After some time playing with the kids,we sat in a circle with the teacher.The teacher read a book while all the kids sat in a circle.Well,all except me and Uzaki had toddlers in both our laps.Then we watched over and helped the kids with an arts and craft project. Hana,who was also supposed to be helping,approached me as I was helping one of the kids glue a heart to a piece of paper. "Aren't these little ones just adorable?" Uzaki says. I looked at Uzaki out of the corner of my eye,not exactly giving off the look of being impressed that she was slacking off.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping? " I asked Uzaki.Hana pouted and stared at me silently with that look. I put my hand on my face and shook my head before going back to the toddler I was helping beforehand. There was a couple seconds of silence before Uzaki spoke again."There's times where you weren't the nicest person,Sakurai." Uzaki says flatly."Yeah,but you love me anyway." I state."True." Uzaki replied without hesitation. Uzaki looks down at the toddler I was helping and smiles. I hear footsteps and look over to see Pennī walking towards the table. I quickly crotch down next to the toddler to pretend like I was helping.
I looked at Pennī,who looked at me silently with a smile on her face. I also looked at her without saying a word. "If you think you are fooling her Senpai,you're not." Uzaki says. I look at Uzaki and see the smug look on her face,causing me to get a fraught look on my face. "Do you two need to be separated?" Pennī says teasingly. "No,she's just being her usual self. " I replied before refocusing on helping the toddler in front of me. Uzaki pets the toddler on the head as I help them with the project the class was doing.
"I thought you would like being called daddy. " Uzaki says with a mischievous grin.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I look at Uzaki,and then Pennī, who I could see is starting to show concern. "Not in front of the kids,Uzaki!" I hissed under my breath. Uzaki kind of backs off,surprised by my harshness. "Sakurai,we can go about this without resorting to anger." Pennī says. I took a deep breath and silently thought for a moment before turning to Pennī. "I have to apologize,my friend doesn't seem to know better." I say.
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Uzaki says,protesting.
"Ignorance is bliss,Uzaki. " I state.
When it came to seeing her own wrongdoing, it wasn't exactly her strong point. She excelled at annoying me and not seeing what she did wrong when doing so. Uzaki gave me a cold look and I rolled my eyes and ignored her. "You know, you ought to show these kids that responding with anger like you do isn't nice." Uzaki says,causing me to freeze and slowly get up."Nice? Your getting after ME for being a bad role model? " I say as I turn my head towards her. I hear swift footsteps and turn to see the teacher standing there.
"Dammit" I thought to myself.
I turn to Uzaki and see a look of unalloyed sadness on her face. I say her name in order to get her to say something,no response. I said her name again,but no answer. "Hold on, why are you so upset all of the sudden? I just came to check up on you two." The teacher says, as I give a sidelong glance to Uzaki. I turned to Uzaki and for the first time, I felt really bad about being rude to Uzaki. I get up from off the ground and walk over to the right side of Uzaki and put my hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly,Uzaki turns slightly and quickly slaps my hand off her shoulder. I start to fall backwards but I am able to regain my balance. I saw the look of anger on Uzaki's face and I became genuinely afraid. "Unlike you,Senpie, I care about the kids. '' Uzaki growled. I slowly stood upwards and chose my next words carefully. "I can see your upset,Hana. '' I said. Uzaki's face relaxed and she looked at me silently. I huffed and stared at her, walking down the small distance between us to speak to her in a hushed tone, "Were teaching these kids wrong if we don't work this out calmly." Uzaki stares at me for a moment before calmly nodding.
"I usually don't speak my mind like this, but I don't like where this experience has gone." I said,genuinely not happy with the bad impression that me and Uzaki have left. I looked around the room at everyone who was looking at us. Pennī,the teacher,all the little ones in the room. I then looked at Uzaki,who leaned near me and whispered to me."Well, if you don't like that then you're certainly not going to like what's coming next." Uzaki mumbled, gazing at me with big blue eyes. I knew we were going to get in trouble.
"We apologize for arguing in front of the kids-It's a poor reflection on both of us." I say as I straighten up and look at the teacher. The teacher stared at me blankly and didn't look mad as I expected her to be. I guess Uzaki expected that too,hence what she whispered to me."No,no,let this be a learning experience for the little ones." the teacher says. I looked on in confusion as she looked at both me and Uzaki. "Kids,you can't solve conflicts by arguing." the teacher says. "Well,you're not wrong. " I muttered.
Me and Uzaki looked at each other silently. I tilted my head up,still looking down at Uzaki. "I don't know,you're kind of cute when you get feisty Hana." I say,causing Hana to jump with her face turning red instantly.My lips twitch toward a smile at Uzaki. I very rarely smile, but I couldn't help it now that I have turned the tables on Hana. "Senpai,what the heck?" Uzaki says,pounding into my chests with two simultaneously clenched fists. I kind of laughed, I didn't think it would be so easy to turn the tables on her.
"You got after me for flirting,yet you just did it to me." Uzaki says.
"Man,how the tables have turned." I say with a grin on my face.Uzaki backed away and gives me a deadly glare. As Uzaki glared at me, two toddlers walked over to Uzaki,each taking one side. I tried to hide that I was still grinning,but she could still tell I was grinning. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the teacher,still watching us. I awkwardly turned to the teacher and scratched my head. "Erm..perhaps that was the wrong time to do that." I say.I awkwardly shuffled closer to Uzaki and stroked her hair,trying to quickly recover what little of a good impression I could get back.I tried to get Uzaki back in my good grace,but failed, and Uzaki's impatiently looked at me.
"Uzaki finished with a little one and was seeing if you needed help." Pennī says. I looked at Uzaki and with an apologetic look; I made an assumption that was too rash. "Sorry Uzaki,I made a bad assumption. " I say.I grab Uzaki's hands and intertwine them with mine, I need to make it up to her. I looked down at the floor,and then back up at Uzaki. "How's a date tomorrow sound?" I say. Uzaki looks at me with shock,clearly surprised with me apologizing and asking her out. This is the first time I have ever said sorry to Uzaki.
"I guess you don't care about getting in trouble anymore. " Uzaki says.
"Well,blame on me and the bad assumption I made." I said flatly. I turned away from Uzaki and looked at the toddler I was helping before. I couldn't help but feel kinda bad. These kids deserve better and shouldn't have to see me and Uzaki fight. " Uzaki shouldn't be banned from volunteering here because of something I did." I say. The toddler looks up at me and walks over,hugging my legs when he reaches me. "You can ban me,Hana didn't do anything wrong." I say.
"Sakurai,how often does this happen?" the teacher asks.
"A lot,you have no idea." I say flatly.
I turned my away,hiding my face from everyone in the room."Sakurai, don't get worked up. You're not fully to blame." Uzaki says. I looked at Uzaki,she was pleading for me to not fully take the blame. "You two were good help today. You just need to work on resolving conflict." the teacher says. I spaced out for a moment, but I understood what she was saying. She wasn't wrong,it would save us from public embarrassment.Something that has happened many times since we started hanging out. "Sure, I just don't want Uzaki to be fully blamed, I can see she enjoyed volunteering here." I said.
"Your fine,don't worry about it. " the teacher assures me.
Our time volunteering is up,one would think that I would be happy,since I didn't exactly agree and was roped into it.But no,me and Uzaki shouldn't have fought in front of the little ones. I could tell by the face the teacher was making that she could tell I still kind of felt bad. "Volunteering wasn't your choice,wasn't it?" The teacher says. I looked at the teacher and nodded in confirmation to what she said. I kept my eyes closed,trying to show as little emotion as possible. I could hear nothing,just dead silence. I apologized,stating that Uzaki likes to hang out and wants to do activities with me. I,somehow,could never say no.
"Still, it would be selfish of me to ruin this experience for Uzaki." I say.
"Wow,you do care about me,Senpai." I hear. I look back up with my eyes open at Uzaki. She looks as if she's going to lung towards and hug me. "I may be a little harsh,but I am not a monster." I say. Without warning, I wrapped my arms around Uzaki and hugged her-Beating her to the punch."Oh," she breathes,sounding like she was in a daze. "It just gets better and better.".Pennī holds a hand over her mouth,trying her best not to laugh.The teacher did the same and I just rolled my eyes-I felt I should stop before Uzaki explodes.
"Not trying to sound rude,but you're enjoying this way too much." I state.Letting go of Uzaki I step away and didn't hesitate to give her a questioning look. I looked at the time,and it was 11:34 AM,our time volunteering was over. I couldn't help but still feel my minor misunderstanding ruined everything.Even if both me and Uzaki were arguing,it was me thinking Uzaki's slacking off that started it. I turned to the teacher and made sure I could make things right.It was what needed to be done. "It's time for us to go now,but Hana is better at this then I could ever be." I say. Uzaki could only look at me confused and wonder why I said that.
As I walk away from the table and towards the door,Uzaki follows me and begs me to stop. I did stop,but not until I was practical at the door."Sakurai! That's not true Sakurai." Uzaki states as she practically chases me to the door. I looked at Uzaki who was tugging at my arms in a vain attempt to stop me from leaving. "Even though you didn't want to volunteer,you still did so wonderful." Uzaki says. I paused and asked Uzaki if she really meant it.She nods,confirming that she did indeed mean it. It certainly took me by surprise. She hasn't really ever said such nice things about me. In fact, I don't ever remember such an instance ever happening.
"You did a good job today Sakurai-Kun." the teacher says.
"Well...thanks,but-" I say before the teacher abruptly cuts me off. "We would love to have you both back again,"The teacher says. I looked at the teacher,surprised she brushed off me and Uzaki arguing earlier. "We just ask that you and Hana work on not arguing." the teacher adds-I couldn't agree more. I look down at my feet to see the toddler who called me "Da-da" before standing at my feet. "Daddy" the toddler says,kind of taking me by surprise. I look at Pennī,once again laughing. I look back down at the toddler and give her a pat on the head.
"I'll be back Inko-Chan.You be a good girl,ok?" I say softly.
The toddler nods her head and walks as fast as she can back to Pennī,next to the group of toddlers that had formed. Me and Hana looked at the toddlers and the teacher. They wanted us to come back,despite me and Hana's scuffle near the end. Somehow, I actually enjoyed volunteering at the daycare."If me and Hana can work on not arguing,we would love to volunteer again." I say. "That would be wonderful Sakurai." the teacher says.We have goodbye and leave the daycare to walk back to my place. Uzaki walks cheerful,despite arguing with me in front of the whole toddler room.
"I forgot to give you a response when you asked me out at the daycare." Uzaki says. I look at Hana puzzlingly forgetting all about a response from her."Oh,you didn't right?" I say.Uzaki shakes her head,she indeed didn't give a response when I asked her. "So,do you want to go out,Hana-San?" I ask,already knowing full well she was going to say yes.Uzaki just smiles,she really is in love with me. I didn't think she would be into a loner such as me. "That fortune that I got that one day said my true love was right in front of me" Uzaki says.
"Deep down,you aren't a bad guy Sakurai." Uzaki says.
"You really think that Hana?" I ask,not fully believing in what she said. "My sweet boy,always remember my words. You're one of my best friends." Uzaki says while swinging her hips as she walks. I look down at Uzaki's hand and quickly grab it,entwining it with mine.Uzaki looks up at me,red and looking at me with her big blue eyes.So,do you wanna go out with me tomorrow?" I say while looking Uzaki deep in the eyes.I would love to go out with you,Senpai." Uzaki says.
"That's great, I just didn't expect it to be you out of all people that I would have feelings for." I say.
"I'm just too cute to resist." Uzaki says jokingly.