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[indent]Mio had been ready to consider this a pleasant, successful interaction. She didn’t get many of those, and while she had never had a conversation with Haruhi end poorly, a part of her was always ready for the possibility. She took the same extra care with the farm girl that she did with Tsubasa and master Tetsu, but it wasn’t beyond her to screw up and cost herself the rare, semi-frequent conversation.

Was she making just that mistake now? It was impossible to tell—she couldn’t remember the last time someone had [i]insisted[/i] on her company. The idea seemed almost absurd. People liked Haruhi, had she grown tired of that? A few days publicly hanging around together would surely sour the village’s opinion of her. And maybe whoever [i]Fuyucchi[/i] was, just by proxy. 

Was it charity? Naiveté? Neither were fair, and a decade spent in this place had taught her to expect the worst of both in the best of circumstances. 

“[color=f26522]Uhm…[/color]”

But what if it was kindness? Was she going to turn [i]that[/i] away? 

“[color=f26522]I’m sorry,[/color]” she said, not for her own sake. If it [i]was[/i] kindness, then she couldn’t bring herself to inflict those consequences on Haruhi, even at the cost of upsetting her. “[color=f26522]Things…break, during the festival. Someone has to stay here to fix them.[/color]”

Was that enough? Mio wasn’t stranger to disappointing people, but this felt differently [i]bad[/i]. Perhaps that was proof Haruhi was being genuine. 

So, a bit hastily she added: “[color=f26522]I would like to hear about the fun, though. Tsubasa and master Tetsu always have good stories after. I’m sure you will, too.[/color]”
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[sup][right][color=f26522]Interactions:[/color] [i]Haruhi [@Lemons][/i][/right][/sup][/indent]