The last day of school had finally rolled about and it was the day of the graduation ceremony for the Year Three students.
On stage, the Principal droned on and on, congratulating the graduating students and giving them generic life advice. The students sat at the front of the stage, barely listening as the speeches went on.
"… and that concludes the end of my speech. Before we welcome our non graduating student representative to make his speech, let us first welcome the shrine maiden of the Midori Jinja to open the ceremony with a ritual dance. Katagi Midori, if you please."
Midori walked to the front of the stage from behind the curtains, dressed in her shrine maiden outfit, and carrying a fan. She bowed before starting the ritual dance.
The students clapped politely when she finished. She bowed again before retreating to the back of the stage.
"Thank you, Katagi-chan," the teacher said. "Now, may we welcome our student representative."
"Sakamoto-kun?" his classmates explained as he stood up.
He walked to the podium gracefully, catching the attention of everyone as he opened his speech by knocking down a volleyball that had been stuck in the hall's rafters for near three years.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the graduating cohort, please allow me to congratulate you on your graduation…"
Sakamoto's speech seemed to be starting off well – he had the attention of everyone, even those previously sleeping, and his decorum was such that even those who didn't usually agree found themselves agreeing with his words.
However, in the midst of his speech, the door slammed. There was a loud screeching sound as Atsushi, with heavy footsteps, made his way to the front of the stage while dragging a bat behind him.
The students started screaming when Atsushi attacked teachers who tried to stop him.
"Sakamoto…" he said in a dark voice as the walked up the steps leading to the stage, pointing his bat in the direction of the bespectacled boy. "Disappear."
Sakamoto merely looked at him and adjusted his glasses before continuing his speech. "As you're graduating, I'm sure you'll have a lot of uncertainties in your mind. This may be presumptuous of me, but allow me to share with you some techniques on how to clear your doubts."
"Oi, Sakamoto! Don't you dare ignore me!" Atsushi roared, swinging his bat.
The door leading to the hall slammed open, and Hayabusa, along with Ken-Ken and Mario, burst into the hall, charging towards the stage, all ready to take down Atsushi.
Meanwhile, Midori, who just finished changing back into her school uniform, decided to peek out to see what is all the commotion outside about. She pulled back the curtain on the right side of the stage, intending to take a quick look, and then exit from the right wing's steps, joining her class to listen to Sakamoto's speech.
Just as she opened the curtain and took a step out, Atsushi's gaze narrowed in onto her. In a fast, furious motion, he grabbed her towards him. He held her around the shoulders and placed her in front of his like a shield, pointing his bat at Sakamoto.
"You better pay attention to me!"
Midori struggled against his hold.
"Midori-!" Hayabusa said before he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist.
Just as he was about to charge up stage, Sakamoto placed a finger to his lips before clearing his throat, ready to continue speaking.
"Sometimes, life will hold you at gunpoint. You may feel suffocated, and even scared. But do not worry…"
Atsushi roared in anger, thrusting his arm aside and throwing Midori off-stage.
She closed her eyes, bringing her arms to the front of her chest and bracing for impact.
"… because those who care about you will be there to catch you when you fall."
When the hard impact did not come, Midori cracked her eyes open. Her eyes widened in shock as she realised she was in the arms of Hayabusa-senpai.
"Senpai!" she exclaimed.
Hayabusa, who ran forward and caught Midori bridal style just before she hit the ground, grunted in response. He gently set her to her feet, giving her a once-over to check for any injuries. He nodded once in satisfaction when he found her otherwise unscathed.
"Thank you, Hayabusa-senpai."
"Hn, as long as you're fine. Damn that Atsushi." He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, glancing towards the direction of the teachers before his gaze fell on Fukase. "Fukase again."
In the meantime, the students were happily seated down, convinced that everything that was happening was all a skit and part of Sakamoto's speech.
"How creative!" a teacher exclaimed, clapping her hands. "To think of letting a delinquent contribute on this joyous occasion! What a great message it sends out."
"So daring!" a graduating student exclaimed to another. "Soo cool to let the blond guy catch her in the nick of time. How romantic!"
On stage, Sakamoto was doing a good job convincing everyone that it was all an elaborate skit. While dodging all of Atsushi's blows, he spoke into the mic, relating everything that was happening as part of life advice that he was giving the graduating cohort.
The two climbed up the ladder leading to the upper foyer above the stage. Sakamoto climbed the railing gracefully, still continuing his speech. Atsushi gnashed his teeth together and swung – but the force of his swing caused him to lose his balance and topple over the railing.
The crowd gasped.
Sakamoto, with his free hand, caught Atsushi's wrist, stopping his fall. Atsushi started hitting Sakamoto's hand in retaliation, yelling at the former to let go of him.
The crowd winced as the bruises started to show after each of Atsushi's blows. Fukase smirked, obviously enjoying the sound of Sakamoto getting attacked. At one point, Atsushi even landed a hit on Sakamoto's face, sending his glasses flying.
Fujita stood up, crying that she will stop them.
Kubota grabbed her arm, stopping her. "Please, have faith in Sakamoto-kun!"
"Why…" Atsushi said as tears streamed down his face. "Why would you even care what happens to me?!"
Sakamoto smiled, saying something to him before speaking into the mic again. "When things get tough, don't lose hope. Just believe…"
The two of them landed gracefully on the floor, with Sakamoto adjusting his clothes and glasses while Atsushi snivelled.
Sakamoto took hold of his hand and raised it up. "Believe in your friends and yourself."
The two bowed.
They were received by a standing ovulation. Class 1-2 was cheering the loudest, hooting and shouting the names of Sakamoto and Atsushi. Some of the graduating students were crying tears of joy, clapping at the beautiful speech they had the pleasure of hearing. The teachers were clapping, astonished at the wonderful speech and its impact.
"There," Hayabusa said, releasing his hold over Sakamoto's injured hand. "It's set now."
"Sakamoto-!" Midori called as she hurried towards them. Sakamoto, Hayabusa, Atsushi and his friends had gone outside of the hall after the speech, and Hayabusa was applying first-aid to Sakamoto's injury.
"Here," she said, passing antiseptic cream over to him.
He thanked her politely, accepting the cream and starting to apply it on his wound.
Atsushi started crying again once he saw Sakamoto's wound. "S-Sakamoto! I'm… I'm so sorry!"
Hayabusa turned to him, ruffling his hair affectionately. "Fukase-san put you up to it, didn't he? It's okay, I'm sure Sakamoto understands."
Sakamoto smiled.
"Though…" he walked up to Midori, wrapping an arm around the small of her back and pulling her to his side. (She looked at him questioningly.)
"You'd still better to apologize to my girlfriend for throwing her off stage."
"Girlfriend?" Midori exclaimed.
"Girlfriend?" Atsushi and his friends exclaimed.
Atsushi wiped away his tears, inclining his head in a bow hastily. "I'm sorry, Katagi-san!"
"No, no worries… Senpai!" she turned to him, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes. "What do you mean by girlfriend?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Didn't I already say that we were practically dating at the start of the year?"
"Yeah but you said practically-"
"Stupid. How many other people do you see me taking out on dates?"
"I…" Midori's cheeks dusted pink. "I… didn't think you liked me that way, senpai…"
He rolled his eyes, averting his gaze. "… neither did I for you, but now that I told the boys that you're my girlfriend you don't have a say in the matter."
Midori giggled. "If you say so, senpai."
The boys hooted, exclaiming about how cool and smooth their beloved Hayabusa-senpai is. Sakamoto smiled again, informing them that he will be looking for bandages in the infirmary before leaving.
Once he left, a delinquent raised his concern. "Hayabusa-senpai…! What about us? We don't have that 'something' yet… Does this mean that Fukase-san can pull the rug from us anytime?!"
"Yeah…" Hayabusa pondered. "We got to do something about Fukase-san."
Later on, when Sakamoto exited the infirmary and was on his way back into the hall, he passed by a group of delinquents and Hayabusa.
"Well, well," Sakamoto said after overhearing Hayabusa's plan to fight things out with Fukase. "That won't do. You plan on graduating next year too, don't you? Besides…" he adjusted his glasses. "It won't look good for your blossoming relationship with Katagi-san."
Hayabusa hated it when Sakamoto was right. He looked in the direction of the hall, thinking about Midori who was in there, sitting with her class before he lowered his fists.
Sakamoto smiled. "I have an idea…"
"And now," the principal said as the last graduating student filled out of the hall. "That concludes the end of our ceremony-"
"Wait." The door slammed opened, and the delinquents filled in, standing in a straight line at the middle of the hall.
Hayabusa stood at the front of the line, smirking. "We have one more graduating student with us."
And with that, the delinquents got on their knees, congratulating Fukase on his graduation.
"Shou," he said, looking at them at his position at the front of the stage coldly. "What's this about?"
"However rough the waters in the outside world may be... To find your own lighthouse and swim for it is only logical, isn't it, senpai?"
"Oh?" Fukase eyed him. "And what would your lighthouse be, Shou? Your family?... I hear that you got yourself a girlfriend now. Or is she your lighthouse now? I wonder, if should I use her as my next way of killing time…"
When he saw that Hayabusa neither flinched nor moved from his position with the rest of the delinquents, he turned his back to them and scoffed. "How completely ridiculous."
At that moment, Sakamoto snuck up behind him, elbowing him at the back of his legs with his knee. Fukase fell on top of the delinquents, and with that, they began to 'wave' him out of the hall.
The crowd cheered, clapping the whole time.
"Well, well," Sakamoto said, observing the scene. "You're swimming just fine."
And thus, the rest of the graduating ceremony went on without a hitch.
"Senpai," Midori said to Hayabusa on the day of the closing ceremony. "Did you hear about the rumour?"
"The one about Sakamoto?"
"Yeah…" she glanced down sadly. "The class rep and some others went up to the senseis and confirmed it. Sakamoto is leaving the school."
"Huh," was all Hayabusa said.
He waited at the lockers at the end of the day, waiting for Sakamoto.
Once he appeared, Hayabusa said, "You're not really going to America, are you?"
Sakamoto continued walking towards the entrance to the lockers with his pie in hand. "I have no idea what you mean, senpai."
"You don't have any regrets?"
He paused. "If I do, it's that I don't know the exact number of holes in the ceiling of the infirmary."
Hayabusa smirked, wordlessly eyeing him.
Sakamoto inclined his head in a polite bow. "Please take care of Katagi-san. I wish you two the best."
With that, he left.
As he crossed the courtyard on his way towards the front gate, he heard a shout from the Year One classrooms.
Midori and the rest of her classmates, with their faces still messy from the pie-fight, peered out of the window, waving to Sakamoto.
"Goodbye, Sakamoto!"
"I'll never forget you!"
"Thank you, Sakamoto-kun!"
"We're friends forever, Sakamoto-kun!"
It was too far to tell, but if Midori didn't know better, she would have sworn that Sakamoto teared up for a split second before he turned his back to them, holding up crossed fingers.
She felt a bittersweet pang in her heart as they watched him gradually disappear from their field of vision. It was a wild ride, and there were many adventures from the one year she was in Sakamoto's class – but two things are for sure.
One, she was glad that they had Sakamoto as their classmate.
Two, even when Sakamoto will not physically be with their class anymore, the adventure never ends.
A/N: Thank you for bearing with me! It was really fun writing this; I hope you like Sakamoto Desu Ga? as much as I do! The next chapter will be the last, stay tuned!