Isekai dump

Harem plot pt.4

For some reason, all the clothes in her closet were 'innocent,' or girly looking. She didn't know how else to describe them just that these weren't clothes you would wear on the brink of sex or in a harem. She lifted one brow up in thought, holding a green cardigan with one hand.

"I guess.." she put on a white t-shirt with an orange flower decorating the middle of the chest area, it was okay... for her age she supposed. The flower reminded her of one of those decorations you would see in a kindergarten room. She put on the light green cardigan, buttoning it below her bust, then put on a jean skirt. She felt a little crappy. She knew she bought the clothes herself but whenever she did she was always in a trance. She probably should've put more weight into that thought but she didn't want more trouble finding out the truth, besides it was just clothes. As soon as she stepped out of her house, a bag in hand, she found that her sight was on Tatsuya.

"Oh," her mouth rounded from the sound.

"Uh, yeah, it's me, Tatsuya, thought I'd come over but.." he trailed off, he had a purple zip-up on.

"It's okay, you can come with me!" she said with a smile, "I'm just going grocery shopping if you don't mind?"

"Uh, no, no, not at all, I'm the one that didn't even tell you I was coming!" he gestured with his arms and hands. She strode forward until they were within a step of one another.

"I said it's okay, we're friends, I've known you since I was seven," she said with a raised brow. She didn't know what was up with him.

"Is everything okay?" a soothing lilt took her voice.

"Uh, it's nothing..." he shrugged the question off, the purple wrinkles of his sleeve adjusting with the motion.

"Well, I guess you can help me carry my groceries, what do you want to eat for lunch?"

she had assumed he was having the time of his life with all the new people coming in, but maybe she was judging too quickly. She felt stupid because it was true that she knew Tatsuya since she was seven, she should've known better. She casually grabbed his hand and started walking to the gate, she could hear the flustered noises that slowly calmed down into silence.

"Maybe some pancakes..." Tatsuya mumbled behind her. She looked back, his head was low, and looking at their conjoined hands.

"I don't think we can have pancakes," she paused feeling the motion of Tatsuya's head peer up, "but maybe today can be an exception," a slight corner of her lip lifted up, unnoticed by the both of them.

Etsuko was looking over a cartoon of eggs, checking any for cracks before gently putting them in the cart.

"So..." she leaned into one side of the cart, Tatsuya was the one driving," how's school? Made any friends? Girlfriends?" she inquired. Tatsuya kept pushing the cart, toward the dairy section.

"You're not as sneaky as you think, Etsuko, besides I'm pretty sure if I had a girlfriend I wouldn't be here with you," he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, you're right," she rolled her eyes, reluctant to drop the topic.

"But you have been making some friends, right?" her voice taking on its soothing tone again.

She was genuinely worried about Tatsuya, if a harem was real, that would mean a breach of personal space, and everyone deserved personal space. She kept walking, following the cart that Tatsuya was steering.

"I guess, you can say that... it's just a little exhausting... Let's- I just don't want to talk about it," the ending a little clipped.

They stayed in silence. She opened the glass door to the milk, not noticing the surprised face Tatsuya was making. He quickly reached for her shoulder, urgently tapping on it. She turned around to face him but before she could say anything,

"Tatsuya-san!!!" a voice said behind her, she was still carrying the milk carton.

"What the hell is she doing here?" he hissed, Etsuko was the only one who heard it. She turned around and put the milk in the cart.

"Um, who is this?" she whispered without tact.

"Uh, Hi, Komatsu-san, it's a surprise to see you hear," Tatsuya's face took on a quick pleasant smile contrasting with his skittish voice.

"Yup, I know, right," she paused coming closer to them, "My boss wanted me to get some ingredients."

Komatsu was carrying a red basket filled with what looked like baking stuff, cooking spray, some food dye, and sugar decorations. She had an energetic demeanor about her, her pink hair and eyes greatly supporting that idea. Her clean high socks and skirt greatly contrasted her scuffed-up shoes. With each hop in her step, her skirt swayed. Her hair was short but pointy and so were her teeth giving her a wild look. Etsuko thought she looked familiar. Komatsu's eyes flitted over Tatsuya's whole body before stopping on Etsuko.

"Wait, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend," there was a slight frown on her face as she observed Etsuko keenly, her thumb and index finger framing her jaw in thought.

Tatsuya spluttered with noise but Komatsu seemed to ignore that, still staring at Etsuko. Frankly, Etsuko was a little bewildered she didn't know how to react.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Tatsuya shouted a little, abruptly finding his words.

"Hmm, Really..." Komatsu turned her head to Tatsuya.

"Yes, she isn't," he looked at Etsuko, "Right, Etsuko?"

Etsuko stayed silent still staring at the pink that was Komatsu, she could hear a pleading noise from the back of Tatsuya's throat. She could imagine his puppy eyes boring into the back of her head and with that image, she found her words.

"Ah, yes, I'm not his girlfriend?" for some reason, it came out sounding like a question, she made a face at her own words. What the hell was that? Etsuko thought to herself, luckily, Komatsu didn't seem to notice though, or outwardly react, that is.

"Hmm, Okay!!" Komatsu jumped up a little in a fit of acceptance, her clothes and her bust slightly jumping with her motion.

"Well, I'll have to be going, the boss can't wait any longer" She looked up to the left before locking eyes with Tatsuya," Oh, and don't you worry, I will catch you soon."

She said all this before casually walking away, a hop in her step.

There was the beat of silence that had come back from the lack of Komatsu's presence.

"That seemed to be a nice friend," Etsuko sounded genuine, she was airheaded sometimes, well appeared to be. Tatsuya didn't have to know the difference.

"Friend," he squawked, "You think she's a friend?"

he sounded disbelieving, she could tell he was shaking his head back and forth reevaluating her own airheadedness.

"Well, she did call you Tatsuya, didn't she?" she looked back at Tatsuya's face.

"It's because she insists that I call her Mana and that she calls me by my name, so we've settled," the sentence fading away the longer it got, Tatsuya looked chagrined. The cart pushed forward till Tatsuya's was by Etsuko. Etsuko patted his should, there was quite a height difference.

"It'll be okay," because he was the protagonist, right?