Chapter 39-40 – I Picked Up On The Street - 4
[POV Change]
Suzuki Haruka.
Her life had always been incredibly bleak.
From a young age, she felt different from everyone else.
It was natural in a way. She couldn't quite understand the emotions when her mother or father cried or laughed.
This wasn't because she was simply oblivious. She had a mental condition.
This condition set her apart from other people. However, she didn't particularly hate or resent it.
"Haruka, sleep together with Mommy!"
"You know, Haruka's all grown up now. She should sleep alone."
"But still…"
"Want to sleep together…"
"Really?!"
Even if she didn't fully understand other people's emotions, she could definitely feel that her parents loved her.
And she had her beloved computer. Because of that, she believed she wasn't all that different from others.
But that belief… Began to crack the moment she was thrown into the small, harsh society called school.
"You're weird."
"Why?"
"Everyone else is sad, but you're the only one who doesn't look sad!"
The initial trigger was a very small thing.
It was a trivial incident, caused simply because she hadn't shown sadness when one of her classmates was upset.
It was so minor that, naturally, no major problems arose during the first few years. The real difficulties began as she—and the other students—grew older.
Even as Haruka matured, she struggled to get along with other children. She developed into a unique individual who seemed to live in her own world.
'Maybe it's a good idea to get her checked out,' her third-grade teacher thought.
The teacher understood the situation very well. With good intentions, she recommended that Haruka receive counseling.
"Guys! Haruka is disabled, so we need to be considerate of her!"
But that counseling completely changed her life.
From somewhere, one of her classmates began spreading rumors that she had a mental disability.
She neither confirmed nor denied the rumors.
Fortunately, the elementary school she attended had very strict rules against bullying, and she had never been harmed there. The real problem began when she moved on to middle school.
On her mother's strong recommendation, she enrolled in an all-girls middle school, and there…
Tap… Tap… Tap…
She encountered a level of malice she had never experienced before.
People often make a common mistake. They assume that if there are only girls, bullying won't happen and everyone will get along. But the reality was far different.
Haruka faced persistent and malicious bullying, far worse than anything she had experienced in elementary school.
The reason for the bullying was nothing extraordinary. In fact, there was no real reason at all. The only reason she was targeted was that she behaved differently from the other students.
Is that really a reason?
Children could be far crueler and more ruthless than adults often realized.
Normally, Haruka's father should have noticed this and either protested to the school or punished the students involved. But her patriarchal and stubborn father saw it differently. He scolded Haruka for being mentally weak and even hit her for engaging with computers, which he thought were inappropriate for girls.
Part of the problem was that the students who bullied her were clever enough to leave no visible marks, so no one could easily intervene.
As a result, Haruka was left neglected.
Her mother wanted to transfer her or protest in some way, but she was unable to act due to her husband's strong opposition. Because of this, the bullying continued throughout middle school and persisted into high school.
No—rather, things worsened. Haruka's father, increasingly deranged by a series of business failures, began hitting her more severely. At the same time, the high school girls bullied her even more ruthlessly after noticing her weakened condition.
The only reason she survived those years was because of her mother.
"Haruka… I'm so sorry… It's all my fault… I'm sorry, Haruka…"
"…"
"I'm sorry… I'm a useless mother… really…"
Her mother quickly completed the divorce and school withdrawal procedures and moved with Haruka to a rural-urban area in Miyagi Prefecture.
She had heard it was like a villa, the kind where her grandparents used to live.
After moving, Haruka finally had the freedom to do whatever she wanted.
From small hobbies like observing insects, leaves, and nature to studying computers and assembling parts—interests she had nurtured since childhood—she could now pursue them without restriction.
This freedom became the foundation for her talent to bloom… no, to fully blossom.
In less than a year of focused study, she reached a level where she could assemble and set up any typical PC on the market without difficulty.
By her second year, she had mastered various miscellaneous computer functions.
By her fourth year, ordinary computers no longer held her interest.
It was then that she first encountered a supercomputer.
No longer satisfied with conventional machines, she began studying supercomputers obsessively. She wanted to interact with one directly, but lacking the money, she eventually reached the point where she could build one herself.
Of course, the supercomputer she built was cobbled together from broken computers salvaged from nearby wealthy neighborhoods or trash piles, so its performance was far from ideal.
The fact that she managed to create such a machine with just those parts was undeniable proof of her genius.
As usual, she continued improving and upgrading her supercomputer. When it was time for a short walk to get some sunlight, she stepped outside.
"Hehe. You guys are working hard, huh? Keep it up! Fighting! Fighting!"
As she happily observed ants, a car suddenly approached at high speed. Distracted, Haruka didn't notice it and was about to be struck.
Thump… Thump… Thump…
A man leapt into the field beside her just in time, preventing a serious accident.
Haruka, having tumbled to the ground and still a little dazed, slowly regained her senses. She looked up at her savior.
The savior was speaking to the car in a language Haruka didn't understand. He seemed furious at the vehicle.
After expressing his anger, he turned toward Haruka and gave her a kind, reassuring smile. As she looked at him, she was reminded of a fairy tale her mother had read to her long ago.
It was a story about a prince who raged against injustice, showed kindness to the weak, and saved people in danger.
For some reason, thinking of that prince made her heart beat faster than usual. And that rapid heartbeat gave her the courage to act in ways she never would have in her normal state.
Ba...Dum!!
Ba...Dum!!
Ba...Dum!!
"Are you a prince?"
Words that she would never have dared to say under ordinary circumstances.
"You saved me, so you must be a prince."
Tap…
Actions followed her words. Without hesitation, she grabbed her savior—no, Takuya—and led him to her house.
After arriving home, meeting her mother, and watching them talk… And then…
"Haruka's talent is definitely not something to be ignored."
He had acknowledged her hobby—no, her talent. A talent that even her own family had failed to recognize.
Ba...Dum!!
Ba...Dum!!
Her heart beat even faster, and being sharp-minded, she realized why.
'Am I… in love with Takuya?'
She had fallen in love with him.
Some might ask, "How can you fall in love over something like that?" But when someone saves your life and, on top of that, recognizes a talent no one else has acknowledged, even the coldest heart would have no choice but to fall in love.
Being as smart as she was, Haruka quickly admitted to herself that she had fallen in love with Takuya. She also knew, in her own way, how to deal with the fluttering feelings in her chest.
'Surely… They said to take a bath together, right?'
The only minor flaw was that she had learned that piece of knowledge from the internet.
…
…
[POV Change]
Of course, Takuya, unaware of the situation, was completely bewildered.
He glanced at Haruka, who was calmly soaking in the bath. Despite being in the same tub with a man, she seemed entirely at ease.
'Why did she suddenly come in? Did she just want to take a bath together? Or…'
He ran through countless possibilities as he looked at her, but none of them made sense. He couldn't figure out why she was acting this way.
Meanwhile, Haruka looked at him with a gentle, almost worried expression, as if she were concerned about his reaction.
"….."
After a moment of consideration, she finally spoke, her eyes fixed on him.
"Takuya."
"What?"
She responded by subtly exposing her chest, which was covered only by a towel, and asked, "Wanna touch my boobs?"
"I want to…" he answered without hesitation.
Hearing that, she couldn't help but think.
'As expected, men really are as simple as mentioned on the internet and in books.'