🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Chapter 35: The Sakura Puzzle, Part Four🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: Sakura "gets weird" on Naoto, and they talk about the upcoming break.
I haven't done so formally, but I wish to thank u/chxrrysxftie of Reddit for allowing me to use images of her Nagatoro characters cosplay in promotion of my story. Check her out at user/chxrrysxftie .
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 11, 2018
If Naoto Hachioji had known what Sakura Inori had in mind when inviting him to sit at her favored swing set, he might've just thanked her for listening to his troubles and gone home, leaving her to her own devices at the park.
Sakura was dragging the groundskeeper's water hose—from which the two had just drunk their fill—across the grass, and Naoto knew she was about to "get weird" on him.
"You know you could get in trouble for this!" Naoto fretted, sticking close.
"Keep an eye out, if you're so worried," Sakura dismissed. "No one's gonna see… Even if they do, we might get a chewing out, but we won't be arrested."
"You mean you might get a chewing out!" He tried putting figurative distance between them. "I'm not doing anything."
"You're playing lookout, Senpai-kun ," she sang, improving her grip on the kink she'd made in the line. "That makes you my willing accomplice. It's even worse since you're already 18. Maybe you could get arrested~."
Why didn't I just go home?! Naoto cried out in his own head.
He tried reasoning with her. "You stopped Sunomiya, so why's it okay for you?"
"It's not okay." Sakura shrugged. "I just didn't want her getting into trouble. I'm just of a different mindset today~. And it's only a little bit; it's not like I'm gonna flood a sandbox with 100 liters of water."
Having made it to the sandy portion of the park, she approached her favorite of the several swings, the one where her senpai had pushed her, a week-and-a-half earlier.
The senpai in question tried one last time, his eyes darting here and there, watching for bystanders. "C'mon, Sakura-san…"
"Stop flailing around over there, Asshole-kun," she growled, tugging the hose closer to gain more slack. "You're acting like I'm trying to rob a 7-Eleven or something."
"I'm not flailing around!" he whined. "What are you thinking?!"
"I'm thinking I need to cool off. Metaphorically and factually~." With that, she unkinked the hose, aiming it at the sandpit below the seat of the swing.
Water began to flow immediately, the spigot on the other end wide open.
"~🎵~" Sakura hummed giddily to herself as the sand and water chulped about agreeably, forming a dirty puddle.
"What if someone else wants to use it?" He guessed he wasn't done trying to dissuade her.
"Not a huge deal…" she murmured. "There are three other swings, and it's gonna rain tonight anyway."
That it was… Naoto saw the darkness beginning to creep across the horizon.
It'd be a couple hours, but they had a storm a-brewing.
In the here-and-now though, Naoto continued glancing around a moment, praying no one would see what Sakura was up to.
"That'll do~…" the gal simpered, a fine pond having developed.
"…" Her senpai did not approve of these shenanigans, but he gave up.
"Wanna join me?" Sakura had kinked the hose again, nodding to the swing he'd be taking.
"No."
"Well, that's fine, but it's your loss." She wasn't going to fight it. "Then again, doing this with Hana-chan was crazy enough, so I'm happy with going solo~. I was so embarrassed, I thought I'd die… But that's another thing I love about her. She encouraged me to do this when I was afraid to… and she even offered to join me so I wouldn't feel like such a freak~. And she didn't even know what I was up to."
Naoto reasoned there was a difference between playing in a puddle and making a puddle, but what was he going to do?
Sakura enthused, "You should try it sometime, Senpai-kun. You're really missing out~."
He stood at a loss, watching her trot back to the spigot, where she shut off the water and reeled in the hose.
Just as quickly as she'd gone to turn off the water, she came back to the edge of the sand.
Naoto knew what was coming next. "Geez, you're weirding me out today…"
"Don't judge me." She kicked off her loafers and went about peeling off her floppy stockings.
Her friend noticed quickly enough that her toes were painted with the same color as her fingers, the easy-going pink that she and Hana had applied earlier in the week.
Beaten, he asked, genuinely curious about she and Hana had gotten up to, "You let Sunomiya paint your toes too?"
"Nope." She was shaking out one of her socks, it having turned inside out when she'd pulled it off. "I did it myself. Toes are serious business."
"When was it?" He couldn't remember them doing that. "Did you two find some free time that day to paint hers, or—"
"Just did our fingernails." She made for the podiatrical oasis she'd fashioned. "Feet are a different ballgame, but she'll figure it out, probably. A little too involved to do at school anyway. I did mine at home."
Without so much as another word, Sakura sauntered into the muck, and she sat down on the swing's seat. As Hana had described, the gal melted.
"Tee-hee-hee~…" she susurrated, slouching and digging in, an almost orgasmic mien coming over her face. "…Yeah… Heh-heh~~…"
Ugh…! Naoto swore that her eyes went perilously out of focus, her mouth lolling open with a rattling sigh.
He remembered her words from the previous Monday.
My favorite thing when I was a little girl was to dip my toes in the sand… Dig down to the cool, damp stuff underneath… It still makes me feel better when I'm feeling blue.
He cringed, at last having visual confirmation that it was a little less innocent than all that. He'd believed Hana, but this was proof.
Maybe things changed with the onset of puberty…
He felt like he was witnessing a crime being committed! And it wasn't only because the gal probably was!
"Senpai-kun, get over here~!" she called serenely, her eyes drooping shut. "This is even weirder than it needs to be with you just watching like that…"
At most other times, he would've gone to pieces, overly flustered at being accused of "watching", but with Sakura… it didn't regularly happen.
"Fine…" He submitted and made for the swing beside her.
"Yay~…" She plurped around gaily in the wet patch. "Senpai-kun~…"
"You seem to be enjoying yourself…" he tendered, settling in. "But isn't this a bit much?"
"Hey, I told you I liked playing in the cool, wet sand~." She eyed him playfully, leaning back. "This is like… a step up!"
"A step up?" he scrutinized.
"Yeah, like when something goes from being a 'want' to being a 'need'!" she chirped. "That's a responsibility~!"
"How does that make sense?" He couldn't register this.
"I do this at least once a week," she explained, rocking forward and back, as far as was possible. "I tell you, Hana-chan was right. Sometimes it's not enough~."
"You're nuts…" His question had been far from answered.
"Sorry, I don't have any." She puckered her lips, winking. "Can I borrow yours? I promise I'll give them back~."
Okay, that shook Naoto a bit.
"Gah…" He pushed himself away slightly, not able to move far in the first place, the swing hindering.
For a girl behaving as a liquid, fluidly filling all parts of its container, she'd kept a sharpness to her.
Sakura chuckled, slorching her feet about, "Attack deflected~."
Naoto had seen a bit of strangeness out of her, and this was probably ousting the rest of it.
Man, this was bizarre…!
But it wasn't that bizarre.
He tried to loosen up.
It wasn't bad out that day. A rainstorm was on the way, sure, but a refreshing breeze was traversing their little peninsula, the Sun had retreated behind some light cloud cover, and his friend—a very pretty girl—was sitting next to him, enjoying the Hell out of whatever the Hell it was she was actually doing.
He'd pondered just what it was and why she was enjoying it so much, and he'd decided to not ponder, knowing it very well might make her "girl talk" session with Hana look like a formal tea ceremony.
Still—
Not bad at all…
About all Naoto could hear were the leaves rustling, the distant sound of traffic, and Sakura, blithely burbling next to him, as she plished her cares away.
He just had to ask, having taken everything in for a few moments, "What you're doing… Is it really that great?"
"It is, and it's not too late to join me~," Sakura nattered. "Not that I'd share my mud-hole with you. Gotta make your own. This one's mine~."
Mud-hole?! Naoto jarred. Does she know how that comes off like when she says it like that?!
"Ah, don't say 'mud-hole…" he begged, his skin crawling. "That just sounds disgusting."
She snorked, "Whoops… I guess that is kinda sick-sounding~. I take it you're not interested?"
"…Some other time…" Naoto pledged. "Really… I'm just a little uncomfortable with stealing the hose and the water and stuff. Some cop looking to meet a quota might charge us with vandalism."
"… " she ho-hummed.
"…" He was edging.
"What's up?" Sakura wondered.
"Hmm?" He hadn't said anything.
"Seems to me that Senpai-kun wants to ask something~…" Sakura squelched pleasingly in the cold, her ecstasy plain and unhidden.
"…I guess."
"What is it?"
There wasn't any good way for him to lead in, he thought. "It's something else… from earlier. How is it that you see so much?"
"What do you mean?" Pulling her feet from the mud with a slorch, she straightened her legs before her.
"Even if you can't see everything, like you said, you seem to be pretty good at reading people and stuff."
"And stuff?" She took in the view of her lower appendages, spreading and flexing her toes.
"Yes, stuff." He cringed at the cracking joints and grainy sounds made as she wriggled her sandy pigs. "How do you do it?"
"Some people are just good at it, and I'm okay at it, but the 'trick' is that you just need to stop, look, and listen." Reinterring her pedes, she again put down roots. "But like I just told you, there's plenty I don't notice…"
A sourness in Naoto's stomach told him there was something behind her last sentence.
He deliberately walked into the snare she'd (un)knowingly set, and he asked squarely, "You got something you wanna share, Sakura-san?"
Sakura seemed delighted to position the noose. "Hana-chan notices more than I do, it seems~."
"She is observant." Naoto knew this was going somewhere, and he hoped it wasn't any place too terrible.
"Well, I guess she might not notice more, but we definitely notice different things." She squished the sluff between her toes. "You'd be surprised at what Hana-chan sees~."
He just let the noose make its way over his head. "Like what?"
She inquired equably, tightening the rope and stringing him up, "How'd the sketch you were doing at lunch yesterday go~?"
Zoot! Naoto almost left a nugget in his shorts.
"Dah…!" he blathered. "You saw that?!"
"No, Hana-chan noticed." She thought that was understood, and it should've been. "I had no idea, but she told me after you left."
Ahh… Naoto's blood ran cold. I'm such a piece of crap…
"I'm sorry," he croaked.
"We're not upset about it," she told him, pushing off with her heels and swinging a couple times. "It's cool."
"It was creepy," he disagreed. "Really, sorry."
Sakura seemed to ignore what he'd said, stopping her pendulous movement. "Could I see?"
Naoto was bemused. "I… suppose."
It was in his bag, only an arm's length away.
He pulled out the sketchbook containing the devious piece. "Uh, here it is."
Watching him flip the pages, she squawked, "Ooh! I'm kinda excited~."
"Careful not to drop the book, please," he fussed, handing it over.
Sakura, her face lighting up, took in the depiction of herself and her gal-pal. "Wow…! This is incredible!"
Naoto wouldn't go that far, blushing, but he was quite pleased with it, given he'd done it so quickly. "I'm happy with how it turned out."
"How do you get so much detail?" She pored over the image.
"I start with a general outline and fill in details as I observe them. For an actual portrait, I like a still subject, but I can do an okay sketch otherwise."
"Yeah, we definitely weren't holding this pose…" she measured. "I'm all animated, and Hana-chan's just flashing the cards at me."
"I drew it rough and added to it, later in the day, from memory." He was pleased with how well this was going. "You two definitely looked like that."
"Do I really smile that much?" She cocked her head, trying a new angle.
"I… took a few liberties, but you do smile a lot." He was shaking some, and he tried to steady himself. "It was actually easier to draw you up like that, smiling."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing~?" she tittered.
He resolved, crimson-faced, "It just is…"
Sakura seemed satisfied with that.
"Ooh, look at Hana-chan~!" she raved, splashing about. "She's so pretty~."
I think so too… Naoto silently agreed, beaming.
Out loud, he said, "Hey! Watch the pants! Watch the pants!"
Sakura, in her jauntiness, was flinging wet sand everywhere, causing her senpai to raise his legs in defense of his clothing.
"Hmm…" She soon halted her splish-splash. "My face… You got it, uh, really detailed…"
This was something he was quite proud of. "I used a 0.3 mm lead for some of it. Sunomiya was at more of a profile, so it didn't have to be as fine."
"Do my eyes really look that awful?" she troubled.
Aiee… Naoto had missed her tone when she'd first mentioned her face, but he caught it this time.
"Uh, no," he said. "Your eyes are fine. It's just that your eyes were at… half-mast for most of time I was working."
This wasn't good enough for her, apparently.
"Really, do they look okay?" She turned to him, getting close.
Yipe! Naoto didn't want to back up, but he did.
"Senpai-kun, how do they look?" she insisted he tell her. "I've been sleeping pretty well, but I see my face everyday in the mirror, so I'm used to it… y'know, 'cause it's gradual, a change in complexion."
"You look pretty normal." Naoto should've known this wouldn't be a suitable answer.
"Please, Senpai-kun," she beseeched. "Take a better look. My face…"
He didn't suppose she wanted to hear that she looked phenomenally better this year than she had the year before. The bags she'd had under her eyes when they'd become acquainted in the fall had been impressive, if that was the right word for it; they'd certainly been dismal. She'd looked like Hell, really. It had taken her restructuring her schedule and making sleep a bigger priority to fix what she had going on.
This year, though, she looked pretty good. Just a few days prior, he'd seen her without makeup next to Hana (free of cosmetics), and she'd looked frightful in comparison.
But he wouldn't compare any of the girls as to what they had going on with their looks any more than he could compare what was going on in their heads, so he looked only at Sakura.
He said, "You look happy, Sakura-san."
Doh! He wanted to jump off a building, realizing he'd just gone for the ultimate copout.
Sakura was mystified. "What kinda answer is that?"
Not what you wanted to hear, I know! Naoto thought fast.
The good thing was, he didn't have to make up something stupid.
He still didn't like thinking about the night she'd stayed over at his house, when they'd had that ugly scuffle in his kitchen, but one thing that had stood out to him—even before they'd gotten physical—was her face.
She'd still looked better than she had the previous fall, but she'd looked rather dreadful. Tired, stressed, dulled, and puffy were a few words he could've used to describe her complexion.
And the Monday after that confusing weekend, when she'd first gotten him to hang out at the park, she'd appeared pretty lousy too.
But she'd had better days since then, and she was happier.
So, now… he looked into her eyes, and he assessed what he saw.
She seemed well-rested… (relatively) relaxed… she was glowing… and her skin was mostly smooth and unblemished, her color even. And it wasn't the fact she was dolled-up with more makeup than she needed.
"You look good, Sakura-san," Naoto sincerely stated, his face burning. "You really do look just fine. You look… like you're doing well."
Crap, Naoto! He'd just let fall another copout. She's not gonna like that… What now…?!
Yes, what now?
Well, she pinkened, which he hadn't expected. Her eyes softened, her countenance unwound, and her lips parted. It was barely discernable, but it was there.
Oh, man! He'd either done something right or terminally screwed the pooch!
Either way, he had the urge to explain himself. "What I mean is… it's been a crazy last few weeks… I know it's been hard, but… you seem to be much happier than you were. You… look like you again…"
"…!" She stared downward as she fiddled with her hands, sandwiching her feet in the grit.
Yeah, the pooch is pregnant! And here come all the freak babies! His brains were in circles.
It seemed anything could've ensued, but as it happened, there was a strong indication his own red-rocket had done no such thing to no such doggy-hole.
Sakura snorted, breaking down in a giggle-fit, cerise.
"You should be a politician, Senpai-kun~… instead of an artist," she hooted, unable to keep a one of her appendages still.
"…!" He indeed knew he hadn't deep-dicked the canine!
Sakura was squirming like a bait-worm being cut up. "That was, like, the perfect answer~…!"
Naoto wasn't sure that this was real. How could that be "perfect"?! It's not even close!
"No, it wasn't…" he mumbled, his face no less red.
"Of course, it was!" she lambasted him, somewhat comically.
"…" Naoto wanted to be far away.
Sakura seemed content with this state of affairs.
"You covered all the bases," she twitted. "And I believed every word you said. Guess that makes you greater than some asshole politician."
All the bases?! Naoto had tried to do no such thing. "Sakura-san…"
"Really, Senpai-kun, honest and true!" she guaranteed. "I'm goofing around a little, but…"
Naoto witnessed what could only be described as introspection take over the gal's face.
She stopped her merriment. "You know what…?"
"…!" His heart was in his throat. "What?"
"I know I'm not the prettiest girl on the planet… or even among our friends…" she allowed grudgingly, with a twisted smile, the latter. "But believe me, I know I'm quite good-looking. And a lot of guys call me pretty and stuff, and I know they mean it, but they don't really… pay attention, if you catch my drift."
"I… uh… don't." He wasn't sure.
"Don't sell yourself short," she smirked. "Seems you see plenty yourself, Senpai-kun…"
"See what?" He remained clueless, but maybe he just wasn't thinking hard enough.
Sakura didn't let it bother her. "I think that's one of the better things about you~… You don't have an agenda. There aren't nearly enough of you… I so wish more girls could appreciate that in a guy."
WTF is she talking about?! Naoto didn't quite follow all this, though he turned away, chagrinned.
"I really wish they did~…" she breathed. "I feel pretty fortunate. Thanks for that, Senpai-kun~."
Am I having a stroke?! His reasoning was probably still choking its life away in that noose he'd all but leapt into earlier; maybe that's why his brain wasn't working.
"…~" Sakura fiddled and diddled, staring at her toes, curling in the muck.
"…" Naoto's asshole had cinched shut like a poked sea anemone, the young man waiting to see what the girl did next.
"Let's… move on," she proposed, her voice faltering in a rich chuckle. "I don't think I can take this much longer. I probably look like a strawberry~…"
Naoto hazarded a good, sideways glance at Sakura.
She was brick-red in the face.
Whoo! He automatically pounced upon her inclination. "Sure… let's."
The gal was just as alleviated, probably. She had been the one to bring it up though.
Naoto took a deep breath. What had just happened?!
He wasn't sure. But she'd let him "off the hook" not long before, leaving the concept of "prescription crying" in the dust, and he had no problem with returning the favor, abandoning this one.
"…"
"…"
"So… Senpai-kun," Sakura initiated. "What are you most excited for about summer break?"
Naoto knew he'd have an easier time with this, especially since he was certain she wouldn't give him grief for his answers. She'd be cool about it.
He gladly shared, "Well, other than having more time to work on art, there are a couple of small conventions going on nearby. I'm not sure if you've met Shuu Aisho and Tohru Hijikata…"
"Your two good buddies…" she chewed it over. "I've only met them in passing, I guess. Said 'hello'. They seem like okay guys. They going with you?"
He answered, "Yep. There's a smaller videogame con on August 10 that they're real excited about. There'll be a lot going on, but the big draw is a bunch of people that've worked on The Legend of Zelda series are the special guests. Even some of the 'minor' staff from the first game will be there."
"Oh, I think I know what you're talking about," she said. "The Videogame Club was planning on a day trip to that exact convention, but it interfered with other plans they came up with."
Naoto's heart leapt at the idea that he'd be able to casually meet her at such a place, and it discombobulated him, that he'd felt that strongly about it.
He still couldn't help what popped into his head. Were you planning to go?
It seemed a little above his "paygrade" to ask, but the urge to do so was fairly powerful.
Should he…?
Had she even wanted to go in the first place?
Would she like to go with him and his pals?
Would Shuu and Tohru be cool with it? (Shuu would blow his load, he was convinced, but Tohru…?)
It didn't matter much, because he'd lost the chance to ask.
Sakura had things she was looking forward to. "Just being away from school for six weeks is what I'm the happiest about."
Doh! Naoto had blown it, but he let it slide.
The gal burst before petering out, "Then there's the summer sales and the festivals and the beach… and…"
Naoto cocked his head. "And what?"
She burst even more powerfully, as if she'd been building steam, "And I'll get to spend some time with Hana-chan away from school~!"
He should've known!
Sakura beamed, "I'm really looking forward to that~…"
Man, is she ever red! Naoto commented to his own self.
Indeed, she was still coloring pretty heavily, very near squee level.
Naoto's heart didn't leap this time; it soared. "I'm really happy for you, Sakura-san."
She pulled out of the mire, crossing her legs at the ankles and leaning back, jostling her swing. "It's gonna be so cool~!"
It crossed Naoto's mind that he should offer to push her like before, but the idea of getting wet sand all over him shut that down. He was still fairly clean, and he was happy to stay that way!
"We're gonna have so much fun at the beach~!" Sakura chirped. "Hana-chan says she doesn't go much, and she lives as close to the water as I do."
Naoto knew they'd have fun too, and he let slip, "I know I'm excited to go to the beach again…"
Ah, shit! He was cerebrally tying himself to the whipping post. I said something attackable!
Nothing came of it though. Sakura was a different kind of girl than Nagatoro, and Gamo-chan, on the subject, possibly sat "in between" them as far as propensity to teasing went.
The gal pitched her body, trying to get a little momentum going. "Y'know what my favorite thing about the beach is, Senpai-kun?"
Is it being buried up to your knees in the sand and waiting for the tide to come in? He'd never ask such a mean-spirited thing.
Three guesses what he liked! It may or may not have had something to do with bikinis.
But this was her joyful lark!
"What is it?" He went with the safe response to her question.
Sakura's answer didn't flabbergast. "Right on the shore, when the water ebbs and flows, if you stand in one place, the sand at your feet steadily washes away."
Again, with the sand and the feet! Naoto shuddered. "Why am I not surprised?"
She wasn't daunted, if she'd even registered his tone. "The illusion of the waves helps make it seem you're gonna fall backwards."
He was familiar with the sensation. "Yeah…"
She gave a very girlish giggle, "I always space out, and then before you know it, I'm on my ass in the sand, and my bottom's all wet~!"
"…?!" Naoto didn't see the fun in that! "That's kinda messed up."
Sakura shot back, so vexed was she, "Oh, screw you, Asshole-kun, it's a gas~~!"
Asshole-kun didn't buy it. "What's so fun about falling on your butt?"
"I dunno…" She kept rocking the swing, trying to get a little forward-and-back. "I dunno why this is fun!"
She gestured, pointing a toe at the marsh beneath her.
Prolly for the same reasons… Naoto, as he had prior, didn't care to meditate on the issue.
"Beh…" he wrote off.
Sakura didn't like that!
"Hana-chan thought it sounded fun!" she discoursed. "That's two-to-one in favor of 'ass in the sand', Senpai-kun~."
"Well, you two have fun with that." He wasn't amused.
"Ooooooh…" Sakura growled, inflating her cheeks.
Naoto did laugh this time, "What, do you wanna be called 'Chipmunk-cheeks'?"
Glowering, she puffed up all the more.
"Chipmunk-cheeks and Asshole-kun…" Naoto mused. "Sounds like a comedy duo…"
"…Rrrrrr…!" Sakura rumbled.
Gotcha! The young man had finally "defeated" the gal!
Not that they'd had some long-running rivalry…
Naoto thought he'd won.
But he hadn't.
Sakura came back with the force of the Shinkansen on a failed speed governor. "Well, I know what you like most about the beach~!"
Uh-oh! Naoto should've seen this coming.
Sakura was very unlike Nagatoro and not as disposed to attack as Gamo-chan, but she could surpass their antics if she was so inclined.
Naoto braced for all manner of criticism. I was asking for this! I shoulda just nodded and smiled at all the sandy feet weirdness!
"That's right, Senpai-kun~!" Sakura serenaded. "I know what you like."
Oh, here it comes! He'd just take it, knowing she wouldn't be overly cruel; she'd make her point, and it would be over.
"I know what your favorite thing about the beach is, but I can't fault you for it…" Beginning the sentence strong, her voice fell away.
"Eh?" Naoto, realizing he was hunched up, eyes squeezed shut, disentangled himself.
He opened his eyes.
Sakura was goggling at him, her face and chipmunk-cheeks abounding with laughter.
She guffawed, "Gotcha~!"
It took a few seconds for him to get his bearings, but he remembered what had just happened, things taking such a hard turn.
Yeah, she'd gotten him!
"Oh, you shoulda seen your face~…" Sakura patted him on the back.
I imagine it looked pretty funny. Naoto could laugh at himself. "Yeah… you got me."
His reluctant smile only drove the gal to greater heights.
"Oh, it's okay, Senpai-kun," she simpered. "I'm just funnin' around."
"I know…" He also knew he was flushed like nobody's business.
"Don't get too cocky~." Submerging her feet again, she took on the airs of some wise monk. "As George Washington once said, 'If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it'. I think I got it right."
She'd spoken in English!
"I… don't know what you just said…" Naoto owned up.
Sakura tittered, "Then, 'If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it'. That's what I said."
"That's definitely true…" He seemed to lack in this ability.
"…~" she laughed to herself.
"Sorry…" Naoto offered. "Sorry for calling you weird."
"You didn't call me weird, did you?" She couldn't recall.
It hadn't even been that long, but Naoto wasn't sure either. "Maybe I was just thinking it."
"It's okay, Senpai-kun." She stirred around, churning the sand. "Don't think that I don't know it's kinda weird. I just like it."
"…Maybe I'll join you and Sunomiya on the shore," he proposed, absentmindedly. "We can stand in one place—not moving at all—and see who can stand the longest. I guess it's dumb, but—"
"That sounds fun~!" she squeaked. "That's exactly what Hana-chan said she wanted to do. You artists sure have good taste~."
Naoto wasn't begging for it, but he'd been expecting it. Isn't she gonna give me even a little grief over—
"Back to the matter at hand," Sakura began.
Fuck! He wasn't out of the woods.
She finished, "There's nothing wrong with being happy about seeing a bunch of girls in their swimsuits, Senpai-kun."
Naoto sighed, surrendering to whatever came next, "Well, at least we're on the same page…"
There was a chance she'd had something else in mind, but it had been unlikely.
"I figured we were~." Sakura brushed her hair out of her face, tossed by the mild breeze.
"…" It was a relief to Naoto that she wasn't going to accuse him of being a pervert for wanting to go "swimsuit watching", as if the garments were rare, seasonal birds, but he was still mortified.
Sakura could read him easily enough. "Seriously, Senpai-kun, don't lose your composure like this."
"I'm trying." He'd been trying as far back as he could remember, not even liking this sort of talk with Shuu and Tohru.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," she went on. "It's not like you're eye-humping us."
Filter, Sakura, filter! Naoto metaphorically stumbled, scrunching up.
The gal ascertained with no difficulty that her senpai required an explanation.
"It seems to me that you need a little convincing~," she tutted. "There's no reason for you to be embarrassed or anything."
In a pig's ass, that was true! Naoto floundered. "That's easy for you to say…"
"Aw, Asshole-kun doesn't believe me~?" she clucked.
He returned, "Asshole-kun has his doubts."
"Well, I guess it's time to pull out the big guns~." She came to full sitting height.
"Wha…?!" Naoto nearly jumped out of his skin, the suggestiveness he'd just heard perturbing him.
"I'll clue you in, Senpai-kun~," Sakura announced, grinning.
Q&A Section
If you could match songs to the characters in the story, who would get what song?
ED: I'm not good with this sort of thing. I didn't like the anime, but the music was at least memorable. The theme song just sounded mean; I don't know how else to describe it. That fit Nagatoro. Some of the characters have character songs, and those always come to mind.
My editor wrote a Reddit essay on Bob Dylan songs and Gamo-chan, Yoshi, and Sakura last year. He was driving around his farm tractor, listening to Dylan albums because it was Dylan's 80th birthday. Then he got drunk at a grill out and wrote about it later. He also does this every couple weeks, and it incidentally helps "spice up" my writing. It's where he gets some of the weird and crazy things you see in the story.
I don't begrudge PS for getting liquid inspiration, but I can't relate. I've never drank, smoked, or anything. I don't even use caffeine.
You've stated that you already have the timeline of events completely done. What I'm wondering is where on that are we at the moment with the current progress of your story? Halfway, two thirds, one third? You get the gist. How far has the story progressed and how much further will it go on is perhaps a simpler wording of my question.
ED: We're in for a long haul, which I've stated, and that scares some folks. But please allow me to explain:
We're about one third of the way through the story as far as its volume goes, but the story itself lasts about six months, considering the in-universe. The great bulk of the story encompasses the second half of 2018.
Will the story end with the confession of love between Sakura and Naoto, or if it will continue developing their relationship even beyond that?
ED: The story will not end with a love confession. I don't want to give away any more than that.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading! Questions and comments are welcome!