After we finally reached Haru's place, I noted an ominous feeling I had in my gut.
I tried to ignore it but I got a good scare just as I was about to knock on the door since Haru opened it out of the blue, looking frantic.
"Ruto! It's horrible!" He screamed. "I-It's Oka-san!"
My eyes widened. "What?! What's wrong?!" Was something wrong with Kushina-san?! Was she hurt?!
"Hurry! Come on in!" Without waiting, Haru dragged me inside by the arm and all the way into the living room.
"Haru! What's—?!"
"And this is a picture of Lil Haru at the beach!" And there was Kushina-san, smiling so pleasantly with the other members of the ORC gathered at various places around the room. The Fallen Angel trio were there as well, dressed as maids (I assumed Rias either hypnotized Kushina-san or came up with some elaborate explanation concerning household servants). Rias-senpai was paying incredibly close attention, more-so than the others. Ha! She's learnin' bout lil Haru~! Then Kushina-san looked up and noticed me. "Oh, glad to see you're here, Ruto. Your friends have all been waiting for you."
"I see that… what's going on?" I had expected a life or death situation.
Kushina-san smiled pleasantly. "Well I was just exposing—I mean-showing Haru's childhood pictures to the girls here." I turned and stared at Haru.
"You have to stop them, Ruto!" Haru shouted, gesturing frantically. "They've already seen the time at the beach I made Oppai out of sand and me in the bathtub!" He looked so embarrassed and ready to die.
I smiled. "Hardly my problem." Not to mention it's pretty damn hilarious.
I noticed Isabela nervously raising her hand. "M-May I join in?" She was suppressing a slight blush. Yep. She definitely crushing on Haru. Kufufufu~
Kushina-san shot Isabela a cautious look before directing her suspicion towards me since I was the one who arrived here. "Ruto, who is this woman? I figured you would be here with Ruruko-chan." Kushina-san spoke with a tone that said she suspected me of cheating on my girlfriend.
I shook my head. "Ah. No! Ruruko's busy with her club's work, but this is Isabela." I said, introducing my Rook to Oka-san. I had a much rougher time than Haru in Kushina-san's eyes. Unlike Haru, Kushina-san has hope that I will become a proper gentleman and that I have a good future ahead of me free of debauchery. With Haru, she simply desires that he at least gives her a healthy grandchild. I think I see her praying sometimes. She cried when Rias-senpai moved in, believing Rias to be the perfect wife candidate for Haru.
Isabela bowed to Oka-san. "It's nice to meet you."
I walked up to Oka-san and whispered. "Isabela is a transfer student. She's really into cosplay but she's self conscious about it because she's afraid she'll be made fun of here. She's actually really nervous right now since her friends only barely managed to help her work up enough confidence to wear her face orbits outfit." Kushina-san was nothing if not a sympathetic. Even if it was a lie, I could see the understanding in Oka-san's expression as she nodded.
Lie Successful!
"It's very nice to meet you, Namikaze-san." Ravel stepped forward and curtsied. "I am Ravel Phenex, a transfer student and the Kouhai of Ruto-sama. Thank you for welcoming me into your home."
I resisted the urge to facepalm. Tone down the "princess upbringing" a bit, Ravel! And don't call me Ruto-sama in front of her!
"I see. It's very nice to see your parents have raised a very polite girl, Ravel-san."
I finally felt calm enough to release my breath.
"And here's the first time Haru was at Ruto's birthday party since they became friend." Kushina-san continued as if the interruption had never happened.
Ravel and Asia perked up, suddenly appearing by Oka-san.
Wait… the first time… Oh Maou no.
"Awwwwww! Ruto-sama's so cuuuuute!" Ravel left behind all hints of dignity as she was taken by the picture of little me. "He's really handsome now, but he looks so cute with cake all over his child face!"
I blushed deeply. "D-Don't show them that!" I complained.
"I thought it was 'hardly your problem'." Haru mused with a smirk.
Fuck off, Haru.
"Namikaze-san, are there any other pictures of Ruto here?!" Mittelt asked hopefully.
Oka-san revealed three photo albums. "Of course! Ruto's been as much our child as Haru that it's been hard NOT to have as many photos of him considering how young he and Haru were when they met and how long they have been friends!"
That was all they needed to hear before they each took a book, going through my personal memories along with Haru's.
"My my." I heard Akeno-san say with amusement. "Streaking at that age, Ruto?"
I felt my face suddenly flush as I realized they were examining each and every bit of my childhood. "H-Hey! H-Hold on a s-sec!" I began waving my arms frantically. "I-It's not what you think! I-I mean I—"
"... Didn't know Ruto-senpai was into sentai." Koneko-chan noted with interest (and… amusement?), looking at another album.
"Awww~!" Mittelt squealed. "Little Ruto-chan looks so cute when he's playing superhero~!"
"... Yes…" Raynare nodded, her eyes sparkling for some reason as she looked at photos. I think she might have been drooling… A part of me felt a little afraid after I remembered she was still a Fallen Angel… beings that fell from Heaven for sin. And I could only imagine one possibility for what Raynare's sin was.
I felt my flushed face turn even redder. "I-I don't see how t-that's any of your business, jerks! Those aren't for you!" I lunged for the album only for Koneko-chan to toss it back over her shoulder.
"I got it!" Mittelt leaped into the air and caught the album, sticking out her tongue as she dropped to the ground. "Personally, my favorite pose is this one!" Mittelt pulled a rather stereotypical 'hero pose', grinning. "I am the Red Ranger, defender of justice!"
Oh the shame of my embarrassing past! The worst part was that Mittelt's imitation of me was rather spot-on.
"Shut up, you damn—!" I lunged for the album again but Mittelt threw it into the air again, Yuuki being the one to catch it this time. "Give that back!" I lunged for the album again, but Yuuki laughed, easily sidestepping me. She held out a hand as I tried approaching her to grab the album.
"You gotta catch me first." Yuuki teased, holding me back with one arm while keeping the album out of reach.
"C'mon! Give it back!"
"If you want it so bad, you have to forfeit the wager." Wager…? Oh yeah… Whoever made the other confess first won. If I won, I got to grope Yuuki however I wanted. I had no idea what Yuuki wanted.
I narrowed my eyes. "Pass."
"... small Ruto-san…"
"... so small and adorable…"
"... sweet, lovable master…"
Whatever I was about to say was interrupted when I saw Asia, Ravel, and Raynare all crowded around one single photo album.
All of their faces were tinged a slight pink color and their eyes were sparkling.
"""... Little Ruto from childhood, little Ruto from childhood, little Ruto from childhood, little Ruto from childhood, little Ruto from childhood…"""
I felt very disturbed by the fact they sounded like they were chanting for some ritual.
I felt a chill roll down my spine. "Why does it feel like you guys are picturing something that's quite possibly illegal…?"
"Buchooooou!" Haru complained as he tried stealing his own pictures back from Rias.
If my suspicion was correct, I would have to watch them around cute, little boys… I would not let them fall down the disgusting path of shotacon-hood!
Having been disturbed enough for one moment, I tried to preserve whatever dignity I could manage.
Then I turned back to Yuuki who was rather entranced by the photo album. She seemed distracted enough that I could just—
"HRAAAAAH!" I lunged with my entire body in an attempt to snatch the book. Yuuki casually leaned back and I smashed face-first into a wall. "MRRMPH..." Translation: "Ow."
"Hahaha, don't worry about it. Let me enjoy your album a bit more, pweeeeaaaaase?" Yuuki asked while trying to sound adorable.
"DON'T SAY THAT!" I screamed. "THAT SOUNDS SO CREEPY!" I continuously lashed out at Yuuki, trying to snatch my memories of childhood innocence from her hands.
I only stopped when I saw a surprised look on her face. "This…"
Confused, I got closer and looked at the particular photo she was looking at. "What is it?"
Then I felt a huge wave of sadness wash over me when I saw the photo.
It was a picture of me and my childhood friend… Irina. Ah. I really haven't seen her in such a long time.
She always looked like a boy due to her tomboyish looks and personality, but I never saw her as anything less than beautiful. When we were little, I loved everything about her. The main thing we had in common was our love for "hero-play". We both had a powerful sense of justice and…
You see, she was my childhood crush. My first true love. I had the world's biggest crush on her. And… considering what happened, I would like to think she returned my feelings. She moved to England a long time ago and I haven't seen or spoken to her since then excluding a single postcard I had gotten with a quick picture of her. It was blurred a bit, as if she had been running while holding the camera, but I was able to once again glimpse her beautiful face, having only grown more beautiful with time.
Despite all of the time that has passed, to say I did not love her anymore would be a lie. To say I was still madly in love with her would be the truth.
For a brief moment, I mused that Yuuki was jealous.
I snapped out of it when I noticed that Yuuki was pointing at something in the photo. It was a familiar European sword… oddly even more familiar now. I could tell something was up with it.
"Do you remember this?" I was shocked by Yuuki's sudden serious tone. It was a sharp contrast from her usual good cheer.
I frowned, staring intently at the sword. "Yeah. I did my best to stay away from it whenever I could… Something about it didn't seem exactly normal. Gave me the creeps."
Yuuki nodded at my thoughts. "Indeed… So things like this happen, huh. To find it in such an unexpected place…" The blonde princess laughed bitterly to herself, but I could see the burning hatred in her eyes.
"Something wrong…?"
"This is a Holy Sword."