🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Chapter 17: The Sakura Puzzle, Part One🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: I promised to avoid melodrama, but this chapter got too close for comfort.
Also, I made a grave error regarding how final exams are administered in Japanese high schools. It turns out students complete their final exams TWO WEEKS before summer break actually begins! I feel dumb for not checking on that, but my editor didn't think about it either until we had moved WAY past that. I should've done some actual research on this instead of not thinking about it.
Try to suspend disbelief, because our hero and heroines will be taking their exams the last week of the term. They'll be taking their exams July 15, 16, 17 and they get their grades and get out of school on July 19. Two days isn't much time to grade exams, but I've seen teachers and professors I had make it through grading incredible amounts of exams and having final grades ready by nightfall.
It was scary to have a final exam ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON if you were bordering on passing or failing that subject when you were SUPPOSED TO GRADUATE COLLEGE the next morning, Saturday! It made for better drama for us though, and it sucks for students in Japan, having to piddle around for TWO ENTIRE WEEKS after final exams before summer break finally arrives. My editor used the term "killable" to describe his thoughts on such an arrangement.
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 3, 2018
Having pulled Sakura Inori out of the school building for a private chat at lunch, Naoto Hachioji had only one thing to say to the couple of first-year students in the way of that.
"Scram…"
Sakura watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as those two freshmen scampered out of the schoolgrounds' "secret sexy corner", frightened away by her senpai.
Naoto watched the two kids until they were well out of sight; then he motioned Sakura to sit at the now empty bench.
She did, still bewildered at what she'd just seen, setting her bag and lunch beside her.
He sat down too, opening his bento.
Sakura watched as he began to slowly eat, but something was wrong. It was as if her senpai was getting smaller and smaller, hunching over and shrinking into his seat.
She gave a tenuous prod, "Senpai-kun?"
Almost dropping his bento in his lap, Naoto sighed, "I'm sorry, Sakura-san…"
Incredulous, she asked, "What's wrong, Senpai-kun?"
Naoto looked at her, mouth agape, "I can't do this stuff, Sakura-san…!"
"Do what?" she didn't get his meaning.
"Act tough!" he answered.
"Tough?"
"That kid probably could've kicked my ass!" he liquified in his spot, like ice cream left in the sun. "What was I thinking?!"
"…" Sakura dithered; the guy had been a flyweight. "He, uh, didn't look like he could…"
"Maybe he coulda!" Naoto spouted, a little shaky.
She eyed him, uneasy, "…"
What am I doing?! Naoto really wasn't sure.
He'd done this kind of thing too many times for comfort… barking at the couple at the zoo for making fun of Nagatoro's artwork… facing Takata in the clubroom… and now this!
Even what he'd done at the beginning of the fall the year before, snubbing those two boys by asking Nagatoro to leave with him, even bringing her friends along for the ride, had been risky…!
Two of those times Nagatoro had saved his bacon, but the two most recent occurrences—speaking with Takata and the couple he'd just told to split—had seen him on his own, or at least with no one on his side willing or able to intervene.
Sakura wasn't Nagatoro…
But it was alright that she wasn't. People are different…
Be that as it may, Sakura had saved Naoto from running into trouble; he couldn't forget that, though it wasn't the first thing to come to mind, considering all else that went on that day, a week-and-a-half past.
If he'd physically attacked Takata the night Sakura ran out on her date with the guy… before all this other crap started…?
He knew what undoubtedly would've happened to him.
Seeing her senpai turn to mush beside her on the bench, Sakura wondered just what was cooking in that brain of his, "…"
"…" he wasn't thinking too highly of himself, that's for sure, and he covered up his lunch.
His insides were turning on him… He wasn't hungry anymore…
Sakura leaned closer, "Uh, Senpai-kun?"
He sat up, "Sakura-san…"
"Yes?" she perked.
"I never thanked you for stopping me from going after Takata…" Naoto offered. "That Friday night? I'm sure he would've kicked my ass."
"…?!" this was unforeseen.
"…" and Naoto knew it.
"Probably…" Sakura conceded. "Couldn't completely blame him though… You come out swinging for no apparent reason, he probably woulda decked you."
"Yeah…" he didn't doubt it.
"And maybe that boy would've kicked your ass just now…" she mused.
"Don't I know it…" he knew it was possible.
"That was pretty crazy, Senpai-kun…" she granted.
"It was pretty dumb, what I just did…" he added to her statement. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…!"
"…"
"…"
"…" Sakura considered him. "But... you're a pretty courageous guy though…"
He was stunned at the serene countenance she was showing—not to mention the fact she'd said that with a straight face.
No, I'm not… I was scared shitless…! Naoto often felt this way but kept quiet.
Instead, he said, "That wasn't courage; it was just dumb!"
"Not that, though you're right about just now," she permitted. "Why'd you do it?"
That wasn't hard to answer, "Seeing them sitting there, fooling around, when I went through the trouble of coming all the way back here irritated me."
"Hmm…" she acknowledged.
"I just… didn't care what would happen," he explained. "At least not until after… when I had a moment to think."
Sakura mulled, "Y'know, you're a surprisingly hotheaded guy, Senpai-kun…"
He couldn't deny that, "I know…"
Sakura mulled further, "She'd probably be angry that I said this, but Hayacchi told me about the day you two went to the zoo… When you snapped at a couple of our classmates when they made fun of her drawing."
Naoto was mildly shocked, "No… You know about that…?"
"It was the same then… and with Nobu-kun the night I stayed over," she reasoned. "I'm right?"
He felt like a dupe for underestimating Sakura.
She's… a lot more thoughtful than expected…
He didn't need to answer; she knew it was true.
"That… really scared me, Senpai-kun," she divulged. "When you stood up, ready to run out there and fight. The thought of you going out there to fight him just because I was… a piece of shit, leading him on, was terrifying.
"And I felt so guilty when I saw you like that… That you might get beat up because you thought he'd hurt me. I mean, you really tried fighting him! Over me! For that, I'm… really sorry, Senpai-kun…"
Naoto thought they'd covered the apologies; it had been such a mess, he figured it was all an understood thing.
"I get it, Sakura-san…" he sighed, nodding.
It wasn't impossible that she didn't hear him.
"But you… being willing to fight Nobu-kun…" her voice fell to a toneless drone. "It was crazy, but you didn't do it to be 'tough'. You did it because you care."
The self-loathing, rising up in her, was palpable.
"…!" he fidgeted, realizing she'd taken a dark turn on herself.
Her eyes dulled, and she mumbled, "You meant it, Senpai-kun."
"…" he squirmed.
"Then later, Senpai-kun…" Sakura leaned forward, burying her face in her hands, scolding herself, partially. "It was so big of you… You begged Nobu-kun to listen to me. You had nothing you could use to convince him, but you still did it. You bowed for me. You did that for me… For someone like me…"
He had done that…
"Because of that, I was able to apologize to him…" she went on. "I was able to tell him everything I wanted to…"
"…"
"Why'd you do it…?" she wasn't really saying this to anyone, blankly gazing ahead. "I don't get it…"
"…"
What could he say?
Please don't talk about yourself that way…
I'm nothing special…
You say all that, but I still don't know why I did it…
Uh, hey, darling, that Takata guy dropped me a line! Wanna hear about it?!
…
I DON'T KNOW WHY I HELPED YOU…
…
None of it seemed it would work.
Naoto had no Earthly idea where to pick up or how to answer her; maybe there was nothing in ready reach he could say to her. He wouldn't even try.
Perhaps he'd made a mistake, dragging her back there; things had taken a turn, and it began with him pushing his luck with those kids!
Be that as it may, he still had a reason for bringing her out, and he'd said nothing about it.
Kicking her when she was "down" seemed like an awful thing to do, but…
"Sakura-san…"
"…Yeah…?" she clicked her loafers together, looking down at them, frowning and wallowing in the muck.
He swallowed, "I have something I need to ask you…"
At once, she recognized it wasn't some small thing, but she was rather indifferent, "…Go ahead."
Staring between his knees, he started in, "I'm… really sorry if I'm freaking out about nothing, but I need to know something."
Are you trying to take advantage of Sunomiya?
He readied himself, sitting up, but then his resolve fell apart, and he stared back at the ground, collapsing into his own mass, "I'm so sorry, Sakura-san…! I don't know what I was even thinking…"
His messed-up logic held no weight.
"What now?" she wondered, now troubled, her own mess briefly forgotten.
"…!" Naoto looked sick.
It wasn't difficult for Sakura to tell this was difficult for him, but she encouraged, "Go on."
Gulping, he rose slightly; his words came out with some reluctance, "Yesterday, I got it in my head… that you might be… maybe… teasing Sunomiya."
"Teasing her?" Sakura quavered; that hit hard.
"Worst-case scenario!" he blurted, waving his hands, unable to look directly at her.
"Worst-case…?" it came out hurt.
"Yes…" Naoto sounded as ashamed as his appearance let on. "I was afraid that you might just be making fun of her… getting her into trouble knowing she'd… get weird…"
"I see…"
"I know I'm wrong, but I just couldn't get it out of my head…"
"…"
He exhaled, "Sunomiya told me you two were hanging out on Monday…"
"…!" she definitely heard that.
"She told me some odd things…" he continued. "Or it seemed that way."
Though Naoto couldn't see it, the gal nodded, "Mmm."
"…" he braced himself for whatever was coming next.
If she hated him for this… he wouldn't blame her…
But he was met with something else.
"It's okay, Senpai-kun, I get it…" she sighed. "My track record with that kind of thing isn't good."
"I'm so sorry…" it came out of Naoto nasally and choked.
"Really, I get it, Senpai-kun…" Sakura assured him. "I know you really care about her…"
"…" her friend hunched forward, staring at his own hands.
"It makes sense now… why you chased away those first-years like that… why you took me all the way back here… You were so set on this."
Naoto wiped his wrist under his nose, sniffing deeply, trying to keep his emotions under control, "…"
"Hey, c'mon…" Sakura moved so she could see his face, trying to comfort him. "It's okay, Senpai-kun, really…"
"…" he didn't seem sure of that.
"You love her, Senpai-kun… like family," she said with a little force behind it. "That's pretty special."
"…!" he did, sure, but it was never something he wanted spoken aloud.
"If it wasn't for you…" she looked up to the sliver of sky visible between the buildings, toeing the ground with the tip of a loafer, choosing her words. "Well, I don't know where Hana-chan would be if she didn't have you or the Art Club."
"I don't like to think about it…" Naoto managed to say.
"No one has to!" Sakura stated, still trying to meet his timid gaze. "She's got you."
"…" he grumbled to himself, feeling himself the most unworthy person in the area.
"…" considering what to do next, Sakura took a moment.
"…"
"You know what, Senpai-kun?"
"…What?" he responded guardedly.
"Look at me," she revolved in his direction.
He did, and he was greeted with her gentle face, her mood taking an upswing.
"If I was the old president… I'd feel pretty good knowing that you were there, looking out for my little cousin," Sakura beamed. "I'm sure she really, truly feels that way too."
Naoto, face as red as that sunburn he'd had a couple weeks prior, wouldn't dare to presume to believe that, "…"
"…"
"…"
"Y'know, Senpai-kun, I think Hana-chan is pretty neat," Sakura asserted.
"Yeah…" he agreed. "She really is."
"I'll say this," she eked, rocking on the bench. "Monday wasn't the first time we hung out…"
She had Naoto's interest, "Really?"
"Yeah… the day I talked with Nobu-kun…" Sakura said. "While you were talking to him… I told you that Hana-chan hurried me away."
"Sure… something about 'the men needing their privacy' or something…"
Sakura snorked, recalling that, "Right… I told you about that… That was weird…"
Naoto had no doubt of Sakura's ability to get along with most anyone, but, "I'm surprised you got her to talk…"
It mustn't be forgotten that Gamo-chan and the girls had taken Sunomiya out to karaoke two weeks earlier, but they'd only gotten her to sing… In spite of how much fun they'd had as a big group of girls, she still didn't 'say' much, not that it had troubled anyone.
But wow!
Sakura got Sunomiya to talk…!
"Well, I should say I tried to," she clarified, ho-humming. "I tried to the whole week…"
"Huh?" he halted his internal "happy parade", having been thinking Sunomiya had actually opened up to someone in their circle besides him.
Sakura stifled a laugh, "She kept looking at me like 'Grumpy Cat' from the internet. I never got more than a couple words out of her, but the other day, she came outside for lunch when I asked her."
"…!" Naoto could hardly fathom this.
The last week's Thursday, he'd swung by the clubroom for a quiet lunch, tired of the exhaustive rumor mill and its "Sakura/Takata brand flour".
Sunomiya hadn't been there. Now he knew what she'd been up to.
She'd had lunch with Sakura!
"I've been holing up in this quiet little spot on the opposite side of the grounds…" she revealed, twiddling her thumbs. "Y'know, where the cherry trees are?"
"They don't look like much out of season…" Naoto opined.
The "Cherry Blossom Path"—as the students and faculty called it—was a sight to behold for a short time in the spring. A popular place to have lunch, sit around, confess one's love last minute on the day of graduation…
Otherwise, it was just a row of short, scrubby, messy Prunus trees.
Often, it gave even more privacy than the back corner they currently occupied.
"Yes, those…" Sakura made plain. "I asked her along, and she said 'okay'."
"Hmm…" Naoto hummed, becoming more committed.
"She still wouldn't say much, but she said that she visited there after the opening ceremonies," Sakura told him. "She did a little sketching."
That didn't surprise him, and neither did Sunomiya telling Sakura she'd done a little sketch work.
Sunomiya sometimes opened like a book if you got her started on the subject of art…
Sakura drummed her fingers on her thighs, "I wanted to get a little more out of her, but I could tell she was having a nice time."
Naoto noticed Sakura's nervous movements more than he had been.
Why's Sakura being so squirrely?
Putting that aside, he commented, "I can't read her half the time, Sakura-san."
As much as people might scream otherwise, women can generally better pick up on things men cannot so easily, and Sakura subscribed to this, "You just need to know what to look for, Senpai-kun…"
He supposed she was correct, and he didn't disagree that men often just weren't as adept in some things, "I can imagine."
"…"
"…"
"…Senpai-kun, you know what?"
"What?" he didn't know.
"I think she's got the best smile~," Sakura fiddled in her seat, wringing her hands.
Derp! Naoto flinched.
"I keep wanting to see her smile more," at this, Sakura began to redden. "But her smiles aren't always 'smiles', are they?"
"…!"
The notion sprang up big in Naoto's mind.
Sakura has a thing for Sunomiya?! WTF?! Maybe that was why she was being all twitchy…
Caught up in his own mind, he missed the next couple things Sakura said.
Nah… that doesn't make any sense! It's just his mind filling in blanks… based on too much exposure to anime, manga, and the occasional dirty game!
…
Senpai-kun!
…
He knew Sakura could be funny about some things, like when she gushed over the Prez's semi-nude portraits!
…
Senpai-kun!
…
Wait, I promised I'd try to stop jumping to conclusions so much! Naoto reproached himself.
His train-of-thought had jumped the tracks, and he was more open to the world outside his own brain.
…
"Earth to Senpai-kun!" Sakura's voice came through.
"…Wha…?" his eyes came back to life.
She groused, "Were you even paying attention?"
Naoto blinked a couple times, focusing in on his friend.
She met him with a less than even gaze, a scowl, really, tilting her head slightly, "…?"
He… wouldn't lie, "I'm sorry, Sakura-san… I missed some of that…"
Kicking a pebble on the ground across the corridor, she blew out a breath, a cagey grimace given, "I guess I have been talking your ear off…"
Stupid, inconsiderate me! Naoto fussed. I gotta keep up with this! I took her away from her lunch for THIS?!
He really was off in his own little world.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sakura wondered, the color having mostly left her face.
He hadn't realized he was staring… He'd been focusing on nothing, really!
His own face reddened, "I, uh, was?"
"…"
"…"
"What's up?"
"Duh…" he looked anywhere and everywhere else.
Not angrily or particularly happily, she said, "If you got something to say, go ahead."
A stammering mess, Naoto had diddly-doo to say.
If talk was money, his pockets were full of lint.
If speech was a sandwich, he had bread without no meat.
If words constituted a jimmy-hat, it'd be best for him to turn around and leave the soapland, because going in bareback might see "Lil' Nao-kun" turning into a scab and falling off when he pulled him out for a piss.
…
"Wait…" things were coming clear to Sakura.
"Wait, what?" Naoto's eyes darted.
"No way…!" she lit up in delight.
"…!" he knew she was finally onto him.
"You think I…?!" Sakura's jaw dropped, the blush returning with a vengeance.
He tried to evade one last time, "I think you what?"
"…~" she snorted.
"…" it didn't seem to be working.
"…~!" her cheeks puffed up.
"…?!" it had definitely not worked.
"…~~!" she was close to bursting.
Anywhere but here…! Naoto cried out silently.
Sakura snorked, gawking at him.
"You think I'm head-over-heels for Hana-chan, don't you?" she hooted, cerise.
"Uh…" he more or less had but naught. "But I only thought it for a minute!"
She guffawed, "You're nuts, Senpai-kun!"
The gal broke into a fit of wild laughter. And she kept it up. For a good minute.
Naoto had never heard Sakura laugh like that; it seemed to be coming from someone else.
Not this buxom beauty! She sometimes lost her cool when she was out of her element, bawling like a lamb, but she surely never laughed like this!
It was indescribable; he didn't have the means to label the mirth of the girl sitting beside him.
And all the while, Naoto couldn't immediately recall ever feeling more embarrassed. He was blushing to the point that his glasses—if he was wearing them—would be fogging up at the edges. (It can really happen, I know. -PS)
By now, Sakura was wheezing, trying to catch her breath, her mascara and eye-liner running.
"Senpai-kun, what in the world gave you an idea like that?!"
Naoto didn't mean to, but he scoffed, frustrated.
"You looked like a strawberry…" he was almost upset, endlessly struggling to read her. "You were all fidgety and stuff. What was I supposed to think?"
She was close to "squee-ing"!
Wiping away tears, smearing her cheeks gray with her makeup, "Okay, okay, okay, I'll give you that…"
"…"
"I told you I thought she was cool, Senpa-kun," she had already pulled some makeup-removing wipes from her bag. "The old Prez is pretty cool too."
"And?" he didn't think that had much to do with the "blushies and gushies" he'd just seen out of her.
"I admire Hana-chan, Senpai-kun!" it seemed natural and obvious to her. "She's… sorta like the kind of girl I wish I was."
Naoto noticed her voice fall off a bit.
Sorta?
Cleaning her face, she commented, "The cousins are both just so… themselves! They're just both so comfortable with themselves; I think it's really neat."
A little too comfortable with themselves… Troublesomely so…
She persisted, "It's not always easy to find something to talk about, but Hana-chan… really sees things differently than anyone else. She can make anything interesting… She's totally weird, but she's a lot of fun… She's hilarious!"
How fun would it be for any of them if someone caught her half-naked in the clubroom?
"She's beautiful, and she doesn't need a mountain of makeup to show it…" the gal sounded just a little envious.
…
"…And…" Sakura took on a more somber mien. "She really, really cares about her friends…"
There aren't many of us… Naoto kept on with his uninspiring feelings, and this particular one bugged him.
"She cares about you, Senpai-kun…" Sakura said with affection. "She cares about you a whole lot. And I think that's pretty admirable…"
Ready for more cynical mental meanderings, that caught Naoto off-guard. He felt… faithless for his pessimism… like a traitor.
He had to swallow hard, and he couldn't disagree with a thing he'd just heard, "…Yeah…"
Sakura caught the emotion in his voice, and she felt for him.
Scooting a little closer to him, her shoulder contacted his, and she was glad he didn't resist.
Leaning over, tilting her head to his shoulder, she all but whispered, "I think it's pretty great that she has someone like you to look up to…"
Close enough that he could clearly smell her shampoo or hair conditioner or whatever it was, Naoto had to take a deep breath to keep himself in check—for more than a couple reasons—but he did.
Sakura sat up straight, backing off.
She knew she'd led her senpai to the "dour dumps", and it seemed they'd cleared up his concerns, so she decided it was high time for something else.
"…Senpai-kun?" she softly asked.
He'd been able to keep his cheeks dry, "Yeah, Sakura-san?"
Had he been looking at her, Naoto would've seen the rosy glow rising in her.
"You said Hana-chan told you about her 'adventures' on Monday, right?"
It would be hard to forget that; he replied, "Oh, yeah…"
"What did she tell you?"
Naoto definitely didn't miss the good humor in her words, and he turned to her, finding her without a speck of makeup on her.
Wow, was her complexion better than it had been the year before!
He easily recalled those awful, persistent bags under her eyes when he first got to know her.
Sure, it jarred him to not see her dolled up—and it did cause him to startle some—but it was her rosy cheeks, smile, and expectant eyes that had him reeling.
When she was happy, no matter what, she was just a knockout!
Be that as it may, Naoto had a story to tell, and he was sure Sakura did too.
Q&A Section
How many stories have you started and never finished?
ED: Cherry Blossom Palette is my first fanfiction, so I don't have any unfinished stories besides this one in progress. When it comes to the fiction I wrote back when I was more interested in creative writing, I wrote or at least began nine sizeable stories (novella sized, at least) and finished six of them. I never attempted to publish any of them, even online.
I abandoned a sci-fi story in the vein of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, a story about a lady secret agent, and a slice-of-life story about a small-town Mormon girl moving across the United States to attend a liberal, major university. Admittedly, I lived out the third story, and that's why I decided to write about it, but I just lost interest in a fictional story about the subject.
Do you keep your writing a secret or are you open about it?
ED: Most people that know me well knew that I liked creative writing, and I even let many of them read what I wrote, but I'm writing Cherry Blossom Palette in secret. It's a guilty pleasure, and I would be embarrassed if my friends knew about it and even ostracized if certain other people found out about it, especially as the story goes forward.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!