Cherry Blossom Palette: Summer by the Sea
Chapter 41: Sunblock Shenanigans (Intermediate)
Sunshine Arc
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: Today—
Naoto tries out for the big leagues… and ends up bunting after two strikes.
…
"PPB" means parts per billion. It's like parts per million (PPM) but smaller.
This chapter took a LONG time to get how I wanted. The remainder of the beach stuff is also a little difficult for me to get through, but it's moving along.
I'm hoping we can finish off the beach stuff sometime in early June, because I REALLY want to get to the later material.
The reason I did a flashback for Naoto and Gamo-chan's time together after karaoke was because I got stuck on writing it, which is why we went right from karaoke party to pool cleanup and covered their time together later.
But I'm not doing that again, not here. The beach stuff will finish when it finishes, and that'll bring us to the big summer festival and the events leading up to it.
…
I started watching the Pokémon anime with a couple of my older brothers in 2000. I was really young then. The first thing I really remember watching live is around the middle of Johto.
When I was down with the flu a few weeks ago, I decided to try watching Pokémon Horizons. I like it a lot so far. I've heard that episodes 27 and on become more episodic than the first half of the season, but I'm still hopeful it'll be good.
I think the English opening theme song, "Becoming Me", is my favorite dub song of the entire series. And there have been, like, 27 English opening songs. It just feels like a really good song for a new beginning.
The second Japanese opening song, "Halo", is also really good.
Since I was a kid, I watched the entire series up to Sun & Moon, because I didn't like Journeys very much. Not having a regular girl travel companion the entire time sort of helped kill the series. Making Goh kind of androgynous wasn't a good enough substitute. The structure of the series wasn't great either.
Liko in Horizons is a different kind of heroine, but she's a good one. She's cute, has a great design, earnest, and has a heart of 23-karet gold. She even breaks the fourth wall a few times, once realizing that all the bad guys wanted a piece of her, leaving her to wonder if she was the main character of the story. Alejandra Reynoso did a good job with her in the dub, I think. Her reactions are priceless.
She's her mother's daughter, and her mother is her grandmother's daughter, not that Liko isn't quite different from them. A grandmotherly adventurer, a motherly scholar, and a kid that overthinks everything and is a little shy. But they all definitely have the same pioneering spirit… and the same hair and cowlicks.
I still just watch the dubs, same as I have for most of my life. Netflix is dubbing the new seasons. The company's voice work is seriously hit or miss, but when they actually care about what they're doing, they can produce some pretty good stuff. They seem to care plenty with Horizons. Funimation/Crunchyroll, Sentai Filmworks, and whoever else hasn't gone out of business yet should take note, because they quit caring a long time ago, it seems.
However, since the people at Netflix are holding out on us and only have the first 12 Horizons episodes up on their site, I had to find up to 26 dubbed elsewhere, but they're out there. I think England and Australia are at the forefront for English releases. I hope that 27 and on show up soon.
Liko's Pokémon are so cute, and most of the human characters are pretty good too.
Liko's grass cat is plenty cute and stereotypically cattish, but I wasn't crazy about her second Pokémon's design until I saw how adorable and endearing it could be in its debut episode (and it's just darling, hanging out in Liko's hoodie, even cuter than Rowlet in Ash's backpack~). It turns out that the little Pokémon is very brave too. It was possibly my favorite catch in the entirety of the series.
Liko's "third" one is also totally adorable, but it can't stay out of trouble and is a good candidate for a Darwin Award, with how innocent, curious, and helpless it can be. It's like one of those babies in the old cartoons that have constant brushes with death but are always saved by the hapless main character, who winds up being the one who suffer. Think Tom from Tom & Jerry babysitting that one baby that won't ever stay in one place.
…
Something finally happened in canon 148. I'm legitimately surprised that the little wannabee tramp didn't punch Naoto in the teeth or accuse him of "playing for the wrong team" for being less nervous than she was.
Still not impressed though. Until Naoto truly calls her out for all of the times she hurt him for her own pleasure, it's failing. Deep down, Nagatoro is still just a cruel-hearted sadist, and the story is still of a mentally abused girl mentally abusing a guy that's already seen enough mental abuse in his life and deserves better.
Nanashi actually missed an opportunity to completely redeem himself and the story. When Nagatoro closed her eyes and puckered up, Naoto could've instead pinched her cheeks, stretched her face out, and told her he was messing with her and that not even her own brother or father would want her.
She's done a lot of stuff in the same vein to him, and it would objectively be miniscule compared to all the misery she's caused him. That said, it would be subjectively cruel of him and obliterate her.
But that would be so out of character for Naoto. He wouldn't do such a thing in his wildest dreams. And by that, I mean the wild dreams I wrote for him too. There are some doozies coming, but nothing like that.
…
Ask us anything, and we'll add a Q&A section in the next chapter.
It's good to know that you keep reading, so I would be happy if you drop comments and ask questions.
Please enjoy what I wrote.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Naoto wasn't sure why he smelled ozone.
No air purifiers or overloaded electrical outlets nearby…
Though, he was barely aware of the PPB sensation in the first place.
Were he in a contemplative sort of mood, he might've considered the correlation between a stroke victim and the smell of burnt toast, likening it to his current situation.
A shock to the system resulting in a perceived whiff of ozone?
…
Anyway, since his thinking cap had gone somewhat askew, he made no such connection, though he did experience a pretty good shock to his system, the sudden fuzziness in his head and the buzzing in his ears.
Now, Naoto might've missed a few words from his blonde gal-pal, but the gist of what she was saying was abundantly clear.
"My sunblock's right there, Senpai-kun… the pocket on my skirt," Sakura motioned towards the nearby garment. "Would you please get my back for me?"
That was more than a "gist"~!
"…!" He'd finally been called upon to apply her sunscreen.
But—
Though it did jar him a bit, Naoto was made of firmer stuff than he used to be, and the head-fuzzies cleared out pretty quickly.
"…!" Before him lay his pretty friend, belly-down in the sunshine, asking him to lather her up with sunscreen.
He recalled two days prior, when Sakura had peeled off her gym t-shirt, turned around, and displayed her shapely back to him.
Woot~!
She'd asked him then too, to apply lotion to her back, but Hana had been in the mood for a little "revenge" on her bestest friend, and he'd sadly missed out on the opportunity.
Now, however…
"Alright, Sakura-san." He wasn't very uncomfortable with the thought of putting sunblock on her.
She replied, "Yeah, buddy~, just gimme a nice onceover for now…"
He crawled on his hands and knees—not that it was far—and reached for the bottle she'd brought along.
"SPF-15, huh?" he read aloud.
"Yup," she answered. "I wanna get some sun today…"
Naoto positioned himself in seiza, flanking her prone form.
He was about to shake the bottle, pop it open, and—
"Uh…" He held off.
She craned her neck to see him. "What is it?"
"…!" It hadn't occurred to him, being asked on Thursday, but that hadn't involved a prone form, bringing a whole new dimension to the state of affairs.
Should he ask?
He supposed he had to. "Wh-what do you want me to do about the strings…?"
"The strings? On my bikini-top?"
"Y-yeah… Should I go… around or under or…?"
"Just untie them." She swept her hair out of the way and wormed into a more comfortable position.
'Yikes!' He wanted to be sure. "Yeah?"
"Don't worry~," the gal encouraged, roasting happily in the sun. "It's okay. Undo 'em. I plan to stay like this a little while anyway, so go ahead."
"…!" He really wanted to be sure. "The ones around your neck too?"
"Naw, just the ones across my back. I'm not worried about the back of my neck right now. Just stop the application at the neck/back border~."
"I… I've never done this before (for a girl)…" Naoto reiterated, feeling rather stupid.
That wasn't ENTIRELY true… but putting 'screen on his mother didn't count, did it~?
"Yeah, you told me as much." Sakura didn't mind. "It's all good, Senpai-kun~…"
"…!" He steeled himself. 'Okay… I gotta be COOL about this…'
And he didn't mean "cool", as in flippant or nonchalant or douchedly smooth.
He just wanted to do this dutifully… humbly… no making a big deal about it.
People applied sunblock to one another; it was normal…
Sakura was his friend—one of his best, and what they had was normal.
While not overthinking the whole condition would've been truly cool, Naoto might've done far worse.
'Okay…' Being cool meant first and foremost that he not be weird about untying her top.
Not too quick… but not too slow, cautiously, or WORST, teasingly or creepily…
"…!" He'd been able to do it with Nagatoro.
Not with sunscreen, but that time she'd wanted him to put her stockings on her…
'Fuck that…' he inwardly cursed.
It had been a hatable thing Nagatoro had tried to pull, but he had "won" that confrontation!
While she couldn't handle it and chickened out on him, he'd been FINE!
And this was way different than that mess!
He knew Sakura sometimes gave him very mild grief, but it was always… usually more pleasant than off-putting.
There was a difference between play and torment…
"Hoo…" he exhaled.
This was doable…
Taking the rightmost string in his right hand, he placed his left index-finger over the bowed-knot, just to keep things from tangling.
With a steady tug, the bow came undone, and he was faced with the most basic of overhand knots.
Just like untying a shoelace…
Naoto couldn't actually remember learning to tie his shoes, but who gave a crap~?
Neatly, he pulled the strings loose, letting each fall to Sakura's sides.
"…!" He hadn't done much, but… he'd also done a lot!
There wasn't much covered!
Discounting her bikini-bottom, from the nape of her neck to her pink-and-tan toes, there was only coppery dorsum in between~.
It was only a couple of strings, but what a change!
"…" And she lay still, not giving him any feedback.
'Keep your eyes where they belong!' Naoto willed himself. 'Keep your eyes on your work!'
The only things protecting Sakura's assuredly awesome areolas from being his personal frontpage news was the fact her breasts were pressed at the nadir and he was hovering at her zenith.
He—
"Hey, you good, Senpai-kun?" the gal asked.
He startled, spouting, "Y-yeah. Just lemme…"
Shaking the bottle of SPF, he opened it and squeezed it into his hand.
*squirt*
It was the smell that stood out the most to Naoto. "Oh!"
It was kind of fruity~…
"What?" Sakura peered up.
He was utterly disarmed, even sidetracked. "Your sunscreen smells good."
Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb!
But the Universe needn't berate Naoto, Sakura holding no gripe with what he'd said.
"Oh, yeah~," she chirped. "It's mango/guava. It's pretty much my favorite scent for product and cosmetics and junk~."
He didn't dislike it at all. "It beats the thin chemical smell most sunscreen has."
"Oh, that stuff on Thursday was awful…" she opined. "And your stuff today too."
He shrugged. "Seemed normal to me."
"Fine, that stuff was just normal… like, for working outside and whatever."
"I guess today is a special occasion," Naoto reasoned.
Sakura shared, "It's totally different than the product I've mostly been using lately."
"Yeah?"
"Oh, yeah. Smell my hair."
"…!" He did a take. "What?"
Had he heard her properly?
"It's alright, just give my hair a smell," she encouraged.
While it seemed a leap, he didn't think she was up to no good. "…!"
Thus, he did it.
Leaning in, supporting himself, he took a snootful of her locks.
He hadn't detected it until he was right next to her, but—
"Eucalyptus/spearmint!" he almost blurted.
"Yup," she chuckled. "You like it~?"
You could say that~!
Naoto supposed he had noticed her smelling of guava/mango before, but there was no mistaking what filled his nostrils.
His mom used eucalyptus/spearmint. For almost everything.
It was HER favorite, without a doubt…
It brought him back to that Friday night Sakura had visited his house, when…
…
"Yeah, it's nice," he finally answered her question. "The mango/guava's interesting though."
She respired, "Yeah, I love it. Usually, fruity smells are either awful or overpowering, but I like this one a whole lot~."
"…~" Naoto adored seeing the blonde happy.
It would've been easy to accuse him of stalling, but it didn't happen.
He wasn't stalling.
In fact, he was already rubbing it between his hands.
There was really nothing to fret over, not really!
They'd become pretty close, and palling around with her could be almost as easy as breathing… and just as pleasurable.
Seriously, he'd been able to touch her during their modeling session!
He'd configured everything below her thighs—right down to the toes—like an action figure, just to obtain that one pose he'd so wanted to see and render.
And THAT seemed a lot scarier than putting a handful of sunscreen on someone's back!
"…~" What was there to worry about?!
Even so, just when Naoto was about to lay hands on her, Sakura paused him, "Hey."
"…!" He stalled like a plane coming in too steep. "…Yeah?"
"Be careful, you…" Sakura counseled, sneaking a glance his way. "I'm pretty ticklish under the arms~."
'Oh, cripes~!' Naoto couldn't allow himself to be thrown off.
He looked her full in the face.
"I'll be careful," he promised, only wishing to get this thing on the move.
"If you get too close to any forbidden territory, I'll squeal to let you know~."
And she probably would!
'Ack!' He was sure she'd do something, whatever it might be. "Right…"
"That means you gotta watch out for the side-boob~."
Low blow!
"Yeesh…" he beefed, this dig not unexpected.
She scolded, pouting, "That's not what you're supposed to say."
"What do you say to that…?"
"Say, 'I'm not gonna touch your side-boob.'"
'Shee-yit!' Naoto reeled, not that he was about to succumb to her friskiness. "I'm not gonna do that."
"Go ahead… I'm givin' you permission~…"
"That's not the issue."
"Senpai-kun, it's a perfectly acceptable term (not really, but it's common~), and everyone knows what you mean when you say it. It simplifies things."
Could he really say something that crass?
He had said worse things around her—and she him, but… this was a different sort of line to cross.
Was this a line he WANTED to cross?
He supposed he would be better off not crossing the line, but—
"…Okay, fine…" he gave in. "I'm not gonna touch your side-boob."
"Swear it~."
Naoto sighed, "I hereby do solemnly swear I won't touch your side-boob."
"And what about underneath~?"
"Not gonna happen; I'm just doing your back."
"Promise me."
"Do I have to?"
"Underneath is a higher-security place than the sides," she said matter-of-factly. "You gotta."
Those areas were VERY DIFFERENT areas!
"Mrmbl…" Naoto wasn't exactly game.
"And I'll feel better if it's put in writing~…" Sakura added.
"Writing?!"
"In triplicate~."
Needless to say, he didn't have pen and paper.
He could try to…
"I'm guessing you don't have the means either," he postulated. "Would you settle for just words…?"
"Well… only 'cause it's you, my good buddy~."
'Oh, fuck…' He couldn't believe he was doing this. "Okay, I won't touch your under-boob either… I swear it."
"Actually, it's 'under-tit'~."
"What?! Why?!"
Saying "boob" was bad enough… but "TIT"…?!
"That's just what it's called, Senpai-kun~."
"Does it have to be?!"
"It just flies off the tongue better~!" she chortled. "I think 'under-tit' sounds way better than 'under-boob'~."
"I'm not gonna say it." He decided to be firm.
"Please~…" She gave him the doe-eyes.
'Yipe!' He needed to be firm. "I'm not gonna say it."
"Oh, poo…" she moped. "In that case, I guess—just this once~—I'll make an excep—"
Somewhere between impulse and intention, Naoto determined he needed to not play games, so he energetically planted the flats of his hands on the small of her back.
It was less a matter of getting her to shut up than it was bulldozing through the bullshit, not that it didn't accomplish both of these…
"Squeep!" Caught mid-sentence, Sakura bucked under Naoto's touch.
Her bikini-top—under slight tension—shot right out from underneath her, only staying attached for the strings around her neck.
"Almost a nipple sighting" alert!
"Ack!" Naoto backed off his hands, holding them high. 'Aw, fuck!'
He realized a few of their adultish neighbors were staring.
"…!" He could kick himself for doing what he'd done.
Regardless, no one stared long, and they got back to their own business.
Reverting his gaze to his horizontal gal-pal, she was in the process of worming the bikini-top back into its proper orientation, and she, uh…
Didn't look too pleased!
"It-it wasn't cold, was it?" he was foolish enough to ask this; it was the first thing in his mind.
She glared, crimsoning in the face. "No! You surprised me, you ass! What was that?!"
'D'oh!' It wasn't hard to tell she was pretty miffed—possibly on the verge of tears. "Uh…"
"…?" She continued scowling at him, her big, soft, brown eyes not so very big and soft.
More like narrowed and hardened!
Naoto, pants figuratively full of his own shit, had an answer, and hopefully, it wouldn't make matters worse.
"I… dunno why I did that…" he truthfully concluded. "I know you were just hassling me a bit, so… I'm sorry."
"…" Sakura focused on the blanket.
And she exhaled.
"…" She knew she sometimes did stupid things too.
Things had just gotten out-of-hand for a few seconds…
"I'm sorry too…" she submitted.
Naoto exhaled himself, "Phew…"
"Heh~…" Sakura snorked.
The young artist wondered, "What?"
"I think I get it." She took on a manic mien, eyeballing him. "Power through the playfulness, eh~?
"Yeah… I… sorry…"
"It's alright… Just… don't do that kinda thing. Most people don't like that sorta thing… Girls don't usually like that sorta thing."
"Right."
"But… man, you're full of surprises, bud~," Sakura chuckled. "Sometimes, you really are~."
Naoto found the chuckle to be contagious, and he joined her, "…~"
"…~"
"…~"
"Now, Senpai-kun, the sunscreen."
"The what?"
"The sunscreen~!" Sakura bubbled. "You've got a job to do! It's fine. Go on."
"Uh… yeah." Naoto calmly reapplied his hands to her, and he began rubbing in the pleasant-smelling sunblock, starting with her shoulder-blades.
Even coverage… firm but gentle… as if applying it on oneself… not that the average person could reach their own back…
"Mm~…" Sakura luxuriated.
Naoto liked hearing her satisfied, though—
He shivered nervously. "C-cut it out, Sakura-san… I'm not doing much."
"I can just tell you care~…" She smiled blearily. "But, like, seriously… be careful under my arms."
"I haven't even gotten to there…"
"Just sayin'~…"
"…" Naoto gradually kept at it.
Sakura murmured serenely, "…~"
This was…
"…"
"…~"
This was going okay!
Naoto even felt a mild confidence, even if it wasn't quite at the level of "looking up a bull's ass and knowing the price of butter".
That was just arrogant…
Part of what kept him humble was the knowledge of what he was doing… and the beautiful girl before him, entrusting herself to him.
However—
Her tanned, toned back was a marvel~.
"…~" He was on top of the world. 'Wowza~!'
How good it was to be alive~!
"Get my shoulders and upper-arms too, please," Sakura wished. "It's kinda hard to reach 'em on your own, y'know."
"No problem."
"Just please don't pinch me over the triceps…"
"I won't…"
"I knew it hurt, but… shit, did that hurt!" Sakura rotated her head enough to see him. "Hana-chan really got me…"
Naoto surmised, "I know it wasn't great, but I think it might've hurt her feelings a little bit… you telling her that her technique was bad."
"Yeah, I know…" she lamented, eyes-front. "But, yeah, just a little bit. Just so you know, you're about a thousand times better at this."
"…" He trusted he was maybe a hundred times better; he had to let up a moment. "Oh, wait… I gotta get more lotion…"
"No prob~," she said.
He squirted another squirt of her sunblock into his hands.
"Still, the tricep thing…?" Sakura groused. "Seriously, that shit hurts."
"Does that mean you'll never do it again?"
She simpered, "Naw~… I'll just use better discretion~…"
"Pfft!" he laughed in spite of himself, rubbing his hands together.
She poked out her tongue before resettling. "Tee-hee~."
"…~" He was liking this, not that this was anything new.
"Mm~…" Sakura burbled contentedly. "The sun feels so nice~…"
"Yeah…" Naoto rippled, returning to her back.
This was… pretty great~…
"You can do my thighs too, if you want~," Sakura "permitted".
Those crème Brulé hamstrings~…
Be that as it may, Naoto kept a lid on his jumpiness. "If you really do need help with that, you should have one of the girls do it…"
"What about my calves~?"
"I think you can reach your own calves…"
"…~" she sniggered, not the least benevolently. "How 'bout the ankles~? Or maybe the soles of my f—"
He cut her off, "No, Sakura-san… No way…"
"Tee-hee~…"
Too much with the "tee-hee"!
'Lordy!' Naoto recoiled, far from immune to such antics. "Heh~!"
"…~" Sakura wondered if this was what it was to be a goddess.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!
Questions and comments are welcome!