Chapter 371: The Curious Girl
Unaware of Haruto's inner turmoil, Hana Uzaki beamed with joy upon hearing his response.
Amid the envious glances of the other girls in the swim club, she happily took Haruto's hand and led him out of the swimming pool.
"Haruto-kun, I'm going to change," Hana said playfully in front of the changing room. "No peeking, okay."
Haruto rubbed his nose. What is this youthful romance routine...?
Despite his vast experience, this kind of situation was actually new to him.
Is this the difference between being boyfriend and girlfriend and just having a physical relationship?
Haruto didn't understand, but having read plenty of romance novels, he quickly adjusted his mindset.
"Hana, you can just call me by my name," Haruto said with a slight smile as he headed toward the other changing room. "You're changing, and so am I. You can't peek at me either."
"Hmph, who would want to look at you~ What's so interesting about a smelly man~"
Haruto deliberately put on a troubled expression. "Who would want to look at me... actually, quite a few people. Just in the few days since I joined the club, I've noticed the president and vice president sneaking glances."
Hana faltered, stamped her foot in frustration, made a face, and then turned to enter the changing room.
Of course she knew Haruto was popular.
Girls gathering to discuss handsome boys was just as common as boys gathering to talk about cute girls.
Peeping and such—her clubmates hadn't been avoiding discussing these topics around her lately. In fact, she'd overheard exclamations multiple times about how impressively endowed Haruto was.
If a boy peeped on girls, he'd be labeled a pervert the moment he got caught, and in severe cases, face social annihilation. But if a girl peeped on boys? A blushing apology would settle everything. The cost wasn't just low—it was practically nonexistent.
Haruto could only sigh helplessly about it. Now living as an ordinary person, he had no effective way to deal with those bold girls. He could only resign himself to being an unwilling spectacle.
After changing clothes, Haruto and Hana Uzaki left school hand in hand.
They took the bus to a small shopping street one block away from campus. Throughout the journey, Hana's face remained flushed pink. She'd occasionally sneak glances at Haruto, but whenever their eyes met, she'd quickly look away.
This pure, innocent behavior from a silver-haired, large-breasted beauty gave Haruto a taste of sweet romance.
To be honest, it felt unexpectedly nice.
Perhaps only wholesome anime heroines could evoke this feeling in him. If it were an adult anime heroine making the same gestures, he'd always feel like she was deliberately trying to seduce him.
The overly sexualized figures of adult anime heroines were part of it, but that indescribable aura was the crucial difference. It always made Haruto instinctively think of lewd things, leaving no room to appreciate the bittersweet beauty of youthful romance.
This shopping street mainly served nearby residents, without any particularly upscale establishments. But though small, it had all essential amenities, and with low prices, it was perfect for student couples dating.
Haruto and Hana didn't stand out among the couples here—the only thing that might draw extra looks was their striking looks and figures. Haruto's charm went without saying, while Hana's childlike face paired with her ample bust formed a particularly eye-catching sight.
Having just confessed her feelings and now on their first date, the young girl's heart was still fluttering with nervousness. Though this relationship seemed somewhat rushed, since becoming Haruto's girlfriend, this was her first love.
"Little Hana... no, I'll just call you Hana," Haruto said after buying numerous snacks and small toys along the way, their relationship having grown much closer. He glanced down at the full curves that completely obscured the lower half of her body and teased, "After all, you're not little at all—quite the opposite, actually."
Hana blinked, not immediately catching his meaning, and replied innocently, "Of course I'm not little. We're in the same grade, you know? I might even be older than you."
Haruto suppressed a laugh, not pointing out what he really meant, and simply agreed, "Right, right, not little at all. Definitely not little."
As they chatted and laughed, they sampled various street foods from the shops. After finishing another serving of yakisoba, Hana patted her slightly bulging stomach and said sheepishly, "Ha-Haruto, no more buying, please. I feel like I've eaten so much I won't have room for dinner."
"No problem, if you can't finish, I'll eat it," Haruto replied. He'd always enjoyed tasting different foods, and now that he didn't have to worry about gaining weight, he couldn't resist buying anything that looked good during this rare visit to the shopping street.
Naturally, he bought two portions of everything, which resulted in the cute, busty beauty becoming completely stuffed.
Hana held Haruto's unfinished snacks and asked curiously, "Haruto, do you get a lot of allowance?"
Even with low prices here, Haruto's spending was considerable—he'd already spent nearly 10,000 yen just on food.
"Not bad, it's enough to get by."
Since crossing over, Haruto had never worried about money, finally achieving the dream his previous life never realized - financial freedom.
Unfortunately, because the world was different now, this didn't bring him much happiness.
Seeing that Haruto didn't want to elaborate, Hana Uzaki didn't press further, though she secretly speculated that Haruto must have been a rich second generation - no wonder he could date so many girlfriends simultaneously.
Well, in any world, dating requires financial capability. Dating several at once demands even greater financial resources.
Gigolos living off women were another matter entirely.
Actually, Haruto could have been a gigolo too. Girls had offered to pay for a night with him long ago, but he always refused.
Was money what he lacked? What he truly lacked was time!
Rather than spending time on a quick fling, he'd rather have another dual cultivation session with Rias.
"Haruto, you seem to prefer calling people by their given names directly. Why is that?"
Once he became slightly familiar with someone, regardless of gender, Haruto would call them by their given name. Perhaps this was exactly why the girls in the swimming club were becoming increasingly bold.
After all, in Japan, using given names usually indicates close relationship, at least at the level of good friends.
Among good friends, casual touching and joking around is perfectly normal, right?
Although she had become Haruto's girlfriend, Hana Uzaki didn't know much about him.
Now that she had the chance to thoroughly understand the academy's recognized male god, she still had many, many questions.
Haruto had been asked this question many times before and answered smoothly: "It's a habit. I've lived apart from my parents since childhood and never liked my family name. If I want others to call me by my given name, I can't keep addressing them by their surnames."
"I see."
Noticing that Haruto had finished his takoyaki, Hana offered him her candied apple, which she had only taken two bites of because she was too full to finish it.
Actually, she had wanted to buy chocolate-covered bananas originally, but Haruto had stopped her.
Chocolate-covered bananas can be considered a Japanese specialty, especially with all the metaphorical references that often involve this treat.
However, Haruto wasn't particularly fond of the combination of banana and chocolate. Moreover, whether it was licking or biting, having his girlfriend perform such actions in public felt somewhat strange.
"Haruto, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like you've been looking at me differently lately—like you're seeing a familiar stranger..."
Haruto glanced at Hana Uzaki in surprise. Although he hadn't been deliberately hiding anything, an ordinary person shouldn't have been able to detect it so easily.
Could it be...?
A flash of insight struck him, and once again Haruto felt his luck was truly remarkable.
As expected, Hana Uzaki also possessed special talents, though they were deeply concealed or simply unsuitable for magical cultivation, which had prevented her from coming into contact with the hidden world.
Such cases were commonplace worldwide—in fact, this was the norm.
Out of billions of humans, less than one in a thousand could embark on the path of cultivation, despite the potential existing in up to a third of the population.
The reason was that not all talents could be easily activated, and not all were compatible with this world's supernatural cultivation systems.
The emergence of the Path of Immortality and the Path of Origin precisely resulted from geniuses who were not suited to mainstream supernatural systems and who accidentally obtained alternative legacies.
But being non-mainstream in this world, these paths eventually faded away, worn down by the river of time.
Haruto finished the sugar-coated apple in two bites and said meaningfully, "Well, the answer to that question... you'll know in due time."
The secret of his transmigration was hardly a secret anymore, and nobody particularly cared.
After dual cultivating with Hana Uzaki, he could tell her directly.
"Haruto..."
"Alright, save the remaining questions for our next date."
Haruto placed his hand on Hana Uzaki's head, stroking her smooth silver-gray hair, cutting short the curious girl's inquiries.
"It's getting late, let me walk you home."
He glanced at the setting sun on the horizon, then holding Hana Uzaki's slender, pale hand, turned into a secluded alley.
"But before that, we need to deal with some annoying flies."