Open Dunnstads A Flower For You

[Hanno Futaba]

Kaede began leaving the area and Hanno couldn't help but feel his heart tighten at it. If anything, at least he could confirm that the Kaede from the list was still alive, but just how she was about everything? She seemed cheerful, but at the end of it...

As those thoughts clouded Hanno's mind, Harveste's words slowly brought him back. "Could... Be?" He said sheepishly. Was she inviting him for a date? "Wh-What? I mean, I wasn't particularly looking for a date, but... Y-You wanted one?" He sorta returned the question, but soon Harveste brought another reveal of a joke, making him let out a sigh and chuckle.

"So it was a teasing after all, and because my face is cute?. You guys are merciless with me." Hanno said, still holding the flowers gently while red-faced, but as the joke was explained it toned down. "I shouldn't be dumb anyway, you have a girlfriend, why would you ask me out in a date just like that-" He spoke it quietly, mostly to himself while he hummed about it.

He, however, had good humor to take it lightly. "We still have plenty of those flowers to give away though."

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

"I-It wasn't teasing, at first. I'm... kind of dense with these things. I never know what someone is thinking, and I don't really have a whole lot of experience with this stuff. I live under a rock, basically." She sputtered the words with a racing heart. She took a deep breath, trying to calm it down. Admitting her naivete was hard- and it was also just plain embarrassing.

It wasn't like she was against the idea was the weird part. Hanno seemed like her type- friendly, nice. That she thought his embarrassed face was cute was a bonus. So, when he pointed out she had Kaede, she shook her head. "Things with Kaede have always been, er, complicated. Plus, it'd been four years since we last saw each other. A lot changes in four years." For starters, Kaede was dead in the real world. Harveste had had to grieve for four years, thinking she'd never see the woman again. Seeing her again, Harveste felt more numb than anything else at the moment. Things may have looked normal on the outside- but Harveste's heart was a mess.

That was when she boldly decided to do something reckless. She looked up at him, face red as a tomato. "This time, I'm being a hundred percent serious." She stated the words with a bow. "Please go on a date with me next time." She didn't know how handing out flowers was a date- but Hanno was too nice to her not to make the request for a proper one.

Standing up straight, she turned away from him and started handing out flowers to Landers again. She couldn't look at him- not after making such an embarrassing, selfish request. She hadn't asked him if he was seeing anyone. No, she just jumped to asking him out, like an embarrassing schoolgirl or something of the sort. Kaede had already made it clear in Harveste's mind it wasn't a problem... And Harveste liked this kind man so far.

Handing out flowers, she turned to him for only a second, misty-eyed. "S-Sorry. If it's troublesome, just pretend I didn't ask, okay?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Now, that was very far from what Hanno was expecting his day to go through. Half of it was the worst, with him mourning about the death of friends he didn't even know that were dead. Of uncertainty of what he could do, with the tightening feeling of how hopeless the situation was.

Then, there he was handing flowers with a cheerful faerin, pulling his mood back to normal, and then after meeting an UI locked player and confirming she was still alive, there she was, asking him out on a date.

100% serious, in her own words.

Ironically, this was the time Hanno looked the least embarrassed, looking at Harveste with a serene expression, albeit the flushing cheeks were still there.

"I... See. Yeah, I am kinda dense too, buddy. So don't sweat it." He admitted, turning away to hand the flowers, taking a moment to think about it until she asked him to pretend she didn't ask.

After giving out a flower, he opened his UI, and soon a message would pop up in front of Harveste.

Notice

Hanno Futaba sent you a friendship request.

Clearing his throat, he glanced at her, still holding the flowers. "Sure, I'd love to." He smiled faintly. There was nothing wrong on giving it a try, right?

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

She was mentally berating herself when the friend request popped up. Hadn't her question bothered him? Surely that sort of selfishness was uncalled for, wasn't it? And yet here he was, sending a friend request like it was nothing. The girl could only smile softly as she pressed the checkmark, opening her friend list and giggling softly.

He really was nice.

Once the initial self-deprecation in her head ceased, though, her heart started to quicken. Wait a minute, what were those words? Had he seriously... Just agreed to that selfish request? Feeling her already fast heartrate quicken and pound in her chest, she crouched down for a minute, smiling as brightly as when she first handed him a flower. She stayed facing away from him. Her face was way too embarrassing to let him see it.

Jumping up back into a standing position, she started handing out flowers once again. Turning towards him for a moment, she decided it best not to hide her stupid smile and red face. "I look forward to it! Just tell me when and where and I'll be ready!"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

When she offered him a flower once again, his smile turned sheepish and warm. His own hair still had the flower she gave to him earlier, so he simply took the second one and leaned closer to gently attach it to her hair, making it brim with the divine power necessary to keep it alive and fine.

"I patrol a lot around Eastern Brisshal. If you want we can meet up whenever I am done with it, or I can just take a day off or something." He now had a buddy that patrolled the area just as much as him, so having a time for himself would be just fine.

"Any day is fine to me, though on tuesdays, thusdays and sunday I am more free." It was the days he had off his work though.

He was honestly still having a bit of trouble to believe on what was happening himself, not really being used to have someone interested on going in a date so suddenly. But there was a first time for everything.

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

She was squirming when he put the flower in her hair. He had only leaned a little closer, but it gave her goosebumps for some reason she couldn't explain. She scrambled backwards for a moment, face towards the ground to try to avoid showing a weirdly excited, embarrassing face. She felt her face was on fire- and when she glanced up at him slightly, it would certainly show.

I haven't been this jittery in a long time...

"U-Um... Eastern Brisshal is fine. I can wait for you to finish your patrol there- I often go flower picking in the forest anyway. Heck, I can just follow you on patrol if that's what you want! As for the days you're free... I-I don't have a set schedule... Though this Sunday, I'm going out to eat with my editor in New York, so... I won't really be able to play much that day..."

That was when she asked the most random question yet- even more random than asking a stranger out on a date inspired by being teased. "Do you end up in New York ever? I practically live under a rock, so I don't know what there is to see there anymore. I figured if you knew the area, I could get some advice on places to visit."

She shuffled her legs and handed out some more flowers, before turning to look at him again. "Sorry for the weird question. But more importantly... What do you usually do on a date, Hanno? I... Don't really remember most of mine here since it's been so long. What would you like to do?"

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno paused and took a step back noticing that maybe, just maybe, he approached too much for the other faerin's taste. He could still feel his face warm from the whole situation, but he was managing his composture for most of the part, looking at her and nodding. "Sounds good to me, buddy. There are plenty of pretty places where I patrol, so if you want to follow along, feel free. Though the following along wouldn't be a date, I would be working on keeping newbies safe after all." He chuckled.

At the mention of an editor, Hanno blinked surprised and tilted his head. "Editor?" He wondered, and then her question made him pause and nod. "Yeah, I live in Brooklyn, so I'm around New York every time." He said, never really bothering about his real identity or anything. Especially for someone as kind as Harveste, though he probably should be more cautious about this stuff.

"If you live under a rock, you just gotta get out of it sometimes." Hanno said, then pausing to think about Harveste's question and crossing his arms.

"Honestly, it has been years since my last date. But I kinda like cooking? So I do like inviting people to eat at my home, so romantic dinners, I guess." He said, like the glutton he is before looking at Harveste again. "Aside from that, anything from park strolling, go out for movies, and all that."

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

She nervously bit her lip. This was too much- she was so embarrassed she wanted to really live under a rock like a hermit crab! But when he said he lived in New York, that he liked to cook, or go to places... She had an idea, but it was risky. Riskier than asking a stranger on a date in a game.

"I can help keep the newbies safe, but um... M-More importantly, what are you doing this Sunday?"

Crap, she actually asked that!? Oh, how she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide!

"S-See, I know it's a dumb idea, but... You mentioned a lot of things that might be harder to do in this world. I don't know if you have a kitchen you have access to in the game, and there's no movies or anything so, um... I-If you're free on Sunday... Would you want to um..." She fidgeted for a minute, before taking a step or two closer to him, staring up at his towering form. "Would you want to go on an actual date? I know it's a far-fetched idea, but..." She began to twirl her pigtail shyly. "I-I just thought it would be fun, since you're really nice. My editor meeting would only last an hour, so... I-I thought maybe... We could do something..."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Harveste looked way, way too nervous about all that. Hanno was nervous as well, but the woman was clearly much more impacted about all that, even though she was the one inviting him out. "This Sunday? I am probably logged in most of the time-" He answered, but when Harveste started to speak about things being hard in this world, he was already predicting what was coming next.

Half-opening his mouth, Hanno paused and looked at Harveste's idea, taking a moment to process that she actually went for it before clearing his throat and looking at her with a more serious and concerned expression.

"Do you usually invite people in the game you just met to do things offline?" He asked, not sounding mean or anything. "I'm not against it, but it is dangerous to do this kind of thing," Hanno said, letting a sigh escape from his lips, crossing his arms and feeling his cheeks warmer. At that point, Hanno didn't separate his real life self from his in-game self, so he felt both were almost the same.

"I-It is okay though. But if we are going to do that, let's start somewhere that is crowded enough, this way it is safer for both of us." That was the first rule of meeting someone you didn't know in person.

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

Calling Harveste 'nervous' was putting it mildly. She honestly hadn't thought it through when she said what she did. It just came out naturally, and she was screaming internally. How could she be so stupid? No one in their right mind would accept such an-

Wait. Hold the phone. Had he just said he wasn't against it? She felt her blood boiling, her heart racing, and honestly, she wasn't a fan of how dizzy she was starting to feel. "I'm not normally like this!" She chimed. "I just... I don't know. I feel like it'd be safe with you." She stared at her feet shyly. Hanno was nice- too nice. It made her feel warm and fuzzy.

She got on her toes, kissing his cheek.

"Even I know I'm asking a lot. And it's not like I was asking you to come to my house or anything. Obviously it would be in a public place. I just... Thought it might be nice to...." She shut up before she could say anything else embarrassing or rash. Well, more than she already had.

 

[Hanno Futaba]

When Harveste told she felt like she would be safe with him, Hanno could feel his face turning redder again. Of course, in a normal context he would be fairly happy about it and just mildly flustered. But in her case, even putting so much trust on him, wanting to meet him offline. He soon felt like the worries crawling in his chest since the meeting with the Lions faded away.

Her approach to kiss his cheeks only sealed his embarrassment further, and the flowers on his arms nearly were forgotten, but he kept a good hold on them regardless.

"I-I think it would be nice too." Hanno said, with a timid smile on his lips, that soon neared her forehead to plant a small kiss on. "I think both in here and out there we could have plenty of fun." He grinned, a bit sheepish but doing so.

"In this case... U-Uhm, this Sunday sounds good. Do you have a phone number?" Hanno asked, following and telling his own.

@Harveste

 

[Harveste]

She didn't know about his worries. If she knew he had them, she'd probably pry- but the current situation called for all her willpower and mental stamina. It took a lot of awkwardness for her to come to terms with herself. To come to terms with the fact that she'd just done something very bold, and very stupid in reality. But it was working out in her favor so far.

Smiling gently when he kissed her forehead, she began to recite her phone number for him.

With plans she had already made changing, she was starting to feel more confident in her decision despite still feeling like a dope. Sure, she was trusting he wasn't some creep a little too much- but in her heart, she had strength in her resolve.

"Then it's officially a date. I look forward to it!"

She turned away to give out the remaining flowers. Every so often, she'd peek behind her at Hanno, blushing like a schoolgirl. To herself, she mumbled merrily. "Yeah... Sunday is going to be a good day. For sure."

@Hanno Futaba

 

[Hanno Futaba]

Hanno felt sheepish with how quickly things were going, but at the same time he felt a warmth from the way Harveste was trusting him. The way she spoke and acted, it all seemed genuine. Unless she was a very good actor and was playing with Hanno, there was no way she would be lying about all of that.

It was an integrity he couldn't ignore.

He took the flowers she gave to him, blinking surprised at the gesture as she moved away.

Hanno tilted his head, looking at her while they exchanged their last glances, and offering one last warm smile.

"I will be waiting for you." He said, watching her leave and looking at the flowers once again before he continued the work of giving them away.

He couldn't just let those die off because he couldn't take care of them all by himself.

Besides, everyone needed to see the work of the lovely woman that made his day better.

@Harveste