Cherry Blossom Palette: Summer by the Sea
Chapter 47: Juice Run
Sunshine Arc
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
Author's note:
ED: Thirsty kohai~?! Oh, my!
Two of the party have been roped into a soft drink run!
And another volunteered to go along… and they all meet someone unexpected!
…
One Piece Episode 1111 finally saw the big traitor reveal, which is good, because they've been dragging it out. We're getting into the meat of the arc. This means we'll soon move into Jewelry Bonney's story.
1112 was EPIC, taking a break from the main arc! Eustass Kid tried to do a bad thing, and he and everyone he (somewhat) cares about paid a hefty price.
And 1113 will also be awesome.
Still, they need to go back to covering one and a half or two chapters for an episode, like in the early days, especially when it's "hum drum, run of the mill" main arc stuff.
I'd rather wait an extra week for an episode or see more breaks than all of that dead space, trying to fill up time needlessly. I'd also wait, rather than see some awful filler or recap episode. I know One Piece has a certain format they wish to follow, but there's a better way to do it.
The manga has also been dragging out Egghead, so I hope that wraps up soon. I want to get to the next island/arc.
Back when the manga first introduced the Supernovas, I never imagined Bonney would matter so much down the road. But I didn't think Trafalgar Law and Eustass Kid would do much either.
…
However, the new season of anime coming out of Japan, it's like they're not even trying. It's all so bad so far, though they're only a few episodes in. It's like they TRY to make it bad, but that's nothing new, is it?
Some guy has a dead fish robot wife/maid without a moveable jaw, so I guess he'll get tetanus from her in some other rusty metal cavity, once he finally decides to put it in. Yuck.
Only female deer (besides reindeer) have antlers, unless their hormones are messed up. I didn't know that until PS told me.
If someone isn't going to do something NEW with a trap character, don't bother in the first place.
And they need to go back to DRAWING anime instead of mushing it together on a computer. And they need better source material and writers.
I think they just need to TRY harder.
…
Canon chapter 153, nothing worth talking about happened, unless you count Naoto and the mentally unwell Machida getting into art school (but those two unemployable losers that hung out with the wannabe tsundere sicko failed), which was a forgone conclusion.
And Yoshi acted like she would've been forcibly sterilized in the 1960's (thanks, PS, for introducing me to such awful allegory), and Nagatoro has some sort of plan to humiliate Naoto onstage in the final chapter. It will probably involve that "do whatever I want ticket" he was foolish enough to let her have, but Nanashi may have forgotten about that.
All Naoto had to do was go after HER nipples in retaliation, and she would've learned her lesson once and for all. Not that he didn't honk the little monster's mosquito bites once or twice by accident.
I think Machida, Orihara, and the canon Sunomiya cousins (and probably EVERY female character, realistically) would've also been rendered barren in the not so good old days.
History is scary sometimes.
Not a good use of time skip. Nanashi had the end of their summer, fall, winter, and spring to do something of substance with his story, and he didn't even try.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Nagatoro ends up like the doctor's wife in Elfen Lied. Then Naoto can go save Gamo-chan from the closeted, abusive Taiga and find happiness with her.
…
Ask us anything, and we'll add a Q&A section in the next chapter.
It's good to know that you keep reading, so I would be happy if you drop comments and ask questions.
Please enjoy what I wrote.
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Naoto, the designated leader of the soft-drink acquisition team, trod across the beach, the early afternoon sun baking the sand under his feet.
Hadn't forgotten the flip-flops this time, blessedly…
'Why am I doing this…?!' he silently asked himself. 'I didn't even get to go swimming yet…!'
Running in the surf was the closest he'd been to it…
This was true, for the moment he and Sakura had returned to the other seven members of their beachy party, a call had gone up for someone to buy juice and soda for everyone.
They had water, the much appreciated commodity brought by Rabi-chan, but they'd wanted more than just water.
Naoto hadn't minded the attention being diverted from his and Sakura's homecoming, but it didn't mean he was pleased with his new assignment.
Just as Gamo-chan was about to do… something, they'd begun a tournament of rock-paper-scissors, set on determining the "lucky pair" to go on a drink-run.
He still hadn't made sense of the brackets set up, but Hana had been out first, then Shuu, Yoshi, Tohru, Gamo-chan, Rabi-chan, and finally, Sakura, leaving the aforementioned "lucky pair".
This meant—
"Stop looking so glum, Hachioji-kun~," Nekoba snorked, happily meandering at his right side. "I'd have thought you'd be glad to make yourself scarce again."
Yes, his companion was the lovely Nekoba~…
"What'd you and Sunomiya tell them…?" he grumbled miserably.
Nekoba refuted, "We didn't really tell them much of anything, Hachioji-kun."
"Sure, you didn't…" He'd seen the expressions pasted on the five not involved in the shenanigans, judging them, his and Sakura's newfound presence having been made known at homebase.
"Really," Nekoba countered; she turned to the third warm body among them, at Naoto's left. "Isn't that right?"
"She's right, Hachioji-senpai," Hana supported, peering out from under her bucket hat, behind her aviators. "You and Sakura-senpai were being silly, we surprised you, and we left the both of you self-conscious, entombed amongst those older couples."
An honest assessment…
Nekoba laughed, "That's about the size of it~!"
"…" Naoto supposed he should be thankful the two hadn't blabbed.
There'd have been Hell to pay~…!
Hana leaned in. "Hachioji-senpai?"
"Yes?" Naoto tiredly recompensed.
"Are you alright?"
"…" He didn't wish to worry his "protégé". "I'm okay Sunomiya… but I guess I'm feeling a little bad for Sakura-san."
That he himself had been figuratively caught with his pants down didn't upset him nearly as much as Sakura literally being caught topless by the pokey Hana/Neko combo, the gal carrying on for her/his own amusement.
"…" Hana said nothing.
But Nekoba did.
"Sakura's okay," she expressed. "It's not a big deal."
However, Sakura was back at camp… away from the other three shenanigans "participants"… alone with Gamo-chan and co…
Naoto didn't think it was a huge deal, but, "We were just goofing around a little…"
"We know, Hachi-kun~…" Nekoba chirped in a way almost Sakura-ish.
"'Hachi-kun'?" He'd never expected her to abruptly just drop a nickname for him.
She asked, "You don't like that?"
"…Not really," he said honestly.
Hana lectured the older girl, "That's bold of you, Nekoba-senpai, talking like that to our senpai."
Despite Gamo-chan and Yoshi respectively calling him "Paisen" and "Sensei"… though that had been going on for a year…
"Maybe…" Nekoba assented. "I just think saying 'Hachioji-kun' is too many syllables. You call him 'Hachioji-senpai' all the time. I just don't see how you don't get tired of using six entire syllables every time you want to address him."
"Hachioji-senpai is Hachioji-senpai," Hana firmed. "That's his proper name and title."
"Well, at least I used an honorific," Nekoba reasoned. "I thought that only 'Hachi' would be bad."
Naoto cringed at the would-be name.
"It'd make me sound even more like a dog than 'Hachi-kun'," he harmonized with Nekoba.
She considered, "I'm guessing you wouldn't like 'Oji-kun' either…"
"No," he replied. "That makes me sound like some weird uncle that's somehow younger than his niece or nephew…"
Nekoba cracked, "Ha! That's kind of a funny idea."
"'Oji-kun'…" Hana tried it out. "I don't like it either."
"Well, I think it's funny," Nekoba defended.
Naoto didn't hate it completely. "I'm not saying it's not kinda funny. I just don't want anyone calling me that…"
"…" Nekoba thought a moment. "Hmm…"
"What?" Naoto wondered.
The tallish girl took a stab at it, "Now, I know it's prolly way too much to ask, but would you mind if I call you 'Nao-kun'~? Like your guy-friends all seem to do?"
Shuu and Tohru weren't the only boys to refer to him as such…
"…!" It bewildered Naoto slightly. "I… guess if you want to, I don't mind."
He rather liked the idea of a girl calling him that.
And she'd sounded so hopeful~…
"I would wanna, if that's cool," Nekoba expressed. "'Nao-kun'… I like that~."
"Won't everyone be surprised…" Hana cogitated.
Nekoba shrugged. "Maybe… Could be fun to see how they all react~."
And to make the world all the more fun, it was starting to get REALLY hot out…
The heat reminded Naoto~—
"Why are we doing this again…?" he complained, the sweat stinging his eyes, the prospects of an old nickname issuing from a new source only adding to his plate of potential problems.
"Because, Nao-kun~," Nekoba playfully observed, his query not the first of its kind, inward or outward. "Drinks other than water were the one thing we didn't talk about, you know, when we were divvying up responsibilities for today."
"Gamo-neechan wasn't thinking about it, I guess." Hana hadn't had the idea occur to her. "And no one else thought of it either."
Naoto opined, "Wish I'd thought of it… Would've been nice if someone had just brought a big bundle of Aquarius or something."
"Hey, it's better this way." Nekoba was down with it. "Now, everyone can get what they like, so all's well~."
"If you say so…" Naoto submitted.
The slim girl truly wasn't letting the situation bug her too much, if at all. "The only nearby Pepsi machine is a ways down the beach, and we have to walk there; that's all there is to it. Three people wanted something from it, so… yeah."
"They couldn't've settle for something from the Coke machines…?" Naoto kept complaining.
"Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola aren't at all alike, Hachioji-senpai," Hana orated. "Shuu-senpai prefers Pepsi over Coke. I prefer Pepsi over Coke; I've said that more than once. And if Sakura-senpai wants a Mtn Dew, she's going to get a Mtn Dew."
Nekoba ambled along. "Plus, Sakura's paying for a drink each for Hanacchi and me, so I don't really mind the hike. That was the price of Hanacchi and me leaving you and her to your own devices, remember~?"
"Hrn…" *Naoto nattering* "She really stuck to that…?"
"We weren't gonna let that slide, were we, Hanacchi~?" Nekoba shifted over and good-naturedly jostled the other girl.
Hana steadfast'd, "Certainly not."
"And I owe you a drink, Nao-kun," Nekoba recapped. "Since you picked up the umbrellas for me~."
"You don't have to, if you don't want to…" he deflected.
She shook her head. "I really do wanna~. And I'm thankful that Shuu-kun's gonna divide out the cost of today and figure out a fair payment for each of us… not that I'm springing for a soda for him~… Still, I never expected those umbrellas to be almost ¥5,000."
Hana praised Naoto, "Yes, and we're thankful for you showing up so early and finding us such a nice place to spend the day, aren't we, Nekoba-senpai?"
"Yup~… and your help for this little chore is much appreciated," Nekoba told her.
Hana hadn't come along because she had to.
She attended Naoto, "We discussed the matter. And to correct you from a moment ago, Hachioji-senpai, all of my other senpai wanting soda would've all settled for something out of a Coke machine, but I wanted a Pepsi. Since you and Nekoba-senpai wouldn't have had to walk so far if it wasn't for me, I thought it was only fair that I come along."
"And we are grateful for it~," Nekoba reassured her. "Aren't we, Nao-kun?"
Hana's fairmindedness was something Naoto really esteemed in his kohai…
"…Yes, very." He just hadn't been keen on making the trip himself. "…I can't believe I lost the game that badly…"
"Snrk~! D-don't sweat it, Nao-kun," Nekoba sprayed out a chuckle. "I'm no good at rock-paper-scissors either~."
"…~" Hana didn't not enjoy winning, but she stuck to her decision to come along and had no regrets. "It didn't seem reasonable, asking two people to carry 15 drinks."
Some had wanted TWO tasty beverages, and at least, they had three tote bags to carry them back…
"Yeah, so no more complaining, Nao-kun~," Nekoba admonished. "Just be thankful for the help."
"I am though," he promised. "Really."
Hearing that nickname was becoming easier and easier…
Hana added, "Also, I remembered what everyone wants."
"But I have the list in my pocket." Naoto had again donned his Hawaiian shirt, hoping to cover his pastiness, though he'd left the buttons undone, his ghostly trunk open to the world. "I wrote it down, so you didn't have to."
He additionally carried the bundle of cash the nine members of their party had slapped together, around ¥3,700.
"I still remembered." Hana stood pat.
Nekoba commended, "Yeah, you sure did~. Way to go, Hanacchi, just naming them back off like that."
"I find that sort of thing comes easily to me," Hana stated.
"You got any trick to it? Like word or name-association?"
"No. I just remember."
"Ooh, I bet that's really handy sometimes."
"Surely."
"Sometimes, when I have to remember stuff, I come up with little songs for it, and then, they get stuck in my head~."
"I find that songs don't get 'stuck in my head', not that I'm not aware of them or don't remember them."
"Lucky~! It happens to me all the time… I've had the theme-song for The Mickey Mouse Club stuck in my head for three days~!"
Thank you, karaoke~!
…
"…~" Naoto gladly zoned out a few seconds, joyed more than was perhaps proportionate to hear the two girls chatter about the little things in life.
It wasn't bad… not bad at all~…
He saw Hana and Nekoba being about as different as two friendly people could be, but…
Everyone wanted/needed the same things, in the end~…
All was connected~…
That was close to what Sakura had deliberated to him.
Whimsical and kind of fruity it was, but the gal wasn't wrong~…
…
And Hana was really coming into her own, a girl of many bents, and she could indubitably stir the pot.
"Hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm-hmm~," she began humming that dastardly Disney tune, getting as far as *th t's m de for you nd me* before—
"No! Not again!" Nekoba guffawed, dramatically covering her ears.
Hana only made it a little further, droning, "M-I-C-K-E—"
"That's it~!" Nekoba blared, waggling a finger at her kohai. "How 'bout I pick up where Gamo-chan left off~?"
Hana retorted smartly, "It would take more than just you to accomplish that. Gamo-neechan is the only one among you capable of doing it alone, and I doubt Hachioji-senpai would aid you in such an ignoble endeavor."
"Say what?" Naoto hadn't been listening closely, only picking up Hana's last complete clause, something about him and ignobility.
How fitting~…
Nekoba sighed, "Yeah, you're right, Hanacchi…"
"It won't be necessary anyway," Hana expressed. "I had my fun—no need to drive the joke into the dust."
"I suppose it's not gonna get stuck in my head any worse, so…" Nekoba shrugged it off. "I couldn't do that to you anyway, so…"
Hana nodded sagely. "Yes, yes… accept your limitations…"
Ooh, a flowery gibe~…
"Why, I oughta~!" Nekoba wasn't wearing a sleeve, but she mimed rolling one up, shaking a fist at the shorter girl.
Hana didn't flinch. "…~"
"H-hey," Naoto tried to cut back in, confused. "What are you two talking about…?"
Nekoba giggled, "I guess you gotta pay better attention to the world around you, Nao-kun~."
"Or you may miss once-in-a-lifetime amusements," Hana conceivably completed the other's thought.
Naoto had learned a few things about girl-talk and its equivalent discourse: even if he was interested, he probably didn't need to know, and he probably didn't want to know.
Girls could have it!
He crossed his arms, hunching his shoulders, grumbling, "Wh-whatever…"
And his mild discomposure was rewarded greatly.
Hana couldn't hold it back anymore—and she'd been trying, and she chortled into her hands, offering up a wheezy, "Shee-hee-hee-hee-hee~…"
Shee-yit~!
"…?!" Naoto had maybe heard her laugh twice out of delight.
It was even more jarring than the little artiste squealing with laughter, being tickled all to Hell-and-back!
Nekoba snorted, just as juked by Hana's quiet "outburst", "Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha~!"
"…!"Naoto just listened to it, staring back-and-forth at his laughing kohai, not a one of them having ever stopped walking.
How good it was to be here for this~!
And he smiled too. "…~"
…
Naoto had a thing about dopey smiles.
Rare but unparalleled~…
However, he was easy enough to knock back to reality, and he really took a good knock.
…
"Oh, Nobu-kun, you're SO funny~!" a shrill female voice cried out.
A male baritone rose up, "Aww, it's just something dumb I saw on TV, so, I dunno about that…"
"It is so funny!" she challenged.
"…?" Naoto's ears perked at the name spoken; and his lethargic peepers snapped to cognizance. "…?!"
He only had to turn his head a few degrees, and—
About 10 meters ahead and to his left, there was Nobuo Takata, leading a group of one, two, three… six others!
Flanked and followed by three other boys and three girls, chattering loudly, he strode along, looking like he owned the place, while not trying to look like he owned anything.
He didn't need a shirt to cover up his torso, a healthy complexion and his physique trapped somewhere between Adonis and Atlas, and neither did any of his male accomplices.
Their bikinis skimpy, there were no sarongs on these girls… just a whole lotta leg~…
"…!" Naoto only looked long enough to count their numbers, and he brought his vision back to 12 o'clock.
He hadn't thought much about Takata in the last day or so.
The two of them hadn't talked since the day Takata and Sakura had hashed out their somewhat amicable breakup in the art room.
Ever since finding Takata's letter in his shoe-locker, Naoto hadn't even acknowledged him, and the opposite was true.
They'd maybe nodded once or twice to each other, a couple days after their time at the Art Club, that Monday afternoon.
…
Possibly, it was just Naoto's anxiety acting up a little, or plausibly, he was just surprised, but he knew what his body was telling him.
Therefore, he was prepared to ignore the Takata sighting.
'Yeah!' he justified to himself.
They lived in different worlds, so it didn't bother—
"Hey, Hachioji~!" Takata boomed. "'Sup?"
Naoto physically jumped, back to fully facing the direction of the noise, not just his eyes.
Takata had left his group behind and was trotting up to him, a big grin pasted on his face, a hand raised in greeting.
Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!
Questions and comments are welcome!