Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

15. Sorry

The first thing Haruhiro did was try talking to Yume and Shihoru as often as he could.

"By the way, this morning, how'd it go for you? Did you wake up all right? Huh? The same as usual? I see."

"By the way, last night, what did you have for dinner? The same as usual? Oh, I see."

"By the way, last night, I met Renji. It was amazing. Oh, you aren't interested?"

"By the way, for lunch, what did you bring? Huh? Bread? I see."

"By the way, are you tired?"

"By the way..."

It was starting to look like "By the way" was his catchphrase. They never outright ignored him, but they did the absolute least they could to answer, so it was pretty depressing.

Merry was as unapproachable as ever, so he could barely even talk to her.

Does she even enjoy life? he wondered. Well, then again, I'm not enjoying life much at the moment, either.

In the evening, after heading back to Alterna and selling off their loot from the Old City of Damuro, they had earned one silver, fifteen copper each. Not good, not bad, by their standards.

Haruhiro headed back to the lodging house without stopping by the tavern. After taking a bath, he was squatting in the hallway when Yume walked by, fresh from a bath of her own.

"Oh, Yume."

Yume stopped, but she didn't look his way. She was drying her hair with a towel. She always had her hair up in braids, so she looked like a different person with it down.

The awkward silence continued a few seconds.

"Uh, so... Where's Shihoru?"

"Our room."

"I see. Um..." Haruhiro stood up, scratching his neck. "...Are you mad?"

"Yume's not mad."

"Really? But, you seem like it."

"Yume's tellin' you she's not mad, okay? Or did you do somethin' Yume should be mad about, Haru-kun?"

"I might have."

"What'd you do?"

"I invited Merry to join the party without consulting you or Shihoru. I don't think we could have continued as we were, but we rushed things, I think. Really. I didn't make that decision entirely by myself, but..."

"Then whose fault is it?"

"Kikkawa introduced Merry to us, and me, Ranta, and Moguzo made the decision, so... Well, I guess the blame goes to all three of us."

"That's not it."

"Huh?"

"It's not, don't you get it?"

"...Yume?"

"It's not, all right?" Yume wiped her face with the towel. "That's not how it is, see? Haru-kun, you dummy."

"Huh? Wait, why—" Haruhiro started to reach out towards Yume, then pulled his hand back. "Huh? Yume, hey, wh-what do you... mean?"

"You don't understand a thing, Haru-kun. It's because you're like that. That's why Yume and Shihoru ended up like this."

"No, but..." Haruhiro looked down. "...I don't get it, not like that. I mean, you two won't talk to me. How am I supposed to know if you won't tell me?"

"Yume's not so good at relatin' her feelings to others. Yume can't do it so well, and Shihoru's got it even worse than Yume."

"W-Well, neither am I!" Haruhiro came close to shouting, but he restrained himself. "...Neither am I, at talking and stuff. It's not something I'm particularly good at. Besides, I was in shock, too."