It's All About Haruko, Baby

Chapter 6
Chapter 6

Chapter Description: Naota faces the idea of spending the entire weekend with Eri, and learns the joys of toddlers in the middle of the night. The story Naota tells in this chapter is based off an original story I’m working on at the moment. What’s that story about? Well, you’ll see. The whole thing won't be posted on here, but one chapter does revolve around AR so I'll probably put that here and include a link to the rest of the story.

It’s All About Haruko, Baby!

Days 4 & 5

Naota still sat on the bed with Haruko snoozing on his lap. The boy stared at a small clock that Eri had put in for them and realized while looking at it that he’d probably be best advised to go get ready for dinner. He really didn’t want to disturb Haruko though; he had to admit, despite the fact that he really did not feel very comfortable around her, she looked so adorable when asleep that there’s no way he could in good consciousness disturb such a tranquil image.

So he decided then that leaving her lying for the time being would be okay, because she quite apparently didn’t intend on waking up any time soon. But just in case, he also closed the door to the room, since she was too short to open it anyway.

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Naota came stumbling onto the ship just after dinner, his pocket full of a bit of food he had managed to sneak out. He had, of course, wrapped it in a napkin. He got onboard the ship, and immediately heard screaming coming from within the room he had left Haruko in. Naota rushed in and inside saw Haruko lying on the floor, screaming at the top of her lungs, clutching her left pointer finger.

“What’s wrong?” he asked frantically.

“I... I f-f-fell an’ hurt my f-finger.” Naota took this explanation to mean she had fallen off the bed and landed on her finger. He took the finger from the girl and looked at it, noting a bruise.

“M-mommy k-k-kisses it...” Naota wasn’t exactly jumping to do that, but he wasn’t really sure why. He had kissed Haruko twice before, so what did kissing her on the finger matter? With this in mind, Naota did as the toddler asked then picked her up. She was still sobbing a bit.

“W-w-will you l-leave again?”

“No, I won’t go anywhere.” Speaking of going, immediately after Naota said this he noticed a still somewhat foreign smell in the air.

“Ugh...” he sighed before laying the toddler on the floor once more and getting to work. After finishing, he picked her up and set her down on the bed, then laid down while she began to jump on it.

“Do kids your age never run out of energy?” he groaned, getting a giggle out of Haruko as a response. The toddler suddenly stopped jumping and sat down.

“I wanna story!” These were most definitely not words Naota wanted to hear. He was really less than anxious to try again with this considering how the last time went. Considering how long it would be until Eri came back anyway- and he wasn’t looking forward to that either- he really didn’t want to give it a shot. But what choice did he have?

“Um... alright.” He thought to a story he had read on the Internet once, then began, “So, there was this world that wasn’t real but wanted to be. There was this boy, Noka, and he didn’t want to be real...”

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“And so that’s how it went when Noka, Micha, and Mocha were turned into hamsters. Then, later Micha thought Mocha should act more like the younger sister and so-” but he was cut off by the sound of Haruko snoring. A bit tired himself, Naota picked up the little alien girl and laid her down in the bed, tucking her in before pulling the blanket up ever-so-slightly and getting under as well.

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“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

Naota shot up upon being awoken by the sudden screaming of the toddler next to him, then realized how late it was.

“What wrong?” he moaned while rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“I’m hungry!” she shouted while continuing to scream. Oh yeah, he’d forgot to feed her. Well, she’d actually fallen asleep before he could, but either way, the infant was understandably hungry. What wasn’t able to be understood by Naota, however, is how toddlers managed to wake up like this, let alone with so much energy. Nonetheless, the task of feeding Haruko was soon in progress, and soon thereafter Naota had finished.

“Will you go back to sleep now?”

“I wanna piggyback ride!” She had to be joking, he thought, until she began her usual screaming until she got what she wanted. So the boy gave in, and got down on all fours allowing Haruko to climb off the bed and onto his back, and she naturally began pulling his hair in some type of bizarre attempt to make him go faster. As the boy suffered the degrading and slightly painful task of galloping around the small bedroom with a toddler on his back pulling his hair, Naota could only question what he had done to get himself in such a predicament.

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Exhausted, Naota woke up the next morning to see Haruko being held by Eri, who was staring down at him like he belonged to her, a pet or child of some sort. Confused as to why she had come so early, he sat up, then looked at the clock. 10:30.

Naota yawned, then started, “What are you doing here so early?”

“Came to see you,” she said, all while Haruko looked both confused and disgusted by the dreamy look Eri was giving him.

“Ew, gwown-up love,” the toddler said, drawing a chuckle from Eri and a look of both bewilderment and anxiety from Naota.

“Don’t be silly,” Eri told her, then turned back to Naota, “Anyway, I figured I would come early. Since it’s a weekend I figured we could watch her together.”

Naota could see through what she was saying, but decided it best not to argue with her over it. After all, as long as he knew what she planning it wouldn’t work. Right? He hoped so.

“Well, I appreciate the help.”

“You’re welcome,” Eri told him, then changed the subject, “You know, she’s starting to stink.”

“Then change her.”

“Not like that. I mean she needs a bath.”

“How do you expect to do that?” he asked, amazed they hadn’t thought over that issue.

“I’m not sure... I guess we could bath her in the tub in the bathroom in the ship.” Somehow, Naota could tell disaster was imminent.

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Immediately after getting Haruko in the tub, Naota realized he was correct in his assumption. First of all, she kicked and screamed her way into the water, and once inside continually tried to get out. That wasn’t too difficult to handle for the two of them, but then Eri and Naota came across their next hazard.