Emilia entered the restaurant and sat down in the booth.
Emilia: [Thank you for coming, Haruna-chan. I... wanted to talk about something with you.]
Haruna: [What is it, Emilia?]
Emilia: [Well, um...]
Emilia struggled with this as she didn't know how to approach it.
Emilia: [Um, Haruna-chan. I... I've been told that you... might have romantic feelings for me.]
Haruna: [Huh?!]
Haruna blushed a deep red.
Haruna: [Well, I... I do. I really like you. I love...]
Emilia: [I don't feel that way about you. I'm sorry, but I'm marrying Subaru. I don't want to hurt you, but...]
There was a silence between the two of them.
Emilia: (Did I... reject her too quickly? Will she hate me? No, I... have to make it clear.)
Emilia: [I'm sorry haruna-chan but Subaru already has the number 1 place in my heart and there isn't room for a number 2.]
Haruna: [I know that already. I wanted to ignore it and be in ignorant bliss for a bit, but you're right. I was being so stupid, wasn't I? I was being a complete idiot. Taking your kindness and thinking it meant anything other than that. kindness. I was such an iot. I reaally though I could be with you. Even while you were with someone else. Oh god. how dumb can I be?]
Emilia: [Haruna-chan, I...
Subaru sat in the booth next to them, his expression filled with utter confusion.
Subaru: (What the? Katasuke told me his wife had told him about parts of my sex life with Milli, so I wanted to get to the bottom of this...)
This man's thoughts were lies incarnate.
AN: What the? Hold on a minute.
Since what Ayame's husband, Katasuke, had said she told him was only praise, he had come here because he wanted to hear his fiancée brag about his sexual prowess. Truly a lying Barasu.
AN: Ram, how did you... Get away from the narration microphone!
Ram: Dear Readers! You mustn't fall for Barasu's innocent facade.
I struggle to tear her away from the microphone.
Ram: He is a perverted Barasu! Listen to Ram!
AN: How are you even here? You're a fictional character!
Ram: Ram's will to tell the readers the truth manifested her into reality!
AN: That's bullshit! Stop slandering my GOAT!
We wrestled for the microphone.
Ram: It is not slander if it is fact! Readers! Please do not be decieved by the perverted and lying Barasu!
I pointed to a corner of the room.
AN: Ram look! Roswaal is standing there in a bathing suit!
Ram: Roswaal-sama?
Ram was distracted for a second as she looked. I used this opportunity as I took the microphone away from her.
Ram: How did Ram fall for such a stupid...
AN: Get gud.
Ram: Fuck y...
Then I clicked my fingers, and Ram was absorbed back into the story where she rightfully belonged.
AN: Ahem. I'm truly sorry about that, dear readers. We had some technical difficulties. Let's continue.
Natsuki Subaru was here because he was partially concerned about his fiancée divulging such private matters, but now he was presented with this conundrum.
Subaru: Nobody says conundrum in this day and age.
AN: Do you want me to hand the microphone back to Ram?
Subaru visibly flinched.
Subaru: No sir.
I clicked my fingers, returning Subaru to the story.
AN: Now, if there will be no more interruptions...
I actually waited.
AN: Let's continue.
Subaru: (... but now one of her friends is in love with her?)
Subaru smiled.
Subaru: (Mili loves me so much. My heart feels so full. Hehe.)
Haruna: [I just... I just wanted to stay next to you a little longer.]
Emilia: [I understand.]
Haruna: [I wanted to stay with you because you helped me. When I needed someone to hold out their hand, you did that for me! That's why I've always wanted to be by your side!]
Subaru went silent.
Subaru: (She sounds... just like me . Back then.)
Emilia hugged Haruna.
Emilia: [I'm sorry. I understand the way you feel. You don't have to explain. You don't need to give a reason for loving me or being grateful to me. I don't want to lose or hurt you, so please just stay my friend, okay?]
Haruna began crying on Emilia's shoulder as many people looked for a second before turning away.
Emilia: [You're such a dunderhead, you know that?]
Subaru smiled softly at this. He got up and walked up to a girl.
Subaru: [How long are you going to follow me?]
The girl flinched back as it was Yuki.
Yuki: [You lied to Emi. You said you were going to work.]
Subaru: [I heard about her saying some private stuff about us. I just wanted to see what was going on. I don't really mind, though. I get that girls talk about that kind of stuff sometimes.]
Subaru held out his hand.
Subaru: [It's nice to meet you, Yuki-san. I'm Natsuki Subaru. Emilia's fiancé.]
Yuki took in the sight before her.
Yuki: (I was worried over nothing.)
Yuki: [Shiragawa Yuki. Nice to meet you.]
Subaru smiled brightly.
Subaru: [I'm really glad that you care so much about Mili. If you want, you can keep an eye on me all you want.]
Yuki: [Seriously? Why are you being so accommodating?]
Subaru: [Cause you care about the person I love. Is there any other reason than that?]
Yuki: (This guy noticed me watching him, which means he's probably used to that kind of thing. That should make me suspicious, but... that look in his eyes. That... darkness. Like he's seen horrifying things...)
Yuki: [You're a weird guy, Natsuki Subaru.]
Subaru: [I guess I am.]
Yuki: (This guy could be the devil himself, and I wouldn't be convinced that he could hurt Emi. I'll keep an eye on him just in case my feelings on this are wrong, but... perhaps it's okay to trust him a little.)
Yuki: [I guess I am too. Sorry about today. I'm a very paranoid person.]
Subaru: [We're the same in that regard. I always check for fire escapes and stuff like that before sitting down. Peace makes me feel uneasy.]
Yuki's eyes widened at this.
Yuki: (Is he the same as me. Whenever dad got drunk, mom wasn't the only target. Good thing he wasn't a dumb drunk, or I'd likely never get hired as an actress. He hit me in the exact places where no one would find.)
Yuki: [I think... I could actually become good friends with you.]
Suabru: [Huh? Well, that would be great. You could hang out with Mili and me.]
Yuki: [I... think I'd like that.]
Subaru: [Hey, isn't this enough sneaking around?]
Yuki smiled.
Yuki: [Agreed. It was getting tiresome anyway.]
Subaru and Yuki walked over to Emilai and Haruna.
Emilia: [Subaru?!! Yuki?!!]
Subaru: [Hey Mili.]
Yuki: [Hey Emi!]
Emilia: [What are you two doing here? Subaru, I thought you told me you were seeing a client.]
Subaru: [I came here to spy on you.]
Yuki: [I came here to spy on your fiancée.]
Everyone in the restaurant went dead quiet as Emilia looked to Subaru.
Subaru: [Why were you spying on me?]
Subaru whispered in her ear as she blushed.
Emilia: [Eh? I'm sorry about that. I promise I won't talk about that stuff anymore. It was only because Yuki-san kept insisting on hearing about it.]
Subaru smiled.
Subaru: [Hey, if you're going to brag about me, maybe it's not that bad.]
Emilia pouted.
Emilia: [Don't go using this as an excuse to do the same thing.]
Emilia then turned to Yuki.
Yuki: [I thought he was cheating on you.]
Subaru: [...]
Emilia: [...]
Haruna: [...]
Subaru: [You thought I was what?!! Isn't that a bit of an extreme assumption? For all you know, I could have been preparing a surprise for her!]
Yuki: [Hm... that didn't come to mind. I guess I let my biases cloud my judgment. Sorry about that.]
Haruna looked at Yuki with a dumbfounded expression.
Haruna: (The hell? Since when can Yuki use big words like "biases"?]
Yuki: [Oh yeah, and Haruna.]
Yuki put on a sweet smile.
Yuki: [I really hate your guts.]
Haruna: [That's probably fair. I get it, though. I'll never be Emilia's number 1.]
Emilia: {Sorry, but it's true.]
Haruna sighed.
Haruna: [That's okay. It hurts a lot, but... I get it.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Yuki sat down with a woman across from her.
???: [Yuki I...]
Yuki: [I'm certain that you're not a good person, but... I want to understand you. Why did you cheat on Father?]
The woman was dishevelled.
Yuki's Mother: [Your father... was an idiotic gambler.]
Yuki: [Gambling. Right. He spent most of our money, but to cheat on him. You must have had a bigger reason, right?]
Yuki's Mother: [When we were running out of money, do you know the one thing I asked him to do?]
Yuki: [What?]
Yuki's Mother: [Get an honest job, but what did he do? He got involved with the Yakuza!]
Yuki was taken aback. She hadn't known that about her father. She had been young. She only looked at the things she needed to get her father aressted like photo evidence of him beating her mother.
Yuki's Mother: [After that, it was impossible for him to ever get an honest job again. I knew one day he'd end up dead or worse... in debt to the Yakuza. Hell, he'd never be able to leave even if he wanted to. Even if he managed it, he'd never find honest work again! Every business would turn him away... so in case something happened to your father... I met with that guy.]
Yuki's eyes narrowed.
Yuki's Mother: [You never looked into who he was, did you. Probably too disgusted by him to check. Taatsuya Kagasaki.]
Yuki: [So?]
Yuki's Mother: [The man was rich! Why else do you think I'd do it with that dumbass with that disgusting puppy dog look in his eyes?]
Yuki: [So you used him. I see now.]
Yuki's Mother: [How dare you look at me that way! I put you through high school with that money!]
Yuki got up and turned around to leave.
Yuki: [You desecrated another human being's feelings just like Father did. You're no better than him. No. At least he was trying to make up for things, even if it was in the wrong way. You were worse than him. All you could see was "we need money this" or "retaliation this". You wanted him to have an honest job, but look at what you did to earn money. You're a hypocrite using the excuse of raising me as a shield to your own actions.]
Yuki's Mother: [Yuki, I... do love you. I...]
Yuki: [Thank you for what you've done for me. For raising me. For putting me through school, but... you've done enough, Shiragawa Yui.]
Yui: [Yuki, wait! I can still...]
Yuki left her mother there.
Yuki: (It's over, Mother. For both of us. Neither of us has to cling to that past. Now we can both move on without impeding each other.)
Yuki stepped outside as Emilia and Subaru were waiting for her.
Emilia: [Are you... okay?]
Yuki: [Yeah. I think I'm alright now.]
Subaru: [You really bulldozed through all that. You were only there for a few minutes.]
Yuki: [Complicated things have to be resolved quickly, or they only get worse. This one was long, long overdue and way too complicated. It was better to bulldoze through it than waste my time on her.]
She said this with a genuine smile.
Yuki: (You have to let go of certain things before they poison you, and the longer you hold on, the worse it'll get.)
Yuki looked at her hand, remembering when her mother would take her outside holding her hand as they walked.
Yuki: (No matter how much it hurts.)
Yuki looked away from her hand.
Yuki: (I really wanted you to say something. Something that... would convince me to forgive you, but you didn't. And for things like this... there aren't any second chances.)
Yuki: [Hey Suba?]
Subaru: [Yeah?]
Yuki: [On the count of three. What's your favourite food?]
Emilia raised an eyebrow.
Yuki: [1... 2... 3!]
Subaru/Yuki: [Mayonaise!]
Emilia: [Eh?!!]
Subaru: [Whoa, really?!!]
Yuki: [I can't believe it. A fellow Mayo conesouir.]
Subaru and Yuki smiled as Emilia suddenly felt like a third wheel.
Emilia: [I like Mayo too, Subaru!]
Subaru: [Mili?]
Both Subaru and Yuki laughed at her abrupt statement as Emilia pouted.
Emilia: [Stop making fun of me! You two are really mean!!]
The three walked together.
Subaru: [Hey, do you two want to see a movie together? I heard there's a new Marvel Superhero Movie coming out in cinemas!]
Emilia: [Marvel?]
Yuki: [Sure. Emi. We should go and watch it! You'll definitely like it!]
Emilia: [Eh, okay?]
Emilia pouted internally.
Emilia: (I feel like such a third wheel.)
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To Be Continued
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Rating Out Of 10 For This Part:
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