1. Act Normal
“Okay.” In the volunteer soldier lodging house courtyard, Haruhiro took another look at the coins, which were not so much lined up on their table as scattered across it. “Whew...” He let out a sigh.
There were copper coins. One copper coin was one copper.
There were silver coins, too. One silver coin was 100 copper.
And there were those ones.
Gold coins.
Naturally, they were made of gold. One gold coin was 10,000 copper.
100 copper coins, 99 silver coins, and finally 29 gold coins. All told, it was 30 gold.
“I’ve thought about it, and heard everyone out, but, yeah... we’re going to split it all evenly.”
“Well, duh!”
Ranta reached out, and snatched five gold coins.
“Gwehehehehehe! With 5 gold, the world’s my oyster! Here it is; at last, my time has come...!”
“We all know you’ll waste it on something stupid...”
“Huh?! Did you say something, Shihoru?!”
“...Not really, no.”
“No, you did! I heard you loud and clear! I did! Something about me wasting it on stupid stuff! I dunno about that! I don’t think it’s good to go jumping to conclusions!”
“Well, what will you spend it on, then?”
When Merry asked that in a cutting tone, Ranta cleared his throat and puffed up his chest with a big “Ahem.” There was a sparkle in his eye.
“I’m glad you asked! I’m gonna invest it in myself! Do some self-innovation!”
“Ohh...” Moguzo’s eyes widened. Yume cocked her head to the side.
“Self-immolation...?”
“No, that’s different! You dummy!”
“Yume doesn’t want you callin’ her a dummy!”
“What’s wrong with calling a dummy a dummy, you moron?!”
“Dummies who go around callin’ other people dummies are the real dummies, you dummy!”
“You just called me a dummy, so I guess that makes you a dummy, you dummy!”
“Murrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh...!”
“Hmph!”
Ranta and Yume both looked away in a huff at the same time.
“S-So,” Moguzo interrupted, probably trying to smooth things over, “What are you going to invest in? Skills...?”
“Y-Yeah.” Ranta crossed his arms, and made a vague expression that neither confirmed nor denied anything. “W-Well, yeah. It’s like that, but, you know. It’s an investment, okay? How do I put this? I’m using the money on something that’ll help me in the future. To grow up, you know, to make a man of me... Yeah...”
Shihoru gave Ranta a look of utter contempt. That clued Haruhiro in. Oh... To grow up. To become an adult—To make a man of him. So that’s what it was.
“On that...”
When Haruhiro muttered to himself, the left side of Ranta’s face twitched.
“Wh-What do you mean, that? On what?”
“...Who knows.”
“Say it! Just come out and say it! You’re making this awkward!”
“What will you use the money on, Shihoru?”
“...I-I’ll...”
“Come on, people! Don’t just ignore me!”
“You’re always makin’ too much noise, Ranta.”
“Shut up! You’ve always got tiny tits!”
“Don’t call them tiny!”
“U-Um!”
If Moguzo hadn’t interrupted them, Ranta and Yume might have gone on like that forever.
“Erm, I think I’ll take Death Spots’ sword to the blacksmith, and get it fixed up so I can use it. S-So... would someone come with me, if you don’t mind?”
“Sure...” Haruhiro put his hand up. “I’ll go.”
“In that case, I’ll go, too.”
He hadn’t expected this. Merry volunteered, too. And, wait...
In that case?
His eyes met Merry’s. That meant Haruhiro had looked at Merry, and at the same time, she, too, had been looking at him.
They unintentionally ended up looking into one another’s eyes.
It was kind of awkward, or embarrassing, and he wanted to look away immediately, but that felt embarrassing in its own way.
What should I do?
He had to agonize over it. He was at a loss. But it was weird to stay like this for too long, too. This situation was clearly not normal. He needed to hurry. To do something.
“W-Well.”
Haruhiro tried to smile.
No, is smiling the right move? It makes it seem like I’m happy. Isn’t that awkward? It could be misunderstood, or, no, it’s not like I’m not happy, but I’m not sure if it’s alright to be so obviously happy, though acting all stoic feels off, too. Can’t I just be normal? Uh, but... what is normal...?
Haruhiro didn’t really know, but he still desperately tried to feign normalcy as he said, “Let’s go together...”
“Yes.”
Merry was probably acting normal. No, there might have been a bit of a, What’s wrong? in her expression.
Honestly, I wonder about that...
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