„Please, take a seat in the living room." Michiru begged her guest after both women had taken their shoes off. Haruka just nodded and walked into the living room while Michiru went into the kitchen to get the coffee, sugar, milk and two cups. When she finally came into the living room, Haruka sat on the edge of the couch, looking extremely uncomfortable. She was playing around with her baseball-cap and looked everywhere, but not at Michiru. "Hey." The aqua haired woman now said. "Relax. I won't eat you or something like that." Haruka looked at her, a small smile on her lips. "That's not what I fear, Miss Kaioh." Michiru put the tray down and offered Haruka some of the coffee. "Sugar, milk?" she asked politely. "No, thanks. I drink it black." Haruka answered. Michiru poured some of the coffee into Harukas cup, earning a "Thank you". "You're welcome. Hey, I think your dog is jealous." Michiru giggled. Lord, who laid on the floor and eyed her suspiciously. "Wouldn't surprise me." Haruka admitted. "It's been a long time since I was at someone else's house. Or since someone else than me was at my place." Michiru sat down next to her and gave her a friendly look. "I don't have to ask why, Haruka." She informed her, and Haruka nodded silently. "But I don't think that it's okay." Michiru continued. "The people shouldn't judge you after your face." Haruka sighed. "But they do. And you shouldn't tell anyone that I was here. It could bring trouble for you." Michiru frowned. "You think so? I don't think that it's other peoples business whom I invite for coffee." "Usually, they wouldn't mind." Haruka replied. "If you would invite someone else than me." "Is it that bad?" Michiru asked softly. Haruka shrugged and finished her coffee. "I should go now." She then said. "You surely have a lot of work to do." Michiru nodded, and Haruka whistled for her dog. Lord jumped up and exposed a big puddle of pee on the carpet. Haruka blushed deeply – as far as she was able to – and scolded her dog: "You little pig!" Turning to Michiru, she apologized: "I'm very sorry. I'll pay the cleaning." "Oh, it's not a tragedy." Michiru replied. "I wanted to lay a new carpet anyway, so it's no problem." "I could do this for you." Haruka offered. "You know how to lay a carpet?" Michiru asked surprised. Haruka nodded. "I can do almost all repairs in a household." She said, sounding proud. "Cool." Michiru grinned. Haruka smiled at her and put on her baseball-cap. "Come on, pig, let's go." She commanded to her dog. The animal barked, and the two of them left the house. Michiru walked back into the living room to put away the dishes, when outside four or five motorcycle engines roared. Lord started to bark like crazy, and Michiru thought that this couldn't mean anything good. She quickly hurried to the front door and opened it, looking out. Four beatniks on heavy motorcycles encircled Haruka and the barking Lord; one of the guys screamed: "Hey, gristle yap! Want a beer?" And with the last words, he threw an empty beer bottle after Haruka. It hit her on the shoulder, and she got down on her knees in obvious pain. "Oh, the poor sludge face is hurt!" another one of the guys laughed, making the others chuckle too. "Leave her alone!" Michiru shouted in pure anger. "Now! Or I'll call the police!" The four boys flinched and shot Michiru an angry look. The tallest of them threw another bottle, and it hit Lord on the side. The dog howled in pain, and Haruka yelled: "You bastard!" she jumped to her feet, her hurting shoulder forgotten, and launched herself at the beatnik. Her fist hit his jaw, and he almost fell from the motorcycle. "Stop that!" Michiru yelled. "I'll go calling the police now!" The beatniks quickly decided that now was the best time to leave and drove off. Michiru, on the other hand, hurried over to Haruka who kneeled next to her dog, checking if he had been hurt from the bottle. "Haruka, are you alright?" the smaller woman asked concerned. Haruka nodded and got up again, rubbing her shoulder. "It was a mistake to do this." She then said. Michiru frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You shouldn't have helped me. Now they'll attack you too." "What did you expect me to do, stand there and watch how they beat you up?" Michiru asked angrily. "You just could've gone back into the house!" Haruka snapped. She sighed and continued talking in a gentler tone. "You won't make yourself friends if you help me, Miss Kaioh." "Listen", Michiru started, "You've already been at my house drinking coffee. I guess everyone will hear of that, so why can't we be friends?" "You don't seem to understand." Haruka answered softly. "That you invited me for coffee probably will be tolerated as a one-time mistake. But if you keep helping me and insist on being friends, the village will hate you." She straightened up, her face showing a slight expression of pain. "It would have been better if I didn't accept your invitation. And your carpet should be laid from someone else. Lord, get here!" The dog ran over to Haruka, obviously perfectly well, and before Michiru could say anything more, the blonde woman had turned around and walked away in the direction of her house.
