The Hinata Inn (Hinata Apartment, Hinata Lodge, whatever you want to call it) will be always one of the finest apartments in the world although it is restricted to only females. However, it is owned by a male manager, something that many people find it...odd. The current manager, Keitaro Urashima, is going to be married with the girl of his life and the girl he made a promise with since childhood, Naru Narusegawa. They are going to be married five weeks from their wedding.
Unfortunately, their relationship seems not to be advancing ever since both of them, along with Mutsumi Otohime, passed the Tokyo University (Tokyo U or Todai for short) entrance exam. Keitaro is a very busy because of all the Todai activities he has to do and accomplish. And as a result of that, he hasn’t been spending some time with his future wife. This saddens Naru a lot and everytime Keitaro refuses to spend time due to the Todai businesses (or other businesses) he has to deal with, Naru can’t think of anything else but to be depressed and stay hurt. She gets depressed even more and gradually as Keitaro’s refusals continue to produce. But someone else is hurt more whenever he...or she sees Naru hurt.
7:30 a.m., Hinata Inn
It is a very beautiful Monday morning. Sakura leaves are flying around, dancing with the wind. Sakura trees rattle their stems and leaves thanks to the great wind. The sky is so clear blue, so clear that is as if this is the best sky anyone has seen before. Along the sky are the fine, puffy and cotton-like clouds. Birds can be seen flying in the sky, while others can be heard singing. These great descriptions can be only given to a very intricate place in the city of Hinata, The Hinata Inn.
Naru wakes up before staring at her future husband Keitaro. Keitaro now sleeps with her in her room ever since they came back to Hinata Inn.
Naru glares at Keitaro for a moment, who is still sleeping. She smiles at him before waking him up. “Wake up sleepyhead.” she says teasingly.
“Nmmm...wha...morning already...?” Keitaro mumbles drowsingly after opening his eyes slowly. His eyes are a bit blurry but after adjusting them a bit, he sees a smiling Naru who is kneeling near him.
“Oh, it’s you Naru-chan.” Keitaro smiles back at her, still drowsy. He was tired from all of the aurduous businesses he took from Tokyo U yesterday.
“I see you are still tired my dear.” she says, noticing his condition from yesterday.
“Yeah. Still I managed to finish all of them with ease, despite there many of them and seemingly difficult to finish.” he replies, slightly gloating, looking up at the ceiling, before hoping something, “I hope I don’t receive anymore tasks from Tokyo U for at least today.”
“If there will be no tasks then what are you going to do for today?” Naru asks curiously, changing the subject.
“What do you mean?” surprised, Keitaro asks nervously. He gets his back up.
“Well do you have any plans for today?”
“I don’t any have plans but I can’t think of some. What about you Naru-chan?” he returns it back to her.
“I was thinking if you would like to go out with me.”
Keitaro can’t believe what he heard just three seconds ago. His eyes widen. “Wha-what did you just said?!”
“I said we should go out together!” Naru repeated, though not exactly, vehemently.
“Oh, well alright.” He nervously accepted, still scared from Naru’s early vehement tone.
The two stand up and walk towards the sliding doors. As Naru touches the door, she turns her face to Keitaro. “Keitaro-kun, why did you startle when I asked you to go out with me moments ago?”
“What do you mean?” Keitaro asks in confusion.
“You know, when I told you that I want to go out with you and you accepted right?”
Keitaro nods “Uh huh..”
“What do you mean ‘uh huh’?!” Naru isn’t satisfied with that response as she moves a bit closer to him before arguing, “We are going to be married four weeks from today and ever since we came back here, our relationship hasn’t been growing. I’ve been asking you to go out with me numerous times and yet you choose Tokyo U over me. I mean haven’t you heard me asking you that? Haven’t you realized that? What’s wrong with me Keitaro?”
Her future husband realizes it. Keitaro does feel that his future wife is hurt when he is away. Their relationship has been shrinking thanks to Tokyo U. Keitaro responds sadly, “I’m sorry Naru-chan,” he says before looking away from her, “It’s just that Tokyo U means a lot to me that I can’t let it down. I’m so busy with it that I almost forget about you.”
Naru deeply sighs, “And I’m sorry too Keitaro-kun. I just want to be with you for a long period of time, that’s all.”
“Well I hope that one of the guys from Tokyo U won’t be calling me...” Keitaro slowly smiles at her, “...and if they don’t call, then we will spend time together this afternoon. I promise you that.”
“You promise?”
“You have my word.”
Naru contemplates that before smiling back at him, “Well okay! I sure hope we have fun today.”
“Don’t worry we will.”
8:00 a.m., Living Room
As everyone prepares for breakfast, a phone rings in the living room. Keitaro is wearing his formal clothes, consisting of a white pants, purple shirt and yellow one underneath, and gray shoes. As he comes down to the living room, he notices that the phone is ringing. Before he can pick up the phone, he hopes that the line isn’t someone from Tokyo U, for the sake of their date. “Hello, this is the Hinata Inn. Manager Keitaro Urashima speaking...” he greets in a classy manager way.
“Oh, hi there Urashima-san...” a familiar voice from the other line happily says.
“Seta-sensei...” Keitaro recognizes. It is Noriyasu Seta. He is a professor from Tokyo U. Though Keitaro isn’t expecting him, he hopes that he won’t hear any work that needs to be done from Seta.
“Yes, it is me. I was wondering if you could come with me and help me on my excavation.” Seta offers, much to Keitaro’s unfortunate dismay.
Keitaro doesn’t want to broke his promise so for the sake of Naru, he decides to refuse Seta’s offer. “I’m sorry Seta-sensei but as much as I want to help you I...” he is cut off by his friend.
Seta elaborates, “I know you want to spend time with Naru-chan but this is urgent.”
Keitaro is surprised by that elaboration of Seta, “What do you mean?”
“I have to find artifacts as many as possible. The professors from Tokyo U said that they need new artifacts for their history classes...”
“But...”
“...and if I don’t give them plenty of artifacts three days before the deadline, they may kick me out of the university.”
Keitaro has two choices: either spend time with Naru in which Seta is fired in the process or get to work with Seta in which he breaks his promise to Naru. Keitaro can almost feel that he is defeated but before he can decide, he thinks of a solution desperately, “Well isn’t there anyone from the university who would like to help you or you can pick?”
“I’m afraid there isn’t anyone. They are all busy, doing other activities. The reason why the guys need new artifacts is because some pesky students broke several artifacts.”
Keitaro now feels he is defeated. He perceives that his friend’s job is bigger than his date with Naru at this time. ‘Forgive me, Naru.’ he thinks in his mind, very disappointed. He finally, and reluctantly, accepts Seta’s offer, “Well alright Seta-sensei. I’ll go.”
Seta perceives that Keitaro is very sad. He regrets to inform Keitaro further about the emergency. “Now I know you’re sad because you won’t be with Naru again but I promise to you that we’ll make this quick in a jiffy. We’ll be going to the sides of the hills for another excavation,” He says sadly before straightening himself, “Get yourself ready. I’ll pick you up at 1:00 p.m..”
Keitaro sighs deeply, “Okay. I’ll pack my bags. I’ll see you here.”
“I’m looking forward for that. Goodbye.” Seta finalizes before bringing his phone down.
Keitaro is in a deep and depressing silent for few minutes. He has a bad situation and he struggles to think of a solution. ‘Great. Now what am I going to do?’ he desperately argues with himself in his mind, ‘What will I say in front of her?’
11:15 a.m., Dining Room
Everyone is in the dining room. Mutsumi Otohime and Shinobu Maehara are preparing lunch in the kitchen for everyone. Mitsune ‘Kitsune’ Konno, Keitaro’s aunt Haruka Urashima, Kaolla Su, and Motoko Aoyama are all sitting near the table, waiting patiently for the other two girls to get their lunch ready. Naru comes to the room before the girls look at her. “Good morning everyone!” she greets her fellow friends with a cheerful smile.
“Good morning Naru-chan!” the residents greet her back, all are in a good mood.
As Naru sits on her chair, Keitaro comes in, still unhappy from the phone call with Seta that transpired several minutes ago. He looks at the girls who look back at him, noticing his frown face. “Good morning everyone!” he greets, feigning a smile.
While he is expecting that no one will greet him since they have noticed him not smiling when he came in, the girls greet back happily, “Good morning Keitaro-san!”
Keitaro smiles at them but still keeps his sadness inside of him. When Naru saw him coming in frowning, she begins to be aware of his condition, ‘What’s wrong with him? He comes here sad and smiles after seeing us? There’s something wrong going on with him.’
The Hinata Inn manager sits down beside Naru, keeping his fake smile. He looks at the girls before saying something that is worth nothing to discuss, “I see that everyone here got a good sleep, eh?”
“Well almost everyone.” Motoko speaks, remembering something unpleasant that occurred last night, crossing her arms.
“Well what happened last night?” Kitsune asks curiously. She is sitting beside Motoko.
“I would have sleep peacefully if it wasn’t for some certain someone who had been working on another stupid and lousy invention!” Motoko says angrily as she turns her head to Kaolla, who is sitting right beside her.
“Hey! My invention isn’t stupid and lousy.” Kaolla replies as she puts her arms on the back of her head and somehow still keeps her smiling face.
Haruka then speaks up as she stares at the dark-skinned girl, “Kaolla-chan, didn’t you sleep last night?”
“Well yes I did.”
Kitsune retorts to Kaolla, obviously not believing her, “Oh really? What time did you sleep?”
“Well, it’s...” Kaolla is cut short.
“Lunch is ready!” Mutsumi exclaims from the kitchen.
Everyone looks at Mutsumi and Shinobu as the two girls come out of the kitchen. They then bring their lunch to the table and sit on their chairs. Mutsumi sits beside Naru.
“Sorry for the long wait everyone.” Shinobu apologizes to them, giving them a sweet smile.
“It’s okay Shinobu-chan.” Keitaro accepts her apology, smiling back at her.
“Thank you, Keitaro-sempai.” Shinobu replies shyly, her cheeks turn tomato red as she looks down.
Kitsune speaks again, making a new topic, “Hey everyone, would ya all like to come to the mall and buy some new stuffs?”
The residents of the Hinata Inn turn their attention to the foxy girl and think about her great offer. Motoko is the first resident to respond, “That sounds great! I’ll come. I have to buy more samurai clothes.”
Shinobu is the second, “Yeah, I need some new clothes and supplies for my school activities.”
Kaolla is the third, “Don’t forget about me! I need some new tools and mechanical parts for my new inventions.”
“Well that’s the one I was hoping for not to happen. I have a bad feeling for that.” Haruka replies to Kaolla, apparently not happy of what may happen once Kaolla get what she needed. Probably another disaster in the inn. “I think I’ll join too.”
“Well Naru-chan, Keitaro-san, and Mutsumi-chan. Are you going to join us?” Kitsune inquires as she looks to Naru, Keitaro, and then Mutsumi.
“As much as I like to join with you guys, I’m going out with Keitaro-kun.” Naru answers and as soon as everyone hears that, they gasp, stunned.
“That’s wonderful Naru-chan! I hope you two have fun!” Mutsumi muses as she stares at Naru with her happy expression. However, deep down inside of her, she can feel an irresistible affection. ‘She’s so...so beautiful.’ She says lovingly to herself.
Keitaro attempts to protest to Naru about their date with his current situation but he is quickly interfered by Kitsune.
“Well what are we waiting for, let’s eat now!!” Kitsune beams and the residents starts eating their lunch. Kitsune seems to be in a hurry as she eat her sushis and rice since she wants to go to the mall early.
12:50 p.m.
Kitsune and the residents, who join with her, leave the apartment as Naru watches them from a window. “Goodbye, Naru-chan! I’ll buy some stuffs for you, Kei-san, and Mu-chan. Hope you have a great date. See ya!” Kitsune shouts out from the outside of the inn
“Yeah and don’t forget to buy our material too!” Naru shouts back before she and the residents departs.
Naru sees Keitaro coming to his room, who seems to be not in a good mood and has changed his clothes. She thinks about Keitaro’s early condition. “Hmmm...” she wonders as she makes her way to his room. When she opens the door, her eyes widenes and she is surprised unhappily. The scene she sees right now is her future husband packing his bag and things. Naru now knows and understands why he is in such disappointment. “Keitaro-kun...”
Keitaro hears his name being said before turning to Naru. “Naru-chan...”
Naru approaches to Keitaro slowly, a small amount of grief is formed inside of her. “Don’t tell me your...”
“I’m sorry Naru-chan...but I have to.” Keitaro says sadly as he looks away from her.
“But what about our promise...?”
“Seta-sensei needs my help...and if I am not able to help him, he will lose his job...” He continues, trying not to hurt her, “and I’m afraid that I’ll be gone for three days.”
Naru can’t believe at what she is hearing. “But...Keitaro-kun...”
“I’m really sorry Naru-chan.” Keitaro moves to his future wife before continuing, “Seta-sensei told me that we would make this quick. He promised me that.”
“But why he always needs your help? I don’t understand why? Why can’t he find another person other than you?” tears begin to well Naru’s eyes.
“I know that Seta-sensei is a good man and he never takes advantage of me. He is aware of our relationship. However, all of the students from Tokyo U are all busy whenever he tries to find someone to help him. He doesn’t seem that he can find someone who is better than me or at least as good as me but I doubt that.”
After Keitaro finishes his explanation, he picks up his shoulder bag and then carries it on his back. Afterwards, he approaches back to Naru and hugs her tightly, his head beside the left side of Naru’s. “I promise you Naru-chan. We will make this quick. Then we can spend time together. And once I’m done helping Seta-sensei, I will not let anything get in our way anymore.” When he is done he gently plants a kiss on her cheek before releasing her from his hug. He then looks at her sadden face and smiles at her, trying to make her happy. From the inside, Naru isn’t satisfied with that happy face and simple smile but from the outside, she unwillingly smiles back at him. Finally, he leaves his room, leaving a still hurt and depressed Naru.
12:55 p.m., Naru’s Room
Naru goes to her room, with an enormous hurt expression that she hasn’t felt before. She approaches her window and when she looks outside from her window she can see Keitaro near the highest step of the mountaineous staircase in front of the entrance of the mansion-like apartment, waiting for Seta to come with his van. Five minutes earlier than the expected time, he arrives with his van. “Good afternoon Keitaro-san!” Seta greets him. However, he does realize that Keitaro isn’t happy due to his emergency in which his successor Keitaro needed. In doing so, it causes Naru’s depression.
“Good afternoon to you too Seta-sensei!” Keitaro welcomes, still depressed of course although he pulls out a smile.
“Hop in Keitaro-san. We have to get those artifacts.” Seta commands. Before Keitaro can go downstairs, he realizes that Naru is looking at him from her window. He looks back at her before going downstairs. Each time Naru sees him moving away from her, she gets depressed further. Keitaro gets in the van and after that, the two men drive away.
This causes Naru to shed a tear. She lays in her bed face first. She hugs her pillow to her face tightly. Then she begins to shed tears, wetting her pillow. She can’t handle this kind of suffering. She can’t believe that these depressing situations happen. If it wasn’t for Seta’s unwilling problem that causes Keitaro to come with him, none of this would have happen. Keitaro would have been with Naru instead of Seta but unfortunately, it didn’t, which caused Naru to suffer emotional pain.
“Why, Keitaro-kun? Why do you always have to go away from me? Don’t you care about me?” Naru asks herself with a grief in her voice, weeping heavily, “Don’t you love me?”
Outside of Naru’s room, there is one person listening to her suffering cry. Mutsumi can’t stand hearing Naru crying, which hurts her deeply. She is in front of her door. She attempts to comfort her but she can’t think of anything that will console her younger friend at this moment. In the meantime, she decides to go the living room and think of a solution.
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