PMZ 041- Initiative

After our visit to the orphanage, we went home for the time being.  

I have many things I need to do, such as preparing to move to a new home, greeting Betty and the others before my absence, and attending my manners lesson.  

The lingering effects of the music have not yet left my body.  

I’d like to dance with Hayato too, even for just a little.  

“Hayato, please hold me.”  

“Mm.”  

He hugged me tightly—but no, this is not what I mean.   

After enjoying a few moments of meaningless hugs, I decide to tell him my intention.  

“This is fun, but what I mean is… dance.”  

“Oh, you want to? you should have told me right away.”  

“I know.”  

I also thought that my word is too roundabout.  

I put my arms around Hayato’s shoulders and snuggled up to him.  

Then he let out a small surprised voice.  

“Isn’t this different from what you teach? I mean… isn’t this too close?”   

“Yes, this is a dance that is only allowed between couples or fiancées. If you go out in a social gathering, you can’t do it with any woman but me.”  

Yes, this is what I call by cheek-to-cheek swaying dance.  

Since it doesn’t require any technique, he will probably not learn anything about it from his future dance instructor, so I may as well take this opportunity to teach him.  

The sway dance is performed towards the end of the evening party, with the lights dimmed a bit. (I have never experienced it, so I was only hearing about it from the stories).  

In exchange for a difficult step, this is a very painful time for the loner without any partner. Since the purpose of this was to enhance the romantic atmosphere with how close our body is.  

Without Hayato, I’m entirely on that side, so to be honest, I’m really relieved.  

This may seem embarrassing at first glance, but it’s power can not be underestimated. Even two people who are still distant from each other because of their political marriage, sometimes after this, they could mysteriously come to feel like a real couple.  

Hayato was confused, but he put his hands on my back and put his palms on mine.  

One of the things I love about him is that he is quick to follow the lead at a time like this.   

“Thank you. You don’t have to take the steps. You just need to sway a little from side to side, and that’s it.  

“like this…?”  

Yes, just like that …… and by the way, it would be better if you would bend over a little bit and put your cheek on mine when you speak.”  

“Understood… Maybe the way I hold your hand should be like this too?”   

As I instructed, he sticks his cheek to mine and slips his fingers in between the fingers of my hand, which were stacked on top of each other.  

Lovers bond. I love this.   

“Ye-yes, it good. ……! Very! …… maybe.”  

I don’t really know, but it’s probably right.   

I’ll pretend it’s right.   

“I see. …tell me, did you do this kind of thing with your ex-fiancee?”  

Ow? It’s rare for him to be curious about my broken engagement story.   

“No, I didn’t. I’ve never stayed long enough at a party to experience this kind of thing, even after I’m graduated.  

I just know this from the… stories.”  

“Hmm.”   

It was a voice with unclear emotion.   

A flat voice that you couldn’t even read if he was in a bad mood or not feeling anything.  

“My connection to that person stopped at being a childhood friend. We never go further from holding hand.”  

I’ve only noticed this after saying it myself, but…  

…uuh?  

My love experience was so low?  

Even after the broken engagement, no one ever sought me for love.  

Once again, I realize that I’m not popular, but that’s okay.  

I have Hayato now.   

The only person who liked me was the one I liked the most. I don’t think there is anything that makes me happier than that.  

“I’m sure you’re the first person to touch me like this. Also, about th-that k-kiss… you were the first to do it to me, except for my parent’s kiss on my cheeks when I was a child.   

I’m not going to let you get away with it anymore, no matter what.”  

Thanks to the zero distance, heavy words come out one after another. It’s not easy to say these things while looking into someone’s eyes.  

I’m not sure if it’s possible to expose your heart this much if you’re not being close while not seeing your partner’s face.  

This is the power of sway dancing; I can say that for sure.  

While thinking about things like that, I could tell Hayato’s heartbeat is getting stronger from our body contact. At that moment, my shoulders separated from him, and my hands held high, he urged me to turn, so I did what he was leading.  

When I finished turning and looked at his face, he suddenly looked away from me.  

“… let’s go outside and take a walk, we’ll probably run into someone we know, so we can talk about our schedule after we leave this place.”  

“Okay.”   

I think my talk was too heavy. I might have frightened you with my resentment.   

While being envious of my quick temperament, I reflected on it and began to sort through the luggage to take to my parents’ house.  

A little while later, I went out for a walk, and as expected, We encountered an acquaintance — one of Hayato’s former party members, Ted. 

Ted, a swordsman, currently owns several dogs despite his bulky and robust body, and he always walks his dogs once a day, so I often run into him on the street.  

Today, I recognized him quickly from a distance, as he was loitering around with a poodle (there are poodles in this world, too, for some reason).  

“Ted”  

“Oh, Hayato. Alice, too. Hello.”  

“Hello …… Huh? Did you get another one?”  

“That’s right… It was born at a neighboring woman’s house, and it was starting weaning, so she wanted to get rid of one. I thought I already had too much pet, but when I saw it, I couldn’t help but take it home…”  

“fufu, it is cute.”  

Really cute.  

I was allowed to hold it with his permission.  

A phase between puppy and adult dog.   

“What’s his name?”   

“Wafers.”  

“Another snack-like name. Ted, you need to think more about it.”   

“This is nothing. I think it’s much more embarrassing to put a name on a vehicle. What was it called again? [Alice]?”   

“eh?”   

Hayato folds his arms and looked away, while Ted is on the verge of burst out laughing.   

“I’m not the one who gives it a name.”  

“Yeah-yeah, so today is your day off? You didn’t go hunting?”   

“About that… I’m going to be away for a while, so I thought to give you all some heads up.”   

“Huh? Are you going to go on an expedition?”   

“You could say that, in short, I decided to take up the knighthood, so yeah.”   

Ted opened his eyes and mouth and froze.   

“…Really?”  

“I thought about it a lot, and I thought it was the best thing to do. …But it’s not like I’m going to be big-shot or something, so please treat me just the same.”  

“You already a big shot without that, well I have the feeling that you will become one someday.  

It’s a relief. Now I don’t have to think that you and I can be equal.”  

“that’s…”  

” I hate myself when I’m with you. …… Well, that was a story of the past. We’ll do our best in our way, and you’ll do yours.  

…also, I’m sorry about Lav. I wasn’t able to protect her.”  

“… I’m just glad no one died.”  

Then Wafer jumped off my arm and began to circle around Ted.  

Ted-san goes around and catches it.   

“Hmm? Hungry? Let’s have a snack, shall we?”   

He rummaged through the bag, pulled out some dog cookies, and handed some to Hayato and me.   

“I’m sorry, but Wafer-chan is being disciplined right now, so I need to take some time. In the meantime, can you help me feed everyone else?”  

“Yes. Can we feed them one by one?”  

“sure”   

With that, Ted took Wafer a little farther away, made her sit down, showed her a cookie, and ordered her to wait.  

Wafer is fidgeting as if to say, ‘I could wait anymore’ it was so cute that I cannot help but giggle.   

“Wait. Sit!”   

Wafer-chan couldn’t seem to hold back anymore, it’s trying to stand with on its leg, and Ted held her down and made her flinch.  

Then, for some reason, Hayato snapped.  

“Ted! You don’t know how terrible you are? It’s tough to endure when there’s something to eat right in front of you! Don’t you feel sorry for it?”  

“Why are you so mad? I mean, you’ve helped me discipline them before! What’s up with you?”  

“Let him eat faster!”   

Hayato’s eyes looked strangely envious when he saw Wafer-chan, who started eating biscuits, so I bought a human cookie for him, he was too depressed for some reason when I presented it to him, I can see he looked at me with strange envy as he saw Wafer-chan, who began to gobble up a cookie.  

Did you get hungry? I tried to say ‘here, aaaaah’ he was mysteriously switched to a good mood, so I was happy too.