🌸Cherry Blossom Palette: Summer by the Sea🎨
Chapter 33: Beach Episode! [Part Five]
Sunshine Arc
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: I hope you find this chapter to be a fun one. It wasn't the easiest to write, and PS had a NIGHTMARE of an editing job to do, but I like it, and I hope you do too!
We cut off the chapter sooner than originally planned, but I liked the way it flowed, and you'll get the "excess" next time.
…
In today's episode…
Gamo-gratification ensues, swift and cruel in its reprisal!
Hana channels darkness!
Nekoba puts an end to ignominy!
Separate realities… mesh…?
…
The Fractured but Whole is a lot more interesting than The Stick of Truth, but it's a very different game. You get to play a superhero with the tragic backstory of "your dad f*cked your mom" that Cartman came up with. I guess he doesn't know that everybody's dad f*cked everybody's mom, unless the dad is the "wrigglers that came out of the freezer" (guess who coined THAT~). That's basic human procreation.
But it's funny, and it's South Park.
Right now, I'm an "Elementalist/Blaster" class, because Cartman feels SO sorry for me because my dad f*cked my mom, he allowed me to have dual classes. I guess later, I have access to even more classes because my life has been so terrible.
I've seen what the "Plantmancer" class can do in YouTube videos, and it's a shame I don't have access to that class until much later in the game. Mother Nature is decidedly frumpy, and I'm not a fan of her gross healing process, but the skillset is good.
It's awesome that you can continually assign and interchange moves between combat but can only have three at a time. You also get a special move, which you get one of but can also switch out.
I know that PS is looking forward to the new South Park game, Snow Day, but he's disappointed that they didn't go with the same 2D format that Stick and Fractured used. It does look odd in 3D.
…
The canon final showdown between the bullying, worst girl heroine and the brain damaged, friendless Olympian wannabee was very anticlimactic.
Maybe we'll still get a Million Dollar Baby type ending. You should hear some of the stories that PS told me about what he saw when wrestling got dirty. Mat wrestling, not the fake stuff on TV.
Even so, nothing else happened in the chapter, other than the Judo Club members being terrible characters. I could never decide whether the judo kids were worse than the summer art camp kids, but they're all lousy.
Nanashi could've done so much more with the story, but I think it'll be over by springtime.
…
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
When last we left our heroes, Amazon Maki Gamo ridiculed the institution of the BFF bracelet (anklet), provoking the ire of gal Sakura Inori and artiste Hana Sunomiya!
*gasp!*
In the face of Gamo-chan's derision, Sakura touted the lusciousness of her posterior, inferring that Gamo-chan might plant lips upon it!
*shock!*
Gamo-chan further derided Sakura, insinuating the gal's derriere was NOT a place of lusciousness, but rather a bleak locality, lorded over by the likes of the Desolate One!
*mayhem!*
Sakura then cupped her lady-valley, signifying that Gamo-chan would do well to partake of the golden goodness, opposing the fire-crotch of the Maki!
*madness!*
Staggered, Gamo-chan beheld, in angst, Hana standing in solidarity with this temptation, equally inciting the Amazon of the burning bush to dine upon the hirsute maw!
*chaos!*
~~WHAT TERRORS AWAIT THE FLOWER GIRLS?!~~
*dread!*
…
…
…
"What did you just call me?!" Gamo-chan bellowed in disbelief, as if she hadn't heard it, clear as day.
Sakura and Hana stood firm, having delivered a hit—uh… in essence—below the belt. "…~" "…"
Naoto, Yoshi, Shuu, and Tohru hadn't missed it, the denigration of the "burning bush" in the Valley of the Maki.
'Oh, snap…!' well summarized their collective thoughts.
Sakura snickered behind her hands, "That's what happens~."
"Insult not ye the bond of flower girls," Hana said with some theatrical effect.
Gamo-chan was slightly offended, believably, not overly pleased about her "fire-crotch" being alluded to in front of male company.
"Hanacchi!" she protested. "I can understand that sorta crap from Sakura, but did you really have to jump me too?"
This might've LOOKED bad, especially to the four observers, but this was just some casual banter… some fun amongst friends and honorary sisters… mostly… maybe… uh-oh…
"Flower girls' friendship is sacred~." Hana's eyes sparkled in pride, her arms crossed in resolve. "We'll not have you besmirching it with such petty accusations."
Gamo-chan also crossed her arms, sneering. "But what about us~?"
"You're still my neechan," Hana assured. "But I would stand against even Sana-neechan, had she scorned our bond."
…
What WOULD they call the Prez…? "Long-titty"…?
…
"Oh, c'mon, I just said friendship bracelets were kinda childish…" Gamo-chan had been half-joking. "I didn't mean you in particular."
Sakura opined, "Let's call us even. I think we're square~."
"Undeniably," Hana seconded.
The big girl, on the other hand, had other plans.
She cracked her knuckles, looming large before the two lasses. "Oh! What I'm going to do to YOU~…"
'Uh-oh!' The four onlookers knew something was about to happen.
"…" Hana didn't flinch.
But Sakura dared, "Pfft~!"
"Oh, you'll get yours, Sakura~…" Gamo-chan proclaimed, grinning widely at the blonde; she rounded to her oldest friend. "Yoshi!"
The Yosh perked. "Huh?"
Gamo-chan pointed the Hand of Doom at Sakura, ready to hash out punishment. "Contain the gyaru~!"
"…Wha…?" Yoshi blinked.
Gamo-chan clarified, "Grab Sakura, and don't let her go!"
"I know what you meant!" She just couldn't fathom why.
…
After this, just the boys were left to wonder, 'What the heck is going on…?!'
It wasn't long until they knew.
…
In a flash, Yoshi dematerialized and then rematerialized behind Sakura. "Gotcha~!"
She took the gal in a hold, Hana leaping to one side in surprise.
Sakura immediately struggled but fell into resignation just as quickly.
"…!" She knew—at once and in her heart—that she'd been got.
Gamo-chan loomed even higher. "Oh, you're gonna GET IT, girly~!"
"Wh-wh-what are you gonna do…?" Sakura recognized that she really was in "peril".
"Myeh-heh-heh~…" Gamo-chan chuckled darkly. "Nothing, for now… to you~."
"Then… why?" Yoshi had no clear idea why she was holding onto the flaxen-haired maiden.
"Oh, she'll get it~…" Gamo-chan pledged. "But later~! This is just so she can't interfere…"
She rotated her gaze to Hana.
"…?!" Hana's eyes darted around.
Gamo-chan smiled, far more sweetly than was even remotely appropriate. "I'm still your neechan~…?"
"…" Hana peered suspiciously, but she had no quarrel with the sentiment. "Nothing will change that."
"I have two younger siblings, a brother and a sister… You know about them?"
Hana nodded. "Yes. Riko is in his first year of middle school, and Himari is in her fifth year of elementary."
"We like to play around, Hanacchi~," Gamo-chan expounded. "They've just about outgrown it—I don't think I ever will, but there's a little… game~ we play, when one of us goofs on another. The two of them can still get me, if they catch me unaware, but neither of them is safe from me—even together, if I'm on the warpath. I wonder where that leaves you~…"
Now, Hana began to feel a bit nervous, and she saw no safe haven. "Where's this going…?"
"I'll show you what this neechan does to little brothers and sisters that mouth off to her~!" Gamo-chan moved with purpose.
By no means was Hana out-of-shape, but she wasn't the most athletic of girls, and escape wasn't in the cards.
"…!" She didn't get far.
Gamo-chan enveloped her in a bear-hug. "Tee-hee-hee~!"
And she began to tickle the Hell out of Hana, her hands finding their way to every surface of the younger girl's torso, but mainly concentrating under the arms and on the sides.
"Wah-KYAAAAH~ha~ha~ha~ha!" Hana shrieked with laughter. "HEEEEEEEEK~!"
…
'What the…?!' Five young people not in on the tickle-attack couldn't believe this shit.
…
Gamo-chan cackled, stepping it up, "Yeah~! This is what happens when a lil' Gamo crosses me~!"
"STAH~AH~AH~AH~AHP~!" Hana writhed like a worm facing a fish-hook and was almost as helpless. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"
…
This was… a little effed-up…
…
"…!" Yoshi's moral-compass spun, her conscience ill-at-ease, but she kept up Sakura's restraint.
The detainee, held fast, looked on in dismay. "…!"
…
"Stop!" Hana gasped, tears streaming down her cheeks, open-season declared on her armpits. "I'm gonna PEE-HEE-HEE my pants!"
"Don't worry! It'll wash off in the ocean~!" Gamo-chan was undeterred, her fingers tracing long-practiced patterns, going for maximum effect.
"But I don't WANNA pee my pants!" Hana continued to struggle, but it was in vain; she simply didn't have it in her to fend off this foe. "EE-YAAAAAAAH~!"
…
Naoto had never heard these sorts of noises out of his little kohai. "…?!"
"…?!" "…?!" "…?!" "…?!" The same could be said for Sakura, Yoshi, Shuu, and Tohru.
…
"Oh! You're in for it now, my dear Hanacchi!" Gamo-chan ensured, yet finding great success in her endeavor. "I think I'll move onto the feet~!"
"Eep!" Hana yelped. "Nooooooooo!"
Gamo-chan gleefully referenced Sakura's fine work on Hana's pedicure. "Not so lucky now, are they~?"
Some dice were about to be rolled~!
And at no point did Gamo-chan let up in the tickle-attack, not even a smidgen.
Hana gasped, "No-no-no-no-no-no! Please, no! Not the fee-hee-hee-hee-HEET~!"
…
It was happening so fast…
Three young men held the same notion. 'Shouldn't SOMEONE step in…?!'
…
"Say it~!" Gamo-chan ordered, one arm securing Hana's ankles, the other still out for a wild night in tickle-town.
Hana had no idea what her neechan meant.
"I don't know what you're ta~ha~ha~TALKING about…!" But she was willing to find out, in the slim chance it might free her. "Say what?!"
Sadly, as with her foe, the utterance would prove to be too much~…
…
This was like witnessing a trainwreck… or some unfolding disaster or crime…!
"…?!" "…?!" "…?!" The boys had seen some things, but they'd only seen this in anime… and maybe a few bondage videos~.
…
All the same, Gamo-chan shared the magic words, pulling back just enough to make them known.
"All you have to say is the following~!" she communicated.
"What is it?!" Hana squawked. "I'll sa~a~ay it!"
That thing about the utterance being too much~…?
Gamo-chan declared, "That Maki Gamo is best senpai~!"
The reply was short in coming~…
"NeVEr!" The very gates of Hell shook with Hana's beastly outcry.
…
'Stop this crime!' The male trio wished for it.
…
"I'll do it~," Gamo-chan purred, her Maki-mitt dancing across Hana's belly.
Hana rumbled, "NOOOOO!"
…
This was WRONG…
But the boys were frozen in place. "…!" "…!" "…!"
…
Elsewhere, Sakura found her voice, "It's okay, Hana-chan! Say it!"
"I WON'T!" the little artiste flat-out refused.
There were more important things to Sakura than little white lies, especially if they saved her gal-pal's peds from such exploitation. "Don't be brave! Just say it!"
"NEVER!" Hana boomed. "NEVER! NEVER! NEVER!"
…
Maybe there was a gas leak somewhere…
…
Gamo-chan softly ran a fingernail down each of her victim's soles. "I'll do it, Hanacchi~…!"
"NO!" from the darkest depths of Hades, Hana sounded off like a bomb. "Iapnes tseb si iapnes-ijoihcah!"
Gamo-chan almost let go at the racket. "What the…?!"
"Her will is too strong!" Yoshi, funnily enough, forgot she had her own prisoner, the gal limp and speechless.
Gamo-chan doubted this accounting. "Her will shall be broken~!"
…
Had they all died and been transported to some cartoon planet…?!
…
Hana, regardless of their present reality, wasn't going quietly. "Ssob a ekil daol-nosirp a ekat nac agiat~!"
"Are you kidding?! She's possessed!" Yoshi alleged.
"No, she's not~!" Gamo-chan scoffed at the idea.
Yoshi was convinced. "She's speaking in tongues!"
"Sedarg gnissap dna sregrubeseehc rof nihc-nihc tnaig selkcus ikasim!" Hana screeched. "Wreeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
Gamo-chan was certain that, "She's just being dramatic~. She'll change her tune, once I start the terrible tootsie tickle-torture~!"
She Gamo-grinned, wide as the horizon, moving in for the kill.
…
It appeared hopeless for the little kohai…
…
Then, just when all seemed lost, a shrieking ray of hope flashed among them, in the form of a slender girl of decent height, her sharp features showing a conspicuous case of strabismus.
Nekoba arrived on the scene. "What the HECK…?!"
Seven sets of eyes turned her way, including the two locked in "battle".
Gamo-chan even halted her efforts. "Hmm?"
Hana let out, "Help me!Heeeeeeek~!"
Nekoba was aghast.
"What in Heaven's name are you doing?!" she demanded of Gamo-chan. "Stop that!"
"Stop what?!" Gamo-chan wasn't doin' nothin'~.
Even in this short space, free of the savage titillations, Hana was about to crack.
"Nekoba-senpai, he~e~elp!" she piteously puled. "I don't wanna say it!"
"Goodness gracious, Gamo-chan!" Nekoba hollered. "Let Hanacchi up!"
She might've been the only one able to put a stop to such humiliation, usually able to appeal to another's better nature.
Gamo-chan exhaled, "Okay… Fine…"
She released her prey, and her former quarry lay on top of their blanket floor, beet-red, shaking and panting.
Nekoba scolded the menfolk, "Why didn't any of you put a stop to this?!"
'Hey, we just "live here"…' They were still a bit regretful about doing absolutely nothing.
To them, what they'd seen had only existed in fiction, until about a minute ago…
"And Yoshi!" Nekoba reprimanded. "What are you up to?!"
"…?!" Yoshi, feeling great shame, released Sakura. "…"
Sakura rubbed at her arms, squeezed by Yoshi's considerable might.
"H-hey, Nekoba…" she managed.
The catlike girl was disgusted. "Do I even wanna know what happened?"
'Prolly not…' Six brains formed the same response.
The seventh was still recovering. "…!"
Nekoba knelt next to Hana.
"Are you okay, Hanacchi?" she fussed.
Still panting, quite out of breath, but the waterworks having stopped, Hana sat up with some assistance.
"I'm alright…" she breathed hard; she glared in Gamo-chan's direction. "Gamo-neechan was showing me a Gamo siblings' ritual."
"A what?" Nekoba questioned.
Hana was yet very pink in the face from her Gamo-induced giggles, but she said, "I'm okay, Nekoba-senpai."
It seemed that she WAS okay…
It was a relief to all.
Things… might've gone a little far… but it was relatively benign tomfoolery…
Be that as it may, Hana stood up—with a bit of difficulty, and she turned to Gamo-chan and Yoshi, the pair of them having gravitated to one another.
She eyeballed them cooly, calculatingly. "…"
"…?" "…?" The old friends were opposite of their kohai.
"Gamo-neechan! Yoshi-senpai!" Hana broadcasted. "Listen well!"
"Listen?" "To what?" Gamo-chan and Yoshi responded.
Hana… gave a little smile. "The two of you! Mark my words!"
"…!" Not one of the other seven missed it.
A happy Hana face~…!
Gamo-chan and Yoshi instantly hopped in on the fun. "Yeah, what is it~?" "Yeah! What is it~?!"
Everyone else was just as invested, not that they plumbed the situation. "…?!" "Wha…?" "You gotta be…" "Ooh~…" "Hanacchi?"
"I will have my vengeance!" Hana championed, her quaking finger pointing at one and then the other. "You can run… You can hide… But I will have my revenge!"
Gamo-chan and Yoshi were unfazed. "Oh, yeah~?" "Whatevs, Hanacchi~!"
This was HANA they were talking about~…
"Maybe not today… and maybe not tomorrow… but soon!" Hana decreed. "There will be no saving you!"
"You're not gonna do anything~," Gamo-chan ruled.
"Not a thing~!" Yoshi measured.
…
"…" Naoto took in his surroundings, noting his various beach companions, and none of them were all that clear over this mess either.
Had they fallen into another dimension or something…?
…
…
…
Naoto sat by his lonesome in the shade of the group's stake. "…~"
Everyone else had gone for water from the faucets in the nearest restrooms, per Tohru's advice.
Rabi-chan would be there any minute—finally—with a cooler of bottled water, but their thirst was powerful…!
Naoto, having snuck a few pulls off the bottle of water he'd brought, said he wasn't all that thirsty and elected to watch everyone's stuff.
"…" He'd had enough indirect kisses of late, hence the kept secret.
Looking out towards the sea, some of his party was back:
Gamo-chan had convinced Yoshi to join her, Shuu, and Tohru in a little hacky sack time.
After all, Yoshi was quite good at juggling a football (soccer); a footbag was just smaller~…!
"…~" Naoto knew that wasn't how it worked, but hearing Gamo-chan make the boast was amusing.
He wasn't astonished to find that Yoshi was better with a hacky sack than both Tohru and Gamo-chan, though she wasn't as good as he himself was.
Keeping up with Shuu was a pipedream though…
He liked seeing Yoshi doing well in something. "Mmm~."
It DID seem that Yoshi was comfortable playing now, FIVE girls on site instead of two, chucking out the other possible complications…
Glancing around, Naoto didn't see the others yet:
Sakura, Hana, and Nekoba had gone to find a clean restroom, figuring they might take a little walk to boot.
"…" He reasoned they'd made good on that figuring.
…
"Phew…" Naoto exhaled.
At least that wacked-out situation was over…!
Seeing Gamo-chan eliciting such a ruckus out of Hana hadn't been on the top of his list of things he'd expected that day.
It seemed the lot of them wished to pretend the whole situation had never happened…
To Naoto, it seemed that… their story had collided with another. "Man…"
It was so far out of their collective ken… and so very STUPID…
But Gamo-chan had ended the debacle by telling Sakura that her time would come to suffer a similar fate, Yoshi backing up the burly girly.
Some dire threats had been made towards the blonde, though these were probably more along the lines of "guarantees" than "threats"…
And Sakura stoically (apparently) accepted the inevitability, just wishing that they could all get on with their day.
From there, the running to the bathrooms to get a drink of water and such…
"Damn…" He really hoped that Hana wasn't too bent out of shape over that craziness.
He felt pretty lousy, having not even raised a finger to protect Hana, but…
…
"Heya, good buddy, good pal o' mine~, this seat taken?" a most refreshing soprano pulled Naoto from his latest head-stew.
He glanced up to find his pal Sakura beaming down at him.
"Uh, no… No, go right ahead." He even patted the spot beside him on the blanket.
With a happy gurgle(?!), the gal settled herself onto her duff. "Yay~."
"…" He looked to her. "Sunomiya and Nekoba?"
"I wasn't too interested in a walk, Senpai-kun, so I just came back here."
"Ah."
"Hana-chan's not too upset over that crap that just happened, but I think she needs to blow off a little steam. She and Nekoba haven't talked in a while either, so I left them to it."
"I see."
"We were just funning though… I'm sure Gamo-chan doesn't really think the anklets are stupid."
"I know."
"She took that dumb shit the distance though. Things got pretty weird back there, huh~?"
"As long as you were all just playing around, Sakura-san."
"Yeah… though I do think Hana-chan's just a jiff sore it was only Nekoba's arrival that saved her."
"No doubt…" Naoto couldn't fault the girl for that.
Maybe it COULD'VE been stopped beforehand, but…
"…"
"…"
*strrrrp*
"…?" Naoto startled.
But it was only Sakura, undoing the Velcro on her dated sandals.
"Oh…" He might've known, the gal already on the second one.
She simpered, "Hey… I see you lookin'~."
*strrrrp*
"H-hey, it was just the noise," Naoto defended.
"Sure, it was~…" Dropping the strappies in the nearest sand, Sakura stretched out her legs with intent to… yup, stretch. "Mmph~…!"
He questioned, "You alright?"
"Oh, yes~…" she contented, rotating her pink-and-tan feet at the ankles, unfurling her rainbow-tipped toes. "Just feels good to spread out some~…"
Naoto turned back to the other sight, the hacky sack game. "…"
"So~…" Sakura forwarded, indicating said sight. "They got Yoshi to join them?"
Naoto nodded. "She wasn't interested the first time she was asked."
"No?"
He hoped he wasn't throwing Yoshi under any buses. "Yeah… she was fine when she showed up, but when she was invited to play—nope."
"Huh…" Sakura monosyllablized.
"I think it was the numbers." He didn't feel the need to go into too much detail and left things simple. "Three guys and two girls; Yoshi-san was the second girl to show. She wasn't comfortable, being outnumbered."
"Not surprising, Senpai-kun."
"I kinda thought she'd have chilled out after already meeting the boys."
"Aw, she's fine…" Sakura was untroubled.
"She sure seems it now."
"Yoshi has her own sort of strength, y'know~."
"Yeah… I do know…" He'd seen it on Wednesday.
No one else had leapt to Gamo-chan's side when her oldest, dearest friend broke down crying, Yoshi leading that charge…
Naoto further mulled the Yosh, "Took her a while to settle in… Food helped… and when you and Sunomiya showed up."
"Well, I'm glad we're good for something~," Sakura tittered.
Naoto laughed too, "You're both good for plenty…"
"Yer right about that…~"
"…"
"Eh?" Sakura noted his lack of "~". "What is it, buddy?"
Naoto came clean, despite not wanting to say too much, "I kinda wonder if Yoshi-san is upset that Gamo-chan is… more comfortable than she is around Shuu and Tohru."
"Oh, I see what you mean," she returned. "Yeah, that could be. It sucks, feeling like the odd one out."
"Or alone…" Naoto struck nearer the heart of the matter.
She patted his back. "Don't fret, Senpai-kun, she's okay. Don't think too much on it."
"I don't like it, Sakura-san. I can't make good sense of it, no matter what I do."
"Don't sweat it. You could drive yourself to madness, trying to figure it out."
Naoto attempted humor, not that it was untrue, what he had, "I tried thinking about it, but my brain started to hurt."
"Ha~!" Sakura delighted.
He finished the thought, "So, I stopped…"
"…~" The gyaru watched Shuu and Yoshi kicking the bag back-and-forth.
Naoto did the same. "…~"
"…"
"…"
Despite the peacefulness and the desire to leave the latest misadventure behind, Sakura admitted, "Hana-chan and I told Nekoba what happened."
"What did she say about that?" Naoto wouldn't dare to suppose.
"…" Sakura pondered. "I mean… she didn't say we deserved it… but if she'd known what Hana-chan and I had said, she would've let Gamo-chan have a few more seconds."
"Yikes…" her senpai marveled, never anticipating that out of Nekoba.
"And if I was the one getting tickled, she would've let us have it out," she continued. "After all, Hana-chan only agreed with me; I'm the one that said it."
"Yikes again."
"Gamo-chan went overboard, sure, but what we said to her…?" Sakura was regretting the events. "That was… not nice…"
"Yeah, I can't imagine." Naoto wouldn't like it either. "'Frotch'… Ugh…"
The word itself was repellant…
"Yup, 'ugh' is right…" She shuddered. "Ooh… Just think though, that could've been me getting the piss tickled out of her…"
Naoto didn't feel much pity over that. "Yeah."
"I don't think there would've been much difference, Senpai-kun. Yoshi would've held Hana-chan, and I wouldn't have fared much better with Gamo-chan."
"I'm surprised she didn't go after you."
"I'd be surprised if you and the boys didn't record that, had it happened~."
Naoto's stomach churned. "We wouldn't do that…"
"Heh-heh~…"
"…Not that I wanted to see that, but why did Gamo-chan spare you?"
"She didn't 'spare' me; I'm just getting it later…" She was somewhat annoyed.
"You know what I mean."
"Oh, she prolly just wanted to scare me first, showing what was in store for me. I don't think she'll do anything today, so I'm not really worried, but I'm not looking forward to it. If that's what happens, I'm as ticklish as Hana."
"You are?"
"Worse, really… But Gamo-chan might not do anything. I've seen her hold this sorta thing over someone's head and never follow through… not that that's any better, not letting 'em off the hook…"
"…"
"…"
"Sunomiya getting revenge… her warning," Naoto considered. "What do you think of that?"
"Think of it?"
"I'm kinda worried."
"Senpai-kun, I'm pretty sure that she's joking around~," Sakura bubbled. "Remember when she threatened to whack you with her sandal~?"
"Of course, I remember; that was just on Thursday."
"I think she's kidding, bud… Things got a little outta hand, but Hana-chan's not too miffed over it. I think she may be a bit embarrassed, carrying on like that in front of everyone~."
"…"
"…"
Naoto worked himself onto his knees. "You want something from Shuu's cooler, Sakura-san?"
"Oh, please~," she chirped. "How 'bout some grapes?"
He liked the idea. "Sure… me too, I think."
"Tha~a~anks~."
"…~!" Trundling over to the ice-chest, Naoto retrieved a big clump of pretty decent-looking grapes, separating the cluster between them.
"Oh, wow~," Sakura crooned, taking her half. "Gamo-chan was right; Shuu-kun did find some nice produce."
Naoto already had a grape in his mouth, its flavor matching the gal's assumption. "Oh, 'eah~…"
"…"
"…"
"Hey, Senpai-ku~un~…!" Sakura's birdsong rang again.
He went birdwatching. "Yes?"
"Heh-heh~…" She offered a sight he'd only seen once, but it was immediately familiar. "C'mon~."
Naoto wasn't smitten over her proposition. "You're not gonna sit there and throw grapes at me…"
"Aw, c'mon~…" Sakura wheedled, rolling a delectable specimen between her thumb and index-finger.
He determined, "And I'm not gonna sit here and catch them in my mouth."
"Hey, just a few~?" She motioned, that recognizable pose of one about to sink a ping-pong ball into a cup of subpar beer. "If you can catch a fried dumpling… you can catch a grape~."
"…"
"…~"
"Okay…" he submitted. "If I do this—if, what's in it for me?"
Sakura cocked her head. "You want something from me?"
"Well… yeah."
She leered. "What, you wanna have a drink of my used bathwater or something~?"
'Gee-zuss!' Naoto recoiled. "?!"
Sakura guffawed, "BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA~!"
But it wasn't the first time at the rodeo~…
"What was that?!" It didn't take long for him to recover.
Her dials turned down in a hurry. "Oh, I never read the manga or watched the anime, but this one series opens up with the main character's little sister coming into his bedroom naked to wake him up, like she does every morning. I hear it's very graphic but not quite porn; people will pay a lot of money for the Blu-ray, so says the interweb."
"That's disgusting…" Naoto had heard worse though… and seen worse.
Sakura got to the point, "Then, the MC begins to obsess over drinking her dirty bathwater~."
"Lovely…" he sarcasm'd.
"But—spoiler alert~—the whole thing just turns out to be the real MC talking to his editor about a dirty book he's writing!"
"Spoil away, I'm not gonna go looking for it…" Naoto was supremely uninterested.
Sakura tried reading him, popping the aforementioned grape into her cakehole. "…"
"…" There wasn't much to read.
"I s'pose I'll have to offer you something else~," she reasoned, working on the grape and sending it on its way.
Naoto so wanted to hear it. 'Oh, boy…'
"I'll rub sunscreen on your back~…" she offered.
And he rejected, "Right now, there are four other girls here that could do that."
"But—"
"And two guys as well.
"Shuu-kun or Tohru-kun? You'd be okay with that?"
"Why not?" Naoto shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time one of them did it."
"That doesn't sound sexy at all…" Sakura provided.
"Then it'd be easier, wouldn't it?"
"…"
"…"
Sakura wasn't out of ideas. "Okay… you can rub sunscreen on my back~!"
"Or you could let Sunomiya do your back," Naoto countered.
"No way! She's no good at it… and she might pinch me again."
"And why did she do that~…?"
"You got me there…"
"…~"
"…"
"…"
Thankfully, Sakura knew what made her senpai tick. "In that case… how 'bout I pose for you again?"
"Pose for me?" Naoto's interest was grabbed.
"Yeah, I could sit for a formal-type portrait this next week… or maybe a more casual modeling session, kinda like last Friday~. Your call."
"…!" This caught his attention.
But… this was fun, and he'd play a little longer~…
"You said you wanted to anyway~…" Naoto tested. "Why would I accept?"
Sakura had ammunition. "Because, as I recollect, I said I'd do it sometime… meaning it could be tomorrow… or it could be when the mountains crumble to the sea~…"
"That is a long time…" Naoto entertained.
"This way, you can choose a day next week… and~…"
"And…?"
"And you can do what you want with me~." She winked at him. "Within reason, of course~."
"…!" Naoto jarred.
She had his interest and his attention~.
He was softening. "Is that really worth you being able to lob grapes at me?"
"It is to me~," Sakura chortled, her cheeks afire.
"…!" His cheeks were no better off.
"…~"
Naoto sighed, "Okay…"
"Dealsies~?" Sakura gleed.
He so wanted to hide his face. "Yes, you got yourself a deal…"
"Don't worry, buddy, we're just gonna do it a few times~," she promised, her arm already miming in his direction, a fresh grape in hand.
Naoto could've tolerated more, but he'd take it. "…~"
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!
Questions and comments are welcome!