Joint fic by Stelok and Maria Tachibana
The date was set after the events of Sakura Wars 4 game.
Year 1926
On a cool and crispy Sunday morning, Ohgami Ichirou awoke, stretching his arms. He stared at the clock, realizing in horror that the time was 8:05 am. Which meant that it's past time that he was supposed to meet with Maria. He had agreed to go on a breakfast date with her as she suggested. Hearing the sudden knocks on his door from outside he winced, knowing it was Maria. He didn't have to hear her voice.
Nevertheless, as he was right, he heard Maria's disappointed tone in her voice.
"Captain, Are you in there? I've been waiting downstairs for past five minutes," she said.
"I am sorry, Maria. I woke up late," he explained.
"Are you dressed?"
"No. I'll just get dressed in a couple of minutes. Please wait, Maria," he pleaded.
"Very well, Captain."
Soon, Ohgami began to wear a dark green trousers and jacket, black shoes, red tie and orange long-sleeved polo shirt. He admired at his own reflection for a few seconds before leaving out of his bedroom.
When he called to Maria that he was ready, she responded, "come out, captain." As he opened the door, he was surprised to see Maria wearing a stunning outfit. Maria wore a sleeveless light blue vest, a long navy blue skirt and blue heels. Maria Tachibana was a green-eyed blonde woman with face-length hair that covered her left eye. Ohgami Ichirou was a black spiky-haired man with medium build.
"Maria, you look beautiful in this outfit," he complimented.
"Thank you, captain. Shall we go?" she asked.
"My pleasure."
They were building a stable relationship since he had put down all his doubts aside and confessed his love to Maria even though it was a hard time choosing between her and Erica. Erica and the rest of Paris Hanagumi had previously come to Japan so she could stand beside him, only to have lost to the blonde Russian. However the brown-haired Frenchwoman accepted her defeat with grace and gave both her lover and her rival her blessing. Ohgami had been glad of it otherwise he would have had a difficult time calming down a lot of unforgiving females' wraths.
As the two were already outside the building and walking together on the street, he asked "Remember when I told you that I'm going to introduce you to my elder sister two days ago?"
"Yes, I remember it. What about it?" Maria inquired.
"She's coming to town this afternoon as I asked her to. I had received a call from her last night," he answered.
"I see,"
Ohgami beamed a smile and a nod.
"Are you glad that Erica's gone?" Maria queried.
"What? No, I'm not exactly glad. Why do you ask me?" Ohgami gulped.
"I mean do you still have feelings for her?"
"Maria, I had feelings for her but I had realized you're the one I loved."
"Yes, Captain. I knew you chose me over Erica but I still wonder if your feelings have not lingered."
"Erica and I are now friends, I promise you,"
"Do you miss Erica and other Paris Hanagumi members?"
"Yes, I miss all of the Paris Hanagumi members but I miss them as friends only. My heart belongs to you," he assured her, draping his arm over her shoulder.
"What about Sakura?" Maria asked.
"Huh?"
"Are you thinking about her?"
"Maria, why would you ask?"
"You and Sakura used to be very close."
"Sakura and I are nothing more than friends. Sure, she's a nice girl but she's not my type."
"You told her that, Captain?"
"Yes. And I told her I love Maria. She said she respectedmy decision to pick you as my girlfriend." he admitted. "I see," Maria said. On the other hand, she doubted his faith in Sakura's respect especially since she had heard and seen Sakura cry after Ohgami left when he admitted to Sakura about whom he loved, four days ago. She hadn't planned to eavesdrop in their conversation in the first place. She had looked for Ohgami but accidentally stumbled in their conversation. She was about to leave but Ohgami's words about her stopped her. Maria had been so happy to hear that he chose her at Sakura's expense. As much as she felt ashamed of her feelings, the blonde woman didn't care about Sakura's unhappiness as long as He was in love with her.
Ohgami stopped in front of a French café. Maria stopped too, looking at the sign "Au bon Appetit"
"A French café?" Maria asked.
"Yes, do you like eating croissants, Maria?" Ohgami asked.
"I don't mind croissants," she replied. "Tell me you picked a taste for croissants in Paris?"
"Yes, Erica and Glycine introduced me to croissants last year."
"I see," the Russian responded.
What Ohgami and Maria were not aware is they were being spied on by their own teammates who were lurking in the bushes.
"Well? What can you see so far?" Kohran asked from the bushes.
"I want a turn with the binoculars too you know!" Orihime demanded.
"Shh! If you're too loud, they'll know we're here!" Kanna hissed, ajusting the binoculars.
"Iris wants to see too!!"
"How about I just tell you what's going on, instead of having all of you guys trying to grab the binoculars from me?" Kanna asked.
"If they start kissing in public, you're going to be the one to see it all, and we don't want Iris hearing all the details!" Sumire muttered.
"I don't exactly want to hear it all either." Leni commented.
"Iris is not a child!" Iris exclaimed.
By now, one can suppose just how sneaky the Flower Division really is. With all of them wearing green clothing, they were all camouflaged pretty well, in the bushes right next to the French café. Kanna was in charge of the binoculars, which Kohran had painted brown, and everyone else was just there because they wanted to know what Maria and Ohgami were going to do on their first official date.
"Kohran, remember to write down practically every word I say. Everyone in Paris is interested in this too." Kanna whispered to Kohran, who pulled a journal out out of god- knows-where, just like Kayama does with his guitar.
"Everybody except Sakura-han is interested in this." Kohran commented as she dated the journal.
"Well if I had been runner up in the "dating game", I'd be pretty sad too." Orihime said.
"Well, let her mope, but she's really missing out on some great stuff." Kanna said, adjusting the binoculars again.
"What, are they kissing now?" Sumire asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. But that food looks great!" Kanna exclaimed.
At the park
Sakura took a walk alone in the park to seek solitude every morning since Ohgami's confession that he didn't love her. She found solace in being alone. She lay on her stomach and pulled a flower. Each time she began to pull each petal, she said "He loves me, he loves me not,"