Responsibilities and commitment.

"I'm home ~"

"Welcome home Akemi, dinner is almost ready but have you eaten yet ?"

"I had a soft meal a couple hours ago but I will at least join you and take a small portion anyway."

"Mom is happy to hear that. Then go ahead and take your bath first since Papa will be a little late today."

"Understood !"


"Welcome home dear.."

Oh Papa is home, I should step out soon.

"Oh did you have to come home with all of this again ?"

"...."

"Akemi ? Don't worry I told her she could take a bath before dinner since you would be coming late"

What are they talking about ?

"Yes, she seems to be taking her sweet time so hurry up and bring the engine to the basement before she is done."

They must think I can't hear them from upstairs but I wonder what this is about..
Oh but my birthday is next month already ! Maybe that is what they are being so secretive about, that would make sense. Then I won't try and spy on their conversation in case I am right.


"Papaaa ! "

"Oof ! Hey be careful now Akemi. You are no longer your toddler self, you could hurt yourself or make me fall on my back, launching yourself at me like that."

"But we missed you.. you had to stay at your office for a whole week after all..."

"You are right.. I'm sorry Akemi."

"Come on you two we can talk during dinner, so wash your hands and come sit at the table."



I am pretty fortunate aren't I ?
Loving parents, a warm place to call home, a great senpai, some friends.. Even school is entertaining and rewarding.
And while I have all of that, there are people like Haruka-senpai who seem to feel out of place when they go to school, and cannot even turn to their families when they have too much on their minds or if they need a safe place to recover.

However, thanks to today's meeting I think I can begin to imagine why Haruka-senpai seemed to give so much credit to Hanami-san.
She gives off this reassuring aura and she seems to be well aware of everything that happens around her, and I can picture how she handles her business with the appropriate cautiousness.
With someone as trustworthy as her around, no wonder I felt like I could not be of any help to him...
I need to find if there is anything I only, could do for him. At least to repay him for taking care of me all this time as my tutor.

                                                                              ______

"Huwah.. I'm beat."

"Welcome home Hanami-san."

"Yo Haruka, where is Shion ?"

"She spotted you from the window and went ahead to prepare a bath for you."

"I swear I'll marry her someday.."


Later that night while we were having dinner, Hanami-san told us how her "date" went with Akemi.
She insisted on how cute she was and how it felt like the sun and the moon to imagine Akemi and I next to eachother, but more importantly, she said that she is worried. 
Indeed even if Akemi surely is able to understand what is going on in this city, she tends to be more in the optmistic, borderline innocent kind of mindset. The issue with the corresponding line of thoughts is that she might think she is safe as long she goes along with the ruler's plan while she remains aware of the danger lurking around her.
However what she underestimates, is her capacity to react appropriately when something or someone will decide to harm her. 
I used to think that talking my way out of a situation was the correct way to handle most cases, but Hanami-san taught me how delusional it was in this day and age.
No wonder she is worried about Akemi.

Right now I think I know what I want to do, however I don't see how to make my first step. 
Since I came to this city I spent my time either studying or monitoring, and even if the latter implies to socialize a little, I kept it strictly under the scope of my duty as an upperclassman.
Simply put, I have no one of my age to call a friend, let alone a lover. Which is to say my experience dealing with people and creating bonds was close to zero before I met Hanami-san  and Shion-san. And I doubt I could get along with Tanabe on the long run. Hence why I am lost when it comes to trying to be of help to someone like Akemi. 
I wouldn't want her to think I consider her to be weak and hurt her ego, and I still want to help her while being careful not to step too much into her personal space and private life. 

This is tough. 
I already want to give up and say I already warned her.
But I can't.
I am responsible for worrying her after all.
But what can I do ?
How much am I ready to do ?

"What are you thinking about ?"

"How can you tell ?"

"That you are not just lying empty on the bed ? Come on we have been living together for about two weeks now, obviously I'd begin to be able to tell what going through your mind, even if it's you we are talking about."

"No matter how you look at it, you are the weird one. I never heard about someone being able to tell such things in such a short amount of time."

"Do you think I play the cop for fun ? Come on now it's about time you get used to me and give me some credit while we are at it."

"Right my bad, sorry about that."

"It's ok so, mind telling me what's on your mind now ?"

"Nothing too interesting, I was pondering how I could manage to provide Akemi some sort of assistance in case she is in trouble while not interfering with how she decides to act from now on, since I doubt she will take your warning to heart as much as we wanted her to."

"Want my take on this ?"

"Yes please."

"You shouldn't do it in an half-assed fashion. In the sense that when you decided to ask me to deliver her the informations I own, you were already sticking your nose in her business and that's what it means to care for someone. So what you need to decide is if you think she is important enough for you to go to the trouble of involving yourself all the way with her.
And since you were already agonizing over it a few moments ago, I think your answer is clear  already."

"I see. And when I transpose this situation into what you have done for me, I think it helps me visualize what you are talking about. And I also realize how much I should be thankful to have met you. Thank you very much for involving yourself with me Hanami-san."

"Ahhhh ! ... I can't get over how easy it is for you to say these things.. You are such a pain. A cute one at least, but still."

"I don't really get it."

"It's fine you don't need to. Now let's go to sleep, we've been moving a lot lately and we both need some rest. We won't have the luxury to enjoy this warmth forever so it's important to bless the times we can."

"Sure, but aren't you going back to your room ?"

"I told you didn't I ?  That I would be joining you occasionally. Plus I want to use this chance as an experiment of sort. Since the last time we did it, I haven't been sleeping as much as we did that time. I unconsciously went back to my usual routine it seems. And I tried with Shion but it doesn't look like it works either, so here we are."

"Understood, then help yourself. Good night Hanami-san."

"Y-yeah, good night Haruka...Dammit this guy.."