🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Chapter 56: Deposition, Part One🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
EDand PS: Our hearts go out to one of the regular readers, who lost a father in the last couple of days. We want to respect privacy, so we won't name names. Reader, if you're reading this, please know that we pray you and yours strength, safety, understanding, and peace.
To all of you, when you have a chance, contact your family, and give them your love. Hug them if you can. Maybe call an old friend and catch up. Treasure your loved ones.
ED: Have a short, earlyish chapter! I didn't want to leave readers hanging, so we split up a large chapter to make this one. Chapter 55 edged out near 8K words, so you get this today, and the next chapter will be out in good time.
A LOT happened last time.
Having finally reached a breaking point, Naoto lost his temper with Nagatoro and let her know how he felt, in part.
This time, he has a decision to make, and he has a lot of confusion in his head.
That was a fast reversal, wasn't it? Heaven to Hell in about 16 hours.
I also feel for the Gamo-chan fans out there that are upset at the last couple of chapters. It was difficult.
In canon, another nothing chapter with the same jokes and same teasing.
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.
Monday, July 15, 2018
Naoto Hachioji's eyes were drying by now, having left his friends, the art room, and the school building behind him.
He'd been undecided of where to go, but the unsightly row of scrubby trees, far out of flowering season, making up the Cherry Blossom Path alongside the school, had been the first thing he'd seen upon making it outside.
He hadn't even bothered changing out of his indoor shoes, though he doubted one of them would've come off without cutting its strap anyway.
His foot, so companionably injured by a certain 150 cm bitch, had pained him like a motherfucker, but it had hurt less with each step.
It was practically numb by now!
He knew that probably wasn't good, but he didn't care all that much.
Caring was a chore at times, and this was all the truer when a man didn't quite know which way faced up.
"…" Naoto stared blankly between his knees, duffing it at the base of one of the cherry blossom trees.
It'd happened… He'd finally done it!
In lieu of a healthier outlet, he'd blown his stack at Hayase Nagatoro, sick to death of her bullshit and all that came with it.
It wasn't exactly FULFILLING, but he'd sure let off a lot of steam, yelling at that 150 cm bitch!
For everything he could be thinking at this moment, his parting words to Nagatoro could've been better, so he believed.
I trusted you…!
"Why'd I say that?" he mimed the words, quite unsure. That doesn't make sense…
In about 45 minutes, he'd have to be sitting in his classroom, and then he'd have to quietly stare at the wall for an additional 15 minutes or so before the English exam actually began. He didn't plan on missing that, so he'd set an alarm for himself, just in case he lost track of time.
…
Naoto had an idea pertaining to the miracle of the modeling session with Nagatoro, set for the end of the week.
There was no way that Friday was going to happen now… not that it bothered him anymore…
Shifting his butt to one side for a more comfortable position, he considered his hands, not displeased that they'd finally stopped shaking minutes earlier.
He was calming down, at least… His breathing and pulse had relaxed as well…
Through his fingers, his wrists loosely resting on his thighs, he saw a fresh cicada husk on the ground.
The little guy, now "grown up", was very likely contributing to the constant noise and buzzing all around him.
…
Naoto thought again of his meta-mush-tarsals. Maybe I should get to the nurse's office already… It'd be STUPID not to get it looked at! Even if the foot's not broken, I could REALLY use some ice… maybe some aspirin or something.
He also gave a little more thought to what he'd left behind him, 10 minutes prior.
You've really fucked up, haven't you, Naoto?
He knew what he'd done, but it was pretty much a blur…
Indeed, he couldn't remember everything he'd even said!
He knew that Nagatoro had been shittier than usual, and that he'd yelled at her.
And he'd yelled at Gamo-chan…
Blowing out a rough exhale, he sat up straighter, knocking the back of his head repeatedly against the bark of the tree.
Damn it… He closed his eyes, ceasing the senselessness of knocking the back of his head repeatedly against the bark of the tree.
…
Tep… tep… tep… tep… tep…
Naoto heard someone coming, very quietly, over the sidewalk and across the grass, but his brain was too fried to give it little more attention than that.
For all he knew, it fucking could've been Hank Williams Jr.
But it was unlikely that Sakura Inori would break out in a rendition of "Family Tradition", drunk or sober.
Were her PARENTS even alive in 1973?!
She let him know it was her, "Senpai-kun…?"
His eyelids drooped open. "…"
"…" She stood a couple of meters away, in her own school shoes.
She hadn't gone through the trouble of switching to her clunky loafers. Maybe that was why her approach had been so silent.
"Sakura-san…" he acknowledged, rotating his head slightly.
She shuffled her feet. "Sure enough…"
Naoto turned back to forward. "You were gone for a while…"
"Yeah."
"…"
"…"
"How much of that did you see?" he asked detachedly. "I guess I saw you come back at some point, but…"
"I didn't see it all, but I saw the end of it, Senpai-kun…"
"…" He readjusted his posture.
Sakura admitted, "It didn't break my heart to walk outta there earlier…"
Naoto nodded dumbly. "…"
"I didn't appreciate Hayacchi's sarcasm over my needle and thread work." Sakura discoursed. "She's about as good at hiding her real feelings as you. I'd like to see her mend an armpit tear that well. And that was just one thing…"
"I wish we'd all listened to you…" he returned abruptly, not missing that she'd indeed picked up on Nagatoro's lameness, though he'd not doubted she had.
If only they'd all just gone and done their own thing for the rest of the day!
She parked herself next to him, tucking her skirt under her bottom. "…"
"…" He noticed, but he didn't move, shutting his eyes.
She opined, "What a disaster…"
"…" He weighed this. "Yeah…"
Click!
Naoto's eyes snapped back open.
Sakura had pulled out her cosmetics bag, popping its clasp.
As she began to empty its contents into her lap, Naoto finally noticed that her makeup was only half-done, seemingly having abandoned her efforts to rejoin the "party" in the art room.
He watched. "…?!"
"…" She noticed that he'd noticed.
He slid her an incredulous glance. Seriously, you're gonna finish putting on your face NOW?
She gave him one right back. WTF else am I SUPPOSED to do right now, you asshole?
He couldn't argue that logic, and he rehung his head. "…"
"…" Sakura studied herself in her pocket-mirror.
"…" Naoto sat there like a semi-malignant tumor.
"…"
"…"
"The noise you all made, Senpai-kun?" She drew in gentle strokes, applying some eyeliner. "It attracted a few students… News travels fast around here, y'know. Some boys jogged by the girls' room, saying there was 'trouble in the art room'—that's how I heard about it—and I'll bet half the floor already knew it by the time I did.
"It only took a minute, but someone had said something weird was going on in the art room, and they started to gather in the hall. I made it back just when things began to heat up."
"Heating up" is a nice way of putting it… Naoto bobbed his head, having trouble keeping still.
"They could hear Hayacchi carrying on a few doors down, easily…"
This didn't wow him. She hadn't been discreet, that was for damn sure…!
"But when you yelled? They could hear you clear on the other side of the building, faculty too… through closed doors…"
Fuck… This mess wasn't lost on him.
Sakura held off on the face-paint a moment, making a point of it, and it got Naoto's attention.
He perked up a little, eyeballing her. "…?"
"Hayacchi ran away, Senpai-kun," she filled him in, her hands becoming restless. "I'm not sure where she went."
I don't really give a fuck right now… He stared back at the grass in front of him.
"…" She waited to see if he had anything to say.
He apparently didn't. "…"
Sakura sighed.
"Screw Hayacchi…" she uttered, beginning to twiddle and drum her fingers. "I was worried about Gamo-chan, so when she ran off, I followed her."
Gamo-chan…? Naoto expected to hear more about the little bitch before anything else. "…?"
"…" Sakura took a few seconds to put her words together, twitchy.
"…?"
"Gamo-chan's crying," she said softly, quickly clasping her hands.
No! Naoto's stomach heaved.
"I heard her in the girls' bathroom… She thinks no one knows, but… she does that a lot."
"…!" He did care about this, and recoiling, he shrank as far as he could into the ground.
"She didn't quite make it there in time… before she broke down." The gal gulped; she sounded tired… melancholic. "I guess she's lucky… No one else was there, so nobody else saw her… not that she noticed me tailing her."
"…" Naoto wished he'd just be erased.
Her voice held a tempered edge, "She's a very sensitive girl… not that you think she has any feelings."
Oh, my God… He was still there, despite his appeal, and he tucked up.
"Did you know, Senpai-kun… did you?" she spurned. "Did you even know she could do that…? Cry?"
That didn't just glance off of him; that one hurt. "…"
Naoto could feel Sakura's eyes boring into him.
She demanded, "Where did that come from…?"
He wasn't sure, and he kept his gaze on a jagged, little blade of grass the lawnmower hadn't properly cut.
Sakura crept nearer.
This only caused him to huddle up more securely.
"Nothing to say?" Her tone aptly reflected the old adage "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed" with agonizing exactness.
All Naoto could do was shrug and mumble, "…I…"
"…"
"…"
"Yoshi… she prolly doesn't even know what she just saw." Sakura's intonation was sharper this time. "How do you think she's feeling?"
Now she's angry. He didn't blame her. And next was—
"I really wish Hana-chan hadn't seen that, Senpai-kun, I really do… but she knows why that happened."
Fuck me… Naoto was lower than worm-shit, strewn about in the tissues of his own mind.
Sakura dug, "Believe me, Hana-chan knows…"
He didn't doubt it…
"I think they're okay, Hana-chan and Yoshi," she rationalized, the anger less apparent. "But you freaked them out pretty good, y'know?"
Naoto vegetated. "…"
Sakura lingered. "…"
"…" Not surprisingly, he didn't answer this either.
"I don't know everything that happened, not yet." Either she hadn't bothered or hadn't the time. "But geez, did you go ballistic back there…"
"…" Naoto, reliably kept his eyes straight ahead.
Sakura wondered, with something less than irony, "Are you an ogre?"
"…" he grumbled. "…No…"
"Well, you weren't yourself back there, Senpai-kun."
"…"
She expected something, "So…?"
"…"
"…"
"I told you last weekend how I felt about her shit," Naoto reminded. "I thought about it and thought about it and thought about it, and I thought you were right. I thought I was overthinking everything, but…"
"But what?" she pressed.
"I don't need to wait until the end of the week to think about it," he said. "She thinks I'm a joke. She really… does have no respect for me."
All he'd wanted was to work on his portfolio with Nagatoro.
"I've had enough, Sakura-san…" he added. "I've had enough of the teasing and the bullshit."
And she'd pissed down his back, telling him it was raining!
Sakura wasn't about to interrupt—not yet. "…"
"She hates me, Sakura-san." Of this, he was certain.
Sakura, with a good enough reason to open her mouth, refuted, "No… No, she really doesn't…"
He didn't buy it. "And I'm sick of her…"
"You don't mean that," she contradicted.
Naoto liked Sakura… He TRUSTED Sakura…
He knew that she meant what she said—and she believed it to boot—but even the gods were found to be colossal fuck-ups at times, screwing mortals, creating monster babies and such…
…
Whether Naoto was right, whether Sakura was right, whether they were both right, or both wrong, and even if neither had any grounding in reality, this wasn't the most pressing issue.
It didn't change a certainty to the gal, whether she was right, wrong, or without foundation in regards to other crap.
She stated, hands back in her makeup, "You can't leave things like this."
"…?!" Naoto looked at her like she'd just offered him a tuggy in the infamous "Shame Corner".
"…" Her face told him that she wasn't joking.
He gawped, "What do you want me to do about it?"
"You need to apologize," she immediately replied, proceeding to work on her mascara. "You need to apologize before we all go test later."
Apologize to who?! He knew there was more than one deserving of that, but—
"You mean to Nagatoro?" he figured Sakura meant her.
With no indecision, she confirmed, brushing a little volume into her eyelashes, "Yes."
What did HE have to apologize for?! Losing his temper at her?!
"I refuse," with just as little indecision, he confirmed.
Naoto wasn't about to call Sakura crazy, but…
He wasn't going to apologize to that diminutive cunt.
And he didn't care if Sakura hit him or pinched him or offered him that tuggy!
"…" She suspended applying her mascara.
"Not gonna do it…" he pledged.
"…"
"…"
Heedless of what Naoto might've assumed, Sakura didn't punch him or even nip his arm, but she did say something that he never expected to hear.
"Listen… I don't care if you don't even mean it," she imparted. "You need to."
"…!" He couldn't have heard her correctly. "What…?"
"You need to go tell Hayacchi that you're sorry," she hadn't misspoken. "And you need to do it now."
He still wasn't about to call her crazy, but, "Are you kidding me?! No, Sakura-san!"
Again, she didn't hit or pinch or proposition him for a hand-job, but she did get in his face.
"Ack?!" Naoto jerked in surprise.
"I don't care if you have to lie through your teeth." She could smell the garlic on his breath, not at all covered by the five or six minty chews he'd gotten in before accidentally swallowing that gum back in the clubroom. "You need to go and try to make things right for the rest of the girls. They need to hear that things are okay."
Was she really feeding him this claptrap?! She wanted him to LIE to Nagatoro? To the other girls?! What good would it do?!
So stunned was he, he could only counter with, "Why?"
"Do you want them going into their English exams like this?" It was more than obvious to her, and she backed off. "It's all weird enough, and they don't need to be thinking about it… at least not this way."
"…!" Now, it was obvious to him.
That woke him up!
Sakura nudged, "Well?"
He didn't want that. "No…"
"I didn't think so…"
No, he REALLY didn't want them to go on with their day feeling like that…
All the same…
Naoto doubted like Hell he could DO anything about this! Was fixing this even POSSIBLE?!
Sakura put the final nail in the coffin, not skipping a beat, "Plus, if that's not good enough for you… do you wanna go into your exam… feeling like this?"
He didn't want that either…
There were a million awful things Naoto would rather do—up to, but not including, circumcising himself with a Swiss Army knife, giving Lil' Naoto a whole new look after 18 years of playing turtle—but he'd do it.
Sakura wasn't wrong, and he knew it…
He'd try to apologize to Nagatoro… if only to try to "maintain the peace"…
Q&A Section
So I think everyone can tell that in each chapter title you will have two emojis that relate to whichever characters are most relevant to that chapter.
But I just noticed that there is a specific order to these emojis that you always follow.
For example: (Sakura) is left of (Hana) is left of (Naoto) is left of (Nagatoro)
Is there a reason for this?
ED: I wasn't planning on answering this one in a chapter, but I guess I can.
The characters aren't ALWAYS the most relevant, so characters that get little spotlight or don't show up too often might get a spot in a title. Sometimes it is just to feature a character whose emoji isn't seen much, but the characters are USUALLY a special feature of the chapter.
Think of "left" as position #1, and think of "right" as position #2. First and last.
I have a "character hierarchy" in my head, and regardless of how "important" a character is in a given chapter, it will not affect the placement they will always receive in a chapter's title. The characters whose emojis appear in the title will ALWAYS interact in the chapter. I also just like the consistency.
Ex. SakuraHana
Even if Hana has a bigger role in the chapter, Sakura will always be ahead of Hana.
Gamo-chan will always be ahead of Yoshi.
Shuu will always be ahead of Tohru. (They finally have canon family names, but when Nanashi refuses to give characters names, I need to do something.)
There is purpose behind every placement, and it's not always whether a character is more important or more of a favorite of mine.
I don't want anyone to "crack the code" quite yet, so that's all for now.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading! Questions and comments are welcome!