[ This is nostalgic, in a place she didn't ever expect to be, but Haru takes every reminder of home with both gratitude and a sense of bittersweet longing. Can she actually ever return there? Is this the end of her journey? Should she have revised the contract to include going back? It seems a little late for that now. And it's moments like this where it prickles at her skin, scolding that she should have thought it through more.
But those thoughts are interrupted by a girl, a little shorter than her, prompting the curly-haired young woman in the flower-patterned white yukata to turn to her and give her the proper attention. That's... a bit of a personal question, but where she would say so to someone older, or someone male where she can't quite understand the intention and has to assume from experience that it might lead to something uncomfortable... she takes a moment to study her. ]
... The strength to protect the people close to me.
wishes
But those thoughts are interrupted by a girl, a little shorter than her, prompting the curly-haired young woman in the flower-patterned white yukata to turn to her and give her the proper attention. That's... a bit of a personal question, but where she would say so to someone older, or someone male where she can't quite understand the intention and has to assume from experience that it might lead to something uncomfortable... she takes a moment to study her. ]
... The strength to protect the people close to me.
[ And she'll answer honestly. ]