Cinderella's Missing Hairbow
"Nozaki-senpai! I'm finished with the screen tones!" Wakamatsu exclaimed, energetically. "That's great!" replied Nozaki, "Let me take a look." Nozaki always checked Wakamatsu's work afterwards since even his screen tone naming system wasn't always 100% reliable. Today, however; Wakamatsu seemed to have done his work properly. With a nod of approval, Nozaki said, "You can go home now, Wakamatsu." "Wait!" Wakamatsu exclaimed, "Let me tidy up your things first!" Nozaki looked inquisitively at Wakamatsu. "Why? Don't you want to go home?" Nozaki was used to Sakura being the only one begging to stay longer. His other friends were usually out the door as soon as they had finished their work. "To tell the truth, Seo-senpai invited me to go hang out after I'm done here…" Wakamatsu admitted. Nozaki sighed. "You're staying here to avoid her? That's fine I guess, although you should really learn to just tell her no. I don't really have anything to tidy up here other than these manga supplies that I'm not finished with, and one drawer that I throw random things into…" "I'll clean the drawer!" Wakamatsu offered.
Nozaki continued to work as Wakamatsu pulled out items from the drawer and re-organized them. Suddenly, he turned around. "Nozaki-senpai, what's this?" he asked. Nozaki braced for the worst, imagining Wakamatsu had pulled out one of Mikoshiba's misplaced figurines. When he turned to face Wakamatsu, however; Nozaki saw he was holding a white bow with a slip of paper attached. "Oh that?" Nozaki asked. He pondered for a bit. "I believe I got it during the entrance ceremony when I was a first year, but I don't remember who I got it from. It's pretty special though, because it inspired Mamiko's design." "Oooooooh!" Wakamatsu replied. "What are you going to do when you find out who gave it to you?" Wakamatsu asked. Nozaki looked surprised. He had never thought about finding the person who gave it to him. "I don't know…" he eventually answered. "If it's that important to you, don't you think you should find out where it came from?" Wakamatsu asked. "It's like a Cinderella story! Cinderella lost her hairbow, and now you can return it to her, and you two can live happily ever after!" "I don't think it's like that." Nozaki replied. "First of all, the slip of paper says 'welcome' which implies she gave it to me, rather than losing it." "Why should that stop you?" Wakamatsu asked. "The fact that she gave it to you makes it even more romantic, don't you think? She saw you coming to school, and out of the kindness of her heart, gave you her hairbow as a gift!" "I can't just conclude it's a romantic gesture, but you do make a good point." Nozaki said. "Maybe I could offer to go on a date with whoever gave it to me… It is important to me and it was a kind gesture, so I could at least see what kind of a person she is." Wakamatsu's eyes shone. "Senpai! Now we both know how it feels to be in love with someone we don't know!" "I'm not in love!" Nozaki insisted.
The next day, Nozaki brought the hairbow to school. He asked every single girl in his class if they knew where the bow came from, but every girl from class 2B had no clue. He even asked a couple of boys just to make sure they hadn't brought it. He asked nearly every girl he saw in the hallway, including Seo and Kashima, but they didn't seem to know either. By lunch time, he felt defeated. When Sakura went to his classroom to invite him to eat lunch with her, he looked very upset. "Nozaki-kun! Are you okay?" Sakura asked. Nozaki sighed. He pulled out the hairbow and put it on his desk without a word. "No-nozaki-kun is that…?" Suddenly, Nozaki perked his head. "Do you recognize this?" he asked. Sakura stammered, "D-d-d-do I? You're asking m-m-me?" She seemed to be blushing. Nozaki explained, "Somebody gave this to me during the entrance ceremony, but I don't remember who it was. I had stayed up really late the night before, so I have no memory of that entire day. It's really important to me though, because it inspired the design for Mamiko. I want to know who gave this to me so I can get to know her more, and maybe take her out on a date." Sakura's face flushed even more. "I-it's that important to you? I-I hope you find whoever owns it th-th-then!" She stammered, turning away from Nozaki to hide her embarrassment. "Wait a second, Sakura." Nozaki said. Sakura stood still as Nozaki got up and reached for her polka dot hairbows. "No-Nozaki-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, "What are you doing?" Nozaki expertly untied the ribbons which formed Sakura's hairbows. "I'm trying something out." He responded. Nozaki then untied the white ribbon from the piece of paper, gently grasped a portion of Sakura's hair, and re-tied the white ribbon directly in the back of her hair. After a few adjustments, he sat back and admired his work. Suddenly he realized that he had seen this before. The long hair going down to the middle of her back, the white ribbon situated in the middle as she slowly walked away, and most importantly, the vibrant ORANGE color of her hair. Nozaki gasped slightly. "It's you…" He said.
Sakura turned around, her face still a bright cherry-red. "What do you mean?" "You gave me the white hairbow, right? It's all coming back now." Nozaki vaguely remembered waking suddenly to the sight of a really short girl. Then he realized he was sitting on top of the school gate. When he hopped down, he was still surprised at how short she was. He remembered the muddled confusion as he tried to get both her and himself, his bag, and her bag over the fence. He remembered the sensation of warmth against his arms and chest, yet barely realizing that he was still carrying her. And then he remembered… she took out one of her white bows and handed it to him before walking away. She had re-done her hair to the style Nozaki just did, and her long hair drifted with the sakura petals in the breeze. Although Nozaki wasn't usually very emotional, he felt immense gratitude toward Sakura now. "Sakura," Nozaki said, "Thank you for giving me that bow. Without it, I never would have made Mamiko." Sakura smiled, even while she was still blushing. "You're welcome Nozaki-kun!" she said. Realizing that Sakura still seemed embarrassed Nozaki admitted, "To be honest, the date idea kind of came from Wakamatsu. I know you pretty well so now that the mystery's solved…" "I'll go!" Sakura interrupted. Blushing she added, "That is… if you want to… Or if you're willing to…" Nozaki nodded. "Okay then." He replied, smiling, "It's a date!"
From that day on, not too much changed. After all, Sakura and Nozaki already hung out together often. However, Nozaki commented that he enjoyed the break from work (although he inevitably jotted down pictures and ideas for reference), and said that they should go out more often. Sakura agreed. Although Nozaki tried to return the hair bow to Sakura, she insisted that he keep it. "That one belongs to Mamiko now." she joked, eliciting a slight chuckle from Nozaki. Sakura then alternated between wearing her usual polka dot bows, and a single, white hairbow from that day forward as well.