Haru and Midori ch1

p1
>I've always hated Spring.

p2
>Satou-san~
>Wanna go drinking today?

>Ah, sorry. I've got plans today.
>Eh~ I see~
>How about you, Miki-chan?
>Ah~ I wanna go~
>Alright, let's go!

>There's the place that opened up by the station
>Good work today...
>Ah~ I know that one~

p3
>That'll be 451 yen.

>Would you like chopsticks~?
>...Ah.
>Yes, please...
>Excuse me?
>Ah, um...

>Thank you~
>...Chopsicks...
>She didn't put them in...

>...It feels like ages
>since I last talked with someone...

p4
>Spring
>brings nothing but bad memories.

>I've always sucked at getting along with people since way back.
>I was really bad with being in a new place with people I didn't know.

p5
>Be it an opening ceremony full of strangers or trying to give a self-introduction with everyone staring at me
>I could never
>do it well.

>Besides, Spring...

>Spring is...
>when my most precious person was taken from me.

p6
>Hah~
>Finally alone...

>Hello, Midori?
>Did the stuff arrive?
>>Mom

>...Yeah, they arrived.
>Geez~
>Then you could've at least contacted me...
>I don't need to do that for every little thing...

p7
>I've included some vegetables
>so do some proper cooking.
>I'm not taking care of you anymore.
>You're 31, after all.
>...

>...I want to eat dinner already. I'm hanging up.
>Ah~ Hold on.
>There's a proper reason I called you today.

>Just now, I got a call for you.
>..For me?
>Do you remember?
>She was your friend
>from middle school...

p8
>Tsugumi-chan!

>We've got morning assembly today.
>We need to go to the gymnasium...
>Eh~?

>Such a pain...

>Geez... Tsugumi-chan.
>There's no time...

>Take this!
>Wah!

>Ts-
>Tsugumi-cha-
>Ahaha

>Skip it with me, Midori!

>Tsugumi-chan.

>Back then,
>she was the one and only friend
>of the me who just sat in the corner of the classroom.

>She was...

p9
>the girl I loved the most
>in the whole world.

p10
>...Tsugumi-chan.

>I've seen
>this photo before...

>That's right.
>It was from
>our middle school graduation album...

p11
>...The coffin...

>Tsugumi-chan
>is inside this...

p12
>Um.

>I'm Tsugumi's aunt.
>Thank you for coming when you're so busy.

>I'm... Yukihira.

>I was Tsugumi-chan's...
>middle school
>classmate...

>...Ah.
>Sorry, I...
>Erm...
>It's okay.
>Sorry for calling you out so suddenly.

>It was... really sudden.
>It was a motorbike accident...

p13
>An accident...

>I really feel sorry for her...
>You see, her parents...
>They could've at least visited her during her final moments...

>...Huh...?
>Ah...
>Well, y'see...

>A lot.. happened...
>with her family...

>...
>See?
>I knew it...

p14
>Yeah.
>They're talking about her disinheritance...

>It's certainly
>hilarious in some parts...
>but I guess she had it rough.

>She left Tokyo to go back to her parents, right?
>To think she'd get divorced...
>He wasn't a bad guy, though.
>Didn't she run away from home too?
>It looks like
>she didn't go to high school either...
>...

p15
>Hey, you look really pale...
>Sorry...
>I'm fine...

>...You must have
>really been close with her...

>...That girl
>didn't have anyone she was close with ever since she came back here.
>She hardly had anyone in her phone's address book.

>I called everyone in there
>but almost all of them said they had work...

>She called my house...
>Is that why?
>But...

>Why me...
>That's why
>I'm really glad

>that a friend like you came...

>...No.
>I'm...

>There's a little time before it starts.
>Maybe you should rest for a little bit first.

p16
>For the longest time
>I've heard nothing but voices all around me...


>...What do they know
>about Tsugumi-chan...

>That place
>isn't the place where Tsugumi-chan is...

p17
>Tsugumi-chan was a girl
>who was always in the spotlight.
>Tsugumi~
>You're skipping class again?

>Yep.
>I'm sleepy.
>Ahaha
>They're taking attendance over there.
>You can still make it.
>Eh? Really?

>Alright, let's go then.

p18
>Sorry, Midori.
>Let's go.

>...Okay.

>Everybody
>loved Tsugumi-chan.

p19
>I thought for sure
>that there would be lots of people here who admired her
>and would cry and laugh for her sake.
>...But...

>I'm the one
>who loves Tsugumi-chan the most.

>I at least know
>that I'm not just someone special to her.

>...But then,
>why...

p20
>Why am I
>in a place like this...?

>Not to mention,
>there's Tsugumi-chan.

>Ever since that Spring,
>she's always...

>...kept my contact address.
>Why is it in her phone even now?
>When did she come back here?
>What happened between then and now?
>What about her parents
>and everyone else...

p21
>...Are you
>disappearring
>from my sight again?

>...Tsugumi-chan.
>Why...?

>...Are you crying?

p23
>...Tsu
>gumi-cha...

p24
>...It's Tsugumi-chan...

p25
>She's
>right here.

>I can

>touch her...

>...Um.
>...Are you feeling alright?

p36
>I'm Tachibana Tsugumi's
>daughter,
>Haruko.

p37
>...

>...Erm...
>Um...

>...H-

>How old are you...?

p38
>...14.
>Four...

>Four...
>Thirty minus fourteen equals

>seventeen...

>...17.

>Tsugumi-chan
>had her at seventeen...

p39
>...Um.
>Hah

>Are you feeling alright...?
>Ah, y-
>yeah, I'm fine now.

>I felt a lot better
>after getting some fresh air...

>...Is she really
>Tsugumi-chan's...?

>But...

p40
>She looks just like
>Tsugumi-chan...
>...Well.

>Being in a place like that would gross you out too.
>Eh...?

>Grown adults just chattering away.
>Like idiots.

p41
>Hah~ I'm tired.
>Prying into family business.
>If we're not talking about it, we don't want to be asked about it.
>Can't they understand that?

>...?????

>They just give noncommittal pity
>saying stuff like "how sad that she died alone".

>Alone...?
>They have a habit of saying offensive things
>but I heard them all.

p42
>"Isn't it strange that she's not crying when her mother is dead?"
>"..."Doesn't she feel sorry for her mother"?
>Stuff like that.

>...

>...Um.

>You were my Mom's friend,
>right?

p43
>...Ah.
>Erm...

>Tsugu...
>Your mother
>went to the same middle school as me.

>O-Oh right, that uniform.
>It's the same school we went to.
>Brings back memories.

>I was surprised at first.

>You really do look...
>just like your mother...

>...Ah

>I made
>another mistake...

p44
>This always happen.
>I force myself to talk
>and end up saying too much.

>...This
>was my mom's.

>We found this with her graduation album when looking for a photo.
>I've always been told that.
>"You look just like your mother when she was your age."

p45
>Remembering that stuff
>I just kinda put it on.

>...I didn't think you would be that surprised though...
>...

>But you're right.

>When I looked at that photo
>and saw that we were practically identical,
>it made me laugh a little.

p46
>Did you see inside the coffin?

>...

>...She was like a doll.

>...I can still remember
>my mom's voice and scent.
>Like she's still here.

p47
>That feels more real to me.

>Even when I'm told that she's dead,
>it doesn't really hit me...

>Haruko-chan.
>There you are...
>Oh, you're...

p48
>We're about to start. Are you okay?
>You don't have to force yourself...

>...I'm fine.
>Let's go.

p49
>...Um.
>Midori-san.
>Ah.
>Yes?

>...Huh?
>My name...

>...Thank you

>for coming here today.

p50
>I feel sorry for that girl too.
>She's only 14...

>...Um
>About Haruko-san's... or rather
>Tsugumi-chan's husband...

>It seems they broke up.
>A while ago.

>I don't know the details,
>but it was just the two of them by the time I met them...

>...What's Haruko-chan
>gonna do from now on...?

>...I'd like to help her if I could, but...

p51
>I've already got two kids of my own
>and I'm sure Tsugumi's parents are...

>Maybe an institution
>would be best for that girl...

p52
>...They really do
>look alike...

p53
>But
>they're completely different...

>14 years old.
>Fourteen years.

>14 years of Tsugumi-chan's life
>that I know nothing about...

>Then
>does she not have any relatives?

p54
>Well, her father's gone.
>What about a caretaker?
>Is there
>any money left over?

>She's got it hard.
>Poor girl.
>All alone...

p55
>Are you crying?

p56
>You surprised me.
>You had your head down all this time.
>I thought you were crying.

>I've always
>hated Spring.

>There is never a place for me in this new world.
>Whenever Spring comes around, I'm always reminded that I'm all alone.

>But...

p57
>it was also the Spring
>when Tsugumi-chan
>gave me a place I could call my own.

>...

p58
>H-
>Haruko-chan!


p59
>...Ah.

>H-
>Haruko-chan's mother
>was a really
>kind person.

>She was always smiling.
>Everyone
>loved Tsugumi-chan very much.

>...She even spent time

>with someone like me...

>Hah

p60
>...Ah
>So
>erm...

>...If you need a place,
>I have one.

>I'll make one.

>For you
>and for Tsugumi-chan.

>So...

p61
>C-
>Come and
>lib...

>...live with...
>me...

>...M-
>My voice.
>I got it mixed up...

p62
>...Erm.

>For now, we can talk about this
>later, okay...
>...Sure.

>Alright.
>I'll live with you.

p63
>H-
>Haruko-chan?
>This person

>is Mom's friend,
>so I can trust her.
>...Probably.

>...Thank you for everything, auntie.
>I'll be fine.

>So with that settled

>all of you,
>don't worry about me.

p64
>...Wait!
>H-
>Haruko-chan!

>...Um...

>A-
>About...
>Hah
>just now...

p65
>...You got money?
>Y-
>Yes!

>Do you have a proper
>savings account?

>Ye-...
>Can you afford the living expenses?
>For two people living together...
>Yes!

>Also... um.. I'm not sure what, but
>it's be troublesome in a lot of ways, won't it?
>Uuh...
>That's...
>I'll do it properly...

>I know I went and said all that too, but...
>Living together...

p66
>...We're strangers, right?

>...Yeah.
>But...

p67
>To me,
>...Haruko-chan
>is the most precious person
>of my most precious person.

>So...

>...Haru.

p68
>Just Haru is fine.
>Call me that.

>...Haruko
>is a kinda lame name, right?

>Y-
>You think so?
>I think it's a rather pretty name...
>but...
>...

>...I
>was born in April.

>Since that's when Spring started
>I was called Haruko. [TN: Haru = Spring]

p69
>...Man,
>she has no sense
>...that person.

>...
>...pft.

>So-
>Fufu
>She's amused...
>Sorry...
>I just.

>I thought
>that was so like Tsuugmi
>chan...

p70
>...

>Huh!?
>Eh?
>Now you cry!?
>Uh
>I'm sorry...

p71
>I lost my strength...
>I-
>I...

>haven't talked in front of such a large group
>for a long time...
>Uh Uh
>Wait,
>What are you talking about!?

>Eh~...

>Uh
>...It's been piling up, so...

>...You
>really are a strange one,
>Midori-san.

p72
>Once again

>Spring has come
>bringing with it a slightly cool breeze

p73
>And a girl with the same smile
>as the person I loved.