🌸Cherry Blossom Palette: Summer by the Sea🎨
🌸Chapter 11: Two to One🎨
Doorway into Summer Arc
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: I know I said we'd be on break this week, but I didn't like this section of the story put with the last chapter or the next chapter, so it'll be its own little chapter!
Anticipate a break next week or the week after. I wish I could say for sure, but I don't know.
Making Chapter 11 its own little chapter makes it necessary to change up a few other things.
We've only touched on the next story arc, so we're not quite where we want to be. Late winter/early spring was busy for both of us.
Plus, I have some big spring projects, gearing up for "construction season". And PS has a lot of stuff he could do on his farm, even though they might be getting into the fields later than they want to. The Midwest got a lot of snow late in the winter and even the last few weeks, and his fields may be swamps until the middle of May.
Today, the Art Club members (and friend) unwind after a long day.
Not a lot happens, but I think it's fun.
…
My editor has come up with a lot of really weird things, most of them funny, but I think the thing about Naoto in the bathtub pretending his unit was a lighthouse might be the most ridiculous thing I've heard out of him, meaning it's one of the most ridiculous things I've heard in my LIFE.
But he ALSO came up with the whole "good friend, very pretty girl, really neat" thing, long before he ever began helping ME. I guess that PS is a man of many talents, LOL.
If the guy I was crushing on in high school had told me I was those three things, when I wasn't feeling good about myself (and he'd meant it), I'd have melted. I've mentioned so before, but I really would.
Sadly, he was not that sort of boy. He still isn't that sort of man.
…
My editor also said something creepy-ish/hilarious, and I can't tell if he's joking or not. It SOUNDS like a joke, but… he's crazy, you know.
He said that Gamo-chan's legs should have their own theme music that goes off in Naoto's head whenever he focuses too hard on them.
He suggested the song should either be a specific live version (Old Grey Whistle Test) of "Psycho Killer" by the Talking heads or The Doors' studio version of "Five to One".
watch?v=jzIuZ-mrIL0
watch?v=oOzpncIHCLs
PS cracks me up with this kind of stuff, and I'll feel better if I assume that he's kidding or he was inebriated.
I could only think to call this chapter "Gelato and Italian Ice", so I told him to come up with something better.
I think he named this chapter "Two to One" with the song TITLE in mind, not that The Doors' song refers to some guy having a hex-some(?) or sex-some(?) with five women. I don't know exactly what the song means, and I didn't ask PS, but I'm sure he'd give me a dissertation if I offered him a six pack.
I also didn't ask him which two characters of the three were the "two". Is it Naoto and Sakura? Naoto and Hana? Sakura and Hana? Who's the "one"?
Maybe it's all these at once. Any two of the characters have something the third can't be part of.
I listened to the infamous live version of "Two to One" performed in 1969 at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, FL. Jim Morrison was drunk for it, spouting a whole bunch of nonsense that got him arrested and (I think) convicted for trying to incite a riot, and I don't think his band or handlers appreciated it.
…
Rick and Morty is some funny stuff. I'm already starting Season 3, but the giant, naked (dead) sky Santa from Season 1 has yet to be topped in sheer craziness.
…
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.
Thursday, July 26, 2018
"Sakura-senpai, you're not really colorblind, are you?" Hana Sunomiya sucked on her spoon, now bereft of the frozen confection it had carried (made with real pistachios~).
"No, I'm not colorblind~," Sakura Inori spoke around the mouthful of her own gelato (mango, yummy~). "What could you have seen to make you think I am?"
"Nothing, other than what you just said to Mr. Yamaguchi. I never thought about it before, but I wouldn't assume either. Colorblindness runs in the men of my family, and I had an aunt with it, so I've seen it."
"If I'd known that, I wouldn't have joked about it," Sakura regretted. "I was just giving that ol' 'sour cream and onion' ass-cracked son-of-a-bitch some grief~."
"Maybe we should start carrying a 'swear-jar' around with us, Sakura-senpai," Hana said, half-serious. "Even at ¥10 per word, I think we might've nearly been able to pay for our gelato, with your language today."
"Maybe ¥20; you overestimate, Hana-chan~," the gal burbled. "Anyway, Senpai-kun's picked up this indulgence~."
Naoto Hachioji shaved his spoon through his own confection, having chosen lemon Italian ice. "Mrmbl…"
The two girls sat in the shade of the patio of a sweets shop, the store's specialty being gelato, with their senpai, the young man indeed having paid for the girls' treats, the concept of a swear-jar in jest/unimplemented.
Jokes aside…
The girls had helped him clean the school pool, partly out of their devotion to him and partly out of obligation for the help he'd given them prior to final exams.
Naoto didn't exactly owe them for that…
But feeding his kohai something cold and sweet didn't hurt, especially after a couple days of wanting to and trying to refuse their aid in speeding along his lame punishment… which was partly Sakura's fault anyway…
He knew the girls were a little peeved about it.
Outside of this little soliloquy, Hana was more interested in Sakura's razzing the condition of colorblindness than her cursing.
"I don't think any of my family would feel insulted by the affront you gave Mr. Yamaguchi," she excused. "The man is detestable, lashing out at anything that offends his 'unsensibilities'. He was rather unkind to Sana-neechan, just because she expressed herself."
Sana Sunomiya certainly had expressed herself, unflinchingly and with little regard to anyone or anything other than her own being.
But she'd never done it with evil in her heart… and she'd never faked it…
…
Naoto knew this odd trio, ragtag in their gym clothes, stinking of sunscreen, dirty from the day's work, cut an odd sight, but he was too happy to care about the stares they were receiving.
He thought of what the rest of the day would hold.
A tepid shower would be welcome, a fine way to begin the evening!
Best of all, his head, neck, torso, arms, and legs weren't sunburned, so he had that going for him.
However, the tops of his feet were beginning to itch, the sunscreen on his skin not able to stand up to the strong floor soap they'd been using to clean the pool.
He was developing a sunburn THERE, but he wasn't about to complain to the girls…
He'd just deal with it.
And speaking of that awful detergent—
"Man, you weren't kidding about that soap, Senpai-kun…" Sakura could still smell the stuff on her hands. "It is strong… My skin feels so dry…"
Hana could see her own knuckles drying out. "Indeed… It reminds me of a time I didn't use oil paints for a while… My parents had me doing dishes for a week straight, since we rotate on chores, and this is about what they looked like. My hands are spotless."
"Same here… and I gotta say, I've never seen my feet this clean either~," Sakura chirped. "After I shower today, maybe I'll do my weekly mani/pedi~. I mean, cleaning up before is half the battle."
"How is it your nail polish stood up to all of that?" Hana wondered, observing.
Sakura was out of her sandals, her feet up on the table's spare chair, her fluorescent green pedicure still looking like new.
"It's partly because I did such a good job with it~," she praised her own skill, checking out her toes and also considering her manicured hands. "But it's also that you need a good solvent to really get it off, especially with the procedure I use in the application process~."
Naoto didn't mean to see, but it came with the territory of his position, the gal's rosy pink soles at his elbow, her feet resting on their heels in the chair next to him.
Yup, her restless toes could probably still cause cancer in the state of California, same as her fingers…
He thought of his sunburn. 'She's lucky she tans so easily… Even the bottoms of her FEET tan a little bit…'
Hence the rosiness~!
"…!" His mind skirted the gutter. 'It's a crying shame to obscure such fine specimens in those ugly, strappy sport sandals…'
He remembered the girls—the last time they'd gone to the beach, five weeks back—had given Sakura a lot of grief for the tacky, ancient sandals, especially when the rest of her looked like she'd stepped out of the pages of the Sports Illustrated annual swimsuit issue.
Sakura had said, defiantly:
…
'Whatever, they're comfy~!'
…
Naoto shook it off, focusing on his Italian ice.
It wasn't his business what the gal wore on her feet…
It seemed, however, Sakura had noticed his wandering eyes, and she brought it to his attention.
"Hey, no lookin', Senpai-kun~." She waggled her feet purposefully, moving to cross her legs at the ankles.
'Well, don't put 'em so close…!' He wanted to say that, but he wouldn't imply that she was asking for it, and he chose a smarter path. "Sorry, Sakura-san…"
They were SO close, she could've pointed her toes and grabbed the loose skin on his elbow…
What was that patch of skin called…?
She chuckled at his blushing cheeks, "Aw, it's okay~… Are you feeling any irritation down there, on your feet?"
His sunburn wasn't helping, but…
He was glad she wasn't teasing him too badly and considered his, in flip-flops, "I wouldn't say irritated, but you're right, they feel a little dry… Are you having a problem?"
"Yeah," she replied, leaning her head back, slouching a little. "Skin's kinda sensitive…"
"Do you think you're allergic or anything to something in the soap?"
"No, but I prolly should've listened to you… protected them a little better. Stuff was just harsh, worse than I figured."
"Will you be okay?"
"It's nothing a little lotion or petroleum jelly won't fix~. I'll put some on once I get home."
"That's good… I'll do the same, I think…"
"Me too," Hana contributed, having been silent a moment. "On the knuckles too…"
"Oh, I hate when my knuckles dry out…!" Sakura protested, as if to the very Heavens.
Hana nodded. "It's strange, feeling like this when it's not winter…"
After a little more chitchat among them, Naoto wished to move things in another direction, and he did have something he wished to say anyway.
"Sakura-san, in the office?" he spoke quite seriously. "You were really pushing your luck back there…"
"Hey, Mr. Principal was totally on our side," she negated. "Didn't you notice~?"
"Mr. Yamaguchi's gonna remember that…"
"What's he gonna do~?"
"Well, he could… try to make your life miserable." He wouldn't make it an absolute thing.
"Well, screw him and the horse he rode in on… except he's riding the horse backwards, and he has a hand up the horse's ass~…"
"Sakura-san…!"
"When he said he was always correcting me? He was serious; the crabby egg-fart won't leave me alone…" Naoto's misgiving hadn't slowed her down. "I've been wanting to smart off a little to that fothermucker since I started at this school~…"
"That really isn't a good idea, Sakura-san…"
She mocked (Yamaguchi, not Naoto), "Other than all the… '~dress code violations~' he bitched about, last month, he accosted me when I was holding hands with Nobu-kun on school grounds."
Naoto hadn't thought of Nobuo Takata in a few days… Sakura's ex… though his life seemed to currently revolve around the consequences of that final date the two shared… the second day of calendar summer…
"Find me one place in the student handbook where it says 'no handholding'!" she challenged. "And don't give me that 'moral and decent relationship' malarkey… It's no sin to hold hands with someone you like between classes or during break… or to kiss their cheek."
"You seem to be going somewhere with this, Sakura-senpai…" Hana, listening the whole time, ran her gelato'd spoon down her tongue.
Sakura simpered, "You know it~."
"…I don't see anything wrong with handholding, if the two people are friends and like each other…" Hana considered. "What will you do?"
"Just for that, I'm gonna spend the summer amassing crazy nail polish colors, and I'll show his dumb ass the neon rainbow the first day of the fall semester," she "dedicated". "Maybe I'll even wear wedge-sandals to and from school~. I'll dye my hair pink and wear a cocktail dress!
"He's always the teacher that does it, standing at the entrance the first day of a new semester, like some tight-assed gargoyle, dressing us down, so he'll prolly be there. Wouldn't that be a pisser~? If he saw that~?"
Hana wasn't indifferent to the ridiculous idea. "Would he wet himself from shock, or would it amuse you and the public to the point of such a loss in bladder-control?"
"Hopefully both~!" Sakura warbled.
Naoto cringed at the girl-talk, but he didn't dislike it. 'Maybe these two should come up with a comedy routine for the next talent show or the school festival… Seriously, they could do it…'
The girls could be THAT funny…
…
Hana gave Sakura a small dose of reality, "He'd most likely just send you home… or try to have you suspended."
"Suspended? For that?" she balked. "…Then again, you did say 'try'. But… yeah, he'd prolly try to send me home… and see me punished in some way…"
"Just imagine if Sana-neechan had worn that silly bunny outfit on the first day of a new semester."
"~Eek~! That would've been a riot! I thought Yamaguchi was gonna stroke out when he saw her wearing that thing at the end of last year's school festival, but on the first day of the new semester~…?"
'Then, there was the time she wore the dumb costume for that run last fall…' Naoto recalled, praying the girls wouldn't start in on the subject.
But he'd undoubtably tolerate ANY subject matter from the girls, so long as they had fun and weren't hurting anyone… namely HIM…
To add onto an earlier stance, if he'd been told a couple months back that Hana would be riffing with the girls, introduced to him as Hayase Nagatoro's friends, in such ways… he'd have been more than mildly skeptical…
In spite of such sentiments, Naoto was more focused on the present… and what they'd just gotten out of the way.
It came a little out of the blue, but he never WAS that great at finding the proper moment…
"Thank you, girls, for helping me~…" he breathed, feeling about as blessed as was divinely possible. "You both really didn't have to do that, but I'm so glad you did~…"
Sakura fawned, "Aw, it's good, buddy~… We were thrilled to bits to help, weren't we, Hana-chan~?"
"Most definitely," Hana harrumphed.
Naoto tacked on, "I'm so glad I won't still be doing that on Sunday… There's no way I could get it done on Saturday, if I hadn't finished it tomorrow…"
Sakura peeped, "I keep forgetting about the beach trip on Saturday… not that I'm actually forgetting~. You know what I mean."
'That's right…' He'd rather work all night to finish than miss a beach day with the girls… and his guy-friends too, he supposed…
Hana brought to light something that was perhaps on all their minds, but no one had verbalized it.
"I suppose this is all to be kept a secret?" she asked. "Hachioji-senpai? Sakura-senpai?"
Naoto wanted to give a chill answer, but it wasn't in the cards.
"This has to stay a secret…" he implored, shakily, and he decided the girls should understand. "The principal knows it was Sakura-san… that she was the one with me at school on Friday night."
He'd been speaking more to Hana, but it reached Sakura's ears, just as easily.
"He does?" she yelped.
Naoto hadn't really been surprised, being told, the video footage obtained wasn't as shitty as previously thought. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-san. The school wants it quiet, the school itself doesn't know, and the principal will let it go, it seems."
"It just needs to stay quiet," Hana settled. "No problem."
"Yeah…" Sakura sighed. "It'll stay between the three of us, you clubmates (and me)…"
Naoto desired, "I don't think it'll be a problem… as long as no one saw us…"
"Students clean the pool a few times a year, Senpai-kun. I don't think anyone would give it a second thought, even if they did see it…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Just… thanks, girls~…" Naoto said, a near-euphoria making his brain and nerves go *buzz*. "I owe you one…"
Sakura broke his elation, snickering, "We were gonna let it go at gelato, Senpai-kun, but if you're offering~…"
'Uh-oh!' He'd walked into this, glass jaw aimed right for the punching glove.
Sakura cajoled, "How 'bout a back massage~?"
Hana joined the fun.
"We could use more 'B' pencils, Hachioji-senpai, particularly 5B and 8B…" she cited. "What we have are worn down to nubs."
Naoto had no problem with the latter, but the former~… "We'll… talk."
The girls ran with it.
"We should get him to take us for kalbi, Hana-chan~!" Sakura squealed. "I could go for some yakiniku~."
Hana gave a sideways glance at Naoto. "My Thursdays are fairly open, Sakura-senpai."
"Today's Thursday~!" Sakura winked at him.
'Ack!' Naoto squinched.
Again, he was content enough to see the girls having a fine time, even if it was at his expense.
They were always good-natured and never mean about it…
'Today… it wasn't so bad~…' He felt pretty lucky, and he proceeded to space out a moment, the girls' fooling around fading away.
…
Life was pretty good, sometimes…
He was square with the school, he had a nice Italian ice, and there were two kohai that lo—
…
Something was titillating at his elbow, and his eyes snapped open.
Looking down, he saw five green-and-tan pigs, stretched out and rooting around for discord.
They were Sakura's, naturally…
"How you doin', space cadet~?" She hadn't grabbed the skin around his elbow, but she was poking at it, with something resembling a Gamo-grin spread across her face. "So, how 'bout that back massage, Senpai-kun~? Or perhaps something else~…?"
"Byauh!" Naoto bellowed, shifting over and nearly falling from his seat.
It was a good thing he'd set down his treat…
The blonde laughed, recoiling her leg at his starting, and Hana had half a mind to punish her dear gal-pal.
"Sakura-senpai, you shouldn't surprise him like that," she reprimanded. "You know how dangerous it can be when he zones out like that…"
'Dangerous?!' Naoto wasn't sure if that was the best word for it.
"Aw, sorry, Senpai-kun…" Sakura repented. "I just couldn't resist~…"
'Sure, you couldn't…' He, however, wasn't very upset, and, recovering, he tried to be cool and get a laugh out of her. "Next time, warn me…"
Expectedly, it worked…
Sakura cackled, "Oh, you wish~! That's half the fun of it."
"You can kiss any chance at that back massage goodbye then, Sakura-san," he strained to keep the gag going. "Sunomiya gets her 'B' pencils though."
"Really~?" Hana appeared hopeful.
It was Naoto's turn to laugh, and he did, "I'd get them for you, even if I had to shell out my own money~."
"I thought we were talking about your money, Hachioji-senpai," she stated. "Wasn't that the implied humor in all this?"
Hana wasn't wrong!
"I guess you're right, Sunomiya~…" he acknowledged. "I was gonna just use the club funds, but if it's urgent, we can stop by the crafts store when we're done here. It's not like the pencils are expensive, even the good ones; it wouldn't be a problem."
The corners of Hana's mouth rose ever so slightly, but her eyes were assuredly joyful. "Thank you… but it's not urgent. Just put them on the list for the next time we buy new supplies."
Naoto really would've done it. "Absolutely… and make sure to let me know if we need anything else."
"Will do."
Naoto grinned. "…~"
"…~" Hana's mouth-corners turned up a little higher.
"Hey, Art Club, I'm feeling a little left out over here…" Sakura pouted, tongue-in-cheek. "What about me~?"
"I'll give you a back-massage, Sakura-senpai," Hana extended, her hands raised, fingers nipping together.
Sakura laughed humorlessly, straightening up and defending her dorsal, "Ha-ha-ha… Are you kidding? I'm not turning my back on you… for at least a little while~."
The backs of her upper-arms were still stinging, Hana's pinch-and-twist yet fresh in her mind.
Q&A Section
When watching anime do you prefer slice of life or action anime? Or are you the type that can get into any genre?
ED: I can usually get into almost anything. It's more the show than the genre. There are excellent shows in all genres.
Many of the slice of life series I like were never made into anime or the anime was no good.
I like action, but I don't like excessive blood, and I'm no fan of gore. That's one reason I like One Piece so much, but I don't have patience to watch the anime anymore, because they stretch out a chapter's worth of material to pad an entire episode, when they should just put one and a half or two chapters worth of stuff into an episode. The pacing is awful in the anime, but that's now it works.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!