Love Hina belongs to Ken Akumatsu, this fic belongs to me
When Keitaro's alarm went off the first day after evicting the girls, he realized five things.
One, that it was Monday and he had classes in a few hours.
Two, that he had fallen asleep on the floor
Three, that his body hurt – really badly (sleeping on the floor tends to do that to you).
Four, that he was hungry.
And five, which he didn't realize until after he had pushed himself off the floor and went to shut off his alarm – that he had underslept because it was 3am and he didn't have to get up for at least four more hours…
"Ah."
Falling back asleep is impossible, so he decided to do his rounds and pick out what needed fixing or maintaining at the moment. He needed to finish realigning the sliding doors to the main hall that Motoko slashed him into them last week, as well as patching some of the roof holes. Then there was the issue of reapply the mildew treatment to the hot springs walls, which was going to take him awhile now that he was the only one here. There was also the issue of clearing up some of the rooms that had been turned into storage space for the girls's extra stuff so they could act as living spaces again, and he still hadn't gotten anything back from the people he called about moving Su's lab...
Maybe I should make some time after classes to call them back. He decides, noticing another dent in the wall.
After all that, only 40 minutes had passed, so he just wandered around the halls for a bit taking in the silence. He was so used to their being so much noise (from guests and the girls), now there's absolutely nothing – no eager feet pounding on the woodboards, no scritch-scratch of pencil on paper or hung-over groaning from behind the room doors, no humming from the kitchen mixing with the sizzle of the pan, no swing of a wooden sword against the air.
Just...nothing.
He eventually steps into the living area, and Tama choose at that moment to walk in and nudge at his leg.
"Oh, morning Tama." he says, and the turtle myus happily in response before toddling away.
Tama comes in again, looking around and making curious squeaks before waddling up to Keitaro, little brows furrowed in confusion.
"They aren't here anymore." he answers, "I had them leave yesterday."
Tama squeaks again, and makes another round around the room before realizing who he's looking for isn't there.
The turtle's little head droops, eyes glistening, and begins to myu sadly as Keitaro made his way over.
"I know, you miss them already." he says, and bends to give Tama's shell a few quick rubs "But this is better for everyone."
That doesn't seem to do the trick, and the myus increase in volume. It'd be wrong to say he didn't expect the reaction – hesitant as he was to admit, in the time since being received from Mutsumi, Tama had become as much as the girls's pet as he was Keitaro's. It was natural he'd be upset at their sudden absence, especially when Keitaro had only explained the situation the day of (wouldn't do any good if Mutsumi found out about his plan through him and told the others). It's probably going to be difficult for him to adjust from then on out...
Keitaro then checks the clock, and picks the crying Tama up before heading straight for the dinning area. It was still too early, but maybe having some food would help lighten the animal's mood (and himself too – he had woken up hungry anyways.).
(Afterwards, he adds "restocking the fridge" to his chore list.)
Haruka stares hard at the wall where the tea shop connected with the inn, face placid and eyes glazed over and surprisingly without her usual cigarette. To anyone else, it would have looked like she had zoned out and was in the midst of a daydreamed haze, lost in a world all her own.
So while her staff definitely knew better than to bother their boss (and her itchy trigger finger) when she was so clearly deep in thought to the point it seemed like she was trying to pull out the wall plaster with her mind alone, they and the shop had no time to really give her that chance when they had so much to do, even on a day off.
"H-haruka-san?" began the squirrelly blonde with a bob who was pushed up front by her coworkers "We, ah, need to do restock on some of the tea powders..."
"Sure." she mumbled, eyes still glued to the wall.
"Um, we also need to talk about reordering the new lightbulbs to replace some of the ones that burned out last week."
"Okay." she replies, still not turning around
"There's, ah, also the complaints we received about the heating."
"Right."
"T-that, and some of the stools near the window seating need reupholstering it seems."
"Uhuh."
The nervous waitress turned speaker continued down the list of things needing maintenance and replacing, and eventually got to the point where she ran out and starting making up things on the fly – but so far her boss remained checked out of reality and inattentive to her or the rest, just as she had been for the past 3 weeks since giving them those strange instructions to avoid the landlord of the building their workplace was bound to.
They had all be surprised to hear it, mostly because they hadn't really heard anything about it until the day after it apparently happened. One minute things are normal, their boss lazily waving them goodbye after the end of their shifts as they make their way home, and then the next thing they know, they're holed up in the kitchen with a quietly agitated Haruka, being told there was an incident between her and the dorm owner and then instructed to give as wide a berth to their boss's nephew as they could – or just avoid being near the dorms in general if they could help it.
None of them could even begin to understand what had occurred. The owners of the Hinata dorm and cafe had always had a rather...well, odd relationship, but it was never negative as far as they could tell. Half of them were near shocked to even learn the two were related, mostly because the way they acted around each other was far too different to how they themselves acted around relatives - there was just a strange intimate casualness to it that they would never be able to reach with their own families, especially the older ones who were so stubborn about being polite to the elders and such. At any rate, they seemed to get along pretty well, so to hear that there had been a breakdown in their friendship to the point that they, as her employees, were being banned from the premise by proxy, was beyond startling. Even the ever chipper Mutsumi, who stood by her side, was depressed by the development and wouldn't say much.
So they did – or at least tried to, because despite all the detail she went into (which was very little), the shop owner refused to divulge anything on what happened that she suddenly got on the dorm owner's bad side. And when they attempted to press, she immediately slammed her signature fan into the ground, forcing them to scatter.
"It doesn't matter – just do what I asked."
And so they did, albeit a bit reluctantly. Whatever was going on clearly wasn't any of their business as far as Haruka was concerned. Hopeful, things would settle down in a week or so and they'd get back to their original normal.
But now it's been three weeks, and it they were starting to wonder if it would ever settle before they all crumbled. The constant running past the dorms on their way to and from work, Haruka's icy stare downs of the inn after closing, and the overall anxiety being brought in over the uncertainty of it all, was slowly but surely wearing them all down. It also seemed to be taking it's toll on their boss, who at recent would slip into states of unawareness on and off work, forcing the staff to spread themselves even thinner just to pick up the slack (and the many "spilled" tea cups and orders). The customers, who already complained about Haruka's usually gruff demeanor, would now practically line up to the counter near closing to berate them and her for the poor service, and few had to be talked out of pressing charges with Haruka's responses after. Not matter how much she claimed otherwise, it was clear whatever was going on had caused Haruka Urashima to shut down and her natural cold fire to spill out harsher than before, and it was only a matter of time before it either went out completely or burned them all with her.
Which is why they were here – or more specifically, why the poor peach-blonde girl had been pushed to the front.
"We..." she mumbled, twiddling her fingers nervously "We also need to talk about...well, you know..."
Haruka stayed silent, and the poor girl shook violently, crumpling her apron in her hands before swallowing the offending lump in her throat.
"We need to talk about what's going on with the Hinata dorm owner!"
The fan goes down on the counter, and she's unconsciously relieved it doesn't reach any further.
"There's nothing to talk about." Haruka says, voice hollow and her glare arctic, but the blonde pressed on
"W-w-we-w-we know you said not to ask about it," she stuttered turning to her fellow employees for a confidence boost that was weakly given "An, and we won't – really! We just...well, want to know how much longer this is going to go on for? Everyone's getting kind of..."
Haruka doesn't answer, and the blonde looks ready to fold until one of her seniors – a man with greasy green-black hair, decides to speak up.
"Look, frankly put...this is gettin' ridiculous boss! You needda talk yer nephew!" he cried, stumbling back when the fan slammed down again "I mean, fer cryin' out loud, I hadda duck into a flippin' rosebush because I saw'im commin' down tha street fer groceries! I know we says we was fine with how you wanna do stuff now, but we seriously can't take no mores!"
The rest nod, and a freckled woman with twin braids stepped forward "Same, it's annoying having to go down two streets everyday just to take our breaks! Not to mention awkward! The shop keepers all give us weird looks..."
"And the customers are asking questions – questions we can't answer because you won't tell us anything!"
"Honestly, how long is this going to last!"
Haruka grew quieter as the Hinata cafe employees grew more incensed, frustrated at being kept in the dark and having to run themselves ragged trying to follow rules they both didn't understand and felt had no meaning. They had put up with a lot since taking up jobs at the cafe, from Haruka's harsh yet no-nonsense attitude towards them and customers to the wild chaos of the residents of the dorm above who would crash into the teashop at any given moment (and who had been strangely quiet these days). Loyal as they were to their boss, there was a limit to how much they were willing to keep playing along with this.
Suddenly Haruka moved, and they all stiffened.
"I'm going outside," she muttered, heading straight to the side door "You guys get started on sorting the trash and everything."
The door slammed shut, and everyone collapsed to the ground in relief and defeat.
"I knew this would happen!"
"Why is she always like this!"
"Told you we should have waited for Mutsumi's shift to do this."
"I'm never gonna be able to take a normal cig-break again, will I?"
Eventually, they all rose and got started on their tasks, and the peach-blonde girl who was forced to be their messenger before (sadly, rock-paper-scissors was not her forte), was chosen to get started on that trash because, well, anything else was better than sticking around here.
So there she was, dragging a bag of garbage and other disposables to the dumpster a block away, only to stop when she looks around and sees her boss isn't anywhere nearby. Taking a brave breath, she turns to march up the small hill and stop right in front of the dorm, literally a step from the entryway. There was a rumor going around the newer employees that the owner cursed the entry area and that's why Haruka didn't want them near, and if you stand in front of it, you'd be struck with disaster.
So she waits
and waits
and waits.
When nothing happens, she lets her arms go limp and decides she's done enough goofing around. Trash isn't going to rid of itself.
She gets three steps before bumping into someone, bags of trash almost rolling away had she not grabbed them in time.
"Oh, I'm so-" she began, quickly rising with what she had, then froze.
Because right before her was the Hinata's owner, Haruka's nephew, staring at her blankly.
"It's fine." He says, holding a letter in hand. Seems he was heading the same way she was.
She stares at him before almost stumbling back, brain scrambling for any sort of solution here. From the way Haruka phrased it (poorly as she did), the current bad blood between her and her nephew was very ugly, and if he was mad enough to make working near the inn a living hell over whatever disagreement was going on between them, then seeing her, a perceived enemy agent on his homesoil, would turn it into a seventh circle at best! She had to do something! Maybe apologize! Or run! or-
"Are you okay?" He asks, browns knitting together as he took a step forward, and it was at that everything during the passed three weeks – the ducking, the dodging, Haruka's ambivalence and the awkward stares of passersby and being shoved forward on the chopping block for the crime of drawing scissors.
She loved her job, and she enjoyed knowing her boss and coworkers, but this was getting too much!
So, with hands full, the peach-blonde girl bowed, regretting immediately but still deciding to press on.
"Actually, I-"
"I'M SORRY~!" she screamed, then ran off before more could be said.
Keitaro watched as Haruka's employee ran away, disappearing below the slope with her trashbags.
"Must have been in a hurry." he decides, and continues his way to the tea shop. Aunt Haruka usually took her smoking breaks at this time, so this would be the perfect opportunity to deliver his message and get out before anything unwarranted needed to happen. Even with what he learned during his time with Seta, it didn't change the fact that Haruka was leagues above him in terms of fighting strength. He was mostly safe from the girls thanks to the talismans he placed on the dorm entrances, but outside, he was still vulnerable.
The two weeks before with Naru proved that much.
He laughs at himself bitterly, crumpling the paper slightly – even though he had resolved himself to become more resilient, to stay strong in the face of his former residences (Not friends, not anymore now…), he still found himself having to cower and sneak to get what's needed to be done done. While he would like to avoid facing his adoptive aunt and the former residents for as long as time immemorial could allow, he was at least obligated as the current dorm head to let them know of the change in the current situation, and since going through Naru or Mutsumi was completely out of the question, Haruka was his third best bet.
Besides, they had all but claimed bad faith with his decision, the last thing he wanted was to give them an excuse to feel justified over it.
He steps in front of the door, and knocks three time, having the door slide open to reveal one of Haruka's cashiers
"Hello," he says, trying to give as polite a smile he can, "Is Aunt Haruka here, because I have a mess-"
The door close in his face immediately, and he stares. What just-?
Then it open's again and Keitaro lets out a yelp as he's pulled inside, surrounded by all of Haruka's staff (Or at least the ones for the afternoon shift he assumes), and a woman with blood-red hair steps forward, glasses shining in the overhead lights with a determined expression
He gives one of his own. Of course he had to walk into a trap. It was stupid of him to think even for a moment that she hadn't planned ahead for something like this. Aunt Haruka probably offered them all raises if they could keep him here for her until she got back. Well, far be it from him to not give them a show for it.
However, he barely gets a chance to even change his stance as the woman dove to the ground, face planted in a deep dogeza "Please let everyone at the cafe near the dorm again!" she begs, eyes watering from panic as she looks up at him him "I know you're mad at Haruka-san, but it's getting really hard to do our jobs right now, a-and the nearby convenience stores don't like loiterers, even if we give an excuse!"
It's enough to leave him flabbergasted, and he tries to ask her what she means, only for a blonde man with a pompadour and eyepatch to interrupt him as well "I know this here spat of yours ain't none of out business, 'specially since it's somethin' 'tween family, but I don't think it's fair your punishing everyone for whatever disagreement you had with the missus, so if you could-!"
Keitaro tries to speak again, only to be cut off, and stands shellshocked as he's bombarded with complaints and pleading that would cause a lesser man's ears to bleed, confused in all sorts of ways. it's only when the leader paused to take a breath that he quickly held up a hand, causing them to stop the rants.
"I'm not sure what's going on, but I think there's been a misunderstand here" he says "There's nothing stopping you from going near the dorms."
They blinked, and stared at him "Eh?"
"I said there's nothing stopping you from going near the dorm." he repeats, gesturing in the direction of the building in question "I don't know what Aunt Haruka said, but I made it clear the only person not allowed within Hinata Dorms are her and the people who I evicted. The rest of you are free to come by anytime, provided you not trying to sneak her inside. Besides, you guys are just cafe employees, so I can't really get in your way legally, especially since the tea-shop's connected to the dorm anyhow."
The group blinked again,
"Did…did Aunt Haruka not tell any of you this?"
The moment he finished his sentence, the Hinata cafe employees immediately going bug eyed in shock, some falling to the ground while others tear at their hair in wild hysteria.
He watches the chaos unfold, mildly disturbed and growing more confused by the minute.
When Haruka came back, she finds several resignation letters on the counter, and ignores them all to focus on the one in familiar stationary she hasn't seen in a while.
"He left a message?" she muttered, taking a long drag of her cigarette – and frowning when there was nothing.
Right, I was going to buy more later…
Giving a huff of frustration, she rips opens the letter from Keitaro and decides to read. Maybe he's finally deciding enough's enough and shaken off enough of the dorm's influence to realize this entire thing's ridiculous...
When she finishes, shaky and out of breath, Haruka almost wishes she had her cigarettes on her.
"You're kidding me...now of all times!"
The door slide open, and Okamuri steps, peach-blond bob frazzled and sweating buckets.
"Fweh, thank god I managed to catch up to the truck before it left..." she muttered, then looked around the empty store and pallid Haruka.
"Where is everybody? Shifts don't end for another few hours…"
"You need to sign the lease."
Naru stares blankly at Haruka as the latter stirred her tea, face steel and posture the epitome of seriousness in all it's sharp bluntness
"What?" she asks, teeth gritted so hard the older Urashima worried she might damage her enamel. It was clear she was doing her best to keep herself restrained, especially since they were in a public space. It made her relieved to have chosen indoor seating – anywhere else would make it difficult to get a word in edgewise (or worse, lead to a thrown table with what came next). Plus the weather was still terrible – seriously, almost a week till April, and it was still colder than the tundra outside.
"Naru, listen to me," Haruka reaches for her hand, and she pulls it back, as expected "I get it, you're pissed, everything sucks right now and you feel it keeps getting worse. The way Keitaro...did all this, was awful, and none of you deserved that."
Naru doesn't answer her, but seems to relax, signaling Haruka to press on "But this isn't working," she states, hands folded in her lap "You know it isn't working. If he hasn't changed his mind by now, then-"
"HE-" Naru stopped to lower her volume when a waitress's eyes shifted towards her direction, clearly struggling between keeping calm and exploding in anger. "He will, I know he will – I make him if I have to."
"How?" Haruka asks "You remember what happened when you tried going near the dorms the first time right? You're lucky I got you away in time before the cops showed!"
The redhead just looks away, gripping her cup tighter, and Haruka can only sigh at the sight. As expected, subtlety was going to be a waste of time.
"Did you see Motoko earlier?" she starts, watching carefully as Naru suppressed a flinch "That rash she had on her neck was terrible! She thinks none of us have figured out yet, but it's getting obvious her 'camping' idea isn't sustainable!"
"That-it, it's..." She bit her lip "It's fine. Motoko knows what she's doing. She can deal with it."
"But for how long." the older Urashima presses "And it's not just her I'm worried about – Sarah told me Shinobu's overstuffing Seta's fridge with food to the point it's goes bad before any of them can eat it, and Su's been locking herself in their room lately. And you've seen what's been happening with Mitsune and her drinking..."
Naru's face scrunched with obvious understanding, though she does her best to seem otherwise "...So she's been knocking back a few more than usual, it's Mitsune. Her liver can handle it."
Haruka frowned "Naru, she comes into our meetings half the time literally drunk out of her skull! I had to call her taxi last time to take her to a hotel because she was too incoherent to tell me where she was staying!"
"A-and? That always happens when Mitsune's drunk!" She insisted dismissively, though from the way her eyes narrowed, Haruka could see she knew Mitsune's new state of near constant inebriation wasn't good either, and that it was getting worse by the day.
"I'm honestly scared I'm going to end up tripping over her body in an alleyway at this rate," Haruka says, mouth drawn into a thin line "and I'm sure your thinking the same thing right now too."
Naru went back to not answering her
The brunette woman tapped her cup, desperately wishing this place had a smoking area "Whatever it is you're trying to do Naru, it isn't happening fast enough, and we are literally two days away from having a week left on the deadline he set. Do you even have a plan for how you're going to deal with that?"
Naru immediately stands up from her chair "I...of course I do!" the young woman cried, clearly offended by the implication "I'll...I'll figure out something, like always! I didn't let Kanako steal the inn, and I definitely won't let that bastard do it either! "
Haruka's face goes blank as she sits upright, and Naru looks...unsettled when she does
"And what if you can't?" she asks, tone almost hollow "What if you wait till the week is up and Keitaro goes ahead and gives your rooms away – what then?"
Silence greets her, and Haruka sighs "And even then, you can't fully guarantee things now that you guys broke up-"
Naru's hands slam so hard into the table it leaves an imprint, fingers twitching in the slight indent made the only sign she even tried holding back. By now, everyone in the cafe is staring, a mixture of annoyance and morbid curiosity at what kind of conversation could be going on to warrant such a response.
Naru's lip curls back angrily "H–he won't do it! He'll never do it! He knows how important the Hinata is to me – to everyone, and he knows damn well Granny would never let him get away with this! He...he would never..."
The redhead losses steam on whatever declaration she had partway, because she sees the way the other visitors are looking at her now and her face turns pale as the words die in her throat. She almost seemed...lost as she slowly sat back down and curled into herself, shaking all the while.
"He wouldn't...not to me…."
The sight's sad enough to make her mask shatter and force Haruka to settle back into her chair, albeit a little shakily. It reminded her a bit of the girl's first year at the Hinata – stepping into a new unfamiliar place with just her wits and school bag, completely scared and utterly alone.
And frankly, Haruka couldn't blame her, because she felt the same way. Keitaro's anger, his planing of their eviction, working with the inn's magic, everything – it all terrified her, because despite being someone who was supposed to know Keitaro best, she found herself completely unable to figure out what exactly he was thinking, let along predict what the exact endgame of his plan is? It was like her nephew had become a stranger overnight, and she couldn't understand how it all happened.
When she finally realizes Haruka's blank serious stare has grown concerned, Naru shakes her head and sits tall again, attempting to regain her lost bravado "Besides," she adds "We all know Keitaro would never really kick us out, and he knows we wouldn't take it sitting down. He's just mad none us would put up with his perverted nonsense and now he's bluffing to get his way! When he sees we don't give in, he'll cave for sure!"
Haruka leans back into her seat, and a deep set frown formed, causing her forehead to wrinkle. That's all it came down to then – hope her nephew regains his conscious (or fear) last minute and allows them back into the dorms? Pray that it was all just this big ruse just to get them to apologize for not helping clean the hotspring or for Naru and Motoko busting another hole in the roof or Mitsune sticking him with another one of her tabs or whatever the hell it is he was so angry about to even do all this and once April comes and they've eaten their fill of crow he'll forgive them and let everything go back to normal?
And what are you going to do if he doesn't? Are you just going to keep living like this – avoiding Keitaro at the inn when you go to work while being ignored by him and whoever he brings? Do you plan on avoiding your family when it comes time for you to explain how you screwed up in your role as his aunt and big sister so badly that their own son barred you from setting foot near his new home? Do you really want to risk that? Is the inn you grew up in really worth that kind of gamble?
(Is she really okay with jeopardizing everything on the whim of a maybe?)
"Do you really think he will?" She decides to ask, and Naru settles back down into her own seat, picking up her coffee
"Of course!"
And after taking a sip, as quietly as she could, Naru whispers lowly to the point that no one can hear –
"I hope..."
But Haruka does hear.
(And she decides then and there this needed to be taken seriously)
"One of the new residents is coming early."
Naru's cup falls with barely a clatter, spilling coffee everywhere and attracting one of the waitresses.
When the mess is cleaned up, Haruka signals she's ready to pay
"Keitaro sent me a letter saying they finished up things on their end quicker than first thought and sped up moving. They're coming a day after tomorrow." Haruka says, already out of her seat "So whatever plan you have, you better make it fast."
She barely waits for a response as she leaves her money and heads out the door, giving a quick apology for the disturbance
Haruka's halfway back to the apartment when she ran into them, and the two leaned against the walls of a small walkway between two stores
"You need to talk to Naru."
Haruka stares hard at them, mostly out of exhaustion
"Just did." she reveals "Not that it helped"
She reaches for her pocket and then remembers. Right, she forgot to get them again, mostly because she was busy trying to replace the staff that fled. Damn it, if she had just come back from break a bit sooner! These people had stuck through thick and thin with her for years, even when she was at her lowest and through that stupid customer boycot. These were the most stubborn and relentless people Haruka ever met, capable of withstanding a hurricane if need be – for whatever happened when Keitaro delivered that letter to have spooked them enough to just...up and abandon her like this, screamed more than just a bad omen to her...
"Then you need to talk to her again – now."
The older woman can't help but frown, and leans harder against the wall "Why?" she asks, "Our next meeting's in a few days – or tomorrow maybe, you can bring up whatever you're worried about then."
"It'll be too late then." They insist, and Haruka can only make a questioning face in response. They were only a few days until having one week away from Keitaro's ultimatum. Short as the time seemed, she at least wanted to believe Naru and the rest could come to a solution by then, especially now that she's lit a fire under Naru's bottom with the new tenant's sudden arrival. Sure, it was cutting it close, but they've definitely cut closer during worse.
The person sighs, pinching the bridge of there nose, and Haruka frowned at the response. She knew they had been getting a little more irritable lately after the third week, but she never expected them to get this huffy
"So you really don't know?"
Haruka makes another questioning face "Know what? Tell me?"
And so they did
Naru comes home and barely gives Mutsumi a greeting as she dives for her futon, curling herself deep into the blankets.
They're coming a day after tomorrow.
"He won't..." she mumbled, eyes wide and teary as she pulls the covers closer "I won't let him, none of us will..."
She repeats the words over and over until she drifts off.
Sometime past Midnight, Haruka calls
"Why me?" she mumbled, leaning against the wall, pale face and terrified. Even with the letter, she had been holding on to the hope that they had enough time to just...delay things until they had better options, a better chance to put everything back where it belonged – but now it seemed like they had lost every advantage they had, and the cliff they were dangling over had gone from inconvenient to perilous.
They take a breath, pulling their jacket closer "Because if any of what I just said is going to get through to her, then it'll only happen if it comes from you..."
"We need to have a emergency meeting."
[1 day and 1 week left until the end of Winter term of Tokyo U]
Hey, remember when I promised this chapter was gonna be about Naru and Keitaro's confrontation
I lied! By accident, mostly because I realized I never really gave Haruka's POV any spotlight, so I tried adding in some bits about her and then suddenly...well, this chapter happened. Oopsie
Haruka's responses usually vary in these fics, but I imagine she just...emotionally shuts down in these types of situations. Haruka's supposed to be a rock for people, and she can't do that if someone sees cracks in her foundation, and Keitaro basically wanting to cut ties with her made plenty. I also feel she's the type to just bottle things up like Keitaro, so she pretends she's fine and everything's normal and oh there goes the customer you dumped tea on oh well back to focusing on the fact that you absolutely feel nothing! She's also very much still convinced the Inn's influence is what's causing a majority of the problems instead of considering maybe, just maybe...
I can't fully remember if Haruka had staff for the teahouse or not, and some fics do have it that Haruka's doing all the cafe work solo, but I remember she hired Mutsumi for a while, so she definitely must have some people working there. Even with her behavior towards customers probably isn't that different towards them, I think enough enjoy the work and paycheck to stick around (at least until Keitaro revealed she was basically making them all stressed out over something that really only effected her but she decided to drag them all in on).
Luckily, intervention in the form of the coming new resident has prompted her to try and scramble to get everyone on board the same train, and the only way she can do that is to get Naru to agree to be conductor! Should be easy right? After all, Haruka was basically the group's surrogate den-mother! If Naru's their ranger red to lead them in and out of danger, Haruka is their Zordon of sorts - someone they can go to for advice and help when struggling, or in this case, getting Naru to shift directions when she see her about to crash into a wall. This also means Haruka is willing to be harsh with the girls when it seems like they need to get their butts in gear (Shame this did not apply to their treatment of her nephew), so surely she just needs to be a bit tough on Naru to get her to see reason. After all, it worked so well with Keitaro...
Just a heads up, I decided to go with a purely OC cast for the new dorm tenants (with one of two references - maybe). Also, feel free to guess what kind of person the new resident might be!
See ya next chapter!