🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Chapter 18: The Sakura Puzzle, Part Two🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: I don't even want to admit how long this chapter took to edit (fine, it was THREE WEEKS of sending it back and forth), but both of us are pretty satisfied with it. It wasn't an easy one to write, and hopefully that doesn't show. LOL.
It's a substantial chapter, and I think you'll like it. We were hoping to divide it into two chapters, but there simply wasn't a good "break".
Ask us anything, and we'll add a Q&A section in the next chapter. I would be happy if you ask questions.
Please enjoy what I wrote.
Wednesday, July 3, 2018
In a secluded corner at Kazehaya High School, two students sat on a little bench, talking about their kohai, Hana Sunomiya.
Sakura Inori took on a quizzical expression, a little bemused at what her senpai had just said.
"Really?" she questioned. "Karma?"
Naoto Hachioji nodded, "I don't really believe in karma, but Sunomiya seems to. And luck as well."
"Hmm…" Sakura granted.
Naoto had his own beliefs, "But I do believe that good deeds make the world go 'round… as long as everyone helps others when they can."
"Too bad for the world…" Sakura gave an ironic little sneer.
She wasn't wrong…
"I know…" he replied.
"…"
"…"
"Senpai-kun…" she lounged in her seat. "Do you believe in luck… fortune?"
"…I dunno…" he revealed. "I've taken horoscopes and fortunes a little too seriously, I think, but I'm not that big into it… But… I do think a lot wouldn't happen—good or bad—without a little "luck" driving it all."
"What do you mean?" she wondered.
He'd been hesitant to share much about it, but, "When you and Takata were talking upstairs, I bought Sunomiya an apple juice."
"She likes those…" Sakura put in nonchalantly.
"When I bought a juice for myself," Naoto continued. "The machine dropped out two orange juices. Sunomiya said it was very fortunate. It turns out it was…"
"How so?"
He figured he'd just say it, "If it hadn't been for that spare juice, I'm not sure if I would've had it in me to talk with Takata. Giving it to him… was kind of… an excuse to talk to him, I guess—like an icebreaker—and we… we wound up shaking hands around 6:00 p.m."
Sakura whistled, "Whoa… And then you-"
"Yeah, I met you not long after…"
"…"
"…"
"But karma, huh?" Sakura crossed her legs at the ankles, swinging them under the bench; she said with some sarcasm. "I shoulda figured Hana-chan didn't just buy me that parfait out of the goodness of her own heart…"
"Sakura-san…!" Naoto scolded.
"I know, I know, I'm just kidding…" she waved him off. "I know she was trying to cheer me up. And you know what? It worked."
"It sounded like it," Naoto decided it was okay to share some of what Sunomiya had told him about Monday afternoon.
"It really cheered me up, Senpai-kun," Sakura took on a wistful aspect. "Especially when I'd been trying to talk to her the entire week. I was getting a little afraid… that she might really not like me…"
"That's definitely not true," he assured her. "And I'm glad for you."
"…"
"…"
"Did she tell you about the swings?" Sakura questioned. "Did she?"
That seemingly materialized out of nowhere!
But Naoto responded, "She did."
"I don't think she enjoyed that very much…" Sakura lamented. "I wasn't gonna ask her to push me, but whatever, I don't think she really wanted me to push her in the first place either. At first, I thought it'd make her happy… make her smile."
"…" Naoto waited to speak.
"It got really awkward and downright weird, Senpai-kun," she further dragged herself through the mud. "She probably thought I was crazy or something."
"No," Naoto corrected her. "She said she had fun."
"…Really?"
"Yeah, really," he said. "She knew you were happy, and she enjoyed that."
Sakura perked up, "…That's good… I said earlier that I understood her pretty well, but I guess that's all crap too, Senpai-kun…"
"Don't feel like that," Naoto reproved. "Like you said, 'her smiles aren't always smiles'. Sometimes, I guess you just need to get it out of her in words."
"…"
"…"
"You don't think she'd be uspet?" Sakura mirrored an earlier concern shared by her senpai. "That you're telling me all this?"
He wasn't entirely certain, but it was definitely clarifying things, and that wasn't bad, "She'd understand, I think."
"…"
"…"
Now things got a little awkward between Naoto and Sakura…
Naoto wasn't coming up with anything to say! Sakura didn't seem any better off…
The two had another "topic of strangeness" to address…
Or did they?
Naoto knew—as he felt he should've known for certain in the first place—that Sakura never had a speck of ill will towards their kohai. It wasn't her fault that Sunomiya got a little… overstimulated by playing in the wet sand.
It may have been best to just let the gal have her lunch in peace and leave her alone…
Still…
Things had lightened up in the last few minutes, but after another heavy chat with Sakura, he was yet in need of a little cheering up. She needed it too.
But how?!
…
Hey… wait… Naoto brightened.
Yeah…
He thought of Sunomiya the afternoon prior… It now unexpectedly tickled his funny bone.
Somewhere between or among her excitement over her time with Sakura and her overly detailed account of everything leading to the encounter and watching his kohai bubble over, needlessly and incessantly scaring the Hell out of him with her antics…
He finally saw the funny side of it all!
It would get bizarre, but something told him they'd both get a laugh.
Now, he wasn't scheming—not at all, and he wasn't even thinking as hard about it as the above might suggest—but he felt it.
Naoto laughed.
Sakura was caught unaware at the suddenness of it; she recoiled, "What is it?"
"I… hoo-hoo," he tried to speak. "Hee-heh-heh-heh-heeeeeeh…!"
It became infectious.
"What's so funny?" she cracked a grin.
The boy wasn't sure WHY it was funny…
Sometimes things just are…
Maybe he was tired or something…
It took Naoto a few seconds to form words, but he succeeded, "What in the world happened to get Sunomiya that tuned up?"
Sakura looked at him oddly, suppressing giggles, "What do you mean?"
Naoto had calmed down a little, at least enough to be coherent.
"That whole thing about feet in the cool, wet sand?" he wasn't completely able to hide the "terrified amusement" creeping into his voice. "Sunomiya…? I think she likes it a little more than you probably do."
"Is that what had you so worried?" she became a little more serious.
"…Yeah…" he regretted it, and it killed his jollies for a moment.
"…"
"…"
"So… she told you about that too?" Sakura smirked, but she managed to hide it, turning away slightly and keeping her eyes forward.
"Until I stopped her…" Naoto exhaled a shuddering breath. "She started going bonkers. I was afraid someone might come investigate the noise."
"Hey, I didn't ask her to join me," this time Sakura couldn't hide the smirk. "She did that on her own."
"I know…" Naoto was again having a little trouble keeping a straight face. "Something about… you being embarrassed to do it, and she started shouting that she'd join you?"
"Well, she did go a little bit crazy, Senpai-kun," the corners of Sakura's mouth twitched. "You remember that little kids' sandbox at the playground?"
He did…
"Yeah, in that old tractor tire beside the springy horses and stuff. What about it?"
"Hana-chan tried to flood it using the groundskeeper's hose. She said the sandy puddle by the bench 'wasn't enough'."
"…What…?!"
"I had to stop her from doing that…" Sakura shook her head. "If we were caught, we maybe could've got taken into the copshop for that…"
"Man…" he'd frequently had similar fears, but it had never happened in public when he was around. "When she gets something in her head, she'll do that kind of stuff."
She'd already known this well, even before all this, "Then I had to stop her from climbing up a tree to get one of her socks back, Senpai-kun."
"Why was her sock up a tree…?" he was almost afraid of the answer.
"That's where it landed when she pulled it off…" Sakura explained, a bemused weariness—a surrender to weirdness, if you will—expressed. "She was so eager to go for the puddle that it shot off like a rubber band and landed in the branches of a crabapple tree…"
"…?!" mouthing, he parroted her words, his face warped in bafflement.
"Yeah, I felt the same way…" she gazed blankly ahead (tried to anyway), a manic little smile finally menacing the crooks of her piehole. "But it turns out it was easier to find a long stick and fish it back that way…"
"…" Naoto clenched his jaw.
"…~" Sakura covered her mouth.
The two looked at each other, having not seen the other for this portion of their conversation, and neither could hold it back anymore.
"…!" Naoto snorted.
"…~!" Sakura sputtered.
And they both laughed. They laughed hard.
"Oh, gee, Senpai-kun…" Sakura wiped tears away, "I know we shouldn't laugh…"
"No, it's alright," he replied, hooting with the chuckles. "Funny is funny."
"…" Sakura had to recover.
"…" Naoto did the same, panting, crying twin-waterfalls.
"Hoo, boy!" Sakura leaned her head back, shaking her hair from her face.
"So…" Naoto hiccupped. "What happened?"
He just wanted to know…
"This is so embarrassing…" Sakura recounted, blushing and hunching her shoulders.
But she'd say it anyway.
"…Okay, so… hey, it's like… you see icicles… and you just wanna knock 'em down!" the girl explained. "Or when you're a little kid, and you put glue on your fingers or on the table just so you can have it dry and then peel it off. Like when you rake a pile of leaves and just want to jump in it! Or watching one of those 'satisfying' videos! It was kinda like that."
"I get it…" and Naoto could, having enjoyed all those things at different stages of his life.
"That's how it was when I saw the sandy puddle; it was like the motherlode," she waxed. "Sometimes you just see something you really want to do, even if it's dumb. I really wanted to play in it, but how do you just go off and do that when you're with someone you hardly know…?!"
Naoto figured, "With Sunomiya, it's a little different… That's when she 'offered to help'?"
"Yes… she said 'whatever it is, I'll do it too!'," Sakura remembered. "'Don't hold back! Whatever it is, we can do it together!' And…"
"…" he listened.
"…" she dithered.
"…?" he came closer. "And what?"
Sakura glowed, "It made me feel really happy to hear her say that, Senpai-kun…"
"…? It did?"
"Yeah~…"
"…"
But Sakura didn't elaborate on that; she moved on, "She bobbed around me like a dog looking for a treat, saying whatever it was, we could do it together, so… I just did it. I didn't even say what I was doing; I just stuck my feet in the muck~."
"…Okay…" Naoto retreated slightly upon the utterance of the word "muck".
Yep… she'd definitely enjoyed it!
The gal went on, "Hana-chan must've seen I was having fun, because she was out of her shoes and socks in an instant and leapt in…"
"Mmhmm…" Naoto acknowledged.
Sakura took on a look of bewilderment, "I thought I got a kick outta that kinda stuff, but Hana-chan…"
"Yeah…" Naoto had nothing else to say to that.
"She went zany, Senpai-kun…" Sakura said. "She was like a… a face-shot of a porn star faking an orgasm…!"
Yipe! Naoto couldn't have heard her correctly, but there was no mistaking that he did.
It probably wasn't an inaccurate comparison though!
"And then the…" he tried to keep things moving.
"Yeah…" she summarized. "The kids' sandbox and the crabapple tree and stuff… We did use the hose Hana-chan found to wash off our legs though."
"…"
"…"
"… …"
"Do you like cloud gazing, Senpai-kun?" Sakura's voice rose unexpectedly.
Naoto twitched, "Cloud gazing?"
"Yeah, y'know…" she flexed her ankles absentmindedly. "Staring up at the clouds… finding and naming shapes and stuff… That's also something I liked to do when I was little… but I haven't done it in years."
"So?" he wasn't scorning her; he just found her thoughts wandered around a lot, and he sometimes wanted the punchline.
It didn't seem to bedevil her; she fidgeted, "After Hana-chan… settled out, we looked at the clouds while our legs dried."
"Did she like it?"
"I think so," she reasoned. "I thought it was nice…"
…
For a long moment, the two just sat there.
…
But Sakura had something to say, and it wasn't a small thing.
"…Senpai-kun…?" her voice came weakly.
The feebleness alerted Naoto; he sat up straight, "Yes?"
"Senpai-kun…" she took a breath and blew it out. "I've always had a hard time making friends…"
What?!
As if she was responding, she said it again, "It's true… I've always had a hard time making friends."
"…!" he hadn't heard wrong.
He just had some difficulty in believing that!
Sakura bowed her head, "I want to be Hana-chan's friend… And I want her to be my friend…"
Aren't the two already kind of friends?
"She's just so free and comfortable with herself and earnest…" Sakura mused. "There's no wrong in her, Senpai-kun… I really do admire her…"
Naoto wasn't picking up what she was putting down.
He wanted clarity, "So… what's the problem?"
Sakura sighed, slouching in her spot.
"I dunno if I deserve to be friends…" she thought aloud.
"Don't say that, Sakura-san," he rebuked, almost aghast at the way she could belittle herself—not that he was one to talk. "You're worrying too much. She likes you."
"You think so?" she wanted to believe it, but…
Naoto was sure of it, "Seriously, think about Monday… And you're worried she doesn't like you?"
"…" she knew they did have a lot of fun together; it had been a hoot-and-a-half, really.
He reiterated, "I guarantee Sunomiya wants to be your friend—especially after you hung out—so…"
"…" she drummed her fingers on her thighs, eyeballing him.
"…" Naoto had hoped she'd make the connection, but… it had been a stretch anyway.
"So what?" Sakura uncurled, thinking each of them had been asking that too often of the other. "I dunno what you're getting at…"
Naoto cleared his throat.
"Sakura-san…" the circumstances leading up to this particular matter still haunted him. "That Friday night at my place… you said you wanted people to just like you for being yourself."
"Yes…" she wasn't any fonder of the worst of that night either.
"Well… try it," he contended.
"Try what?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Being yourself," he said simply, as if it was a simple thing. "You said you showed Takata a little, and he still liked you, so…"
"What the Hell are you talking about…?" there was an edge to her voice.
"He liked you, Sakura…" Naoto began to bemoan his words a little, and his stomach-butterflies were all aflutter.
"What, did he tell you that?"
Yeah, he did, but…
"You yourself said that you knew he liked you!" Naoto felt like he was cruelly picking a fresh scab, but he was telling the truth, even if it was of the indirect sort. "He did!"
His assessment did nothing to encourage Sakura's increasingly even-keeled mood.
"Oh, thanks, Asshole-kun," she retorted, rife with great aridness. "Way to blow the mood you had going! You just had to bring that up! Now I feel even shittier…"
Whoop, sensitive subject!
Naoto heard Takata's voice in his head, watching Sakura give into a pout.
I liked her, man… I really did…
…
And Naoto cussed himself.
Yeah, he maybe shouldn't have said all that to Sakura…
No doubt, it had been a lunch hour of ups and downs, yin and yang, manic and depressive, bliss and wretchedness!
What Naoto wouldn't have given for a little stability!
The gal wasn't privy to anything going on in his mind, but she was trying to move past his "insensitive revelations".
"Senpai-kun," there wasn't a bit of humor in her voice. "Nobody acts totally like themselves…!"
"Sorry…" he grasped. "Dumb thing to even say… I guess we don't live in an anime…"
"You're right about that…" she cracked. "You think I can just give all this up?"
Naoto knew what "all this" was—her reputation and that which came with it, for better or worse—and he knew she'd be better off without some of it, but…
"Well…" he tried a different angle. "Maybe you just need to stop trying so hard."
"Pfft…" she didn't know how to face that, much less what it concretely meant.
"…"
"…"
Naoto thought he'd again try something new.
"Just a few minutes ago…" he began. "You seemed fairly … natural talking about Sunomiya… and that stuff about porn stars…"
Sakura grumbled, "I'd never say something like that in front of any other guy besides you, much less anyone else…"
Naoto's brains kept stirring.
She didn't NEED to speak so crudely in front of another dude or even another girl, but that wasn't the point…
He put it out there, "Just try to relax. Try to be yourself."
He couldn't think of any other way to put it!
Sakura said nothing.
Naoto took yet another slant, "It's hard to fake anything…"
"I do know that…" she replied unhappily.
"Just try," Naoto finished.
…
Sakura spoke, lightly kicking at the ground, "I do like to relax a little and just let go sometimes, Senpai-kun."
Surprised she said anything, Naoto waited for more.
"That's why I do stuff like what I did with Hana-chan… and with you last week," she appreciated. "I guess that's a little 'out of character' for me…"
He jumped on this, "Maybe it is in your character."
I'm talking like a true otaku…! Naoto thought he must've sounded foolish, saying that.
"That was pretty dumb of me," Sakura smirked, poking at a kickable rock. "Acting like I was talking to some drill instructor in a cop or army movie when I asked you to help me study… I'm just not sure how to act sometimes when I really want something…"
Naoto said, running with the premise, "There's no reason to overdo it. You don't need to create a character… That's silly."
The young artist thought he was getting to the core of it, but then Sakura said something he'd never dreamed of hearing out of her; it frankly had no foundation in his consciousness!
The gal cringed at her own statement, the smirk widening into a fierce grin, "Well, Senpai-kun… maybe I'm just trying to find my character~…"
…
What…?
What had Naoto just distinguished vaulting through his auditory system?
He was stunned.
Sakura had just said one of the most otaku-ish things perceivable…! And with relish!
And Sakura wasn't done.
"There's no way I could've gotten all that out speaking 'normally', Senpai-kun," a little color rose in her cheeks, and she couldn't look at her senpai.
Naoto heard what she'd just said, but it came through pretty fuzzily.
He felt like he'd fallen into some new world!
And still she went on, a guilty countenance barely hidden, "Do you have any idea how cool you looked when you confronted Nobu-kun in the clubroom? It was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen~…"
Maybe "confronted" was the wrong word…! Naoto was drowning in the strangeness he was experiencing.
He couldn't discount her gravity when she'd thanked him for persuading Takata to stay there and listen to her. This was different, regarding that occasion.
Sakura was fangirling…! Over him...!
Well, maybe "fangirling" was a little strong, but it wasn't anything like before!
She restated, showing as the ripe fruit of her namesake, "I couldn't think of another way to ask for your help… I know it's stupid, but I don't think I would've been able to if I didn't do something different…"
"…" Naoto was at a loss.
Then…
Wait…
Naoto, as he often did, again heard Takata's words, regarding Sakura, in his mind.
I liked her, man… I really did…
And his memories of Sakura's words, regarding Takata, were just as prevalent.
I think I started to like him back, Senpai-kun… I even tried to be myself around him… I think he did like me… just for being me… What a mistake he made…
Naoto hadn't forgotten her wish; they'd just touched on it a moment before, and it never really stayed on the back burner.
I just want someone to like me for me…
Was this what she'd shown to Takata?
Naoto was curious, though it wasn't his business, but he knew that Takata had liked her.
He knew Sunomiya liked her.
He wanted to say it...!
Please just be yourself (whatever that emerging entity was)… Takata liked you for you… Sunomiya likes you for you… Our friends will like you for you…
…
And I like you…
But he bit his tongue. And he felt like a fraidy-cat.
However, as it happened, Sakura took it upon herself.
"Senpai-kun?" she sounded.
"Yeah?" he felt rather loopy, trying to manage all that was going on.
"I'll try," Sakura professed.
"You'll try?"
She nodded, "Yes… I'll try to… try less."
There were a lot of things he could say to that—better things—but what he came up with was, "Okay, Sakura-san."
"…"
"…"
Suddenly, Sakura bent low.
Huh?
Naoto saw that she'd retrieved her lunchbox.
"All this isn't doing much for my appetite, but I gotta eat," she cracked her bento. "You should too. I know I'm not sitting through the afternoon on an empty stomach."
What a way to change the subject! Naoto didn't dare open his mouth and say that, though he was relieved by the idea of stuffing his face.
It meant less talking, and they'd done plenty of that.
Regardless, Sakura had other ideas, "Hana-chan sent me a message last night, Senpai-kun~."
Boy! Could she change gears in a hurry!
Maybe she was a yin-yang.
Naoto found himself bemused, but the manner of Sakura's words was real enough. When her mood took an updraft, it was a delight.
"Did she?" he forced out, grabbing his own bento.
"Yes," Sakura beamed, talking around a piece of chicken. "You noticed the little 'makeover' I gave her. Wasn't she lovely~?"
It was hard to say that openly, though it was precisely correct!
"Yes…" he replied timidly. "She really was."
"She was really happy that you noticed, Senpai-kun."
I know she was… Naoto had no doubt.
"She's so pretty …" Sakura enthused. "I thought she might like a makeover… to try something new. She doesn't need it—she's just stunning—but it's something I could do for her."
He wouldn't assume that Sunomiya loved it, but, "I think she appreciated it."
"I just wanted to do something nice for her," the gal cooed. "She said she was up for more, so I'm glad for that. There are a few things I'd like to show her! I think it'll be fun!"
Maybe Sunomiya DID enjoy having worn makeup… It certainly wasn't a bad thing!
Sakura smiled, and it was quite a thing to see; she faced him, "I even baked her some snickerdoodle cookies last night, Senpai-kun~! I made some for us too, but I just really wanted to give her an additional thanks for the great time I had on Monday."
Words Naoto had heard from her not a half-hour earlier surfaced.
No, but I was gonna surprise her with some-
Cookies!
That was the surprise.
Naoto groaned, putting his face in his hands.
"Senpai-kun?" Sakura cocked her head. "What's up?"
"Oh, geez…" he felt like a real shit. "I'm sorry… That's why you wanted to have lunch with Sunomiya…!"
Her chopsticks in the corner of her mouth, she nodded, nearly carefree about it, "Yeah…"
Ah, fuck my ass! Naoto felt the urge to jump out of a window, and luckily, there were none to be had.
"I'm such an asshole…" he upbraided himself, pulling at his hair.
"It's okay, Asshole-kun," Sakura almost laughed. "We're all getting together after school to study, aren't we? We can enjoy them then. Maybe even have a little coffee or tea~."
Asshole-kun… Naoto guessed that was kind of funny.
That and the idea of teatime with his two kohai was just enough to change his tune, and he quit his brief tirade of self-hatred, "You have no idea how good that sounds…"
He really looked forward to their meeting now! He'd never tried Sakura's baking, but he'd heard it was fine… Not like it was that easy to screw up cookies…
"Uh…"
Naoto enlivened; that hadn't come from him, "Yes, Sakura-san?"
"About after school, Senpai-kun," Sakura squirmed.
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry I bailed like that yesterday," she apologized.
He could've easily gone down the path she was paving, but he didn't, "Did your dad have a nice birthday?"
The mixture of surprise and disbelief she showed at that quickly gave way to a positively joyful visage.
Her cheeks blazed, "It was wonderful. The sukiyaki turned out great. Mom likes to use a bone stock and started it at 7:00 a.m. She made 10 whole liters."
Naoto smirked, "Noodle soup for a while then, I imagine…"
She did a take, looking at him like he was crazy.
He blushed slightly, the goofy smile spreading.
To his pleasure, her eyes lit up, and she giggled.
It was magical…!
He joined her laughter.
Sakura wiped at the corner of her eye.
"Thanks for remembering," she could hardly fathom that this was his response to her "bailing". "Daddy had a nice day…"
Contented, the gal merrily went back to her lunch, and it looked as if she was genuinely enjoying it, as opposed to just eating out of necessity as when she'd begun her meal.
Had her mother made her that lunch?
Naoto worked through his own lunch, which he'd made, and he found himself just watching his kohai a moment, "…"
…
Seriously…
…
Who was Sakura?
She seemed to have so many faces, and he'd seen a few.
Most of the time he'd known her, she always seemed to have a boy on her arm (and/or she was leading some boy like a lamb to the slaughter). At Christmas, trying to escape the closing school with Nagatoro, he'd seen her make first-base in the nurse's office with some unfortunate she didn't even bother calling afterwards.
Yes, she'd led on plenty of boys and broken plenty of hearts along the way, and it could be said hers probably wasn't in the best of shape either.
Naoto had suspected that Sakura wasn't totally "on board" with her image, her experience, and her reputation when she'd gained that clumsy stalker from the Videogame Club. Naoto never could figure out if all those tears she'd spilled over the ordeal were real or not, but she'd shown a chink in her armor. And he could never put it aside that he—and no one else—was the one she asked for help.
Around the same time, he'd also met her dad, and that had shown him an entirely new side to the gal. She was a daddy's girl through and through, and that was no exaggeration!
He'd seen her fangirl over a few things in the past—things otaku girls stereotypically would (ah, Hell, they do) squee over—but the idea that Sakura was a geek of any kind beggared the imagination… But what was that he'd seen mere moments earlier?
And the cherry on top—no pun intended—was the stunning admission she'd dropped the night he'd "rescued" her from her date with Takata.
Contrary to popular belief… I'm a virgin, Senpai-kun~… I really am~…
Naoto had turned this information over and over in his head, not sure of anything, but what she'd supposedly told Takata and Takata had subsequently told him the week before more or less settled it for him.
That surprised me—a lot—learning she was a… Yeah, I didn't see that coming… I never expected things to get that far there anyway, but if they had… well, it would've been my first time too… I'm guessing that's how it is for all three of us… in the same boat…
And after all that above mess, she was alone… with him… Naoto.
Sakura had to have known about the surging interest in Takata so many girls had been showing the last week, and there was no way she felt that nobody potentially had eyes on her now… even though she was being left alone for the most part and avoiding others like the Plague.
Was Gamo-chan playing vulture over this entire pickle, keeping letters and confessions away from Sakura? It hadn't occurred to Naoto to ask the Amazon, though she'd probably tell him the truth if he did. Would Sakura know?
What was even going through the gal's head?!
Naoto had more questions than he wanted to chalk up to his own curiosity, and he was hoping for answers.
…
In spite of this, he asked Sakura something else entirely, "Are you ready to get to work this afternoon?"
Coward…! Fool…! Naoto mentally kicked himself in the balls.
"I am."
"Good to hear," he was pleased to hear that, but he still required a swift kick in the nut-sack for his spinelessness.
…
Boy, did that go down the tubes quickly! Naoto had by several accounts flubbed another talk with a girl he called a friend.
Damn it…
…
"Nm…" Sakura's hands were a mess from her finger foods.
"…" Naoto could see she wanted something. "What's up?"
"Senpai-kun, could you check the time?" she didn't want to handle her phone.
He flipped up his wrist and read it off his watch.
Sakura, looking over his shoulder, frowned.
"We better hurry up and eat…" she stated what they both knew. "Lunch is almost over."
And they did just that.
It was only 15 minutes until they each had to be sitting in their next classes.
…
…
…
The schoolyard was empty by the time Naoto and Sakura had made it back to the school building's entrance. The gal, defying all odds, had fixed her face, and she looked more than presentable.
"Man, you're good at that…" Naoto remarked in wonderment.
Walking fast alongside him, Sakura was putting a few finishing touches on her cheeks, smug under his praise, "Years of practice, Senpai-kun~."
It looked like they'd just barely make it to the next class…
"I'm real sorry about keeping you that long…" Naoto apologized.
She shook her head, "Don't sweat it, Senpai-kun; it's all good."
Naoto looked ahead to the school's doors.
Here's where we split off…
Just as they were about to part ways, Sakura chuckled.
It stopped Naoto dead in his tracks.
He didn't have the slightest idea why and was wary, "What's so funny?"
"It's actually not funny at all, Senpai-kun…" Sakura, halting herself, presented him a paradox, a conflicted but amused air about her.
"Do I even wanna know?" he whined.
Still simpering, she questioned, "What are we gonna do now?"
"What do you mean?"
"That didn't look good, Senpai-kun," she explained, her chirpiness unable to completely mask her concern. "What you did back there…"
"What do you mean?" he echoed his own words.
"What do I mean?!" she spluttered, still exhibiting more jollity than the situation merited. "Those freshmen are gonna tell the entire school that the Art Club president forcefully dragged Sakura Inori to the 'shame corner' and threatened to beat them up."
Naoto's relative indifference fell apart.
He hadn't thought of that, "Shit…"
"You can say that again…" she indulged. "By tomorrow, you'll be the talk of the school! You and your 'manly urges'~."
"That's why you were laughing?" Naoto wasn't amused; in fact, he was panicking.
This is bad…!
"Hey," she glanced his way, poking her tongue out. "Someone once said 'you can either laugh or cry'~~."
That doesn't help!
Sakura could tell Naoto was about to fill up the back of his pants, and she quickly changed her tune.
She put a hand on his shoulder, saying tenderly, "Hey, hey… It's gonna be okay…"
Naoto could tell she meant what she said, but would it?!
"How can it?!" he didn't mean to doubt her, but c'mon!
"Trust me, Senpai-kun," she seemed sure. "I mean, we're in this together, buddy! Cheer up!"
To prove her meaning, she roughly jostled his shoulder.
He guessed they were…
"…" it would take Naoto some getting used to if she was going to start referring to him in such friendly terms.
Together or not, a question needed answering.
How bad could this be? Naoto asked himself.
And he answered himself!
Treacherously bad…
But he couldn't hide the miniscule though wholehearted smile that had appeared.
"…~!" Sakura shone, bubbling. "There's that smile!"
"…" he couldn't stop.
Regardless, something nearly pointless was very mildly troubling Naoto.
Sakura noted that tiniest change in his demeanor, "What's up, Senpai-kun?"
"The 'shame corner'…" he mouthed the words disagreeably; he bent towards his friend. "That's what they call it?"
"No," she snickered. "I just thought it sounded funny~."
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!