🌸Cherry Blossom Palette🎨
🌸Off-the-Cuff Modeling, Part Two🎨
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: The "Spring Saga" of the story is ending!
This time, Naoto and Sakura continue their modeling session, but I imagine most of you were expecting that.
It's time for a LONG chapter, and nobody can stop me! Mwa-ha-ha!
(That's what I'd like to say!)
As we reedited the entirety of "Off-the-Cuff-Modeling", we decided to include some elements (actually A LOT of elements) we were holding onto for the future right now, so the chapter REALLY ballooned.
If we'd kept the whole chapter together, it would've wound up being 18K words, and even this one would be 12K.
I think we won't make future chapters any longer than 6K words, but we'll go case by case on it.
So, the last chapter of the saga will be Chapter 65.
If you couldn't see Shamastus 999's art of Naoto on your platform, here's a link: shamastus999
Please enjoy what I wrote.
Friday, July 19, 2018
"Daddy says he wasn't an otaku, but Mom says he was an otaku," Sakura Inori extolled to her senpai from across the art room's smaller table. "He was in his school's club and everything… a pretty hardcore bunch… Knowing what I know (and seeing pictures~~), I'm inclined to agree with Mom."
Naoto Hachioji wasn't a huge fan of the word himself. "Not many people are proud to be otaku, Sakura-san. It's kinda self-destructive to seriously embrace all that goes with it."
"Anyway, Mom would be a pretty good judge of it; they went to college together in the mid-1990's," she revealed.
"Huh…" Naoto's parents were well out of school by that point, newly married and working.
"Did I ever tell you my mom was a golfer, Senpai-kun?" Sakura asked.
He would've remembered that. "No, I don't think so."
"Well," she tittered, deteriorating to a blush. "She was. She was actually a golf pro in her last year of high school and for a couple of years when she was in college. She was pretty good~!"
What was with the blush?! Naoto didn't think it was merited, but he went with it. "Okay."
Sakura leaned in, almost succumbing to a giggle-fit, and said, "Like I was getting to, my parents got together in my mom's second year of college, when my daddy was just a freshman. She had the whole 'older woman' thing going on~."
That's what was with the blush!
"Older woman…? I don't think it really matters at that point…" He couldn't decide if she was serious or joking.
It didn't seem to matter to her. "Well, the other thing I was getting at was they both loved sports manga. They both picked up Slam Dunk when it began, and they read it right into college. It's how they met~."
"Seriously?" Naoto thought she had to be kidding him.
"Yeah~." She apparently wasn't kidding. "Around the end of spring-term, she saw him in the cafeteria reading the latest chapter in the new Jump issue, and she just talked to him~.
Now, to Naoto, that sounded like something out of some anime. "No way…"
"Oh, yes way~!" Sakura chirped. "She hadn't met a single person in, like, a year that read Slam Dunk. She said she was compelled. Just picture it: a phys. ed. student, the campus golf pro—the beautiful campus golf pro—approaching some scruffy-looking, construction engineering nerd and asking him about his favorite game in the series~!"
"Is calling your dad a nerd really necessary?" Naoto wasn't a fan of this word either.
She chortled, "Daddy is a nerd! He's always had pretty good fashion sense, but he's a nerd to his bones. To this day, he uses a slide rule-calculator."
"So?" Naoto didn't see anything nerdy about this. "Engineering students often use slide rules, and so do engineers. It's normal, Sakura-san."
She added, "Mom says he always wore his favorite on his belt in a custom leather holster!"
Okay, that's pretty nerdy… Naoto would give her that. "Does he still do that?"
"Sometimes, but especially when he's working~…" This seemed to amuse the gal to no end. "He usually has one handy, either way."
Something else stood out to her senpai. "So, your mom's a gym teacher?"
"No," Sakura said, waving it off. "It didn't pan out—same with her brief golf career. She's part-owner of a little boutique now. Daddy became a building contractor and foreman, though he was underemployed for a long time."
But I thought… Naoto puzzled. "Didn't you say your mom was a seamstress?"
"You do remember~!" she squeed. "That's what she did after they first got married, but like Daddy, she stayed in her 'lowly' position for an equally long time. We seem to have a recession, what, at least once a decade? She just sorta fell into it when a nearby tailor needed an assistant, and since she already knew how, she didn't need to be trained, so she took the job. She just needed the work. She does a lot of that same stuff at the boutique, with clothing alterations and all~."
"Sakura-san, please try to hold still a little better." He enjoyed her story, but she'd begun gesturing, and he was still sketching her hands.
The gal calmed right down. "Sorry… got excited. I'm getting a little stir-crazy here…"
"We'll take a break soon, and we'll move on after a bit," he offered. "Sound good?"
Sakura nodded. "Sounds great."
"Same here…" he agreed.
…
Personally, Naoto thought their whole session had been pretty great.
If he was to divide the whole undertaking into four parts, they were nearly done with the third part, Sakura having tried a few more positions with her hands.
It was surprising how unpleasant it could be to sustain a V-sign, the gal propping up and maintaining the gesture on her elbow!
Just cupping her hands—what they were finishing—was far more passive.
Yes, things had gone well so far, even the SECOND part!
And Naoto had been a little nervous about sketching Sakura's feet, but to his astonishment, he'd been okay, and he'd gotten a few good angles.
As he had with practicing on himself, he saw much of what he'd researched the last few days showing up in different ways.
Unusual as it seemed, given the circumstances, he'd felt… calm.
He'd felt calm and even professional about it.
Since he was able to keep his mind out of the gutter, he'd really been able to turn out some quality material!
The two of them had been chattering off-and-on, and while Sakura took the occasional dig at him, it wasn't flustering him very much.
This was how a modeling session was supposed to be! Casual and friendly but productive!
Naoto doubted like Hell that Hayase Nagatoro—sick at home—would've given him such a pleasant work-environment, especially given the "subject matter".
Working with Nagatoro was missed—he liked her as a model, despite the mischief—but Sakura was proving to be a lot of what an artist could want in a model.
He loved Nagatoro, but he had to give credit where credit was due.
It was also a dream come true, being able to talk unconcernedly with a girl about anime and manga…!
…
"How'd your parents meet?" Sakura broke the silence.
Naoto had been drifting slightly, but he was still quite focused on his model.
He let up from his pencil-work a moment and thought.
"They met at a mixer for work," he shared. "I don't remember the exact year, but your parents were probably finishing high school… Their companies had their very first joint-project of what turned out to be many, and their higher-ups decided to throw a few parties to get everyone acquainted."
"Cool~," the blonde remarked. "I guess that happens."
"Yeah, but it took those few meetings for them to even get to talking…" Naoto furthered. "But they hit it off pretty well once they did."
"…"
"…"
"…What do your parents do?" Sakura was interested. "I guess you've never said."
He replied, "My mom's a product-developer and occasional traveling rep for a medical appliances company. Dad's an ad-exec. Mom's company is a smaller client of my dad's company… has been for more than 20 years, off-and-on."
"Hmm…" Sakura hummed responsively.
Naoto continued, "Dad usually doesn't work closely with Mom's company due to a 'conflict of interests', but he had to step in earlier in the year to coordinate a campaign when the person heading it had a sudden illness… on top of everything else he has to do."
Sakura wasn't thrilled to hear this. "I guess I can see how they keep so busy."
"Oh, yes…" he sighed, lips sputtering.
She murmured, aware she'd hit a nerve, something she already knew of, "I'm sorry, Senpai-kun…"
"…Yeah…" He saw she'd meant no harm. "I've just kinda been missing them this week…"
Being able to talk to them—however vaguely—about some of his difficulties would've been a comfort, especially with his mom.
"I'm sure." Sakura drummed her fingers reflexively but quickly caught herself. "Whoops! Sorry…"
Naoto broke into a little half-smile. "It's okay; I've finished with the sketch."
"You're not just saying that, are you?" She wasn't certain.
He assured, "It's finished, so relax for a bit."
Pulling her hands back to herself, she wrung them out. "…"
"…" Naoto watched her.
"…" Sakura languished.
"Hey, don't worry, Sakura-san," Naoto reinforced, gathering up what he'd finished. "You didn't say anything wrong."
"Okay…" She chose to trust him.
He appended, "They're both taking a vacation in a couple weeks, so we're all looking forward to that."
And we're going horseback riding this Sunday~!
"Oh, that's nice~." She perked right up.
"They don't like it any more than me, Sakura-san. Like I said before, we try to make the most of the time we have." Naoto walked over to open the window, but he wouldn't leave it open for long.
Why let out the cold air?! It was July!
With some fixative, he quickly hit the newest sketch, as he had with the others.
While the room aired out a moment, Naoto steered the conversation into new but undoubtedly safe waters.
He wanted to know, "Do you have a favorite manga series, Sakura-san?"
She started, having zoned out for a few seconds. "What was that?"
"I was wondering what your favorite manga series was." He wafted the sketch, drying it out. "Do you have one?"
She thought briefly. "Not really, but I have one I'm going through again right now."
"What is it?"
Grinning, she said, "It's Berserk. I like Berserk a whole lot~…"
Whoo-hoo-hoo! Naoto had waited for years to hear that out of a girl! "Oh, that's one of my favorites. I still haven't read that chapter divided across two issues though."
"You haven't?" The gal was a little taken aback. "That second issue came out before June."
"And what? It'll be the end of summer before the next chapter comes out," Naoto complained.
"Oh, I know…" she fussed. "I hope Miura-sensei finishes the series before one of us dies…"
Naoto smirked, chortling, "You and Miura-sensei?"
"I'm not counting on it~…" she simpered. "How 'bout you, Senpai-kun?"
He shook his head. "I'm sure it'll get finished. But Miura-sensei just works so slow…! There was nothing wrong with the art style during the Golden Age Arc. It was good quality, reproducible, and chapters were steadily released."
"You're preaching to the choir, pal~," Sakura whirred. "Going mostly digital and 'improving' the art killed his productivity. The art's great, but it doesn't make up for the lack of progress and slowness. The story itself is where it's at~."
"I don't suppose you wanna talk about the anime~?" Naoto attempted impishness.
"…!" Her features darkened. "The new series friggin' sucks. And those 'movies' were no good either."
Naoto disputed, "I think the first anime wasn't the worst…"
He really did think so!
"Myeh…" Sakura disagreed. "They butchered it. I know they can't show the manga as is on TV, but seriously…! It's Berserk! If you're not gonna do it right, don't do it at all."
"Yeah…" Naoto found no wrong in her words. "We never even got to see Gut vs. Wyald until that newer game, and I never even played it."
"Fuckin' A, right~…!" she purred contentedly, leaning back in her chair. "That was prolly my favorite fight of the Golden Age… after Guts taking on General Boscogn at the conclusion of the Battle of Doldrey~…"
Naoto opined, "They definitely cut out a little too much between Guts leaving and the Eclipse."
"A little? They cut out one-third of the stuff from Volumes nine and 10, and practically all of Volume 11…" she hissed, condemning each anime iteration.
"…!" Naoto teetered.
Sakura noticed. "What's up?"
Certain she wouldn't take it the wrong way, he just ran with it, "It's just I've never met a girl that liked the series… This is pretty awesome~."
"…!" She pinkened. "Well, sure… it's a good series."
"When did you start reading it?" Naoto had to know.
She divulged, "I guess I was 12… Too young for it, that's for sure."
"Whoa…" He was wowed.
"Daddy's been collecting it since 1990, so he has the whole series; it's his," she went on. "I was sneaking them when I was a sixed-year elementary school kid~. That's when I got interested in anime and manga, really."
Naoto had to laugh, "That's something… I didn't start that series until I was in middle school."
"I'll bet it didn't take long to catch up, did it?" It hadn't for her.
He related, "It sure didn't…"
"…"
"…"
Realizing they'd chatted plenty, Sakura thought they should move on.
"Once you're good, let's start again," she suggested.
He wouldn't contend. "Sure."
It wasn't like they had all night.
Around 6:00 p.m., a custodian or one of the teachers would probably make the rounds and kick out whatever students remained in the building or on the grounds.
…
…
…
"You're sure you're good to stay?" Naoto was well aware of the mandatory Inori household dinners Sakura's mom put on.
Sakura canned the notion, paging through the magazine she had, "Until Gamo-chan called off the pizza thing, I'd been planning for that, so they're not expecting me until late. I'm okay as long as you are."
This pleased the young artist. "Good to hear…"
It was difficult to recall another time where he'd been this fruitful in his work!
"…"
"…"
"Mm…" Sakura groused. "Damn it…"
Naoto sat up straight. "You okay?"
She writhed. "Not really… foot fell asleep… It's all tingly…"
Crap… This was never good news.
Once they'd gotten back from a quick restroom break, Naoto had gotten back to portraying Sakura's feet.
He hadn't thought crossing her legs at the ankles would cause this, but it happened, nerves and blood vessels being what they were.
"Sorry, Sakura-san…" he regretted. "If you get uncomfortable, you need to say something."
"I know… It just snuck up on me."
"I've done enough with this one," he said. "Go ahead and relax."
Her body extended, she immediately uncrossed her legs and sank further into the sofa, the two having moved over to it for this final part of the session.
Naoto, seated on a chair in line with her knees, stood up. "Anything I can get for you? Maybe a glass of water?"
HE could use a glass of water…
"I want some cubed Wagyu beef with pan-fried noodles~," she clowned, loafing away. "I'm getting kinda hungry…"
Woot! Naoto was never bored, shooting the breeze with her; he smiled.
"Would you settle for an udon bowl with chicken tempura?" He owed her. "We had that bet. I think the bowl and a dessert or something sometime will clear my debt."
"I wasn't gonna actually hold you to that, but if you insist, that sounds great~," she burbled; she propped herself up on her elbows. "You mean tonight?"
"Sure," he replied. "Once we're done here, we could go, unless you wanna wait for another time. That little shop we went to busy on Fridays?"
Sakura denied it, "That place is never busy, but I wish it was; I never want them to close. You gotta deal~."
"There are four more poses I'd like for you to do. That okay?"
"I said I'm good as long as you are." She shifted, hoping to relieve the sharp pains shooting through her lower-calf. "But since you're giving ground, when we go to eat, how 'bout you get me a fountain soda too~?"
Naoto squared away his latest sketch. "I thought that was a given…"
"Yay~!" She contrarily cringed, a particularly unpleasant prickle making itself known as her foot continued waking up. "It's good to know I'm worth an extra ¥300~."
You're worth a whole lot more than that!
Deciding against encouraging such banter, Naoto said, "Let's take another break."
"Sure," she harmonized. "I could use a glass of water. Could you please get me one?"
He wasn't about to make her hop on one foot to the sink!
"You got it." He filled a glass for himself too.
…
…
…
"Speaking of sports series, did you ever watch Eyeshield 21?" Naoto called back to Sakura's story about her parents and Slam Dunk.
The gal nodded. "That's an old one. I watched part of it a long time ago, but I read the manga… the whole thing."
"I never read the manga." Naoto had never gotten into a sports series beyond anime.
Sakura preened, "The manga is waaaay better (they almost always are~), mainly because the animators were lazy, production values were low, the filler was bad, and they turned it into a kids' show. Y'know, the normal reasons. That happens a lot, eh, Senpai-kun?"
"That's par for the course…" he obliged.
She squealed, "A golf joke~?"
He hadn't meant for it to be. "I was just using the expression."
"Aw, and I thought it was pretty clever…" she mock-pouted.
He disdained, "Yeah, yeah…"
Sakura didn't dwell on it. "If you wanna finish Eyeshield, I could lend you my copies from where the anime leaves off."
He WOULD have the time…
"That sounds pretty good~," he responded. "If you're offering…"
"You bet!" Sakura fell into an Eyeshield rut. "What was your favorite game in the series~?"
When a sports series was 95% "in-game", there wasn't always much more to talk about!
Naoto recoiled at the enthusiasm, but he was delighted to share, "I liked the Deimon/Shinriyuji game the best."
She had her own favorite, but first, "I liked that one over the Deimon/Ojo game for to the finals. I thought the Bats beating the Nagas was way cooler than them beating the White Knights."
"That's for sure!"
"I'll tell you what my favorite was though," she reveled. "It was the finals before the Christmas Bowl~! But I sure won't spoil it for you."
That's where he'd pick it up!
"I look forward to reading it," Naoto afforded.
She shook with glee. "Just say when~."
But she also twitched from discomfort.
Naoto had been watching for this and had seen it developing. "You need to take another break?"
"Yes, please…" Back on the sofa, she had both feet propped up on a chair, and she'd been spreading her toes and holding the position, or rather, attempting to do so.
She'd said she could do it, but it wasn't easy, she realized.
Seated on the floor in front of her, Naoto set aside his pad. "Go ahead."
Sakura took no further prompting.
Curling and cracking her toes, she tucked her legs to her side, leaning on the armrest. "Oh… Ow…"
"Again, you need to say if it's bothering you…" he reminded. "It's not whining."
"I know…" she allowed, her hands kneading one of her soles. "I just want you to get it… and not keep changing position on you…"
Naoto found himself pulled back to the autumn, when he and Nagatoro had gone sketching at the zoo.
At the red panda exhibit, the petite girl had found the exercise troublesome, the strange racoon-doggish critter bouncing off the walls of its cage.
Nagatoro, dubbing the creature Kojiro, had complained some.
"Kojiro's going wild. And he won't sit still, so I can't draw him."
He'd explained how to cope with a moving subject.
"It's only a sketch, so I don't think it needs to be exact… First, you quickly sketch the general form. From there, you keep observing your subject and adding details, but only the minimum amount needed…"
Now, he paraphrased to Sakura, "Once I get the basic outline, I can add the details pretty easily, as long as you mostly maintain a position."
"Well, you did say this was practice…" She was relieved to hear it didn't need to be perfect.
He vouched, "You're doing just fine."
Since she WASN'T bouncing off the walls, he could do a little more than the minimum, but the point was made.
Sakura piped up, "Didn't you tell me something like that already? About the details?"
He did! He'd forgotten!
"I guess I did…" he reminisced. "Yeah, last week…"
Sakura continued to loosen up. "…"
"…" Naoto turned inward.
As far as their current endeavor went…
He could scarcely fathom that he'd asked Sakura to do what she'd just done for him.
This type of modeling, Naoto had gathered, was difficult enough for most laymen to look at with objectivity in mind, but…
This pose was actually questionable, unlike most of the others! This sort of sole-shot was fetish-fuel!
But while looking into the artistry of hands and feet, it had seemed like a worthwhile task, rendering such an aspect.
And they'd agreed on it, the two of them…
He told her, "I just have a few more details I wanna add. You think you'd be okay with a few more minutes of this?"
"That's fine… Just gimme a bit…"
"Absolutely," Naoto declared.
"…~" Sakura stretched out on the shabby piece of furniture with a happy mumble.
Naoto, having stood up, walked around, shaking it out. "Mm…"
Sitting on the floor to sketch wasn't his favorite thing in the world.
"…"
"…"
"Hey, uh, Senpai-kun…" Sakura bade. "Gotta question…"
He'd set about sharpening a couple of his pencils. "What is it?"
She moaned pleasurably, flexing her ankles, "You know how most anime always sucks compared to the manga?"
"Yeah?" He thought they'd well established this.
Sakura propounded, "What's a series where you thought the anime was better than the manga?"
Holy damn! Even after all they'd talked about, Naoto could barely wrap his mind around the wonderful reality that his wonderful gal-pal was into some of the same wonderful(?) stuff he was.
"Huh…" he considered. "That's a good one, Sakura-san… Lemme think a minute."
"How about this~?" Sakura had one. "There was a series called Kare Kano (His and Her Circumstances). They took this dreary shojo series and turned it into something really neat. It only covered, like, 30% of the manga, but it was really fun, funny, they did a lot of experimental animation, and it was made with love~."
Naoto puzzled, "Can't say I've heard of that one…"
"The story took place in 1996 or something," she expanded. "We weren't even alive yet, and the manga was finished before either of us was in kindergarten, Senpai-kun."
"Yeah, a whole lotta stuff has come out since then…" The young man dropped the pencil-shavings he was cutting away into the wastebasket.
"Pfft!" Sakura snorted. "I remember being so frustrated at one point in the story because the MC boy broke a date with the MC girl, and she was all freaking out.
"I was like, 'Try calling him, you dumb bitch!' but then I had to remind myself that the series did take place in 1996. No regular kid had a cellphone then."
"Plenty of adults didn't have cellphones in 1996, Sakura-san," Naoto observed.
Sakura renewed, "You've had your minute~. Can you think of a series?"
He surely could!
"Yeah," he undertook. "I remember you and Sunomiya talking about Fruits Basket. I liked the 2001 anime, but I just couldn't go for the manga or the new anime."
"Ooh, I feel the same way," Sakura said. "It was like with Kare Kano. They took a gloomy manga and turned it into a super fun anime~!"
"You ought to talk to my buddy Shuu," Naoto relayed. "He says pretty much the exact same thing. People give him grief about it sometimes, but he won't stand to see his Fruba dissed…"
And did he ever have a crush on Sakura!
"Now I wanna watch it again…" she aired, readjusting her position.
"Mm…" It was always nice to watch a favorite series, Naoto mulled.
Yawning, the gal scratched at her thigh. "Hey, what time is it anyway, Senpai-kun?"
Glancing towards the clock, he felt his chest seize up.
It was 6:28 p.m.!
Shit! Naoto didn't curse aloud. Where'd the time go?!
"Oh, shoot…!" he exclaimed in minced-oath. "It's almost 6:30!"
Sakura came to bolt-upright. "It is?!"
Naoto went to the door and slid it open.
The hallway was dimly illuminated by sunlight, but the lights were off, and the school seemed bereft of any other people.
"No one came around to check… or we didn't hear them," he supposed. "Only the emergency lights are still on."
"Somebody got lazy," Sakura presumed, setting her feet on the floor. "I'll bet all the staff wanted to leave ASAP too."
"…"
"…"
Naoto bemoaned, "I guess we need to get outta here. This kinda sucks… It's a shame… I guess you could say we were on a roll."
The "worst" sketch was done enough for his purposes… though he quite wished to complete it.
"Sorry, Senpai-kun, I wasn't watching the time either." Sakura stood, adjusting Naoto's gym shorts.
He said, "It's no big deal. It's not like we'll get in big trouble or anything."
"No?" She blinked. "It's the end of the semester."
"I've worked late before; I did the Friday night before we started the new school year, I guess until about 7:00." Naoto recalled. "Remember winter break? The only reason they cleared us like that was because the school was going to be closed-closed for a few days. Tomorrow's just a 'normal' Saturday."
"…" Sakura stewed. "I guess."
"We won't get in trouble, but we should clear out." He set about cleaning up. "…And this was going so well too."
The gal remained, scrunching her toes on the tile. "…"
"Let's lock up, and then we can go get some dinner." Naoto was about to spray the last sketch with some fixative, reaching for the window. "I've really been wanting another bowl of that stuff, and neither of us will have to walk home in the dark. You could probably even take the bus."
He'd staunchly turn his back and allow Sakura the privacy to get her skirt back on, not that it had been a big deal before, especially when they could both be ADULTS about it…
He shook the can of fixative, and—
"Senpai-kun, wait…" Sakura took a step towards him.
He looked up. "Yes?"
"…" She fidgeted.
"…?" Naoto puzzled. "Yeah, what is it?"
"…You say you're on a roll… Do you wanna finish up?"
It took a few seconds for his brain to fire. "Yeah, I wanna finish, at least this piece. I guess it would only take a few minutes."
He flapped the sketch he held in gesture.
"No," Sakura made clear, a slight rosiness taking over. "Do you wanna just keep going? You said there were three more things you wanted us to do."
They'd REALLY let time slip away! And Naoto had SERIOUSLY underestimated how much time was needed to do all he wanted.
His brain had fired, but the machinery hadn't quite meshed. "Didn't you say you were hungry? I know I am."
"The shop delivers," she stated. "It'd take us as long to walk there as it would for them to get it here."
"…!" Naoto liked the idea but… "We really should go. We probably wouldn't get in trouble, but staying here is against the rules. They're really lax about this sort of thing, but I don't wanna push our luck."
"There's nobody here, Senpai-kun," the blonde insisted. "I'm good to stay as long as you are."
Naoto's cheeks were suddenly flaming. "…!"
Sakura, realizing they were mirroring one another in their ruddiness, laughed, "Seriously, I'd be good with hanging out. Why quit while you're ahead~?"
They were "ahead". Naoto couldn't deny it.
"I'll even cover the delivery fee," she offered.
That had bothered him, knowing the fee might cost almost as much as one of their dinners. "…"
Sakura wouldn't push. "If you don't wanna, that's fine, but I think—"
"Let's finish," Naoto decided.
"You sure?" She really didn't mean to push.
He nodded confidently. "Sure, I'm sure. That sounds good. We could finish what we're doing and get in the next before we eat. The last two might take a while, but I think we could eat and still finish a little after 8:00."
"You think it'll be okay?" Sakura smiled nervously, abruptly and far more unsure than he'd just been. "The staff did freak out about, uh, yours."
His freakout!
"This is going great, Sakura-san." Naoto barely gave a thought to the warning those assholes have given him on Monday, gliding right over his friend's concern and briefly forgetting even Nagatoro's assholery. "I really don't wanna quit."
"Let's call the shop then~." The gal grinned. "I'm starving."
…
…
…
"Okay…" The noodle shop's delivery driver consulted a grease-stained sheet of paper. "One family-size order of udon noodle soup, two orders of chicken tempura, two orders of mixed-vegetable tempura, one order of nukazuke, two bottles of Mtn Dew, and two bottles of Pepsi Cola…"
"That's it." Naoto nodded, propping open the side-door attached to the staff parking lot.
The driver quoted, "With delivery fee and tax, that'll be… ¥4,425.
Cripes! Naoto wanted to roll his eyes. That's expensive!
But he forked over the sum—in cash—and said, "Thank you."
The several bags were handed over.
"This was the last place I expected to make a delivery to tonight…" the driver waxed, a sort of astonishment held. "What could you possibly have going on to keep your club here tonight?"
None of your business… Naoto decided this fellow was nosy, but it wasn't anything to get worked up over. "A bunch of us were going out for pizza tonight, but it got cancelled. We had some work to do and no other plans, so…"
This was no lie!
The fact they'd ordered in udon instead of going out for pizza was good enough for the driver. "Well, enjoy. And again, I'm sorry we're out of Dr Pepper in bottles."
"No problem," Naoto responded. "I like cola just fine."
"Well, you take care." The driver backed up and turned away, heading back to his car.
"Thanks again!" Naoto called after him. "Drive safe!"
The driver waved a hand over his head in reply, climbed into his car, and drove off.
Naoto was back inside, and the door slammed shut.
"A little help?" he called to the darkness.
Sakura wafted in from the shadows. "You rang~?"
Naoto didn't jump, but he didn't like it. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry…" she regretted. "It'd suck ass if you dropped all that food."
"¥4,425…" her senpai bitched.
Sakura mehed, "I heard… Hand me the two smaller bags."
Naoto did, and they set off.
"Thanks for coming down," he said.
"…~" She poked her tongue out. "Aw, it's alright… I wasn't gonna make you carry all that by yourself… have you juggle our dinner. Plus, I didn't wanna run the risk of you getting locked outside."
"Mm…" he grunted in appreciation.
Sakura twittered, "Tee-hee~."
The two walked along in silence a moment, their shadows stretching and angling in the glow of the emergency lights.
The only sound to be heard besides the crinkle of plastic bags was the patter of two pairs of school shoes.
Tep… tep… tep… tep…
"…"
"…"
"Y'know, Senpai-kun, we actually got pretty good bang for our buck," Sakura discoursed. "It just made more sense to buy what we did… It was just a little more than it would cost for two bowls, but we got twice as much! I'm thinking leftovers~!"
He understood, "It's just that delivery fee…!"
"That's why I covered it~. Also, consider your debt paid in full. With this, I don't think you owe me 'a dessert or something' anymore."
"Really?" He'd be glad for that, only to have evened the score for the yakiniku the previous Thursday.
"Really, really~."
"Thanks for that." He was grateful. "And thanks for shelling out a little more to help with the extra sides and sodas."
"You're welcome~." She was good and hungry. "Their veggie tempura is pretty great. And wait 'til you try the nukazuke… They make the best vegetable pickles there~!"
"I guess it was only a few hundred yen more…" Naoto figured. "I do like good nukazuke."
Winding through the school, they made their way back upstairs and reentered the room.
Sakura set her load on the table, and Naoto followed, once he'd pulled the door shut.
Stepping out of her shoes, Sakura kicked them under the sofa and went about rifling through the first bag she'd carried.
"Ooh~…" she cooed. "Here's the tempura and the nukazuke."
Naoto had figured this to be so.
It was pretty obvious his bag contained the three liters of hot soup!
The gal went for the second bag. "Here are the sodas, and… nice! They gave us bowls too!"
"I'll get the cups." Naoto went for them.
Sakura wondered, "Would it be cool if I had some of the Pepsi?"
"Have all you like, Sakura-san." He located the cups. "I'm good with a little Mtn Dew. I don't remember the last time I had a Dew."
"I once saw someone mix them together…" she commented offhandedly.
"Yuck…" Naoto wasn't sure about that. "Doesn't it end up looking like mud?"
"Maybe muddy water… or a severely dehydrated person's piss~," Sakura clarified. "I'll bet it doesn't taste much better either~."
Naoto retched whimsically, "Knock yourself out~…"
"Oh, yeah, right~!" Sakura set out all the containers. "Well, let's eat. After we're done, we can do the last sketches you wanna get through."
There was a unanimous lack of dispute on his part (though it was just the two of them). "Okay."
Divvying up the udon and tempura, each made a bowl, making sure to leave enough for two more decent servings.
They polished off pickled veggies, but they'd be eating good the next day!
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!