Chapter Three: Retribution
"Haru, do you realize that was a weird thing for you to ask?"
I blink up at Haruka as she looks me over seriously, and I race through my mind to think over what she's talking about.
"Liking mama?" I hazard a guess and she chuckles lowly before nodding. "Why's that weird? Mama says it's natural to like someone— sometimes the feelings are just stronger for other people than some."
She's baffled at my words and I beam at the fact that somehow I've made an impression. Then she chuckles again before ruffling my hair playfully.
"Very well said," she comments and looks in the distance again.
I note her faraway expression and frown, the feeling of wanting her attention again suddenly seizing me. I ask abruptly, "But why would liking mama be weird?"
Blonde eyebrows knit together, the racer's look a bit perturbed. She has an expression my mama wears a lot: the look that says she wants to explain something, but will probably edit it for my sake. A bout of silence passes that's not disturbed and I sigh in impatience.
She smiles amusedly as she looks at my waiting countenance.
"You have a way of making me feel really awkward, you know that?"
I grunt loudly, annoyed that she just wouldn't answer and instead reverts to the tiptoeing method. "Why is it so hard for grown-ups to just spit it out?!"
"We edit things to protect you, little one. Like it or not when we say you'll understand when you grow up, we actually mean it."
"Okay, just this once then, explain it as if I was actually grown-up, old, and boring."
"Ouch..."
I drum at her legs with both fists in irritation. "Come on Haruka!"
"Alright, alright," she concedes, chuckling and sighing softly. She frowns, looking unsure. "It just doesn't feel right that I should be the one breaking these things to you."
"Where do babies come from?"
She gives me a cross look that I just laugh loudly at.
"Now you're just being a pain."
She pokes my side, forcing a giggle as I swat her hand away. "But seriously now," I say, trying to compose myself and save a tickle war I know I would lose in. "Why's it a big deal?"
"Have you ever liked someone?"
"This isn't about me."
Emerald eyes roll in an obvious, slow manner. "It'll help the process if you answer it."
"Then no, not really. All the boys are icky in my class."
"What about the girls?"
I search my mind. "Never really thought of them. Am I supposed to?"
