🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Chapter 41: Naoto and Sakura🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: Have a jumbo-sized chapter! I think this might be the longest one yet! This one is all over the place, but Naoto and Sakura seem to develop a better understanding for one another. They also have a few laughs.
My editor had a field day spicing up some of the language and coming up with "weird" stuff. Get ready for that!
Sorry to those expecting a seminude dry off scene in some shed somewhere after the two of them got caught in the rain and have to spend the night.
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.
Thursday, July 11, 2018
By 10:30 p.m., the late-in-the-day thunderstorm had finished passing over the Miura Peninsula.
On a little street in Hayama, beneath the streetlights, a senpai and his kohai laboriously made their way back towards the little park adjacent to the ice cream shop.
As it happened, Sakura Inori's gal-pal—the only one called upon willing to offer her a bed for the night—lived on the polar-opposite side of the park from the yakiniku restaurant the gal had talked Naoto Hachioji into visiting.
With the storm bearing down on them, the two had made it to the restaurant just before 8:30 p.m., with about 90 seconds to spare, and it began raining cats and dogs.
To say they'd had a pleasant time would be putting it mildly, and the merriment hadn't ended quite yet.
The two had returned to a particular subject they'd earlier departed.
Naoto advocated, "On a car trip, the strongest bladder dictates the stops, not the weakest."
"That's terrible," Sakura criticized such a miserable Man Law. "Try doing that with women aboard! So long, upholstery!"
He chuckled, "Yeah, that one doesn't make a whole lot of sense, especially in that case…"
"Yeah," she snickered into her hands. "It's not like we can pinch it off like you boys can. You keep a clothespin handy in your pocket~? For such an occasion~~?"
Naoto shuddered but joined the gaiety. "No, but I guess we can aim it into empty bottles and stuff. Maybe that's why we don't have to stop as much."
Sakura snorted, "Asshole-kun~!"
"Whoops~!" He sidestepped.
She'd made to pinch his upper-arm again, but she wasn't serious, and the vulgarity was on par with what she'd said.
It was all in good fun.
Near the end of their all-you-can-eat, 100-minute time limit at the restaurant, both had again found themselves riffing to and fro further rules of Man Law and Girl Code.
Sakura's were still decidedly more "wholesome". "Be the amazing photographer you wish you had!"
"Meh~," Naoto smugly dismissed.
"C'mon, Senpai-kun, that's a good one!" she faulted him. "Don't be a dick!"
"Okay, okay," he sated her. "That was pretty good…"
"Yeah, it is!" Sakura brought it home. "It'd be good Man Law too! Everyone loves someone that takes good pictures!"
Naoto had no argument. "You're right about that, Sakura san…"
"So… think you can top that~?" she tantalized. "Senpai-kun~~?"
He wasn't trying to "green mushroom" her—
Wait! Yes, he was!
He demonstrated, "If a lady is late for a date, a man is obligated to wait 10 minutes for each point she holds on the classic '1 to 10 hotness scale'.
"How long would a man have to wait for me~?" Sakura turned it around on him, winking.
Whoo-hoo-hoo! Naoto hadn't anticipated a counterattack of this variety!
All the same, he had an answer!
About 85 minutes! But he could tell she was playing; she wasn't looking for a serious answer, not that he had it in him to give her one.
"At least an hour~…" He hoped she wasn't looking for a serious answer; he thought she'd get a laugh and/or come back with something funny.
However, something about his line displeased her. It might've been the fact that he'd laughed when he'd responded (or that he'd lowballed the appraisal), and he was about to learn another painful lesson.
This time, Sakura didn't honor him with the suffix of "-kun".
"Asshole!" She wasn't playing anymore, and she did pinch the skin over his tricep, the second time that day.
To give it a little more substance, she twisted for good measure.
"Yee-ouch!" he hollered. "Leggo! Leggo!"
She did, blushing. "You weren't supposed to answer! I'm turning all red again!"
"I thought you were mad because I laughed…" Naoto griped.
"That too!" she amended her stance. "And only a six?!"
"I was joking…" He rubbed at his poor arm. "And I said 'at least'…! You didn't want to know about the swimsuit thing, so I didn't think you actually wanted a… a solemn assessment… But if you really wanna know…"
"The precedent still stands!" Sakura leered, her utterance theatrical. "One more wrong move, and you're getting pokes in the belly~!"
To show she wasn't fooling, she held up her hands, her index and middle-fingers joined on each one.
"Please don't touch my stomach," Naoto moaned, his hands already guarding his body. "I think I'm gonna blow…"
She cackled, letting his most recent transgression go by the wayside, "I've never seen anyone eat that much beef… That was amazing! And kinda disturbing~!"
The gal laughed all the more, referring to his overconsumption in such terms.
In his jollity, Naoto kept forgetting that he'd eaten more that night than he'd ever before eaten in one sitting; he was positive of this. It was decidedly out of character for him to overindulge so severely, but he'd elected to do so. Maybe he'd seen it in some anime, which could be any of several series, the main protagonist a bottomless pit into which food was thrown by the bushel-fucking-basketful.
"I was hungry." He had been. "Too much salt though…"
"You sure made it our money's worth!"
"Well, your money…"
"You'll pay me back~," Sakura reminded. "Considering we put down about ¥16,000 worth of meat and sides at the regular prices for ¥6,800 with drinks included, I think we did pretty good~!"
"How much of that did you sneak out though?"
"That's included!" She'd crammed as much cooked beef as possible into a few sandwich bags, stowing them in her schoolbag. "I figure I pocketed… approximately ¥3,500 worth of kalbi! Guess what this gal's putting in her Friday bento~!"
"I'm surprised you didn't get caught…"
"They won't miss it…" She based this on nothing. "Plus, the way you were putting the stuff away, I don't think they suspected a thing~."
"I thought we'd get cut off," Naoto pronounced, having eaten enough to feed a family of four, even getting the attention of the other patrons due to his gluttony.
"That's what the 100-minute time limit's for!" Sakura giggled.
"Didn't quite need that much time…" He felt like there were boulders rolling around inside of him. "I was dying at 70."
"That college student serving us was pissed!"
"I wouldn't say pissed, but I think he got tired of seeing our faces… and everyone else's." Naoto reasoned. "They were stretched pretty thin, and they get paid the same crappy wage whether the place is empty or if it's slam-packed."
Sakura replied, "But can you imagine how boring it must be to have nothing to do at a place like that? When there's not much to do, he prolly has to clean the toilets and stuff. Time flies when you're busy."
"I never wanna work in a restaurant."
She enticed, "Hey, if you ask real nicely and have something worth trading, you can have some of this beef at lunch tomorrow~."
He didn't need her to give him anything. "Heck, you can have some of the paella, but I don't even wanna look at a piece of beef for a while…"
"More for Hana-chan, then~," she laughed. "But maybe she's sick of grilled meat and barbeque too. Her family still has leftovers from her grandparents' anniversary party, she says."
"I could never get tired of grilled meat and barbeque… when it's pork." Naoto loved the stuff. "I just don't think I'll be hungry for beef anytime soon."
"Maybe I can scrounge up a nice side dish to share."
"At your friend's?"
"Yeah~!" Sakura was confident. "She'll gladly give me something, especially when plied with some of this kalbi~. Stuff was epic!"
"It was good," Naoto approved. "And I've never tried beef-tongue before."
"Me neither, Senpai-kun!" Sakura chirped. "It's a little like bacon, isn't it~? It was totally worth getting a little plate on the side!"
"Yeah…" He groaned, adjusting his belt, his shirt long since untucked for comfort. "It reminded me of beef brisket a little… sorta…"
Holding his belly, he tried to find a better way to carry the extra few kilograms (not including the three bottles of Dr Pepper sucked down) he'd gained.
"Whoa…" Sakura stared past his attempt at easing his affliction, which wasn't going all that swimmingly.
"What…?" Naoto rumbled, slowing to a stop.
The gal marveled, also coming to rest, "Look at your stomach~…!"
"You didn't notice…?" he asked incredulously.
"It's all round~," she spluttered.
Indeed, Naoto's stomach, usually flat as a washboard (if not as firm), seemed to stick out to the point that he'd have trouble seeing lil' Naoto if he looked down while taking a piss.
"Well, yeah, I'm stuffed…" he supposed. "That's what happens."
Choosing to ignore his derision, Sakura simpered, gaping at the offending form. "Ooh, lookie at Senpai-kun's watermelon tummy~."
"Yes, yes…" he waxed sarcasm. "Asshole-kun has himself a 'watermelon tummy'…"
"Please~…" She crouched down slightly. "Lemme do it~."
"Do what?"
Sakura flicked his protruding abdomen.
Tuhp! Tuhp! Tuhp!
"Ooh, listen to that~!" she squealed.
At first, Naoto was too flabbergasted to react properly. "What?"
"Not only does it look like one, but it also sounds like a perfectly ripe watermelon~!" she shrieked.
"No, it doesn't!" he argued, now alert, trying to get out of reach.
"Yes, it does~!" She went to try again, not letting him escape. "It feels like one too~ It's all solid and stuff~!"
Tuhp! Tuhp! Tuhp!
"Stop that…" he whined, unable to move quickly. "I feel like I'm gonna explode…"
"Okay," she threw a giggle fit. "I guess you've had enough~…"
Naoto inhaled and let out a huge sigh, "Oh, this was stupid of me…"
Sakura became serious. "I do not envy you once all that meat has reached its final destination."
Fully aware she was referencing the unpleasant BM he'd experience in the next 16 hours or so, he wasn't overly bothered by her frankness.
Still, she'd be suffering the same fate, he knew, but it'd be a cold day in Hell before he'd casually remind her of her own bodily functions.
"Yeah…" He wasn't looking forward to his pretending at a cement mixer over the toilet the next day. "Too much beef…"
Dropping the serious, Sakura picked up the silly. "Watermelon tummy~."
"It doesn't look, feel, or sound like one," he complained. "And please don't touch my stomach again…"
"Oh, you may be right…" she permitted. "It's not all that watermelon-esque."
Good… Naoto hoped she was done with that joke.
"In fact…" Sakura tittered, dimpling.
He knew trouble when he heard it. Uh-oh! What?
She burst, pointing at his gut, "You almost look like… you're six months preggers~!"
"…!" Naoto's first reaction was to be angry, but…
That's kinda funny! He'd grant that.
"I bet I look terrible in profile…" He was sure he did.
"Can I take a picture~?" Sakura flashed her phone, beaming. "Give us a sexy face~! Cradle it lovingly like an expectant mother~~!"
He was against this, but he still smiled. "Don't you dare…"
"Don't worry, I won't," she laughed, stowing away her phone. "It'd be kinda mean… and unflattering."
"…~" But the thought was funny to him.
"…~" Sakura chortled at the notion. "Mama Asshole-kun~".
Naoto, his entrails rippling, gave voice to the sensation he was still experiencing, "I feel like I've got boulders rolling around in there…"
"You do?"
"Yes…" And he knew his forthcoming shits would be just as rock-solid.
For Sakura's part, she mothballed a few seconds, her head-brain throwing together something. "…~!"
Her senpai noticed. Oh, boy!
Suddenly, she squeed with delight, clapping her hands, "Oh, happy day!"
Naoto had an especially bad feeling (the funny kind of "bad") about this. "What is it, Sakura-san…?"
"Senpai-kun's having a baby boulder~!" she squawked. "When the blessed time is near, we can throw you a baby shower in the bathroom and everything! We can put up signs all over the boys' room: 'Beware of Falling Rocks'!"
"…!" Naoto staggered. Yipes! This gal was frightful! She was making light of the solid doodie plight!
"Maybe you'll even have twins!" She took perhaps too much joy in this. "Or triplets! All those brown, bouncing boulder-babies~!"
"Oh, that's fucking sickening…" he let slip the F-bomb, repelled, but he still laughed.
Sakura shook with mirth. "S'not often I get to hear such language from you~!"
"Sorry…" He didn't normally delight in swearing. "That was just gross."
"It was clever(ish?) though~…" she snickered.
Struck with the mood, Naoto attempted "cleverness" in the same vein.
"Maybe it'll be more like a mudslide…" he quipped, knowing just as well his body's digestive-tract might take that sort of offense to his mistreating it as he had.
"…?!" Sakura recoiled.
Naoto shrugged. "What?"
"Aww, now that is just gross!" Sakura shook her head.
"What?" He wasn't certain how his attempt at toilet humor was any worse than her own inkling of stony defecation.
"You blew it!" she told him. "You have to be a little more subtle than that! This is an art and a science."
Naoto hung his head. "I'm new to this kind of comedy …"
"You don't need to go for filthy in the first place, Senpai-kun…" Sakura opined. "Some do, but you don't."
"I don't?" He'd always thought bad taste sold tickets the quickest.
"You're more talented than that, Senpai-kun," she praised. "You don't need to work blue…"
"Am I?" For some reason, he doubted this. "How?"
"You don't even have to try to be funny~." It seemed obvious to her. "That's a gift!"
"I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing…" Naoto couldn't decide.
"It's a good thing!" Sakura insisted. "You're just funny being you~!"
"Then it is a bad thing…" He'd figured it was.
"…!"
"…"
Sakura said, with some glumness, "I really wish you didn't think that."
"Why not?" He thought his logic checked out. "I'm just a clown, if that's the case."
He'd never tried all that hard to be funny, and he WAS a clown… in the eyes of Nagatoro.
He'd gathered that Gamo-chan saw more than that in him… maybe Yoshi did too. And he was cocksure that Sakura saw more than just a clown.
But what mattered the most to him was that Nagatoro ofttimes seemed to judge him as nothing but a clown.
Naoto disliked the idea of being boring—he'd said that to Gamo-chan—but he hated the idea of being a laughingstock even more. He could laugh at himself, but there was a line.
If that's all he was—a clown—then maybe, just maybe, he'd rather be dull.
Sakura didn't ease off, and she said, "You're not a clown, Senpai-kun."
That's easy for you to say! Naoto thought bitterly. You don't know what it's like when the person you love treats you like a joke all the time! It seems YOU were the one doing that to those boys! And you don't even know I like Nagatoro! How has someone NOT seen it?!
He lost his cool.
"How do you know?" The words bypassed his own filter, and he almost clapped his hand over his mouth, appreciating what he'd just said.
Too little, too late, he grasped that he'd just hurt Sakura by saying that; it showed in her face.
Naoto immediately let up. "Sorry, Sakura-san… That wasn't cool."
He turned away, unable to look her in the eyes.
Then, he felt her hand at his elbow; he turned back.
In the warm glow produced by the streetlights, he had the hardest time describing Sakura's expression; "surrender" wasn't all that far off.
She gave him an all-in grimace, mumbling, "You're right, Senpai-kun… I really don't know…"
"Sakura-san…" He wanted to reach out to her. "I—"
"It's alright, Senpai-kun…" she assured him. "I don't know how you feel, but I… kinda do…"
"…What do you mean?" Naoto asked.
"Let me answer your question with a question." She toyed with the untucked portion of her blouse. "And I just want you to go with it; I've got a point… Here it is: do you think women can be funny?"
He mulled this over, mostly because he had no idea what was going on right in front of him. "Well, yeah. Anyone can be funny. Funny is funny."
"Do you think I'm funny?" Sakura asked.
He didn't even need to mull that over. "Yes! I think you're funny!"
She blushed. "I know you do… You wouldn't laugh at something you didn't think was funny. I've watched you."
Naoto didn't mean to doubt, but, "Okay… I want to go with it, but… where's it going?"
The gal sputtered, "Okay, there's the funny!"
He was irked. "I wasn't trying to be funny."
"Right," she assented. "You don't have to try!"
He thought he might be getting it; he wondered, "So… do you have to try?"
"Yes and no," Sakura came back immediately. "The thing is… I try to not be funny, or at least I only put out a certain amount."
Naoto was very confused. "What are you talking about?"
"How would you describe my character?" She was quite somber. "And I don't mean what you see now… I want you to tell me about my character I created."
This keeps getting weirder and weirder… He hadn't expected things to fall this way. "Devious… flirtatious… shallow… kinda vapid… confusing… mostly insincere… conniving… slippery…"
She stopped him, sneering, "Yes, it's all quite unflattering, isn't it?"
I wasn't done! He had a feeling those words would get another laugh, but he held back. "I don't know what you want me to say…"
She inquired, "That bimbo I pretend to be… is she funny?"
"Huh?!" Naoto had no idea what she was on!
Sakura repeated, "Is she funny?"
He could give reply, "No. She's pretty terrible…"
"And she's as phony as phony can be," she added. "She is cute, but she's a real hunk of garbage."
"…"
"…"
Naoto cautiously prodded, "Where's this going?"
"…"
"…?"
"Girls aren't supposed to be funny, Senpai-kun…" Sakura answered. "At least not in the way boys are."
He measured, "I guess I've heard that some people feel that way."
Sakura's next question seemed to fall out of the sky.
She posed, "In psych evals, have you ever heard that comedians and people described as 'funny' typically test higher for traits associated with psychosis and schizophrenia?"
Naoto assumed that he must've looked at her oddly, because she immediately explained herself.
"I'm not saying I was ever tested," she spelled out. "Dr. Akashi thought I leaned that way just a little bit, but she was sure those weren't happening. I'm just asking if you've ever heard that…"
He had. "Yes."
"Right." Sakura felt she could effectively get her point across. "It doesn't mean that you're crazy. You just have a tendency towards 'over-inclusive thinking' and 'thinking outside the box'. Dr. Akashi called it lateral thinking."
"I remember reading something like that," Naoto ho-hummed.
Sakura reinforced, "I mean, that's some real oversimplification, but that's pretty much it. You can see a blur in between things that most people would never connect."
"That makes sense," he supported. "I think that sums up what an entire article tried to say."
"Yep." She nodded.
"…"
"…"
"So…" Naoto tested. "You think that's what's going on with me?"
"I'm not a doctor, Senpai-kun, obviously," Sakura made straightforward. "Just because I've talked with pros about it doesn't mean much."
"But you think…?" He wanted to hear.
She eyed him.
"You, probably not," she conceded. "I'm talking about me. You have a creative mind, but you're not the one coming up with ideas about birthing boulders and throwing a baby shower for a couple of turds, are you~?"
Holy fuckin' dogshit! Naoto reeled on the spot. Filter! Filter! Filter!
Immediately following what she'd just thrown out on the stoop, "I think it's just that you have a decency… an innocence, I think… or a purity."
The openness between them broadening, Naoto jumped, "Don't you start virgin-shaming me too…"
"That's not it at all!" Sakura fortified. "I said earlier… something about you not having an agenda?"
"Yes." He hadn't missed that.
"I… don't know how to put it any other way without it sounding like virgin-shaming." She wished there was.
He wasn't sure about that, but he got her point. "Okay."
"As far as that borderline stuff, if you're a guy, then you've got it made!" Sakura established. "If you're a woman… if you're me… Well, you're just weird."
Naoto would've been blind to not see that she was not only serious, but that this pained her.
The gal crossed her arms. "I get these crazy ideas. It's hard to describe, but it's how I came up with that baby shower nonsense. Then, sometimes, I hear songs I don't like, and I can really easily make up messed-up lyrics to go with the tune or associate said music with really nasty stuff.
"These just happen. Other times, stuff just pops into my head. Like when I'm trying to fall asleep? I get these… random thoughts… S'just the brain firing off a buncha white noise. Dr. Akashi told me this was a sign of stress, but it could probably mean a lot of things."
Her senpai took all this in. "…"
Sakura was silent a moment, but she ended her tangent.
"I'm a girl," she bemoaned (not because she was a girl). "I mean, it's okay if we say funny things or if we're cute. But real funny? The kind of funny that comes naturally? From a creative and/or fucked-up brain? Society doesn't like that. We're supposed to be nurturing and compliant. It's against our genetics and a sign of insanity to be "funny" funny as a woman. That's what the world seems to think.
"And if you think anything feminists do is making a dent in this thinking, you're wrong. All they're doing is convincing people not only are women not funny, but that women don't even have sense of humor! I wouldn't say that to more than a few people, and you're one of them. Abstract craziness has no place in the female's 'humor'."
Naoto couldn't quite sympathize, but he could empathize.
This meant that he felt for her, but he didn't quite get it. "Okay, I understand, but I really don't see the point! Sorry, but you lost me on that."
Rather than becoming upset, Sakura only reddened.
"Sorry, I went off track," she flustered. "This made so much more sense in my head… Seems I cornered myself… Sleepy."
"It's alright," Naoto couldn't quite suppress his chuckle. "I see what you mean, but what's it got to do with me?"
She took a few seconds, "I don't exactly know how to put it into words…"
He'd wait.
It didn't take long.
"Okay, think of it this way!" she exclaimed. "Besides you, with the exception of a couple guys—one of them was Nobu-kun—none of the guys I've known since moving here were funny in the least."
"Really?" Naoto didn't entirely believe this; but he did remember that Takata had a decent humor about him.
"Senpai-kun, half the time you see girls laugh at something a guy comes up with, they're faking it."
"Faking it?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Do you have any idea how annoying it is when a boy repeatedly tries cracking wise when he's not?" she asked. "It's not at all appealing… and we girls just laugh to placate them… even though we shouldn't."
Naoto could see this. He'd sometimes "laugh" at things that were nothing to laugh at, mostly out of nervousness or to "escape".
"And me?" Sakura considered herself. "I've done plenty of it, laughing at things I don't think are funny."
He was sure she had.
"With you, Senpai-kun, I never have to fake it." She smiled shyly. "The other girls don't fake it either! And you don't have to force it! You're hilarious without even trying! You're genuine!"
Naoto knew Sakura didn't laugh at him or the things he said and did to please him! She laughed because she was pleased! And he knew the other girls were the same, even Nagatoro.
And he knew there were few things in the world greater than getting a pretty girl to laugh from the very bottom of her heart. That couldn't be said enough!
Be that as it may, he'd never viewed himself as all that genuine.
"I… guess I'm not sure what I was even trying to get at…" Sakura concluded.
He said with no reservations, "It made plenty of sense, whatever it was."
"Just remember that you're funny… but you're not a clown," she pleaded. "Please trust me. I wish I could explain it better…"
I think that was the point you were trying to make! He thought this but let her off the hook; he knew what it was like to get in over one's own head when yakking. It had happened to both of them that day.
But he did trust her.
That didn't mean he ever had any idea what might come out of Sakura's mouth next.
"Ooh…" she looked down at herself.
"What's up?" Naoto wondered.
"Did you know that I have a case of watermelon tummy too~?" she trilled.
I wasn't gonna say anything! Talking to a girl about her weight—PERIOD—was something he wasn't about to try, even in jest.
Still, Sakura had brought it up.
But he had seen it, whatever way. "I noticed."
The gal did normally have a washboard stomach, no firmer than his. She didn't have a paunch like Yoshi sometimes developed, but it was sticking out slightly from the large meal.
That was one thing Naoto never got: Yoshi appeared the most out of shape of all the girls he'd made friends with, but she was fast. Sometimes, he thought she might very well be the most physically fit of them all. She could burn herself out, but it took a lot!
It was likely that Sakura was in the "worst" shape of the girls closest to him, but her body appeared only second to Gamo-chan's as far as athleticism went.
Well, maybe third… after Nagatoro! He rationalized.
But it wasn't difficult for Nagatoro to look fit. She was fit—very—but it wasn't hard to look fit when there was barely any meat on her to begin with.
Another convo that Naoto would never willingly tackle!
Back to Sakura, she drummed on her stomach, her action making no sound. "I wish my abs were always this solid~!"
Naoto smiled, shaking his head at the ridiculousness.
Then!
"Try me! Try me!" the gal exacted.
"…?" He came to attention. "Try what?"
She stuck her stomach in his direction. "…~!"
Oh, crap! Naoto's sphincter almost cut loose a fart, going slack on him. She wants me to…?!
He couldn't just touch a girl's stomach! That was crazy!
But!
It had been a day of firsts.
Still regretting doing so, he'd heard some crazy shit while listening in on Sakura and Hana's talk during lunch.
He'd told Sakura how much he was going to miss the time he'd had studying with her and Hana… to the point he'd been broken up about it!
Somehow, when she was in doubt of it, he'd indirectly told her—though to her face—that she was pretty!
They'd even discussed the sagacity and irrationality of Man Law and Girl Code, having a gas doing so!
He'd casually taken a drink from Sakura's juice earlier! And her from his! He'd never knowingly or willingly done that with any girl! He'd never done that with anyone!
She'd told him things that horrified as much as they amused!
Perhaps the most unexpected, he'd gone along with a game that culminated in letting her know she was no less than the second best-looking girl among his friends in the category of "swimsuit"!
A lot had happened for the first time!
…
For better or worse, it had even been a day of "seconds".
On the lighter side…
Naoto had been able to walk with her, enjoying her company, and he hadn't even counted how many times they'd been alone as such!
They'd had a swell meal together, and he couldn't recall having such a fun time while eating. The noodles shop had been pretty special, but the time they'd just shared at the yakiniku place?!
WOW!
…
But…
On the other side…
She had again shown him something no one else—save her family and… well, her therapist—had probably ever seen. There was no denying how painful that had been for her, whether sitting next to him in his kitchen or lying on a bedsheet in the middle of the park, telling him all she had.
Naoto was still flummoxed as to why she'd trust him, but one thing was beyond the shadow of a doubt:
The gal was brave.
And it shouldn't have taken much bravery for him to have a little bit of fun with his friend.
After all, she just wanted him to check for "watermelon tummy".
Gulping, Naoto willed himself to do it.
"Over or under the fabric~?" he joked, buying himself a moment.
"Over is fine~." She tightened the blouse to her skin.
He positioned himself. Am I really gonna do this…?!
Hours before, he'd told himself, "Screw it, 'next time' is right now!", and he'd managed to unflinchingly take a swallow of her drink.
Naoto strengthened that resolve; maybe it would propel him to even "greater" heights.
Fuck it! What have I got to lose?!
He went ahead with something the likes of which he'd never done before, and he tapped smartly on her bulging belly.
Tump! Tump! Tump!
Disappointment escalated on Sakura's face.
"Oh, poo…" She tried it herself, producing the same sound Naoto just had. "It's not the same…"
"Nope, it sure isn't," he agreed. I did it! I touched a girl's tummy!
"I sound like a muskmelon… like a friggin' cantaloupe," she kvetched. "It sounds all mushy and kinda hollow… I wanna sound like a watermelon, Senpai-kun~!"
He almost guffawed, "I don't think you'd enjoy feeling this full, Sakura-san…"
…
…
…
On the "Sakura's gal-pal"-ward side of the park, the blonde continued to lead Naoto to her destination.
After all the melon-like midriff nonsense, it had taken longer than Naoto liked to get moving again.
Fun was fun, but it would be at nearly 11:00 p.m. before he'd dropped of Sakura, and it might be 11:30 by the time he was showering. He'd be lucky to be in bed by midnight, and he hoped all that beef and Dr Pepper wouldn't keep him awake, but it probably would.
He wasn't used to having that much caffeine so late in the day, and sleeping on all that meat?
It might wind up being a not fun night.
Quite unmindful of Naoto's mental-meanderings, Sakura offered commentary on their twilight togetherness.
"Who'da thought that Hana-chan 'setting us up' would've led to all this?" she asked wonderingly, gesturing.
In spite of his cerebral-vagabonding, Naoto was in pretty good cheer. "Do you have to put it that way… setting us up…?"
He couldn't quite face his own statement without going a little pink in the cheeks.
"Ah, you know what I mean~," Sakura piped. "Not like I'm being serious. Why do you think I did little quote/unquote fingers when I said it?"
"Sorry, must've missed seeing it." He widened his eyes, vainly attempting to let in more light. "Dark."
"That's alright, Senpai-kun~." She strolled along, in demonstratively better shape than he was, having inhaled less than half of what he had at dinner. "I am glad she did it though. It was mostly fun."
Naoto voiced his thoughts, "Yeah… mostly."
"…"
"…"
"I'm sorry for… weirding you out all night…" Sakura extended, entering a slump.
Oof! Naoto symbolically kicked himself.
"I wish I hadn't said that," he sulked. "You were just having fun."
"Not the feet in the puddle thing, I meant the other thing… telling you all that stuff." She seemed ashamed. "Then I just had to start crying again… for close to 20 minutes… I'm sure that was weirder than anything else."
He immediately addressed, "Sakura-san, that's not what I—"
It didn't bother her. "Yeah, I getcha. But don't think I don't know how wacky it seems, doing something like that, any one of those…"
"…" Naoto wanted to say something, but he didn't just want to blurt out something dumb; he was relieved she chose not to dwell on her "bedsheet confessions" any more than that.
"Really, it's totally fine, Senpai-kun," she told him. "Deep down, I'm just a weird girl. Always have been."
He had the urge to quell her monologue on her own "faults", but he just listened. "…"
Sakura's voice betrayed a clear downheartedness, "But… coming to Hayama… before starting high school, I made up that front, and now I'm stuck with it. I wouldn't go to that place again… from before.
"I. Was. Terrified. I was terrified that it would be middle school all over again, so I was willing to do almost anything.
"So, I changed everything, and that was the biggest thing. The weirdo had to go. I wish now that I'd held onto some of it. Could you imagine what would happen if I just woke up one day, pulled out the stops, and showed everyone the 'real me'?
"This? This is nothing. It might sound stupid and awkward and kinda arrogant and even douchebag-ish to say, but I don't think you'd recognize me… Can you imagine?"
Naoto couldn't, really.
"I keep bitching about wanting people to like the real me, but I'm just running my mouth. I should just be grateful that Hana-chan… and you… seem to feel that way, even if you're not seeing it all."
"…?!" Naoto's body seized up, and he almost lost his footing, stopping.
Noting his near-mishap, Sakura paused and murmured, "At least, I hope you feel that way…"
That didn't exactly soften the thump he'd experienced. "…!"
Sakura presented a warped grin. "Sorry… I guess I tripped you up again… It's okay if you don't wanna say anything… Shoulda just kept that to myself…"
"…!" He thought she would've!
The distorted smile disappeared; she maundered darkly, "But since I went there anyway… I think what gets me the worst is… maybe I am taking advantage of Hana-chan. Maybe I saw someone kinda like me… except she wasn't the same colossal piece of shit…"
"…"
Naoto knew this might just blow up in his face. It might really backfire. Disastrously so…
He prayed that it wouldn't.
In the end, though, he was sure he'd said stupider things, even to Sakura. "Yeah, you're a little weird… So, what?"
She slowly rotated his way, her countenance quite indescribable. "…?"
Naoto didn't wait to see what happened next. "I think it's kinda cool."
She jerked, one hand clasping her other wrist close to the stomach. "…?!"
He clarified, "No, I think it's really cool!"
A little flushed in the face seconds before, she took on a decidedly darker hue. "…?!"
Naoto couldn't hold back his own blush. "I think you're really neat."
This time, her eyes widened, and her lips parted a hair, and her friend saw it clearly.
He knew things hadn't gone to Hell yet, and he petitioned Heaven that things didn't, but he couldn't be sure they wouldn't.
Making eye-contact, what he was sure of, "I… I like weird girls… Or at least, I like the idea of weird girls."
Sakura covered her mouth and yelped, and it came out with a stammer, her orbs bugging, "Eep?!"
Naoto leapt on the situation, blathering, "I know how bad that might sound… Would you… let me try to explain? Please?"
"…" Her eyes hadn't left his; slowly, she nodded.
He wanted so much to bring up her possibly being a geek, but he still wouldn't dare to assume, based on the knowledge she'd read a few manga series and enjoyed a little gaming.
Regardless, he was plenty comfortable saying, "I… really like being friends with a girl who won't make fun of me nearly every time I open my mouth. You don't do that, making fun of me all the time, and it… feels good. Sunomiya's the same, but… you're different. You are, and I'm really happy we've become better friends.
"I know the other girls are kidding a lot of the time when they tease me, but sometimes, I really just hate it. I don't care that they're joking; it just really, really hurts sometimes! With you, I don't have to think about everything I say, afraid you're gonna jump down my throat over nothing. I mean, yeah, you do poke fun a little, but you're actually funny, and you know when to stop…"
It snuck up on him, the tightness in his throat and the burning sensation around his eyeballs, and his voice broke. "I can actually relax around you. I feel… comfortable… And maybe I'm wrong, but it feels just great that you're able to do the same around me."
"…" Sakura stood stunned. "Senpai-kun…"
Naoto sniffled, rubbing at his nose, succeeding to smile, "You really are a neat girl. And you're definitely not doing anything to hurt Sunomiya. You told me earlier why you love her so much, and I know that she loves you too. She's… different… and maybe you are too. Big deal!
"Maybe you're both a little weird, and there's nothing wrong with that! But it's not why you're friends. It's not why she's my friend… and it's not why you're my friend. I don't know why we are, but… we are. And I love that we are!"
He had to wipe his eyes and gather himself after that, snorting an impressive snot-streamer back to whence it came. There! I said it!
It was as if he'd just dropped a heavy bag from his shoulders, getting that off his back.
He almost wouldn't mind if Sakura gave him shit over this! He'd said exactly what he wanted to!
But the conceivably well-earnt shit was still something he'd have to deal with, whatever came next.
The "whatever" came, and it seemed about the strangest reaction imaginable, first glance.
Sakura asked, half-staring down at ground, "Please, Senpai-kun… could I see your phone?"
"…?" Bemused, he pulled it out of his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it over.
He couldn't imagine what she was up to; he'd been so taken aback by her request, that he'd just sort of let her have it.
She typed on the phone briefly.
Her face barely visible to her senpai, she smirked, saying, "There…"
She handed the phone back to him.
Naoto saw at once what she'd been up to.
Sakura's contact, up until a moment previously, had read as such:
Inori Sakura
Now, it read:
🌸Inori Sakura❤️
"…!" He juked.
Pulling it out, she showed him the contacts-list on her phone.
Naoto remembered; she'd labeled his contact when they'd first exchanged their info:
Senpai-kun🎨
As Sakura scrolled through, he saw his was different now:
🎨Senpai-kun❤️
$#!+!Naoto's balls dropped to his knees.
Sakura giggled, going crimson, "I… changed it a few days ago. I was sure you hadn't changed mine."
She was right about that!
"It's been bugging me, thinking about that." She fiddled with her phone, rolling it in her hands. "Now we match a little better~!"
Naoto was momentarily broken. And it amused/perturbed Sakura to no end.
She jostled him, half-horrified but giddy. "C'mon, we're almost there~."
And he got moving again.
Neither spoke for a time, and whether Sakura's mind was racing along, Naoto wasn't so quiet in his thoughts.
However, it wasn't anything Earth-shattering.
It had him knocked for six, seeing they sort of matched, but the blow faded. He was glad to know he held a reasonably exclusive place in her contacts list, but it didn't make him especially special. When she'd scrolled down her phone's list, he'd seen another contact embellished not unlike his or what Sakura had just done with her own on his list:
🌺Hana-chan❤️
…
…
…
Moments later, Sakura ceased the march, pointing at an ordinary enough abode. "That's it, Senpai-kun… Two houses down, that's my girl-friend's place."
It was the first thing either of them had said since Naoto had frozen up a block or so back.
He automatically moved when she resumed walking. "…!"
"…"
"…"
"Uh, Senpai-kun…" Sakura voiced.
"Yes?" He struggled to maintain composure.
"Thanks a lot… for today," she said quietly, barely successful in holding onto her own head. "Really, thank you…"
In retort, it wasn't trying for him to come back with confidence, "You're welcome, Sakura-san."
She twinkled, "And thank you for coming all this way; I know this added a lot of time to getting home for you, but I feel a lot better with you here. I don't really like being out alone this late…"
Naoto knew this wasn't any damsel-in-distress malarkey; the streets just weren't that safe at night for a teenage girl. Hell, they weren't that safe for a boy or anyone else, in actuality.
Regardless, there was another thing on his mind.
He almost blurted, "If it's okay, I'd like to ask my question."
"Your what?" Sakura startled a little, now outside the gate of her friend's house.
Naoto balled his fists, stilling his hands, and he gulped, "The game we were playing earlier… I'd like to ask the question I'm owed."
"Oh, that." She brightened. "You scared me a sec, there~! If that's all, ask away."
He knew she wouldn't be all cheerful about it once he'd asked. She definitely wasn't faking it, but that smile was about to leave her face either way. And Naoto hated when that happened.
He reluctantly pushed it out, "Some of the stuff earlier tonight… Was it planned? Was it just a… setup to tell me what you wanted to tell me?"
"…?!" That stung; Sakura wasn't able to hide it.
Naoto wasn't desperate, but he wanted to be clear. "I know you didn't mean to, but you wound up telling me all that other stuff."
Not wincing at that line, she listened.
He went on, "I just want to know if you did all that to tell me what you originally meant to say…"
"I see…" Sakura muttered, face weary.
"I don't want to upset you… I just want to know."
It did upset her, but it's not like asking was completely unjustified.
"No." She held her head up. "I decided that just before I did it."
"Hmm…" Naoto acknowledged.
"I'd been wanting to tell you, but we didn't get there on purpose," she detailed. "You get me?"
He probably did. "I think so."
It was a relief too.
Sakura toed the ground, unable to keep at rest. "Yeah, I just wanted to talk about Hana-chan, and all that other crap fell out. It just happened. Like you said, I started and didn't stop."
"Yeah…" Naoto couldn't fault her on that.
"…" Sakura bit her lip, further agitated.
He dreaded the next. "…Uh… yes?"
She steadied herself, looked at him, and sighed, casting her gaze low, "I told you that I wanted to see how you'd react, but there was more to it."
"…?" Naoto was all ears.
"I didn't know that you wouldn't run away, but I thought you wouldn't. And you didn't. I guess I was right to trust you. I thought that if anyone wouldn't run, it'd be you. I just had to talk about it… with someone."
"…" He wasn't sure what to say to that.
"…" She wasn't really expecting anything.
"Thank you, Sakura-san…" he exhaled, all the more at ease. "Sorry to leave things on such a downer."
Sakura figured it didn't have to end that way.
She came right out with, "Your swimsuit ranking, Senpai-kun…"
Uh-oh! Naoto's balls retreated for this iteration.
This was beyond merely "jumping ship" on a topic.
It was an entire armada leaping overboard—off perfectly good boats—for no reason!
Sakura gave a leer worthy of Gamo-chan, serenading, "I'm sure it's Gamo-chan or Nekoba I'm up against—and I know I beat at least one of them—so I'm definitely happy to be no less than your number-two~!"
That got his goat! Of course, she figures it'd be Gamo-chan! Not much choice though…
"That you see me that way?" Her blush returned in force. "It really makes me feel pretty special~…"
Yippee-Yi-Yay! Naoto's senses disintegrated and recombined all at once.
"Der…" His intellect wasn't firing on all cylinders.
Sakura wasn't through.
"You really know how to make a girl happy, Senpai-kun~," she crooned. "You truly do~."
Somehow, he gathered his facilities, the shakes wracking his limbs. "I dunno about that…"
"…?"
"…"
"…~!" Sakura let out a buoyant giggle, looking him up and down.
Naoto's whole being ached. "What now?"
She considered the curve of his back. "You're really slouching."
"It's more comfortable to be like this." His stomach was so full, he found he couldn't properly stand up straight any longer. "I can't wait to get home and just sit down and relax…"
Sakura didn't mean to laugh, but she did, "Oh, you!"
He creaked, getting his butterflies under control, "Yeah…"
"Looks like I'm in the same boat," she mused. "I guess I didn't' even realize…"
"Huh?"
She stood erect, or she at least tried it; it wasn't the easiest with how full of beef she also was.
The gal busted a gut (not literally), "I can't even stand up straight~…"
"Uh-huh…" Naoto just wanted the night to be over, the sensation of gastritis spurting into his esophagus.
"…~" She wanted to do something, but their mutual digestive disquiet hindered it ever so slightly.
"…" He merely wanted to feel like he hadn't been slugged with mortar, as if he was some wall of freshly-laid cinder-blocks.
"I guess I won't ask you to stoop to my level, just because I can't reach~…" Sakura oozed. "Just hold still a sec."
"…?"
Radiant, she kissed the palm-side of her index and middle-finger and patted her hand on his cheek.
Yow! Naoto took a spiritual trip to the Moon and back.
"How's that for an indirect kiss~?" Sakura cooed, pleased at her own waggishness.
He wasn't sure; he was broken again. "…?!"
She promised, "I'll get you sometime when I've got the advantage of height~."
Before Naoto could do or saying something, be it stupid or not, Sakura moved first.
She took his hands in hers, her rosiness mirroring his, "Thanks again for walking me all the way. I really did feel a lot safer with you here."
Able to ground himself and behave as a functioning human being, Naoto fared, "You're welcome…"
"…~"
"…!" He could see there was more.
"Hey, Senpai-kun," Sakura built herself up. "I know it took some guts to tell me all you did earlier, so I'll try to do the same~."
"…?"
"Earlier, I think I said something along the lines of us being 'pretty okay friends', remember?"
He did. "Yes…?"
"Well, to Hell with that noise," she chuckled. "I think we've become pretty good friends~…"
He could relate, but he couldn't open his mouth. "…!"
Sakura was tickled at his incapacity.
"It's alright, Senpai-kun…" she forgave him. "You pretty much told me you feel the same~."
Despite his voice failing him, he nodded.
"…~" she buzzed, her hands pumping his a few times. "You really mean a lot to me, buddy~…"
"Uh…" Naoto—
Flash!
The house's porch light came to life, illuminating the pair.
Click! Creeeeak!
"Sakura?!" the door now open, a female voice came from the threshold. "That you?"
Senpai and kohai turned their heads, and they saw the silhouette of a young woman at the front door, backed by light.
"Crap…" Sakura hissed, releasing Naoto's hands.
He flailed. Crap? Crap what?
"Sakura?" the girl stepped onto the porch and called, squinting into the darkness. "Who's that with you?"
The blonde called back, "Yeah, it's me, Mari! Be right there!"
And that was the end of Naoto and Sakura's evening together.
The gal grinned at her senpai, "Hey, I'll see you tomorrow."
Naoto knew she would; and he'd see her. "Yeah… see ya…"
She popped the latch on the gate and entered the yard. "Message me when you get home. I'll feel better knowing you made it okay."
"Definitely," the utterance absconded his piehole.
Sakura purred, "Goodnight, Senpai-kun~."
Naoto wasn't sure if she was fluttering her eyelashes at him or just fluttering them.
Either way, his heart vaulted, not quite making it, knocking the bar off its perch. "Y-yeah… See you tomorrow."
With a smile and a ruddiness still about her, she revolved towards the house and took her leave of him.
Her back to him, walking away, Naoto resolved to stand at the sidewalk until she got in. It seemed the proper thing to do.
From the house, Mari remarked, "Sakura… you look like a cherry."
She of the cherry blossoms nattered, her smokescreen promptly up, leaving the weirdo outside with her senpai, "I ate too much~. Just a little heartburn~."
"What's going on?" the other girl asked, unconvinced and trying to peer around the blonde. "Who's he?"
"A friend~…" Sakura hummed, pushing Mari inside. "We studied earlier and then got din—"
The closing door silenced Sakura and her friend.
And the front lights shut off, leaving Naoto alone and in darkness.
…
A thousand things might've occurred to the young artist, but one thing popped up in particular.
That happened quickly!
One minute Sakura was burbling contentment at their rapport, and the next, he was staring at the darkened yard of some girl's house, a few of its windows dimly lit, the curtains excluding the unfamiliar nighttime.
…
That's too bad… Naoto sighed.
It bothered him a little to see Sakura "revert" to the shell of a person that gyaru was, but what was she going to do?
It was doubtful that Mari was ready to hear Sakura try and come up with a name to describe the act of a man bending over, tucking his junk between his legs, and blasting a loud fart.
He hadn't been ready for it.
When she'd coined the term "barking aardvark" over dinner, he'd almost sprayed her with a mouthful of Dr Pepper; the only thing that saved the gal from a pair of soda-soaked summits (her boobs) was that his hands had caught the brunt.
Yeah…
…
…
Naoto wasn't sure where he stood with much of anything, but knew how his contact in Sakura's phone read:
🎨Senpai-kun❤️
Sakura had a lot of senpai, but he knew he was the "-kun".
But his contact was essentially no different than Hana's, not that this was inconsequential.
Yeah…
…
…
…
"…!"
He could've stood there like a goon, contemplating his little piece of existence and how the heck he fit into it, but it was late, and he was tired.
If he moved fast and kept moving, he could probably be home and in the shower in 20 minutes.
He took off in that direction.
The day's events not lost on him, he simply wanted it to be over.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading! Questions and comments are welcome!