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Haru still kept an alarm on her phone, even if her internal clock was much better at regulating her sleep schedule at this point. Just for the sake of familiarity, sometimes she would pretend she was in primary school again, sleeping in until being rudely awakened by the shrill sound of her alarm. However, time waits for no one, certainly not the Okumura heiress, so she hadn’t had that sort of luxury in a long time.
A walk-in closet with a wardrobe that any other girl would drop dead at the sight of greeted her to start her morning. Haru was accustomed to her outfits and her expectations of appearances—she couldn’t be looking anything less than, pristine, after all—and it didn’t take her long to get dressed.
A brief glance in the mirror and washing up was all it took before she went down to eat her expertly-prepared breakfast, made by the finest of chefs in Tokyo. It was always a simple meal, both delicious in its flavors and nutritious in its value, Haru couldn’t say she didn’t feel incredibly appreciative for it.
After that, she was off to Shujin Academy, the prestigious school fit for someone like her.
— — — — —
Haru usually kept her head down in class. She didn’t want to gain any unnecessary attention for both herself and her father, and for someone like her who knew each and every social boundary, it wasn’t hard to fade into the background. Give no one around her a passing glance and get the same in return.
In her second year, she had begun to hear murmurs about the new PE teacher Kamoshida, and her eyes did not tend to deceive her. Haru saw the way he looked at some of the girls like Takamaki-san with a primal hunger, began to see the bruises upon the faces of the volleyball team, noticed how the track team was quickly disbanded and its former star reduced to crutches.
An ember flickered in her chest at the sight of it all, but she froze it and stuffed it down deep into her heart along with the rest of her doubts.
Oh, her endless doubts. About herself and her role, about her father and his actions, about the way the men looked at her when she had to meet them and her wonders of if she was even a person anymore underneath the smiles and cheery exterior.
Her constant question of ”is this how I want to live my life?”
But those wonders were kept sealed under lock and key, for Okumura Haru could not afford to show weakness. She was prim, proper, and in control, after all.
— — — — —
She heard the whispers of her classmates who learned her family name, how she was probably just a stuck-up, snobby princess who had everything she ever needed handed to her on a silver spoon. Haru chose to simply ignore and not interact, determining that she could not decide what others thought of her, but years of muttering piles up.
Haru refused to think about things like that. Her job was to be a good daughter, as it always had been. She had nothing to be unhappy about; she was given everything she needed and an assured future, a father who worked incredibly hard for her well-being. She had good clothes, a great place to live—what else could she need?
Her thoughts had a tendency to wander, though. The crawling of her skin when interacting with the man chosen for her by her father, Sugimura, who always touched in the wrong places a little too often. The loneliness she felt, without a friend and with a father who barely spoke to her. The incredibly small amount of choice she had in her own life. These misgivings, a stormcloud in her mind that occasionally leaked their raining tears, pouring self-hatred and ideas of selfishness into Haru’s mind, her own worst enemy and the traitor in her skin.
She had no reason to complain when others were suffering around her. After all, Haru was the girl with everything.
— — — — —
Haru had always found solace in gardening. She felt it was one of the few things she had completely decided for herself and it was nice to nurture the little seedlings into beautiful, helpful plants. It had started as a small hobby she did on her bedroom window, but thanks to a teacher, she’d been allowed to start using the roof for larger projects.
Eventually, she’d been able to start planting further around the school, by the entrance and elsewhere along its property. Seeing the grounds just a little brighter, a little sweeter, was sometimes enough to make her day.
Working in the dirt with gloves on hand, no longer needing to be pristine, was an incredible feeling for Haru. She loved the way her mind could drift off and her muscles did all the work, planting and weeding and plucking until she was done and it was time to leave.
Life was a beautiful thing, Haru decided one day. She would protect what she could of it.
— — — — —
Haru’s third and final year at Shujin was where the balance of normality in her life began to tip ever so slightly. Okumura Foods was prospering more than ever, though her meetings with Sugimura had to become more frequent as well. She kept wondering about her life after high school, what she would end up doing, though she knew her father’s preference would be for her to fulfill her role as a traditional daughter and wife without fuss.
Yet, that seemed like something she would never want to do. She wanted her own life, to pursue her own interests and work hard for a goal to achieve.
Haru once again has to smother a spark in her heart.
She hears the murmurs about a transfer student, and pity can’t help but rise up from deep within her; she knows about how harmful the rumors can be, especially regarding their varying levels of truth, and she almost wants to interact with the new kid with a possible criminal record.
Almost.
Her sympathy does not outweigh her hesitancy and fear.
— — — — —
The day before the first change of heart had Haru wondering who put up those gaudy cards and what their intent had been. A prank, a provocation? The following day when Kamoshida had announced his crimes to the school with all the subtlety of a sobbing toddler, though, Haru knew something must have been related. She may not show it outwardly, but it was a cold day in hell before she would call herself stupid.
She hadn’t been a direct victim of Kamoshida herself, but she couldn’t help but feel some level of satisfaction. This man who had long been abusing his students in more ways than one, as a teacher with the authority to nurture like one would a flower, yet he kicked the downtrodden teenagers with a sneer upon his face and sent them hurtling off cliffs.
Now, though, he had confessed his crimes, the king of Shujin Academy finally knocked from his pedestal.
Haru silently thanked the Phantom Thieves, whoever they were.
— — — — —
The year continued to pass by with uncertainty around every corner. She saw that more hearts were being changed, small or large, and Haru often checked the so-called Phansite to check her father’s place in the requests. How high up it was made her want to crush her phone into bits with her bare hands, scream into the abyss about how Okumura Kunikazu was not a criminal.
(She had been to Okumura Foods workplaces before. She knew labor laws. A small hint of opposition always stirred in her mind.)
She couldn’t help but notice the transfer student’s—Kurusu-kun’s—group of friends grew little by little. Haru was honestly happy for him, that he managed to find people in this huge uncaring world that would stick with him. She had never gotten that chance, but it was alright. She had everything, she told herself. She already had everything.
— — — — —
Around Medjed’s looming threat, Haru finally came face-to-face with the infamous Kurusu Akira. The summer sun beat down as she wiped sweat from her brow, standing up and dusting off her hands once she finished that session of weeding.
From the corner of her eye, she could spot reflective glasses and frizzy black hair. Figuring he’d been there for a while, Haru approached her junior, giving a soft, practiced smile.
“Would you like to join me?” With a nod of his head, Haru handed over some extra gardening gloves and they got to work.
They worked in silence for a period of time before one of them broke it.
“Kurusu Akira.” He stated softly, only briefly glancing over to Haru, who looked over in turn.
The smile she gave this time was more genuine, glamor etched into it, “You can just call me Haru. Shall we do this more often?”
They did this more often.
— — — — —
Life was better and life was worse. Kurusu-kun had been a welcome friendly presence in her life, even if they mostly engaged together in silent, simple activities. Even just being alongside someone made a huge difference to Haru, who was so often just flat-out alone. He was surprisingly insightful, with a daring, teasing side that she had occasionally caught a peek of. Perhaps she, too, had let slip what she usually kept hidden, considering how much of a relaxing aura he exerted and how comfortable she had grown around him.
Despite the addition of an acquaintance—friend?—to her days, other changes were not quite so positive. Haru’s father was under further fire from Phantom Thief enthusiasts and the populace, and his demands for her continued to grow.
She wondered if there was anything she could do to stop herself from feeling so empty, too.
— — — — —
Ending up in an otherworldly space station and meeting a strange cat was not on the agenda for the day.
Haru was dumbfounded as she blinked and suddenly found herself in a huge stainless steel structure, a bobble-headed cat-like figure on the ground.
When the cat, Mona, offered a way to view the true state of her father’s heart, she had to take it, and the Beauty Thief was born soon after.
She smiled, finally getting a choice.
— — — — —
A lot happened over the next few months. Haru joined a nationally wanted organization of teenagers using the supernatural. She tried to change her father’s heart but was instead left orphaned. She helped uncover a traitor and fake the death of her first and closest friend. She watched a dark, twisted version of them all accept death and she helped to take down the Prime Minister. She was there when gods were killed and realities saved.
She was there when Kurusu Akira left Tokyo.
As she returned home from the farewell, ready to get back to work with each and every one of her responsibilities, from school to Okumura Foods to organization, Haru pondered.
She had changed as a person, herself and her life completely turned upside-down. She was down a father, but up a family. The girl, now nearing adulthood, gave a signature soft grin.
Truly, Okumura Haru was the girl with both everything and nothing.