Daisuke had managed to track Takeshi down at the end of school.
"Takeshi! Where's Sakura?"
"She just left, why?"
"Darn it! I was going to apologize but you kept dragging her around."
"Well, yeah! Since apparently you couldn't be bothered to because of Risa. I was just being a proper gentleman." He smirked. "I'm interviewing her tomorrow after school, too."
"But, I…" Daisuke wasn't sure what to say. In all reality he did ditch Sakura for Risa. "I guess I'll have to do it tomorrow then." he sighed.
"Well, I gotta go Daisuke. I have to get questions ready for tomorrow." Takeshi began walking off.
'Why is Takeshi acting like that?' He thought as he watched his friend walk away. He went over what he'd seen today between Takeshi and Sakura. 'Is it possible he likes her?'
Daisuke sighed. 'Guess I'd better get going…' He started making his way home.
That night Takeshi got home, made his dad's dinner, and went up to his room. He grabbed a notepad and pen and began jotting down a possible interview.
"Hmm…" He wrote down typical questions: Why did you move here? What subjects do you like? What do you do on the weekends? Then the thought struck him. He flipped a page over and started scribbling the questions of his ingenious plan.
"This has to work…" he mumbled. With a last dot on the paper, he smiled in triumph.
"It's perfect!" he said.
"Takeshi!" his father yelled from downstairs, "my food's cold! Come heat it up!"
"Heat it up yourself!" he yelled back.
Then he grudgingly abandoned his work, not trusting his father with the stove.
The next morning, Sakura got on a different train car than yesterday, still upset that Daisuke hadn't come forward and apologized.
'Takeshi said that he's going to interview me today. I'm kind of nervous…'
She made herself up nice today, worried there may be photos involved with the interview. Her hair was straighter than usual, but her natural curl still took over the ends.
As she arrived at the school, she noticed a limousine parked at the front gate.
'I guess some of these kids are rich.' She thought.
She watched the driver get out and go around to the back passenger side. It was hard to tell who was inside with the tinted windows. The driver opened the door, and Sakura watched as Satoshi Hiwatari got out the vehicle. She was slightly surprised at his appearance, but still slightly afraid of him for some reason. Satoshi brushed some of his untamed hair from his face and all of the females in the surrounding area seemed to fall to their knees.
'Does he seriously not notice them?' she thought, 'He sure gets a lot of attention.'
Sakura thought she felt something, a skip of her heart perhaps, in her chest, but shook her head as he passed by her, not noticing.
'No, it was probably a hiccup or something.' She told herself.
Yet, she couldn't help but watch him as he walked ahead of her. Sakura had followed him all the way to the classroom and stopped outside the door. He went inside, ignoring her presence.
'Why did I follow him?'
Before she could look for an answer, Daisuke had come running up to her.
"Sakura! I've been looking for you. I just wanted to apologize for yesterday. I really didn't mean…" Sakura cut him off.
"If you really are sorry, why didn't you ask to show me around when we met in the classroom? Or better yet, you could have shown me around and explained to Risa why you didn't show up! I'm sure she would have understood, Daisuke! Instead, you let me wander around by myself! Idiot!"
Sakura pushed past him and into the classroom. Daisuke stood there, stunned by her little outburst. Sakura went to her desk and sat there with her head down, full of anger. Daisuke went to his desk and gazed out of the window. Satoshi sat at his desk indifferent to both of them. Sakura stole a glance at Satoshi, puzzled by what happened before. She didn't like him in a boyfriend way, did she? He just seemed kind of distant from people; like he lived in his own little world.
Takeshi entered the classroom all bright and cheery about his plan, not affected by the other occupants' moods.
"Good morning Sakura-chan!" he said, making his way to her desk. "What's up Hiwatari?"
Satoshi simply glanced up and him and returned to his reading.
"Hi Takeshi." She said moodily. She was too angry to be sweet right now.
"Are you ready for today? I was up all night…"
"Later, ok?" she mumbled.
"Oh…" he said tuning in, "alright."
He left her to steam in peace. He decided to move on.
"Hey Daisuke!"
Takeshi saw Sakura shift out of the corner of his eye. "Are you ok?" He waved his hand in front of his friend's face. No response. He gave up and went to his desk to go over his interview strategy.
Risa and Riku entered the classroom together and instantly picked up on the angry vibes coming from Sakura.
"Let's do it later, Risa." Riku said. "She doesn't seem to be in the mood."
"Alright." She agreed and went to her desk as the rest of the class filed in. Riku followed suit.
Sakura was more focused on her thoughts than the lesson today with her bad mood. Every time she thought of Daisuke, she would clench her fists.
'Why am I so angry at him? He apologized, isn't that what you wanted?'
She glanced in his direction.
'Maybe I expected him to be more of a gentleman…'
Sakura moved her gaze over to Takeshi.
'Takeshi-kun has been a gentleman, though.' She looked back down at her desk. 'I'll apologize to Daisuke later.'
At lunch time, Sakura slowly made her way to Daisuke's desk. She took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry Daisuke. I shouldn't have freaked out like that. I guess I just didn't expect that of you." She gave a small smile. "Are you ready Takeshi-kun?"
"Sure thing Sakura-chan!"
Daisuke could see how his face lit up when she called him that. Takeshi paused.
"I'm going to talk to Daisuke for a sec, ok?" he said.
"Sure." Sakura waited outside the door for him.
"I have an awesome plan Daisuke!" he whispered.
"Why are you whispering?"
"Shhh! It's about…" He gestured towards the door.
"What is it?"
"I made a bunch of questions for her interview today to ask her out."
"What?!"
"Wish me luck, ok buddy?" Takeshi ran out the door before Daisuke could say another word.
'Does this mean he really likes her? Should I let her get ambushed like that?' He sighed. 'This is just his way of dealing with it, I guess…' He paused. 'I just hope he doesn't do anything too stupid.'
The rest of class went rather smoothly. Sakura was introduced to Riku and was excited about her and Risa being twins.
"Wow! I've never met twins before, identical or fraternal. This is so cool!"
"Well, thanks, I guess." Riku said.
"Hey Sakura, do you want to do something this weekend? Daisuke and I are going shopping, if you'd like to come." Risa said.
"Really? I guess I could come. Thanks" she smiled.
Before anyone knew it, school was over. Sakura sat at her desk waiting for the classroom to clear out. Daisuke glanced at Takeshi who gave him a thumbs up.
'Just don't be an idiot.' He thought.
Satoshi got up from his desk and dropped something, leaving rather quickly. Sakura reached for the small ball of paper while Takeshi was preoccupied with something. She slowly unfolded it to see what it was. Two words were written in Satoshi's neat handwriting: Be careful. Her eyes widened at the message and she wondered why he would do that. Was he really not as cold and distant as he seemed? Her attention was captured by a bright flash and a second of blindness.
"Sorry Sakura-chan. Pictures just come out more real this way, y'know?" Takeshi said, taking photos of her surprised face.
'Guess I was right about the pictures…' she thought.
"So you're a photographer, too?"
"I'm a bit of a jack-of-all-trades kind of guy." He answered. He took a few more snapshots and said, "Alright, let's do some questions."
Takeshi set his camera down and sat on top of the desk next to Sakura; Satoshi's seat. He took out a small tape recorder. Placing it on her desk, he simultaneously pressed the play and record buttons.
"Ok," he said, "let's start."
He flipped to the first page.
"Sakura Tomoya, age 14, class 2-B. How do you like Azumano so far?"
"It's nice she said. It's very peaceful being near the ocean. And I've met some nice people. It kind of reminds me of home somehow."
"So why did you move here?"
"Well, my mom was actually transferred. She works for an interior design company and was transferred here find prospective clients."
"Interesting. So what would you say is your favorite school subject?"
"Well, I really like art. I draw sometimes but I'm not really good." She blushed a tiny bit.
"Really? Daisuke is actually in the art club. You should ask him about it sometime. Oh, so what do like to draw?"
"Um, I usually draw buildings and things like that. I never really got into drawing people."
"Do you have any examples with you?"
"Y-yes, but they're not very good. Did you want to see them?" her blush grew a little.
"Yeah." Takeshi picked up his camera.
She turned around to reach into her bag. She faced Takeshi with a black sketchbook in hand, and laid it on the table, open. Takeshi proceeded with snapping pictures of the various sketches, ranging from homes, to businesses, to landscapes.
"These are great Sakura-chan! You should really talk to Daisuke about joining the club. He does stuff like this too."
"I guess I will the next time I see him. Thank you." She smiled at him.
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"Well, I do like some anime and manga." His face fell a little. "Just the romantic-comedy stuff though. I love anything that makes me laugh."
"Ok." He said. "Any special talents that you know of?" He began to blush a little. 'She's just so cute….' he thought.
"Um…" she thought for a couple of seconds. "I can curl my tongue into a 'U'."
She stuck out her tongue and curled it into a shape that resembled the letter U. Takeshi tried to show off and attempted to do the same. He tried it over and over until his face was turning red. Sakura started laughing.
"What?" Takeshi stopped, his blush blending into the redness of his face.
"Your face! It was so funny just now!"
Takeshi stared at her as she continued laughing.
'This is your chance!' he thought.
"Alright just one more question." He paused to take a deep breath while her laughter died down.
"W-willyougooutwithme?" He rushed through the words so they ran together like a single word.
"What?" She looked at him puzzled.
"W-will…you…got out…..with me?" he repeated, slower than before.
Takeshi's face was a deeper shade of red than before as he awaited her answer. The room was silent but for the ticking of the clock.
'What? What am I supposed to say?' Sakura slowly began to speak.
"I…I mean….um….we….we've only known each other for two days Takeshi. I mean, we barely know each other."
"Isn't that what a date is for?" he said.
She grabbed her bag and stood up.
"I like you Takeshi-kun, I do. I'm just not sure if I like you that way yet."
Turning away, she headed for the door, ignoring his protests.
"But-but……but…." He sat gazing at her, not sure what he could say.
As she turned the corner, he thought he saw the glimmer of a tear. Alone and rejected, Takeshi sat as his recorder clicked, signaling the end of the tape.
