"Sigh- Finally, the meeting with your uncle is done."
Sakurai exhaled a heavy sigh of relief as we got out of the enormous building.
"Yeah… I'm sorry about that. I did hear that Uncle Ken goes heavy on the questions for the newbies, but I didn't think it would be this bad…"
I told Sakurai as we went on walking towards the park I've planned to visit afterwards. Why? Well…
"Ahahahaha… Well, Mr. Watanabe sure is intense with his questions. But besides that. May I ask why we are going to a park again?"
"Hm? Well, I just assumed that the talk between you and uncle will be intense, so I already considered going to a park to loosen up afterwards."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Also…you know you can speak normally to me, right? Hearing you being formal to me sends shivers down my spine, specially after all the trash you've talked to me. Just talk to me casually, okay?"
"…sure…."
"Besides, that's not the only thing you need to change when talking to me. Don't think of me as your boss. Instead, think of me as your colleague. As your equal. And since we're going to be spending a lot of time together from now on, call me by my first name. Okay?"
"Eh?!"
Sakurai was understandably surprised by what I just said. After all, calling someone by their first name is something reserved for someone special. But since we'll be living together from now on as she accepted my offer yesterday, something like calling me by my first name shouldn't be that big of a deal. So…
" 'Eh?!' is not my name. It's Haruki. Okay?"
"Fine."
And just like that, we continued our walk towards the park.
As we were headed to our location, there was an awkward atmosphere between the two of us as we stayed silent during our walk.
But eventually, after a few minutes of walking, we arrived at the park. Shortly after our arrival, I broke the awkward silence between us.
"You know, I've already said this before, but. The amount of change that happened in our relationship and the way how you talk to me is amazing."
"You think so?"
"Well, yeah, of course. After all, it's only been a month since we've met, no?"
"Well, I guess that's true…"
"Alright then. Shall we go continue our walk inside the park?"
"…sure."
And with that, we went inside the Park and continued our peaceful walk.
We then talked about other things as we walked around the park. Food, clothes, grades, but, eventually, as we were crossing a bridge, our previous topic came back.
"Though, I do feel like our relationship has progressed way too fast. From strangers to basically cohabiting with each other… So I kinda feel bad."
"…There you are again with your pointless worries."
She said, halting at the middle of the bridge we were crossing.
"Didn't I tell you this before? You shouldn't worry about me. I'll tell you about it myself if there's ever a problem I encounter with you. Besides, I do not consider what you're doing for me as unpleasant. Instead…"
Not finishing her words, she ran up to the railings of the straight bridge, where there was an unusual turn to the left as she turns around to face me.
"I am very grateful for the things you've done for me, Haruki-kun!" Sakurai said with a smile.
Suddenly, the surrounding wind became much stronger.
The trees behind Sakurai swayed heavily, and her hair came with it. The pure smile of Sakurai radiated throughout the field. And as she smiled, it felt like something penetrated me, though I do not know what and where it is, so I was left with a lingering feeling I could not understand.
Flustered by her action, I unknowingly stared at her smile for seconds until she started speaking.
"Haruki-kun? Are you okay?"
"Ahh?" I answered while still being stuck with my own thoughts. Finally snapping out of it, I continued;
"Yes… I'm okay. Thank you for that, Sakurai-san."
I said as we finished crossing the narrow bridge. Though, we did not stop our walk.
"There's the usual 'Thank you' coming from you… I should be the one thanking you, no? Also, is it fair for you to still call me Sakurai when I call you by your first name? Please, call me Fumiko."
"Eh?"
Although I was slightly shocked by her sudden proposal, I suppose it would only be fair to do that as I also made her call me by my first name, so…
"Sure… Fumiko-san."
"Great! Now we are truly equals! Wait… now that I think about it, I still owe you favours, don't I?"
"Hm? How so?"
"Well, you still technically helped me again by giving me a job, no? So, I think I still owe you a lot of favours."
"Hmm… you can just pay them off by working hard, I guess? Maybe helping me clean the house too?"
I said, not really thinking much about it since I honestly didn't care about her 'favours' anymore as I already got what I wanted. But, it would seem like my words reminded Sakurai of something else important.
"Oh right, we still haven't talked about how we will divide tasks on the house. Especially laundry…"
"Ah right…"
"Ahhh, there's still a lot to do…"
Sakurai said as we continued our walk in this lovely park. But, right now, I didn't care about those matters. Because, right now, I only care about one thing. And that is the future.
Now that I have successfully got someone to help me with my game, I can only look forward to the things to come.
And so, with that in mind, we continued walking forward, towards our promising future.