Haru-Naru ♪♪♪ Love is a Comedy

It was the next day, after school. I was studying with Erza at the local library. This was a custom that we went through every time it approached exam time.

"Ah, dammit, I don't understand this, look at it for a second."

"Hm? Ahh, this one… well, you just use this formula here like this… see?"

"I see… so you do it like this. I got it. Thanks, Erza. What about this one?"

"Hm? Which one?"

"Here, this one… this one where you have to prove this ugly looking formula…"

Math was my weak point, so for a while I've been getting Erza to help me out with math. You're probably supposed to differentiate here or something, but… I leaned forwards to allow Erza easier access to my notes and our faces became close, so close my nose almost touched hers. When I did that, Erza started saying something like "wah, wah…"

"Uh, something wrong?"

"N-Nothing… um, this one? Uhh, uhh… "

"Why are you so worked up…? Hey, your face is red, are you feeling okay?"

"I-I'm fine! Ugh… you idiot, Haruto!"

What's up with her? Did I make her angry? And like this, we continued to study, sometimes talking back and forth and making conversation. For me, this type of studying was much more agreeable than going to cram school and jamming in knowledge. That's why I made progress every time I studied with Erza.

"Alrighty, let's stop here for today."

While I stretched, Erza gave me a smile. "Yeah. You worked hard today, Haruto."

"Haha, I guess. At this rate, I'm going to ace the exams."

"And like that, soon you'll start neglecting your work. If you don't continue doing this every day, it'll all go to waste, alright?"

"Yeah yeah, I got it." Picking up my bag, I headed towards the library exit with Erza. Reaching the exit, we saw a sunset spread out before us. I've seen this same scene a countless number of times, but I'm still not tired of it. It was a scene that was filled with the satisfaction of a full day's work.

On our way home, we happened to meet an unexpected acquaintance at the junction by the side of my house.

"Ah, good afternoon!"

"Oh?" Facing the person who had sent me that greeting, I raised a hand in recognition. It was Naruko's friend I had met a few days ago, Amesaka Juvia.

"Haruto, Someone you know?"

"Hm? Yeah. Umm… " I started to introduce Juvia to a surprised Erza, but Juvia beat me to the punch.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Amesaka Juvia."

"Huh? Ah, it's a pleasure." Facing the cheerful pretty girl, Erza seemed nervous as she also introduced herself. "Um, I'm Uzumaki Erza. Nice to meet you Amesaka-san."

After the introductions were over, Juvia sent me a suggestive smile. "Ahaha, thanks for the other day."

"Eh, ahh… " Strangely finding myself at a loss for words, I gave a vague response.

The other day, when Juvia had come over, I at first looked at her through cruel eyes. But, getting to know her proved to be a happy occurrence, one of the only bright spots in that gloomy day.

"Well, please excuse me then," she said, expressing her intention to leave.

"Ah, is your house around here? "

"No, you can actually see my house over there, in that direction."

"Ah, I see."

"Yup! Well then, I hope we'll see each other later… oh right, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. The truth is, I got some samples from the first magazine featuring both me and Naruko. Naruko should have them too, so please take a look at them later!"

Hm, so she also was a model…

"That's pretty amazing. I'll be sure to take a look."

"Hehe, the truth is, it's a special summer edition of the magazine, so we're wearing swimsuits, so it's a bit embarrassing."

"Huh… swimsuits?"

"Yeah. Ah, but but, I'm not as stylish as Naruko, so don't get your hopes up, alright?"

I'll look forward to it. Much more than my own sister in a swimsuit, at the very least.

"Oh, shoot, if I'm late Naru's going to get angry. Well, see you later!" With an angelic smile and her parting words, Juvia left.

"Yeah. See you later." I raised a hand to send her off.

Erza stood blankly, staring at us strangely. Finally, placing a hand on her chest, she let out a sigh. "That girl… she's really pretty… like an actress or something."

"Mmm. She's certainly a beauty."

There was no other way to put it. Incidentally, Erza's evaluation of Naruko boiled down to "super cool and cute." Both of her assessments were pretty intuitive, but I think the different nuances to these descriptions expressed well the differences between Juvia and Naruko.

"Haruto, you sure were staring closely at that girl's face."

"Eh? Really? Seriously?"

"Geez, Haruto… If you don't cut it out, I'm going to tell Kushina oba-chan that you were looking at a girl with pervy eyes."

"D-don't do that!"

What does she mean pervy eyes?! I never put such an obscene thing into how I was looking at her! Absolutely not! But I didn't say any of this. Because if I started making excuses here, soon I would be lying through my teeth. Instead, I tried to dodge the issue by answering jokingly.

"Hm, well if I had to stare at someone, I would rather stare at a cute girl."

"I guess that's true… hmm… I should try my best too… "

Crap, I forgot. Whenever I said something like that to Erza, she would get really sad and start seriously meditating on her own shortcomings. Dammit, now I feel guilty. But I had a perfect countermeasure to this.

"No, I mean… Erza? I think you're fine just the way you are."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Instead of trying to do strange things beyond your ability, just try to be yourself."

"R-Really? You… think so?" While looking downwards, Erza stole a glance every once in a while at my face. Giving my consent, I gave my opinion clearly.

"Yeah, I think that's for the better. It's best if you don't change."

"Is it really alright… if I don't change…? You… like me that way?"

Although this would definitely not happen, if Erza became like Naruko, I would be outrageously bothered by it. It might be too late, but withdrawing my previous remarks, I tried to comfort her somewhat desperately.

"Yeah, I do. I really like you this way, even more than that other girl just now."

It wasn't the most eloquent of praises, and for some reason I couldn't come up with anything less stale, but I'll praise her with these words anyways. It doesn't really matter, so I'll praise her to high heaven.

And then—

"Thanks… that makes me happy… " Her expression widened into a smile, and I stroked my chest in relief. It seemed like Erza's behavior would never change. But…

It was morning in the classroom. It was the break right after the first period. Drawing near to Erza's seat, I called out to her, not having spoken to her yet that day. It was a bit strange, but this morning Erza was late, and didn't show up to our usual meeting spot.

"Hey. What happened this morning? Did you oversleep?"

"Eh? Y-Yeah… I did. Sorry, I kept you waiting… "

"You don't have to apologize. You never make me apologize when I'm late."

"Y-Yeah… " Erza nodded, but maybe she was still apologetic or something, since she kept her head cast downwards.

I felt slightly uncomfortable seeing her in this strange mood, but pushed it to the back of my mind. Thinking back, I guess that Erza was acting like that all through class too, but I had missed breakfast that morning, so I was too busy thinking about how hungry I was to really pay her any mind.

It was after school on the same day. In an unusual turn of events, today it was me who called out to Erza. It was almost a perfect recreation of the scene that morning. "Erza, let's go home together."

"Umm… uhh… " Erza put a hand to her forehead as if she had a headache, and looked at me through upturned eyes. "Sorry… I have something I need to do. I can't go home with you today… "

"Ah, I-I see…" I was surprised at how disappointed I felt at this point. I just didn't want to admit that to Erza, so I continued in the most cheerful voice I could muster. "Ah, fine fine. Don't worry about it. We can take a day off from studying together. I don't want to keep imposing on you anyways. Sometimes it's nice to study by yourself."

"I'm really sorry…"

"I said it's fine. I just wouldn't feel right about forcing you to study with me every single day anyways."

This is probably the first time this kind of conversation has ever happened. Usually, I would just say whatever I wanted to her. How unusual.

As I predicted, when I went home, I couldn't get any studying done. It would be best if tomorrow things could go back to normal, and I could get helped by Erza again. I was perfectly carefree as these thoughts passed through my head.

The next day—

"Sorry, Haruto… I can't today either."

W-What?! Feeling shaken by her announcement, I replied with my voice in disarray. "W-Why?" She wasn't waiting for me at our usual meeting spot this morning either… what exactly was going on?

"It's just that… I have plans…"

Erza was terrible at lying. But this time, it was difficult for me to gauge whether she was lying or not. One reason for this was that Erza was hanging her head sadly, so I couldn't really see her face. Another reason was that I could honestly feel how bad she felt for doing this. So, even if she was lying about having plans, I couldn't really hold it against her.

"Alright. I guess there's no helping it if you have plans." Leaving without raising a fuss, I headed towards the exit of the classroom.

I sighed. After all, I felt that Erza had definitely been acting a bit strangely… but also, to be frank, my traditional study session with Erza was not just to help me get better grades, but also served to be a precious time when I could rejuvenate my tired spirit. Especially ever since I was forced to give Naruko those life counseling sessions, spending my free time with Erza in that carefree way has become all the more important. As soon as that was taken away from me, even though it's only been two days, I could already feel my spirit becoming heavy. Then, Gray appeared and spoke to me in a teasing tone of voice.

"What's wrong Haruto, is she avoiding you?"

"Huh? What are you…"

It wasn't like he was saying something outrageous, so I couldn't do anything but fire back a stupid response. So, what happened? Did he see my little exchange with Erza back there?

"I mean, Haruto, you've realized it yourself right? Lately, Erza has been plainly avoiding you."

"Erza's been avoiding me?" I hadn't even considered that possibility. I guess my understanding of the situation was pretty dim. "Why do you think that?"

"Come on, no matter how you look at it, that's what's happening, isn't it? Just now even, you two looked like a bickering couple or something."

Normally, I would immediately ignore such a crazy remark… but honestly, it is true that Erza's been acting strange lately. Frowning, I fell into silence.

Erza… was avoiding me? That should be impossible, but thinking back on the recent conversations we've had, it definitely fits the situation. Certainly, these past two days, she's been trying to avoid eye contact with me. Also, even when we talked, her voice sounded weak, like it had no energy. It seemed like she was trying to act normally though, so I didn't bring any of this up with her. But now she's refusing to study with me, to walk home with me, because she "has plans." At the very least, to a casual observer, it certainly might look like she's trying to avoid me.

Well, what if it was true? Let's suppose that she really was avoiding me. I can't imagine why she would. Did I do something to her? I don't think I've done anything wrong… also, generally, it was pretty easy to tell when Erza got angry, with the way she would pout and blurt it out. She was definitely not the kind of person to avoid someone without even telling them why. I seriously have no idea. I really don't know what to do here.

"Does it seriously look that way?" I had left the classroom with Gray, and I asked him that. If she really was avoiding me, I would want to know why and why she was doing this without even telling me.

"Yeah, Haruto, you know, I might know what's going on."

"What?"

"Erza probably got a boyfriend, didn't she?"

"Huh?" My face probably held the same kind of grimace I gave when I was forced to give Naruko life counseling. "Why do you think that?"

"I mean, just think about it, Haruto. If you got a girlfriend, wouldn't you also try to distance yourself a bit from Erza? But it's hard to just tell her 'Oh, I got a girlfriend, so from today we can't go home together and we can't study together.' And lately, Erza has been telling you that she has plans so she can't go with you. The facts fit, don't they?"

That doesn't make it true. I immediately rejected Gray's outrageous claim. I couldn't imagine Erza being able to get a boyfriend, just like I couldn't imagine that Naruko had gotten one…

"Well, I have club activities, so I'll see you later, Haruto. Don't get too depressed over it. Hahaha."

"Shut up!"

After completely ruining my mood, Gray patted me on the shoulder as if trying to cheer me up, and darted off briskly. That bastard. As I glared fiercely at his retreating back, I continued to think. About how it was utterly unthinkable that Erza could have gotten a boyfriend. Although… well… even if she didn't have one now, I could see her having one in the distant future. Even though I don't really want to think about it. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we would probably continue to spend our days the same way we've spent them up until now. But I might be being a bit optimistic to think that this would still be true five years, or ten years later. It was impossible to completely stop people from changing. For me, and for Erza, and of course even for Naruko, every year we grew a year older, and soon we would graduate. There are plenty of things that would change, whether I like it or not.

I tried to imagine it. For example, if in the future… if I got a girlfriend… would I avoid Erza? Definitely not! Well, at least that's what I thought now.

Later that night… I was sitting on my own bed, reading a magazine. While I was reading, I was thinking. Was Erza… really avoiding me? Earlier, I had thought that she might have been, but gradually, as time passed, I changed my mind and decided that she couldn't be. I don't think Erza could change how she acted around me that easily. I would do my best in my own way to keep that from happening, so that we could live on normally like we've been living. It's just, today, I felt a strange prickling pain in my mind.

As I thought, I was in no mood to study, but even when I read magazine or watched television, I just couldn't get into it. Because that bastard Gray had said those stupid things, I was getting a bit worried by some trivial things in Erza's behavior that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Tossing the magazine I was reading away, I collapsed onto my bed. Taking out my cell phone, I hit the number one on my speed dial. I mean, it's probably better if I just ask the person herself. That's what I thought. In any case, it was probably some boring misunderstanding, so I should call Erza right away, get this cleared up, and then this will just become a funny story I can recall later. But… "The cell phone you have dialed is not in an area with cell phone service, or is turned off—" The phone call didn't connect.

What the hell. Sighing deeply, I squinted at my cell phone display. I guess there's no helping it. I'll ask her at school tomorrow. For some reason, I found this all very hard to swallow, and could feel myself getting irritated… so I had to be patient till tomorrow… a bitter smile appeared on my face. But the next morning, I was unable to talk to Erza. That day, Erza didn't even come to school.

"Erza-san is dealing with a situation at home, so she's taking a few days off." That's what Yuuhi Sensei, our homeroom teacher, said.

A situation at home… what could that be? I haven't heard anything about something like that… I tried to ask Yuuhi Sensei for more details, but she couldn't supply any. I tried to ask the other girls in the class, but I got responses like "I don't know" or "But, now that I think about it, she's been a bit out of it lately… maybe that has something to do with it?" But nobody could tell me anything about this "situation at home" that I wanted to know about. Well, that's that. If I really wanted to know, I should probably ask Erza herself. But Erza was still unreachable by cell phone. My phone would still go to the same old "The number you have dialed—" message, read by a robotic-like voice.

As I listened to the message, I thought, "Well… what should I do…?" I started to think of another plan of attack.

After school. Having returned to my own room, I took out my cell phone from my bag, and called a certain someone. Even if I couldn't connect to her cell phone, there were a few other ways I could try to get in touch with her. The phone in her house was used both as the phone for their home and for their business. So, whenever I had to get in touch with someone, I would try as much as possible not to call their home phone and call cell phones instead, since I didn't want to interfere in their work. When the call connected, the person on the other line greeted me very loudly.

"HEY WELCOME! This is the Uzumaki shop!"

"Why the hell are you answering your cell phone with business talk?" Also what was with the sing-song way he was speaking?

"Huh?! It's how I always do it! That kind of question… could this be you, Haruto?!"

As always, he was such a flashy guy. And his voice was so loud. Slightly bewildered, I responded with a "Yeah, this is."

"Seriously?! This is seriously You?! You're not trying to trick me right?! If you're really the real Haruto, over there on the other end, you should be able to beat me into submission with a witty remark!"

"You're really an idiot. Just look at your Caller ID, dammit. My number should be listed."

"Ooooh it's really you bro! HEY! As expected from my favorite cousin!"

Damn he's so loud. I moved the phone away from my ear, and turned the volume two levels down.

"Hey, Sho. You really don't need to shout that loud, but do you have a minute?"

"Oh, what a coincidence, Haruto. I had something I wanted your advice on too. How do you get rid of a nickname once it gets attached to you?"

"You can't."

"Instant KO?!"

Having answered Sho's question in an instant, I continued in a harsh tone.

"And don't interrupt someone in the middle of asking you a question with your own problems, dumbass."

"Geez. What's up with you Haruto, you sound like you're in a bad mood. Usually you would play along for a bit longer."

Maybe. But, the only reason I called you was to deal with my bad mood in the first place.

"Sorry. I'm not in the mood to play around with you right now. I need you to help me with something first."

"I see. Okay. Hehe… alright, I shall listen to your request." This bastard, acting so smug about it.

"Unfortunately, I'm not calling to talk with you. Could you put Erza on? For some reason, her cell phone doesn't seem to be on."

"Huh? You need something with my sister? Well, you're out of luck since she's not home."

"What? She's not home? Why? I heard that she didn't come to school today because of a 'situation at home' or something… does this have something to do with that?"

These questions all came out lumped together, but as if avoiding my questions, Sho answered in an annoying way. With an irritating tone, he said, "Tch tch tch… sorry, can't say."

"I see. Next time I see you, maybe I'll give you a German Suplex."

"W-Why, Haruto, are you always only making jabs at me?!"

"It's your imagination."

It's not like I was singling him out or something. Rather, I'm being pretty nice to him. He doesn't know the things I say to Naruko, so he can complain like that… but with Naruko, I had to be ten times as forceful as I am with him, or else she wouldn't even give me an inch. It was seriously annoying. And also, I reacted that way because he was so self-important. I remained silent, letting him interpret the silence however he wished.

"Ugh… you're seriously in a bad mood… how unusual. But, I mean, it's not like I'm trying to be arrogant or something… I seriously can't say anything about it. Erza told me 'if Haruto asks you don't tell him!'"

"What…?"

What the hell? Erza had anticipated that I was going to come asking about this, and told her brother not to tell me? Why did she have to do that…? Dammit, I don't like this at all. Even though Erza was usually pretty bad with planning ahead… I felt my mood getting progressively worse. It was inevitable that I would get angry at Sho in this situation, and I couldn't help myself from getting more aggressive in my questioning.

"Why the hell did she do that?!"

"I don't even know! That's all she told me to do… but Nee-chan isn't home right now, and she's taking a bit of a break from school too. That's all I can say!"

"Tch, are you trying to piss me off?! Alright! Fine! Whatever!"

"You're really in a bad mood right now… Haruto."

"Ugh… alright, I'm sorry. I won't get angry anymore." Trying to calm down the muttering Sho, I continued talking. If he was told to not tell me anything, then I wouldn't get anything out of him. "…well. When is Erza going to come back? You can at least tell me that much, right?"

"Umm… in the evening on the weekend, she said."

So, in three days then. Until then, Erza wouldn't be in school. I wouldn't be able to see her, and of course, I wouldn't be able to talk with her. Even though three days wasn't even as long as a week, to me right now, it seemed like a horribly long time. It was really annoying that I had to spend these three days not knowing why exactly Erza had been acting so strange lately.

Hm… let me see if I can approach this in a different way…

"By the way, lately Erza has been acting pretty weird… have you noticed?"

"Hm, now that you mention it, she's seemed a bit down lately… maybe."

"Really? What do you mean by 'lately'? Can you be more specific?"

"I don't think so… it's not like I'm always paying attention to my sister's mood or something…"

"Tch. You're a useless idiot, aren't you."

"You're seriously being terrible today, Haruto!"

Well, sure. After all, I sounded like Naruko just now… dammit, I guess I'm way more annoyed about this than I thought I was. But if I think about it, I don't always pay attention to my sister either. So here, Sho was acting correctly.

"Sorry, sorry. My bad, Sho. I apologize… so could you try just a bit harder and tell me if you remember anything?

"It's fine… umm… I think that a few days ago, while she was watching Ninja Warrior Naruto and eating dinner, she really seemed down about something, I think. I can't remember anything from before then though."

"Ah, umm… that was five days ago, maybe? Hold on a second… "

I checked with the television schedule on a newspaper I found, and as I thought that was five days ago. If I thought back, the first time Erza began to act strangely with me was around three days ago. And, before that… I had met with Erza… umm… there was a day off in between… yeah, it was the day when we had met Juvia on the way home from school. So, in other words… between the time we separated on that day and evening on the same day, something had happened to Erza that put her in a really sad mood…

"Sho… so did anything else happen?"

"Well, that haircut was a pretty big fail, so that was pretty depressing… "

"I'm not talking about you! I'm talking about Erza! I'm asking about your sister!"

"Well… I know, but… "

Liar. He didn't know at all… but I didn't comment. I had already said that I wouldn't get angry. I really shouldn't keep on breaking my promise like this.

"Hey, speaking of hair, I was thinking that I should buy a wig while my hair is still short."

"You really didn't understand what I said, did you, idiot?! Fine, I'll give you one word of advice, don't even think about doing that! If you suddenly come into school with a full head of hair after being bald, your classmates won't let you live it down!"

"I see… so if I don't do it gradually, I'll get exposed, right?"

"Can we please get back on topic?! I seriously might smack you Sho!"

In the end, I really couldn't get any more useful information out of him.