🌸Cherry Blossom Palette: Summer by the Sea🎨
Chapter 18: The Afterparty [Part Five, Act One]
Doorway into Summer Arc
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: Sorry for the wait. The last of the "afterparty" stuff took a LONG TIME to get how I wanted it. I regret moving so much of the story from later to this one Wednesday night, but I also don't. It fits here, and it'll help down the road with how things are going to go.
Chapter 18 was getting too long, so I divided it up into two parts. The five chapters each all contain what I wanted them to, but this one got too long, so look forward to the conclusion of "afterparty" with Chapter 19.
Then, Chapter 20 will bring the Sakura/Hana dynamic I've been promising.
I'm debating designating the Sakura/Hana and beach stuff to their own arc.
I never meant "Doorway into Summer" to last this long.
…
I just finished Season 4 of The Venture Bros.! I should say "spoiler alert", but this was from 12 or 13 years ago.
The first episodes of the season were fun, seeing the aftermath of Season 3 and all the plot points converging.
Henchman 21, Gary, has come into his own, even to the point he could go blow for blow with Brock Samson for a while. Considering Brock has killed the men of the Fluttering Horde by the score (sometimes all at the same time), the fact that anyone could take him on is pretty impressive.
And Brock and Gary teamed up to deal with a mutual enemy, apparently mopping the floor with him.
A reader said I might have fun with "Everybody Comes to Hank's", and he was right. It was a crazy episode, with what was probably the dirtiest secret in the series to date, and its companion episode, "Bright Lights, Dean City", was good too. Poor Manservant.
And I wondered for two seasons what happened to Sally Impossible's brother, Cody the "human torch", who Sally must've left behind, even though she took along her developmentally disabled cousin when she left her husband. Richard Impossible is evil!
As evil as some of the show's bad guys are, Dr. Venture and son, Jonas AND Rusty, are not good people either.
Jonas Venture Jr. has his own problems, but he's not evil OR an evil failure. He just doesn't know the kind of world they live in.
We also got a Fantastic Voyage trip through Dr. Venture's body and ANOTHER journey through his mind, where we got to meet Id, Ego, Superego, and a few other Freudian misfits.
Triana had NO respect for Dean in the finale, and I don't care what anyone else thinks on the matter. You don't go to "prom" with a boy that you KNOW is into you, "as friends", when you have a "cripster" boyfriend that comes to see you off, showing up dressed like some glittery vampire on polio crutches.
And you don't squeal over every dumb text or message he sends you in front of the boy that you KNOW still wants you.
That she went to prom with Dean? My editor called it the equivalent of a "mercy hump", which is "pity sex", except Dean wasn't getting any.
She thinks she's his friend, but she views him as ineffectual to the point of harmlessness, which is messed up, because she knows he likes her.
Dean should've handled things better, not insinuating to Triana that Raven, the sparkly vamp on four legs, had poor bladder and bowel-control, and that the two of them practiced various acts of coprophilia(?), but Triana DID view him as less than a man, even less than a boy, and she was a c*nt if she thought she was being a friend or doing Dean a favor by attending as his date.
Learning how little she thought of him, Dean should've just told her "goodbye", that he never wanted to see her again, turned around, and left the moment he realized Triana was taken and who the handsome, handicapable hipster was.
The ending of the finale, including the after-credits where Dean dressed up like a "ghost", was amazing. I can't believe I've never heard the song "Like a Friend" by Pulp!
And Dean told the Outrider something he'd been begging to hear since he decided to become the Orpheus family's homewrecker!
But I think my favorite scene in the series so far is from the end of "Assisted Suicide", the episode where we got to visit Dr. Venture's mind:
watch?v=zjDPRaD5w5g
…
Hank Venture:Are you okay? Dr. O said you're probably insane now and that you'll never be the same.
Dr. Venture:Are you kidding? Okay, I'm just turning 16 and having a birthday pool party. My father invites every girl he knows, and I'm not talking about girls my age. No, not Jonas.
He invites Playboy Bunnies and models and, I think, actual whores - you know, real prostitutes. So there I am in my giant bathing suit with nervous puberty oozing out of my gigantic pores. Just, just awful.
So, the band suddenly stops playing and I hear "And now the man of the hour, Rusty Venture!" All eyes on me, right? Then suddenly, almost predictably, the Action Man shoots my groin with a shrink ray right as that f*cking jackass Colonel Gentleman pulls my shorts down.
Hank Venture:Wow. That's like a nightmare.
Dr. Venture:Oh, no! No! What I went through today was "like a nightmare." What happened when I was 16, that is my life!
…
I'm looking forward to Season 5! I think I'll be well and done with Season 7 by the time the movie comes out.
…
Also, the Metalocalypse movie is official, so maybe I'll watch that series next. PS is happy it's getting a conclusion, just shy of 10 years after the fact. He hopes the musical movie from 2013 is a special feature, but he says he hasn't looked into it.
…
Please look at the Q&A section I set up at the end of the chapter. Ask us anything and we'll add another section in the next chapter. I would be happy if you ask questions.
Please enjoy what I wrote.
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Naoto Hachioji and Maki Gamo, unwilling to miss their 8:00 p.m. rides, were finally making their way back to the bus stop, their downtown adventure drawing to a close.
If the buses were missed, they'd be stuck there until 9:00, and each had already had a long enough day, not that they hadn't been enjoying the other's company.
Good cheer prevailed, and the two had fallen into a Disney rut, though there were far worse ruts in which to spin one's tires, and it wasn't their first time stuck either.
Gamo-chan asked, "Paisen, did you ever see Saving Mr. Banks?"
"Uh… no." He hadn't. "That was the Disney movie, right? Where the guy that played Woody in the Toy Story movies played Walt Disney?"
"Yeah, it was," she said. "Tom Hanks, in the story of the production of the Mary Poppins movie."
"Was it good?" He didn't know; of course, he hadn't seen it.
She avowed, "It was excellent~… Just watched it again in April with Yoshi…"
"Hmm." That evening, he'd learned a few things about the Amazon's nearly lifelong Disney journey with Yoshi Yamazaki.
"I tell you, if it wasn't for that movie and how popular it was, I doubt they would've made the sequel to Mary Poppins~."
"Hey, that's coming out later this year, right?" he asked.
"I'm buying Yoshi and me tickets the minute they become available~."
He hated to be a downer, but, "Aren't you kinda worried?"
"About what?"
That it might suck balls, what else~…?
"I just don't know if a sequel 54 years later is a good idea," Naoto reasoned, doing the math.
"Oh, that…" Gamo-chan dug it. "Yeah, I'm a little worried about it."
He'd been wondering, "You and Yoshi, 'Fly a Kite' was something you like doing together… Do you two like singing any of the other songs?"
"Yeah, we like the other songs!" She couldn't believe he was asking. "We've sung them all, but I'm not great at some of them. Yoshi's better at English and way better at the eru… eru… L-sounds than me, so she can actually sing 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'—at the proper tempo—without making a mistake, unless you count her being off-key."
"Pfft!" Naoto snorted at her pronunciation of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious", not that he could do any better.
"Whatever, Paisen…" Gamo-chan would take it, accepting his scorn but not dwelling on it. "I'll bet Shuu-kun could sing that one too…"
Young Mr. Aisho probably could…
"Maybe next time…" He liked the idea of another get-together. "Just imagine Yoshi and Shuu having a duet of that…"
"Hmm~…" Gamo-chan esteemed. "I would like to do this again~…"
"Me too…"
"…~" She contentedly ambled along, but it wasn't long until she glanced his way, offering an affectionate smile.
'Wowza~!' Naoto had another brain-fart, his umpteenth of the night. "…?!"
"I'm so happy you came along with us today, Paisen…" Gamo-chan acknowledged. "I've been waiting more than a month for all of us to be together~…"
Poink! That plucked on Naoto's heartstrings.
"Y-y-yeah…" he breathed, and his collectedness caught the last train to Chiba.
For whatever reason, his mind's eye (and mind's ear) took him away, and all he knew was another song that Gamo-chan had performed that afternoon.
Keeping in-line with Yoshi Yamazaki's American oldies quota, the big girl had sung "A Lover's Concerto", made famous by The Toys, and as with a few other songs she'd sung, it had knocked him right the fuck out.
"You…" he grappled, and he could feel his face burning up. "You really do have a great voice~… I didn't know…
"I mean, I knew, but I didn't know, I suppose. I got chills and goosebumps and everything~."
If he'd known as well as he NOW knew, he would've skipped out on the things keeping him away the last time… or gotten his guy-friends to go along, not that the lot of them might've been ready for it…
He wasn't about to tell her that if he heard the Redbirds' "Tsubasa" better than what she'd belted out, he'd start praying, the Thumb of God and the smiting of the Earth not far behind.
He wouldn't SAY that, at least, hyperbole though it was…
Given her reaction, it seemed to him that hyperbole wasn't necessary.
She might've not even heard that part, had he said it…
"…!" She floundered a few seconds, nearly tripping over her own feet.
'O noz!' Naoto did a pretty good impression of the flatfish himself. 'What was THAT?!'
However, neither quit walking.
"…!" *fluster, fluster*
"…!" *shart, shart*
…
So much for the easygoing, good cheer they'd had brewing…
"…"
"…"
For about three storefronts, not a sound was made.
"…"
"…"
"Paisen," Gamo-chan broke the hush. "Hey…"
He muffled back, "Hmm?"
She posed. "…You think we can stop this…?"
…
'…What…?' Naoto jarred, and he almost froze in midstride.
…
He stammered, "St-stop?"
"Yeah," Gamo-chan ratified, halting alongside him.
Naoto confronted her. "Stop what?"
"…" Briefly making eye contact, she looked away. "I… dunno how to put it…"
"…?"
"…"
Maybe he could help her along…
He'd seen it work.
"You could just… say it, I suppose," he tendered.
It couldn't be that bad…
"…" Gamo-chan, her fingers twisting at her pencil-skirt, seemed even less enthusiastic than Naoto at last chapter's prospect of dick-snacks à la Big Bro 'Toro.
He prodded, "Gamo-chan?"
"Okay" she said, straightening but not viewing him. "I think I got it…"
"Yes?"
"…You don't like being all embarrassed and junk any more than me… do you?" Gamo-chan couldn't help but blush.
"…!" That definitely wasn't on the mental list he'd started keeping, speculating on just what she might come up with. 'What…?'
She steadfastly toyed with her outfit, averting her gaze. "…"
'Okay…' He'd bite. "No, I'm sure I don't."
Jumping on the chance, she professed, able to look at him again, "It's kinda hard to keep things casual otherwise, isn't it?"
"…?" Naoto was glad to see her relaxing, slight as it was. 'But what's…?'
She waited for an answer. "…?"
This seemed…
"Yeah…" Naoto committed. "Yes, absolutely."
What was happening…?
He wanted to see where this was going.
Gamo-chan unquestionably went.
"It's no fun, is it?" she asked.
"…?" Naoto thought the girl was suddenly making a lot of sense, but…
No fun…? Not EVER…?
…
He'd come to enjoy chatting with Gamo-chan, just as he enjoyed the same pastime with Sakura Inori.
Things didn't always run like a clock, and they DID have some awkward moments, but…
He'd seen some beautiful things… and felt them too.
There was no doubt they'd had some laughs~…
But things weren't always easy, sometimes even difficult, at times.
Still, he loved hanging out with the two girls… despite the strangeness…
He'd had plenty of strange times with Sakura.
And he wouldn't mind a few more with Gamo-chan.
…
With that in mind…
"Uh, not always…" Naoto said this incertitude with certitude. "It's not always bad."
"Eh…?" Gamo-chan puzzled.
'What do I say…?' he deliberated, pinkening up again. "I don't always mind it."
Her ears must've been deceiving her. "You don't?"
"…Yeah…" It wasn't the best he had, but he could've given a worse response. "Not all the time…"
What, was he going to tell her he occasionally got off on it~…?
He would say something just as true.
"Though, sometimes, it's… nerve-wracking…" he confessed.
"Snrt~!" Gamo-chan spluttered at his choice of words. "That fits… 'nerve-wracking'~…"
She was talking about herself too, and Naoto could tell. "…"
And she had a solution, though she wasn't able to meet his gaze to tell him.
"So, let's try to be chill about stuff…" she suggested, smirking shadily, all the more flushed.
"…"
"…"
Naoto munged, "Wha…?"
What was Gamo-chan going for…?
She quickly leveled, going straight man on him, "I-I'm not saying we should say or do just anything, like, stupid, but I'd like it if we could relax a little better."
"…?" In another time and place, Naoto might've taken to looking around for video cameras.
It wouldn't have made for much of a TV show though…
Gamo-chan went no further, but it was clear she wanted to. "…"
"…"
"…"
Naoto decided it was on him to move them along.
"So, uh…" he probed. "What is it you want?"
"Want…?" she repeated.
"Yeah… What is it?"
If she thought she was being clear, she really wasn't…
Naoto hadn't been sure she'd give him an answer, or that she'd at least need to think, but she wasn't without one.
Gamo-chan struggled but got it out, and…
The difficulty of doing so was somewhere between "pulling teeth" and "pushing out a crap of four-and-a-half Courics"…
She came back with, "I, uh… …same sorta thing …Sakura…"
Her voice had wafted so delicately, that Naoto leaned in for a better listen.
"What was that?" He'd only heard part of it, something about "same thing" and "Sakura".
Gamo-chan's façade transformed to burgundy, but she came back stronger, "I want the sort of thing you have with Sakura…"
'You want WHAT?!' Her senpai did a little more *shart, shart*. "What'd you just say?"
Judging by how ruddy her appearance had gone, he might've been able to fry an egg on her forehead.
"I just really like what you have with Sakura, Paisen…" she laid bare. "You two are so chill together. I want you and me to have that too…"
"Bwah…" Naoto's mouth was constipated, but his brain had another case of the squirts.
This was less damaging than the opposite, though not much easier on him…
Gamo-chan endured, rapidly following up, however shakily, "I-I don't want the exact same thing… I j-just want things with us to be ch-chill…"
"…?!" He didn't think this could be right.
Had she stuttered…? As in, legitimately stuttered…? Or had she merely trampled a few words…?
Whatever it was, she didn't let him dwell very long, and he quickly forgot it.
It was quite possible he'd missed a few words, his cerebral chore clouding all else…
Doubling down, steeling herself, Gamo-chan abided, "I mean, I didn't mean to listen, but I heard you and her talking a few times… today."
"…You did…?" Naoto wasn't not scared of where this was heading.
She little more than whispered, "She called you her… 'buddy'…"
'D'oh!' That might as well have been a crotch-shot for him.
She wasn't done.
"Her 'buddy o' mine'…" she supplemented demurely, giving him another make-believe pop in the nads.
'Yipe!' He never thought Sakura had been loud enough to broadcast the swell new nickname she had for him.
The latter nickname was new, and he'd only heard it in the last day or two.
"Buddy" was great~…
He loved being called that.
But "Buddy o' mine", registering in the brain's audio-sensatory center, was like jerking off… and huffing nitrous oxide, immediately before climaxing~…!
'Yes, it's that great~!' Naoto would say, had he known such forbidden fruit.
But really, this was just more hyperbole… though it WAS pretty awesome, a guy being a pretty girl's buddy~…
And he indubitably didn't think being "Asshole-kun" was the worst thing in the world either.
He petitioned Heaven that Gamo-chan didn't know about THAT one yet… but certainty would've meant asking~…
…
That Gamo-chan wanted them to be cool as cucumbers…?
The young man was bowled-over, knowing his tallish friend felt that way.
It made him REALLY happy~…
He didn't know it meant that much to her, but—
Really, did she think they could force it…?
…
Backlogging a little, Naoto needed to remember a few things:
He'd had some rough spells with Sakura…
They'd blown up at each other.
They'd figuratively "bared their asses" at one another.
They'd cried together.
And they'd shared some painful things.
…
Even so, they'd REALLY had some good times…
They'd exploded with laughter.
They'd laughed so hard they cried.
They'd shared some happiness too, the two of them better befriending a most wonderful kohai, Hana Sunomiya.
And, yes, they'd figuratively bared their asses at one another.
…
In the end, none of it was ever strained.
Naoto couldn't go for that… faking it…
He launched, "Uh, it's not like—"
"Meh, I knew this was crazy…" Gamo-chan said forlornly, unaware her Paisen hadn't fully been tuning in. "I don't see how… Yeah, it's crazy…"
He'd been disrupted, but he changed gears with lightning speed, "No! No, it's not."
"…?!" She silenced, gathering her faculties.
"…" He was thrilled to let her collect her senses.
And collect them, she did.
"I just… want things to be chill between us, Paisen," Gamo-chan reinforced. "I'd really like that."
"…!" He would… "I'd like that too~."
Naoto had a crooked grin of his own, and he showed it.
She yelped, "Eck!"
Creepy…! (For once, he was…)
"I get it, Gamo-chan…" With difficulty, he didn't laugh at her… well, hard. "Heh…"
She gulped. "…"
"…"
"So…"Gamo-chan tested. "How do we do it…?"
It came to him quicker than he thought it might, "I wouldn't worry about it."
"You wouldn't?"
"No, it…" He had to grind his brain-gears a sec. "It just… happens… getting that way."
Perhaps, it just didn't happen as organically as between Sakura and himself…
Naoto was the first to recognize that things were at least different, his relations with each girl.
No matter, he happened to feel that things with Gamo-chan were already pretty laidback.
Considering that he'd met her mother, patted her on the back, HUGGED her, wept with her, called her pretty—to her face, told her she was neat—which she'd pointed out since, and they'd shared some stories that NO ONE would be proud of… they were both still there…
All this had happened (in the last 24 hours too… and previously), and the world hadn't ended.
Yes, they were both still living, the Moon was still in the sky, Ramuné soda was still being made, and Mt. Fuji hadn't gone all "Pinatubo" on them…
They were still alive, and—if not all—most was well.
Best of all, maybe, they'd had some good times together…
Naoto didn't think there was any rush.
Gamo-chan was worrying too much…
He reasoned it might've had something to do with her concerns, largely lacking male friends (until very recently), but she was trying too hard, and she didn't need to be.
He was her friend… and he liked to think that Shuu Aisho and Tohru Hijikata had become her friends too…
He was reasonably sure his two pals would gladly call her a friend as well.
…
Hitherto unable to read his mind, Gamo-chan hounded, "There's nothing we can do…?"
"Don't worry." Naoto resumed walking, hoping she'd drop it.
She didn't drop it, not at once, "Why not?"
He was grateful she couldn't see his fuchsia face, warping maniacally, as he was about to burst into a fit of giggles. "That's half the fun of it~…"
"…What…?"
"If we don't watch it, we could miss the buses…" he reminded.
"H-hey, Paisen!" She took off after him. "Wait up!"
…
He could've told her that a few really embarrassing things had happened between him and Sakura, and that they could laugh about it had helped with their "being chill", but he'd hold it in.
Additionally, he was quite satisfied that she hadn't attacked him over his claims of not entirely hating the sort of embarrassment he felt when things got ungainly with the girls. He wouldn't know what to say.
And he couldn't stand the thought of her knowing he liked it all the more when it was mutual~…
…
…
…
"No, seriously, Gamo-chan, I thought once or twice that you'd mess Tohru up."
"C'mon, Paisen, I'm not gonna do that sorta thing…" she rebuked. "We were just 'exchanging pleasantries'~."
"Ha!" he poo-pooed. "That's what you call it?"
"Sure." She shrugged. "We were just having a little fun…"
Fast enough to recuperate in the face of "there's no reason to force our being cool with each other", Naoto and Gamo-chan found themselves in a decidedly casual discussion.
The burly girly was agonizing—redux—over her "too familiar" antics directed at Naoto's guy-friends, not that she wasn't deflecting as much as possible…
Naoto didn't get it.
The subject kept refreshing itself in her head, as if every reminder of the afternoon triggered some newfangled, undiscovered mortification hidden in the depths of her soul…
"It was a lot of fun, messing with Tohru-kun," the Maki emphasized. "It's not often you can find someone that can hang with that level of mischief~."
"Yeah, you say that…" Naoto reprimanded.
He'd been goading her mildly, if only to repay her for the evening's overly intimate activities towards him.
It was actually kind of exciting, teasing a girl, being able to get under her skin…
She clambered, her armor full of holes, "H-hey, shut up, you…"
He wouldn't be doing this, but SHE was the one holding onto recent events…
"…~!" he snickered, exceedingly disinclined to tell her how adorable she was being.
That, he'd keep to himself~…
"Cut it out, Paisen," she pleaded, a larger amount of honesty coming through. "Do you know how embarrassed I felt, acting like that around Shuu-kun…?"
Okay, maybe it wasn't so casual, their dialogue…
"Aw, it wasn't that bad," Naoto certified, as he'd continually done so. "He didn't mind."
"Are you fuckin' with me again…?" Gamo-chan respired. "I was all… handsy with him, when I begged him to sing with me… twice…"
"Naw," he shelved. "That wasn't a big deal."
"And teasing Tohru-kun…" she touched upon.
This was harder to defend…
He hadn't forgotten for a minute that she'd snuck up and used Tohru's head as a "boob-rest", long before her podiatric prank had flopped.
Those were the stoutest attempts at getting a rise out of Tohru, but they hadn't been the only ones…
"…That… was…" he didn't finish. 'Yeah, that was something else…'
At least she didn't seem to be torturing herself over the fact she'd cried in front of their karaoke crowd anymore…
Instead of going any further with her questionable techniques of overcoming Tohru's defenses, though she and Yoshi pretending at trombonists had worked fairly well, Gamo-chan said something Naoto hadn't heard yet.
"I wanted to be the one to hand Tohru-kun his drink, but Sakura beat me to it," she bellyached.
He thought she'd handled it well. "You did fine, giving Shuu his drink. He seemed pretty good with it all."
If Shuu HAD been afraid of her (he was), her welcoming greeting had probably taken care of the bulk of that…
"I know…" she said. "…But… I wanted to be the one to give Tohru-kun his drink…"
"…?" Her tone caught his notice, and glancing her way, he balked at what he was met with. "…!"
It was obvious to him:
Something was different…
He may have been teasing Gamo-chan a mite, but he knew when enough was enough.
He wasn't going to try to hurt her…
This was no time to mess around, and he was sure of it.
And what was this about wanting to be the one to give Tohru his Coke with grenadine…?
…
The rosiness having returned to her cheeks, Gamo-chan emitted, "Hey… Paisen…"
"W-what is it…?" He'd been caught napping.
"…" She waited a beat. "Remember how I said I don't really have any guy friends… besides you?"
"Uh… yeah…"
"There is someone," she said softly.
Naoto hoped he didn't sound excessively stunned. "There is?"
"Yeah…" She nodded. "But he's more like family… I feel like he's sort of a cousin or something."
"…He live nearby?" he ventured.
"Yeah," Gamo-chan confirmed. "His family runs a sporting goods distribution company out of Yokohama. They're friends of my family, and my dad's done some close business with them for more than 10 years."
'This guy got a name…?' Naoto was unexpectedly curious. 'He's not far off…'
But—surprise~—she still couldn't hear his thoughts. "I've known him since I was… a second or third-year in elementary school. It's hard to remember."
"I see." He saw, alright.
"I guess he's what you might call a childhood friend~," she knocked, tittering. "That's what you'd call it, right?"
He caught her meaning. "Hey, that's not just in anime and manga and stuff. I mean, what do you call him?"
"Snrk~…" she choked back a bigger laugh. "A 'longtime friend of the family'~…"
Naoto would just let it go; he had another question. "So, why your gym?"
"Our gym?"
"Yeah, you said 'close business'."
"Oh, that…" Gamo-chan understood. "Some of the athletes the company sponsor and work with trained at our gym or got their start there. That's what started it."
"That's pretty cool," Naoto granted.
"Satoru's a pretty cool guy too~," she burbled.
"Satoru?" he echoed.
"Yup…" She nodded. "All of my real cousins live so far away, so it's pretty sweet having him nearby."
"Huh…"
"But he's already in his second year at university, so I… don't get to see much of him, these days…"
"…?"
"…"
"Hey, uh, you good?" Naoto didn't always associate her silence with the best of things.
Gamo-chan sighed, "Yeah, I just kinda miss him. He's like family, Paisen…"
She sounded… sad, certainly… but she also sounded… torn…
'Yeah, "torn" is the word for it…' her senpai ruminated. "That's tough."
And he gave it some skull-sweat.
If Satoru was a second-year university student… he'd have been a fifth or sixth-year elementary school kid when Gamo-chan met him, if he'd made it into college on his first try…
"…"
"…"
"Paisen…?"
"Y-yes?" he blurted.
"You've been friends with Tohru-kun and Shuu-kun for a while, right?"
He recalled them establishing this, but, "Yeah, a little over five years, since we started middle school…"
"…"
"…?"
"…Paisen…?"
He tried sounding a little more at ease, "What's up?"
"…" She had a zinger, and it came with a shy Maki-mumble. "When do people become 'friends'…?
'Floink!' Naoto needed a new nonsensical interjection to contend. "W-wha…?"
"…"
"…"
"I was just thinking about them, Paisen, your two friends…"
"…Yeah…?"
"…" She wriggled. "I… wanna be friends with them too."
He couldn't hold it back, and he breezed, "I thought you were already friends."
He'd just been thinking about that.
Funny, that he reacted so unflappably…
"…?" Gamo-chan startled. "You mean it…?"
With all his heart…!
Naoto emphasized, wishing he didn't need to spoon-feed her logic, "Sure, I mean… you had fun with them… they had fun with you… Shuu liked singing with you… Tohru had fun joking around… and I'm pretty sure you all wanna get together again.
"So, yeah, I'd say that makes you friends…"
Wow, talk about grace under pressure…
"You really think so…?" Gamo-chan twiddled her thumbs, back to cerise.
Could he say it without sounding like a dork…?
He didn't care, either way, so he said, "Maybe that's when people become friends…"
"Shit, Paisen~…!" She hid her face, reversing her chagrin. "I can't believe you just said that… So corny…"
"H-hey, I mean it…" he defended.
And the chagrin shot right back…!
"I acted like such an idiot today…" Gamo-chan bayed.
Naoto… wanted to argue it, so he tried, not so effectively, "N-not really…"
"Don't make fun…" she pouted. "I did… I made a fool of myself…"
Naoto pondered, "Uh…"
He had faith that Gamo-chan was mostly at peace over crying in front of their friends.
He reasoned that she probably could live with being a little overexcited, wanting so very much for Shuu to sing with her.
But every time he tried to tell her that the rest of the goofballery—her manner of teasing Tohru—was a mountain she'd made out of a molehill, she'd done something to take them off on some fresh tangent.
That said, Naoto only had a few seconds to ponder.
Predictably, Gamo-chan took them down yet another path.
"I only messed with him, because…" she sounded.
He could've been paying better attention. "You wha…?"
"Tohru-kun… I…" she said.
"What…?"
"I wanna be friends… and I… think he's…"
*Dooooooon…*
Naoto wasn't ready for such a bombshell. "Gah…? Did you just…?"
"I think he's cute…" she revealed, red as a boxing glove.
"…!"
"…"
"Really?" His mind was staggered.
"Short guys…" Gamo-chan wouldn't have been wrong to tell Naoto to go to Hell, but it never even crossed her mind, quite unstaggered. "I've always thought they were kinda cute…"
He gawped. "Since when…?"
"I dunno, since always…" She'd developed a temporary tic, the corners of her mouth twitching.
'Holy shit-on-a-shingle…' Naoto's brain turned to mush.
Did that mean something…?
…
Did she… LIKE him…?! Tohru…?!
Naoto was asking this sort of question again, just not of himself.
"G-Gamo-chan…" he faltered. "W-what does that mean…?"
"N-nothing…" she returned, not weakly. "It doesn't have to mean anything… I just think he's sorta cute, okay…? And I wanna be friends…"
"…" He didn't doubt her, funnily.
"I didn't know how else to kick things off…" she related. "I could tell he was up for some clowning around, so I thought that'd work…"
It had worked, alright… the first exchange culminating in the line about "monstrous genitals on the internet"…
…
Naoto could see this reason, the one behind Gamo-chan messing around with Tohru.
They'd both enjoyed it… were able to have fun with it…
But he still didn't get why someone would tease another—particularly viciously—when the other wasn't into it, not that this was the case.
Though, he was tickled that Gamo-chan and Tohru had already given each other NICKNAMES…
The Amazon cutie as "Xena" and Tohru's monikers of "Short-pai" and "Bozu"…?
They were pretty good~…
…
"I know I went too far with Tohru-kun, Paisen… We were both having fun with it, and it… just kinda escalated…"
'That's one way of putting it…' Naoto thought the term suited.
"I sure didn't expect for it to… blow up in my face…" She shuddered. "And then you had to get dragged into it…"
Shuu might've felt called out, same as him, but Naoto had been the one receiving the brunt of that little jab.
…
"You like what you see, Short-pai~? Enjoying the view~?"
"Eh, it's alright… I'm not the one you need to worry about though."
…
Gee-zum Crow…
But Naoto would still call Tohru's counterattack, dragging him into the fire as well, a playful jab.
On top of Tohru not in the least disliking the sort of thing Gamo-chan had been dishing out, Naoto knew things about Tohru that—rather than a little "jab"—were more like a nail-gun to the temple.
And this was mutual… among all three of the boys, the ability to sink ships…
Naoto could've shot back at Tohru for the Tohru-sized assault on his good name, but all he had was either too horrible for a fair exchange or nonapplicable.
…
Naoto could tell clearly enough:
It had been too much for Shuu—and him—but Tohru had enjoyed the back-and-forth, even at that point.
Yet again, Naoto wasn't being the best senpai he could be, and he missed more Gamo-chan soliloquy.
"And he was a really good sport about it too…" she said of Tohru. "I mean, I knew I was going too far, some tall girl making fun of a short guy…"
Naoto automatically concurred, "Yeah… he really was…"
"Normally, I'd never mess around with someone I barely know like that, even another girl…"
'I know that…' He didn't discount himself though.
He'd been through the mill… and a lot worse than what Tohru had experienced…
But he hadn't foreseen that Gamo-chan would dredge up the past, though he would've been stupid to discount that.
And dredge she did, picking up where his thoughts left off.
"When I started doing that sorta thing to you…" She stared at the sidewalk. "When I started doing that stuff, it was just effing with you… But after a while, I did it because I wanted to be friends with you… and I didn't know what to do, besides joking around with everything."
'Gamo-chan!' Naoto's gut seized.
That she… she'd…
She continued, "I know we were always a little rough on you, and I knew we were, and I knew it freaked you out, but… I didn't know what else to do."
'It's okay, Gamo-chan…'
"I don't know why I did it that way… why I couldn't be myself… why I didn't just be friendlier…"
'You were PLENTY friendly! I knew you were (mostly) just playing…'
"I'm sorry, Paisen…" she concluded.
"…!" He… he…
He knew… and he was okay with it…
She'd already apologized for this…
"I know…" he said. "Thanks…"
"Yeah…" She felt a chill run through her. "Yeah…"
"…"
"…"
"I'm sure Shuu and Tohru get the picture, Gamo-chan," Naoto reassured. "They're a little better together than I am…"
She grinned.
"Yeah, they saw how awesome I was~…" she boasted, getting some wind back in her sails. "But I still think I like the word 'neat' more~."
"Bwah!" He leapt backwards, and he finally realized the two of them had stopped walking again.
Gamo-chan cackled, doubling over, "Oh, you really are nuckin' futs, aren't you~…? Whoo!"
Naoto absorbed this enchanted sight. "…!"
What was more beautiful than a pretty girl having a true, unaffected belly-laugh…?!
He didn't think he'd found it, at least not yet.
"…~" He really did love when he got to see this.
There undeniably WAS something to not thinking too hard about being cool and junk…
He asked himself, if people tried being cool all the time, when would this wonderful shit ever happen?!
"…~"
"…~"
By-and-by, the two calmed down, and they got "back on the road again", so the saying goes.
They really DID need to move; if they got caught up in their fun, they'd miss their rides out of there…
The fact that they were back on track didn't stop their conversation, and it took a… not horrible turn, at least immediately.
"Y'know something, Paisen…?" Gamo-chan spoke.
He didn't know. "No, what?"
"When Rabi-chan said that shit about me being mannish, it didn't bother me, at least not all of it…"
He was hesitant to jump on this grenade, but he did it anyway, "What do you mean…?"
"Hold up your hand."
"What?" He did a take.
Gamo-chan giggled, "Put up your hand… towards me, palm facing me."
"Why?"
"I swear I'm going somewhere with this."
Put up his hand…?
'Okay…' He did, neither halting their stride.
And she placed her palm, hand spread out, flat against his.
'Woot!'
"See~?" she gleed. "Those are a lady's hands~."
That they were…!
The tips of her fingers didn't quite reach his distal joints.
They were soft and well-manicured to boot, if unadorned…
'Fu~uck…' Naoto knew a squiggle, somewhere deep down, but he kept his self-possession intact.
Gamo-chan dropped her hand, and his soon did the same.
"And—" she kicked out a leg.
He gaped. 'Huh?!'
She was… hopping on her opposite leg, displaying her foot, encased in her running shoe… and his gym sock.
They were still moving, after all…
"And… yeah, nothing mannish about those." Back on two feet, she'd been convinced of this. "Women's size 23.5."
'Zoot!' Naoto's senses were swimming. 'Not just the size… You take care of them too~…'
He hated himself for these "lewd" thoughts…
But he had to say something.
"What are you getting at…?" he questioned, rather pathetically.
This time, she did stop.
So did he. "…?"
"…"
"…?"
Turning his way, pink in the cheekbones, Gamo-chan said, "Take me by my shoulders."
"…" It took a few seconds to register. "…What…?"
"Just do it!" she barked.
'Wree!' He did. "O-okay…"
As they had before, his hands easily covered her shoulders.
She smiled, and maybe this time, she could read his mind (and the narration). "Look…"
"Look at what…?" Naoto gulped.
"You made my shoulders disappear~…" The Gamo-grin was strong with her. "Not even my dad can do that~…"
"$#!+!" It wouldn't hurt him to check his drawers later. "G—"
And she put her hands on his shoulders. "Look at that~."
He looked, already worked up enough that he didn't really get any worse.
They definitely couldn't encapsulate HIS…
"…!" He saw this clearly.
Gamo-chan let him go. "That's… that's what I was worried about, Paisen… my 'big' shoulders…"
"You were?" he asked, somewhat stupidly.
"Well, yeah, a little…" She hadn't been that worried, knowing that Rabi-chan probably would've said anything, just to hurt her.
But it bothered her, to a degree, and no girl liked hearing such things… though, now, it bothered her even less…
"…" Naoto didn't know what to say.
Maybe she didn't expect him to. "…"
"…"
"…"
Distractedly, Naoto ho-hummed, "Shoulders… huh…"
"…!" Gamo-chan was slightly surprised that he said anything. "Paisen…?"
He became aware. "Oh… sorry… just thinking…"
"Well, that is something most girls are worried about…" she spouted unhappily.
"…" He dearly wished she'd stay on the lighter side of things.
It wouldn't be hard for her to slip into cynicism again…
It wasn't hard for her in the first place.
They recommenced ambulation.
"…"
"…"
As Naoto tried to form words, "I—"
"Aw, don't sweat it…" she wrote off. "I just thought you'd get the hint… that I wasn't freaking out over my shoulders anymore… because of you…"
She trailed off to a Maki-mumble.
Yowch!
"I see." He wished he'd noticed before.
It hadn't crossed his mind…
"…"
"…"
"But, uh…" Gamo-chan uttered.
'Oh, what now?!' Naoto seeped, cringing. "…Yeah…?"
She suddenly grinned. "Hey, don't fret… Take it easy, dude."
'Phew…' He was saved; he tiredly hung his head. "Gotcha…"
"What I wanna say is…" Gamo-chan searched herself. "I just felt better, yesterday, when you said all you did."
"…!" He could guess it had something to do with her being pretty.
"Paisen…?"
Looking up, he was greeted with her beaming aspect… and more blushies. "…?!"
"Y'know, if you hadn't said that stuff, I dunno if I'd have had the courage to wear this dumb outfit~…"
"But you're not worried about your school uniform?" It was the first thing to pop into his head. "The skirts are as short as cocktail dresses."
And Gamo-chan didn't wear leggings either…
"H-hey, it's just that it's different," she explained, crawling in her own skin. "I wasn't sure about it… or the shoes."
'The Fawns?' Naoto suspected that was her meaning. "Gotcha…"
"I wasn't freaking out over what Rabi-chan said anymore, but I almost didn't wear those heels. I just didn't think they were me…"
'You wore them well!' If only he had the courage to tell her that~.
"I do kinda wish I'd worn something else though," she lamented. "If I had, I wouldn't have wound up making such an ass of myself."
'Fuck!' Naoto inwardly cursed, abruptly realizing she was willingly moving into "teasin' Tohru" territory.
He'd grown accustomed to her NOT wanting to talk about it, even that she shouldn't worry that she'd gotten a little wacky…
But he could address it, finally, "Hey, Tohru thought it was funny, and we all knew you were just being a little crazy, so don't worry about it."
"I'm not that worried about it, Paisen..." she pledged.
'You sure seem like you are!' Naoto was having trouble making heads-or-tails. "If you say so…"
Gamo-chan shook her head. "It's just that it was a dumb thing to do… I so wanted to get him a little worked up~…"
"You can do that by just annoying him~," he snorked. "You and Yoshi-san did that well enough. 'Zee-naw'~…"
"I know… but I wasn't looking to piss him off or anything," she vetoed. "I just wanted to watch him squirm a little~."
Naoto could get with that program, "I hear you…"
"…~"
"…~"
"…" The girl squirmed herself.
"…?" The boy noted this. "What's up?"
She stopped walking… again. "Why is it that so many guys like that sorta thing…?"
He followed suit. "'Sorta thing'?"
He didn't catch her meaning right away, though he should've.
Gamo-chan began bumbling through, "When I said, 'You like what you see, Short-pai? Enjoying the view?' That's what I mean…"
"…Okay…?" Question marks of every sort ran through his intellect.
She couldn't be…!
"Y-yeah…" She toed the sidewalk, looking down. "That…"
Was she seriously…?
She was, "I mean… they say guys are generally weak towards that sort of thing, and that's why I tried screwing with him that way."
THAT was a generalization…
'You gotta be shitting me…' Naoto's senses swam.
"Why is that…?" Gamo-chan asked. "Why do some guys go for that sorta thing…?"
He tottered. 'You can't just ask me straight-up, "Why do some guys like feet, Paisen?"'
Maybe she couldn't…
"…?" She stared at him.
If Naoto had been more mindful, he wouldn't have leapt when she merely said "froggy".
"You're seriously asking me that…?" He grimaced. "Really?!"
Gamo-chan flinched. "Eep…!"
'Oof!' Naoto hadn't wanted that. "Sorry, sorry…"
"…" She puckered, frowning in a direction that wasn't him.
"…"
"…"
Reassessing, he tried again. "You're… serious…?"
The frown vanished, and it was replaced by something that was becoming familiar.
"Yes," she said.
It was that… shy/cute/interested thing he'd been seeing of late!
When she did it, she appeared as innocent as a lamb… and as hopeful as a starving dog, begging for table scraps…
And it wasn't just him that had seen it.
When she'd REALLY wanted to see Hana's grandparents' anniversary photos…
When she'd shouldered up to Hana, hoping to watch Hana sketch an American fish from memory…
When she'd begged Shuu to sing those duets with her, though she was a LITTLE more excited those times~…
Her friends present had seen it.
Naoto was certain:
She wasn't making fun of him.
She really wanted to know… but…
"Why do you wanna know…?" He couldn't imagine why.
Gamo-chan divulged, "Just 'cause I'm curious about it. It doesn't make sense. I thought I'd ask you."
'Of course, it doesn't make sense.' He kept his mouth shut.
What, did she think he was an EXPERT on the matter…?
…
Hey, maybe he was…
He was still hesitant. "Really?"
She couldn't live with that unsolved mystery…?
Apparently she couldn't, because she persisted. "Who else could I ask?"
"…" Naoto agreed, but he still didn't want to do it.
He tried one last thing.
It couldn't hurt…
"You can't just check on the internet…?" he beseeched, near to whining.
Gamo-chan shuffled in place, wringing her hands. "I trust you more than I trust the internet."
'Aw, piss-up-a-rope…' Why did he have to be so reliable~?
…
Well, he could ask that.
Where did she think he got HIS info from…? The internet!
Even if she couldn't live with the mystery, with any luck, she could live with that.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!
