Chapter 7.2

Chapter 7.2

The rest would be furniture, but I’m leavin’ all that with you, Mio. For the time bein’, Makoto-san, Doul, Brother and Reena should rotate guardin’ Elle and buyin’ buildin’ materials. Toudou-san, could you help me or Mio? I’d like ya opinion on things, too.」

「Okay. So, all of that aside…」

「Hm?」

「You call Makoto-san and Mio-chan by their first name. Why do you still call me Toudou-san?」

「If I get used to callin’ ya by your name and I accidently call ya that way when we get back home, I could see some problems arisin’.」

Haruna couldn’t help but sigh at this. She could easily foresee that future. Yet, it did already seem too late for her, in some sense. While she had no idea how many years it would take or what type of situation they would be in when they get back, but even if time hadn’t passed in their original world until they returned, as long as they had these memories together, it was clear to her that they would inevitability exude their closeness.

While Haruna was patient and had finesse in many ways, she didn’t have enough self-control, especially when it came to social aspects, to not let it bother her when she had to keep her distance and almost act like a stranger, even though they were on good terms. She was the type not to be too dependent on anyone physically or mentally, but the truth was that she would get rather lonely.

She could read the room, of course, but she would have a hard time spending time with a classmate and keeping it secret. She felt bad for Hiroshi and his phobia, but she knew they had nothing to be guilty about, much less a romantic relationship. Haruna saw nothing wrong in openly maintaining their friendship.

There was no other reason why Hiroshi called Mio by her first name other than to avoid the mutual awkwardness of calling his apprentice by her last name. Of course, now that Hiroshi had discovered that Mio was a woman (unlike in-game), he would seldom get close enough to make physical contact with her.

He called Tatsuya “Brother” after a long night of man-talk. It just came to him. Of course, Hiroshi was heterosexual, so there were only platonic implications here. Like addressing an older friend in the neighborhood.

「Well, I think that ship has sailed beyond the horizon. It feels like I’m being singled out as untouchable, and I don’t like it. Just give up and call me Haruna already. I’ll call you Hiroshi-kun, too.」

「Haruna-sama. I recall you calling Hiroshi-sama that way the other day…」

「That was just the spur of the moment.」

Hiroshi listened with a puzzled expression. Of course, she had screamed it a step away from him, but that was one of the memories he didn’t retain from that incident due to his physical ailment.

「So, is that okay? Hiroshi-kun?」

「…Yeah, sure.」

Haruna clenched her fist in victory.

「Are you two done with your sweet romance for now?」

「Get a room, won’t you?」

「I ain’t got the guts for anything like that.」

「You guys were acting like a new couple, just now.」

「Tell it to Toudou… Haruna-san, then.」

The group couldn’t help but give an understanding glance, hearing Hiroshi’s genuine disgust. They could see that any woman unfortunate enough to fall in love with Hiroshi would be troubled with all sorts of turbulence. The silver lining may be that, combined with his phobia for the opposite sex and his (albeit not ugly) not exactly attractive looks, said woman would not have to worry about infidelity on his part.

「Returning to our original subject…」

Dougan interjected.

「What do you want to do for the rest of the day?」

「I’ll start a temporary remodelin’ of the kitchen with the machines we’ve been usin’. Haruna-san, maybe you can take Makoto-san or Brother and go buy some food. Doul and Reena-san, and Mio, please gather up as much construction materials as y’all can. Sorry, Elle, you gotta stay in. And if there’s time left I’m gonna take down the bathroom, so go bathe at the public bathhouse for the night.」

「Okay. I’ll take care of shopping. Stay here, Tatsuya.」

「All righty.」

With duties assigned, everyone sprang to action. Dinner that night was stew full of meat and vegetables, cooked using a large clay pot.

***

「So, here’s the problem.」

「What is?」

「We ain’t got too much of the spider silk.」

Seeing where the conversation was headed, Haruna sighed.

「So what’s the problem, now?」

Tatsuya joined in.

「The clothes, ya see, I can only whip up five or six outfits, tops.」

「So what’s the matter… Oh, I see.」

「I can’t make enough for everyone. Makoto-san’s got her own clothes since she weren’t restricted, Elle, Doul, and Reena-san are all walkin’ around in smocks, basically.」

The group nearly grunted, hearing this. He was only planning for two to begin with. In fact, Hiroshi’s initial plan was to craft three outfits for both of them so they could rotate them. Suddenly, there were five more people in the picture, throwing a giant wrench in the whole plan.

「For starters, since we gotta pretend like y’all ain’t here anyway, I’ll make a set of work clothes for me and Toudou… I mean, Haruna-san. The question’s what to do with the rest.」

「In that case, could you make them two a pair, and craft one for Elle?」

Doul proposed.

「Ya sure?」

「We’re used to going without a change of clothes for days. We shan’t wear anything of a higher quality than our master, either.」

「Another way to see it is that people on the frontlines should get the good equipment?」

Douga shook his head with a chuckle. Clothes is clothes, he thought. While it would be stronger than an ordinary set of leather armor once layers of enchantments were put on it, but Douga figured it still couldn’t be more protective than a set of metal armor. It only made sense to give it to Aearis, who couldn’t wear an armor to begin with.

「Can’t you go get more ingredients?」

「Sure. It just takes three days or so to go there, gather ‘em and come back.」

「So, what if we split up the group to do that? We have enough people.」

As Makoto suggested so, Hiroshi contemplated and observed the group’s reaction. It didn’t seem that anyone would be in too much trouble if Hiroshi left the house for three days.

「If that’s fine with y’all, I’ll head out once I finish the bathroom. I can’t imagine that Piaranork would have come back already. I doubt we gotta pack too much of a punch, combat-wise.」

The group nodded in response. These types of bosses were often individuals that were mutated by being heavily afflicted. No matter how many times they were slain, they were eventually revived. Also, for some reason, there was only one species that would mutate in such a way in each area. So right now, Hiroshi could safely assume that there would only be ordinary (albeit giant) insects.

「So, who’s comin’?」

「Considering watch duty, at least a pair.」

Douga chimed in.

「Sorry, I’ll pass. I don’t want to touch that again.」

「If we’re thinking speed and firepower, why don’t Makoto and I go?」

Tatsuya said.

「Sensible.」

Douga agreed.

And so the job was assigned, and they were to depart the day after the bathroom had been completed.

After they had returned, though, Makoto remarked:

「No wonder Haruna didn’t want to go…」

***

Makoto couldn’t help but let a gleeful sigh out, as she felt her limbs stretch out and her exhaustion melt away in the bathtub large enough to do so. She could feel herself relax in many ways. Since Hiroshi’s team had left to gather the silk as soon as the renovation had been completed, so today was the first time that this bath was occupied. Everyone had been polite, saving the first bathing.

「You just can’t beat a big bath.」

「It’s wonderful to bathe together, too.」

Mio and Aearis finished rinsing off, and they dipped in the tub together, and started talking. Mio was apparently twelve years old, but her short and skeletal stature aided in anyone assuming that Aearis’ and Mio’s ages were reversed. Still, compared to Makoto (who reportedly has never needed a bra) Mio’s silhouette was feminine, considering that she had what could be described as breasts. On another note, Rayna (fifteen) had pectoral muscles, more so than breasts. It was difficult to say who was more feminine, Makoto or Rayna.

Mio was small in many ways, but Makoto was only at 158cm, too. The average female height in Farlane was 170cm, which Makoto was way below. She was barely taller than Aearis now, but it was a matter of time before she would catch up. As for Mio, who just reached 145, anyone in Farlane could mistake her age for eight or nine.

Of course, since the male average height in Farlane was 180cm, Hiroshi was rather small. That being said, the male height fluctuated more in comparison to female, and most often, men in Farlane would reach 175cm. A man (unlike a woman) would only begin to stand out as short once they were shorter than 165cm or so, which made Hiroshi stand out less than Makoto or Mio. In Hiroshi’s case, however, his attitude and atmosphere could make him look shorter than he really was.

The reason Hiroshi and Haruna had mistaken Aearis to be taller when they rescued her was because of the impression her hair and attire gave. Aearis, in reality, was barely 150cm, so they had seen her as 10cm or so taller than her actual height.

「By the way, Mio. You’re super skinny. Were you eating okay back home?」

「I was bedridden, so, not at all.」

「Bedridden? What happened?」

「Paralyzed from the waist-down. Accident. I also have this disease, so I couldn’t eat much to begin with. I was already spending more than six months a year in the hospital before the accident.」

Makoto regretted her questions, in fear of that she had mentioned a taboo. While she could tell what kind of disease Mio meant by that, it sounded like it wasn’t something that kept her bedridden to begin with.

「But you still have beautiful hair. Mine curls everywhere, and it’s so dull. I’m jealous.」

「I didn’t take care of it at all in the hospital, so it looked horrible. I couldn’t even roll over on my own, so I got so many cowlicks.」

Since Makoto had started with the subject, she couldn’t escape mentions of the hospital. That being said, Mio’s brunette hair was beautiful. If she grew a little taller (10, even 5cm) and gained some healthy weight, with her already pretty face, she would garner a double take from most people on the street.

In a different way than Mio, both Haruna and Aearis were very beautiful in their own right. Who was prettier? Haruna. But Aearis carried a mystical air about her. In five or six years, these two would exude beauty like a pair of fine art pieces. One of them lived in a la-la-land where she blindly devoted so much of her passion for food, and the other was basically a starving puppy that scoffed down anything put in front of her, but those traits didn’t show in their appearances.

Considering this, Makoto was hurt by how she was the only one in the group with nothing remarkable about her appearance. On top of that, she could only cook scrambled eggs at best (in-game and in real life) and she lacked any other homely skills, like sewing and such, entirely. If she hadn’t been swiftly found by Douga after being teleported to this world, she would have been in deep trouble, in another sense than Tatsuya and Mio would have been.