later. I promise to answer them as much as I can."

"Don't worry about me, I am the one who's sorry for taking so much of your time for a conversation when you are not even done working. I did appreciate to have the opportunity to talk more with you though. I will be in my room until dinner is ready."

"Thank you very much for your concern but you don't need to worry, I don't actually have a lot of tasks in the afternoon so more than anything talking with you offered me a breather."

"I am glad to hear as much then."


I randomly earned a lot of information about Hanami-san today which is quite fortunate. With that and If I consider Shion-san did not deceive me this time, I can almost guarantee I was right to have faith in her mistress' word the day of our bargain. However I still plan on asking her to guide me through the building to make sure at least this information was right. Not to mention I would simply be curious to visit the whole thing anyways.

On a more pressing issue, tomorrow is saturday and even though I did not attend the academy for the last two weeks, mainly to do some research, I promised my kouhai not to cancel our study sessions since I would not want her to be in trouble because of me not being around as my duty implies.


_____

"Good morning sleepy head, i'm taking Shion out with me today so you are by yourself until this evening, you can move freely on the building except for the sixth floor. If you want to leave you can call someone from the ground floor to come and free you, fine with that ?"

"Understood, I will be out from three to six in the afternoon at the usual bookshop."

"Got it then until tonight, see ya."

"Have a nice day."


I think I will take some time to prepare a bunch of exercises and gather some ressources and manuals for today's meeting. Let's also take a look at the gym on the second floor, hopefully I will be able to practice a little before heading out.

_____

"Hello, Morine from the fifth floor here, I would like to come down to the second floor, could you unlock the door for me please ?"

"Sure thing, there you go. Would you like to request a coach for your training today ? The first week is a trial, lessons are free."

"No thank you, I appreciate the offer but I am already used to working out, I'll be fine."

"Understood, then have a good sweat !"

He sounds way too energetic for someone whose post requires him to stand still for hours. However for some reason it did not sound to be forced. I guess there really are people like that who take pride and joy in everything they do, or maybe he heard some good news today ? I wonder.
In any case I have three hours before the study session so let's spend an hour and a half here, try out the bath above, and then I should be able to get there in time.


I ended up spending a bit longer than I expected in the bath and I may be late for the meeting, let's hope she did not arrive too early and has to wait for me too much.

"Ok If I run from here I might be able to take the next bus and avoid being late."

I did manage to get there ten minutes before the meetup, but there is no sign of her being there early thankfully. However good thing I wore this blazer today instead of my usual haori since it has the functionality to dry up both my shirt and the blazer itself. As for my hair I can always use the restroom in the shop to dry them.

"Oh Haruka-kun, welcome."

"Hi, how are you doing Honga-san ?"

"Doing fine as always and we are glad to have you today again. Oh and before I forget, Akemi-chan contacted us earlier today, she wanted to let you know she would certainly be late today. And If she did no show up after an hour or so, you could consider she would not be coming at all."

"I see, thank you as always. I will borrow those two tables on the back over there if you don't mind."

"Sure make yourself at home."

Since I won't need to worry about school assignments for the next two weeks I can finally go back to reading full time. Good thing I have wait for Akemi.
By the way even if we don't meet today, I am fine doing it tomorrow. Plus I planned on staying here until it closed today anyway.

Now that I think about it I did not tell her about my situation last week when we met. Considering how she is I assume she chose not to ask me about the details out of consideration in case my reasons were hard to tell, however I believe she ought to know about it. That being said, I doubt my capability to make it as clear as when Hanami-san explained it to me. For that reason I must find a way for them to meet.

Now I hope she will make it today so that I can plan something for tomorrow with the two of them, sunday seems to make for the best opportunity in that regard.


"It's almost five.. I hope she is fine at least."

Following that sentence and with a long and exhausted breath, Akemi came rushing into the shop. It was easy to imagine she came on foot, and that she decided to run at some point.

She immediately came to me and apologized a lot. To which of course I said It was no big deal since I planned on staying anyway. But she must have thought it was a way to be mindful of her and apologized again. That is how she is.
Kind, energetic, mindful of others and more importantly, hardworking.
In fact not so deep inside me, I felt like she would be coming even if it meant for her to have zero to less chance to meet me.
In case I left early she would be studying by herself instead.
Occasionally she would strike up a conversation with the owner so it would feel a little livelier for them.
In fact this kind of shop is far from being popular nowadays, which is obvious for most people. Indeed absolutely anyone have the means to read what they would like to with a sweep of the finger.
So I certainly imagine how lonely they may feel to see their worplace so quiet and empty every day. For that reason I figured I'd show Akemi this shop. I knew she liked to meet people and learn about them so even if I am not confident in my skills when it comes to conversing, I believed I could at least create a situation where doing so would be easier for me while still being of use and maybe of interest to her.
Study sessions in person. With lonely people around, starving for some attention.

Later, as the shop was about to close for the day, we were kindly allowed to stay for an extra hour if we wanted. Honga-san was happy to have the both of us today and said she would feel bad to break into our session now that Akemi did her best to still attend today's.
Akemi not being in a hurry and me neither, we decided we'd gladly take this opportunity.

But then around ten minutes before we were to tidy up and leave, un unexpected couple of guests showed up.

"Ah senpai, before we leave I wanted to ask your opinion on a specific answer I wrote in the test we took earlier this week; the teacher said it was acceptable but that most people would not interpret the text as I did."

"Sure, and since you talked about a text I assume you had to review and answer questions about one, is that right ? Do you have it as well ?"

"Yes and yes I am sure I brought it, give me a second i'll find it."

Surprisingly since she found out that I was always attenting school with a backpack because I like to have the physical copies of my books and a notebook, she decided to try doing as much and it seems like she got used to it, or perhaps she came to appreciate the smell of those antiquities just like me.

"Found it ! It was about a man working with an android. Their job consists of collecting its peers all around town before they cause harm to people as their memories have a limited lifespan of around twenty years. And this text is in fact the main character's diary in which he wrote how he lives with his non-human co-worker in a daily manner, and also how their relationship works and evolves until the day that android's lifespan come to an end and is sent to a lab where they erase its memory, or reset it I guess you could say."

"I see, so then what was the question you wanted to review with me ?"

"Yes, the question was: << At the end of his diary we learn that the main character decided to give a ring to the android he has been working with. But he doesn't specify for what purpose he did so. What do you think of his action ? Try to imagine the android's reaction as well.>>

"I pretty much have an idea of what I would answer but first tell me what you said in response."

"I wrote: << Considering he was in charge of this android from the beginning and is to continue as long as he works there, the main character must have thought it ended up being something akin to a belonging of his. Thus he decided to give it a ring in order to make it recognizable in a way people would know she (since it was made to look like a woman) belongs to his unit or even to him specifically.
Indeed as we go through his diary, we understand that he came to cherish her a lot even though he only started working with her less than a year before she had her reset.
Regarding the android's reaction, I assume she looked happy or even overjoyed depending on how far she was meant to be able to mimic human's emotions. Her reason for that would be that she understood their relationship and did not expect a human to go as far as making her special among other androids to further show she was under his care. >> "

"I see, and I had a pretty similar take in mind in fact. I wonder what could be wrong about your answer. If the teacher said your interpretation cannot be considered wrong per se but is not what people would usually get from this text then maybe it's actually simpler. Something like the reason he gave her this ring is because its a memento of his and he considers it safer in the hands of something like an android that would never put itself in danger or be clumsy with its belongings."

"Oh you may be right ! I didn't think about that possibility, it makes sense and sounds more straightforward than my answer. It also shows he trusts his company's products and acts accordingly, plus we can imagine he takes good care of what he owns and takes his duty to heart."

"Yes definitely. You should try to convey this idea to the teacher in charge of that test if you have the opportunity. This way it should no longer weigh on your mind anymore."

"Thank you very much senpai, it's always enriching to converse with you."

"I am glad to be of any help at all."

" 'Cuz you call that help huh ?"

A chill ran down my spine for some reason even though I knew this voice all too well.

"What do you mean Hanami-san ?"

"I don't even know where to start, it pains me just to hear the two of you talking about this.. Tell them Shion."

"Ojou-sama, pardon me if I betray your expectations but I did not feel like their reasoning was wrong by any means. In fact I would be interested to hear what is it that caused this anger of yours."

"Oh so ya're gonna play it like this huh, alright then let me tell you something guys."

"..."

"You suck ! What is wrong with you lot ? Have you never read a book with romance in it before? Or is it that you are both interested in people of the same gender as yours ? You can't tell me you didn't get something as obvious as the situation mentioned in your freaking text.. Being dense has its limits."

"Excuse me, my name is Hoshizora Akemi and I am a third year at the academy, I know that we are talking about a subject in which I struggle and espcially about a question I essentially got wrong, but I doubt my and senpai's interpretations can be so wrong as to make you as worked up about it. You are talking about romance, but where exactly do you see it ? Please be more specific."

"I agree with her Hanami-san. You have been calling me emotionless borderline heartless in a lot of ways, but you actually praised me for my capacity to understand people's heart. I can't help but wonder how the both of us could be wrong in this situation."

"Listen here, that guy in your story has been intrusted with this female looking android right ?"

"Yes."

"Right, and then they had to live together until she ran out of space for her memories. However the more time he spent with her the more attached he felt to her, am I wrong ?"

"No this is indeed the case."

"And in the end before she is sent to go through her reset, of all things, what he chooses to give her is a ring. But why wouldn't it be something else, like a collar or a shirt, a ribbon maybe ?"

"As I said maybe this ring was-"

"Ah yeah shut up a minute Haruka. What do people exchanged along with their vows when they married back in the day ?"

"I believe it was a ring, but this is simply a coincidence isn't it ?"

"Yes it could, but then how do you explain your teacher's reaction ?"

"Like we thought earlier, maybe the answer is simpler which is why we came to the conclusion it must have been related to the ring. Which then lead us to assume it was a memento or an important belonging of the main character hence why he decided to intrust it to his android. Does it not make sense ?"

"It does, but it's a cold take on his action."

"Cold ?"

"Try to put yourself in Tsubasa's shoes. You come in contact with a beautiful woman and you are being told that even if it is an android by nature she is able to have proper and subjective conversations with you, moreoever she has the body of a human with all that this implies, and what's more, she will be with you while you work and where you live. Considering all these aspects, what could possibly happen to that guy and that utopic android ?"

"..."

"Do you mean they fell in love with eachother ?"

"Wow ! Haruka ! I'm so proud of you ! You got it ! .. I don't even know for which reason It makes me wanna cry honestly.."

"Excuse me but why is this your conclusion ? Do all young men are likely to fall in love in this situation ? Even when she is not even human which implies she won't be giving birth anyway ?"

"What are you ? Some old hag worrying about the future of her country ? People's hearts are a lot more complicated than you make it sound like. We were born with a brain, and trust me it understood it was not there only to alert us when we want to pee, drink, eat and sleep. You'll get there eventually or not, and I do not wish you to experience a case more than the other since both are troublesome in their own way, but yeah, point is, falling in love is usually unfathomable for the people around you and even for you sometimes. As to why it happens, there are a lot of theories to be made, but I believe it's better left unknown and up for interpretation, it's prettier that way. And I also think this is necessary to remember we are still humans i.e creatures that came from nowhere without a purpose and are free to think and act the way we feel like."

"So what you are saying is that love is indiscriminate and that we don't necessarily choose who ours targets, is that right ?"

"Yeah you got the big picture."

"..."

"Are you okay with that ojou-chan ?"

"Yes, I believe you make a point. Or at least I think I want to believe you are right because it indeed sounds more charming this way."

"Wonderful, then Haruka are you done here ? I'd like to head back home to have dinner i'm starving."

"Sure. Oh before that however I wanted to ask the both of you, Akemi, Hanami-san. Would it be okay to meet tomorrow at a reasonable time for the two of you ? I wanted you Hanami-san, to tell Akemi what we talked about two weeks ago. As she said earlier, she attends the academy as well, so I figured she should hear what you have to say about it."

"What are you talking about senpai ?"

"That's fine with me but you don't need to come too Haruka, in fact I believe it would be better if you did not. I won't harm her, that's not what I mean, don't worry."

"Sorry Akemi, it would be too long to explain right now and I doubt I'd be able to do it as efficiently as Hanami-san would."

"Understood, then I'll be ready for tomorrow."

"Sorry and thank you for trusting me."

"Don't mention it, If I did not we would not be meeting in person like this in the first place."

"Alright then I'll be free between ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, how does it sound ojou-chan ?"

"Ten in the morning would be ok for me."

"That's settled, alright."

With that we went our separate ways.
Once again Akemi did not even try to ask me what was that situation or who Hanami-san was to me and she did not even seem worried about any of it.
But maybe I was wrong all along and she simply doesn't have any interest in me at all.
Either way I appreciate that she doesn't try to dig unwelcomed in my life. Not that I have anything I want to hide, but even as curious as I am, I make a point of not trying too hard to learn about people unless they allow me to do so, hence why I appreciate her restraint.