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Nagatoro happily dashed towards the club room door. After nearly seven hours of schooling, she got to partake in her favorite activity: messing with her senpai, Naoto Hachioji. She had tried messaging the sophomore on LINE over the weekend, but he didn’t respond to them. Typical Naoto stuff, she guessed. Before she opened the door, however, she began to brainstorm ideas on what to do with him.
Maybe try teasing him with my swimsuit…? the freshman pondered, Nah, it’s better not to beat a dead horse. The anpan game might be fun if it didn’t fail like last time… nah, something like that doesn’t have the same effect the second time.
She shrugged. She’ll figure something out. Grinning, she bursted the door open dramatically. And there sat Naoto, in the same spot near the windowsill, drawing a rough sketch of what seemed to be a potted plant of sorts. However, he didn’t so much as glance at the girl, let alone quickly turning and looking at the girl with the flushed face he usually had. Nagatoro thought for a moment before a smug smirk crept onto her face.
This could only mean one thing… Nagatoro thought to herself, He must not have noticed me! This is my chance!
She quietly tiptoed towards the glasses-clad boy’s back and…
“Boo!” Nagatoro suddenly grabbed the boy’s shoulders, “Hiya, senpai!”
“O-oh,” Naoto looked up from his drawing, “Hi, Nagatoro.”
“Ehhh? Still drawing still-life?” Nagatoro asked teasingly, taking notice of the potted plant Naoto was drawing, “You’re so boring, senpai!~”
“Yeah, I guess,” Naoto pulled up his glasses and returned to his sketch. This reaction confused Nagatoro somewhat, but she played it off and kept going. She suddenly recalled she had two onigiri in her bag that her Gamo-chan had given her, one being fairly standard while the other, although unsuspecting in appearance, was extremely spicy. She cracked a grin and came up with a scheme.
“Hey, senpai, I’ve got two onigiri in my bag right here,” Nagatoro informed, holding up her bag and stifling her laughter, “What do ya say? You hungry? We can each have one!?”
“No, I’m not,” Naoto replied emotionlessly, not taking his eyes off of his drawing, “Thank you for offering, Nagatoro.”
“O-oh,” Nagatoro scratched her head with her finger, now thoroughly confused by Naoto’s behavior, “That’s fine then, I guess.”
Nagatoro went over and sat on a nearby stool as Naoto continued drawing. Finding herself bored, she decided to watch Naoto draw the potted plant. And it was an odd experience for her. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but she felt it lacked the same… drive… that was usually found in her senpai’s sketches. From what Nagatoro saw of his sketches, they always felt alive, filled with an earnest feeling, even if they aren’t the most well-drawn. And, although it looked great, she felt nothing looking at it. It was almost as if Naoto was doing it out of habit rather than passion. A worried expression began to cover the girl’s face without her even knowing.
“Hey, senpai, you aren’t acting yourself…” Nagatoro said, going up to the fluffy-haired boy and putting her hand on his shoulder, “You good?”
“Hm?” Naoto said, attempting to mask a pained expression, “What makes you say that?”
“Senpai, I’ve known you long enough to know what you normally act like,” Nagatoro laughed, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Naoto closed his eyes, his pencil strokes becoming faster.
“Come on, senpai, Nagatoro shook her head, “Bottling up your feelings won’t do anyone good.”
“I’m not bottling up anything!” Naoto suddenly yelled as his pencil cracked, causing Nagatoro to jump up slightly. The two sat in awkward silence after the boy’s outburst.
“I’m…” Naoto struggled to say, “I’m sorry, Nagatoro…”
“Senpai…” Nagatoro said, “I know I mess around with you… a lot… but you can tell me anything, you know?”
“I guess…” Naoto nodded and revealed his clearly somber expression, “I guess you’re right…”
Naoto sighed and put down his now broken pencil on his easel, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment before looking at Nagatoro directly in the eyes, something he didn’t really do often.
“Over… the weekend…” Naoto stammered and began to shake, struggling to maintain a cool exterior, “My mom… she…”
“Hey,” Nagatoro consoled, putting her hand into his, “It’s alright. I’m listening.”
This appeared to calm Naoto down a bit. Although small, Nagatoro noticed small tears misting within her senpai’s eyes.
“My mom… she was saying she felt in pain… we went to a doctor, and…” Naoto explained emotionally, “She has… she has bone cancer… we’re lucky we caught it early, but… it hurts… it hurts so much knowing that my mother could die…”
Tears now fully formed began to fall, dropping onto not only Naoto’s pants and onto the ground but also on Nagatoro’s hand.
“I’m so awful… she said she felt weird a few days earlier and I just played it off…” Naoto regretfully admitted, shaking his head, “If I had looked into it a few days earlier, maybe I could have-”
“Stop it, senpai,” Nagatoro’s head shot up, giving Naoto a serious glare, “That’s a horrible mindset and you know it.”
“I…” Naoto closed his eyes and thought for a moment, “I guess you’re right… but… it hurts… I hate it… I hate it so much it makes me want to die…”
“Senpai, please,” Much to Naoto’s surprise, even Nagatoro’s eyes began to mist, “Please… don’t say things like that…”
“I know…” Naoto sighed, “I’m sorry… that was selfish of me…”
“It’s understandable, though…” Nagatoro put her other hand on Naoto’s, who now began to wonder if it was to console him or herself, “You’re going through a lot… but please, senpai, don’t give up on us. The world’s a cruel bitch, but there are people out there who care about you, senpai. Please, don’t leave us.”
“Would anyone really care if I were gone…?” Naoto pulled up his glasses, wiping teardrops from his eyes, “I’ve gone through so much of my life being nothing but the local punching bag for people to rag on… would anyone truly care?”
“Senpai- yes! Of course people would care!” Nagatoro yelled, “There’s the President, I know she would care! Yamaguchi and the rest of the teachers would hate seeing you go! And Gamo-chan and Yoshi, Sakura too! They all don’t like to admit it, but they love you! And…”
Nagatoro stammered at this last part.
“And there’s me, too,” Nagatoro blushed, “I care about you, too…”
“Why…” Naoto’s tears stopped falling as he instead looked at the girl with a confused expression, “Why do you care about me? I’m so terrible… I’ve got nothing going for me…”
“Quit the self-deprecating, senpai! I care about you because… because…” Nagatoro stuttered. Wasting no time, she came close to the glasses-clad sophomore and pulled him into a short and sweet peck on the lips. Naoto blushed, gazing into his kouhai’s beautiful brown eyes.
“I… I see…” Naoto nodded, pulling up his glasses. The flush covering his face never seemed to fade, however.
“D-do you get it now…?” Nagatoro blushed in response, “That people care about you, I mean…?”
“I… I guess so…” Naoto nodded, “Th-thank you, Nagatoro. For everything.”
Naoto finally revealed his standard awkward and friendly smile. A wave of relief began to run through Nagatoro and she began to smile as well.
“Anytime, senpai,” Nagatoro giggled, “Why don’t you finish that sketch, senpai? I think it’ll turn out great.”
“Yeah,” Naoto nodded, turning to look at the drawing, “Yeah, I think so, too.”
“Holy shit, you got ALL of that on tape?!” Gamo-chan said, shocked.
“Yep,” Sakura grinned, holding up her cell phone as she stopped peering through the crack in the door of the art club, “Never underestimate a girl’s ability to snoop.”
The three friends gathered around the phone, rewatching the touching scene between Nagatoro and Naoto.
“I can practically taste the views…” Sakura said, “We could totally go viral with this…”
“Eh? You’re gonna post it on the internet?” Yoshi asked.
“I mean, why not, right?” Sakura shrugged, still playing the video.
“N-no, let’s not,” Gamo-chan shook her head, almost appearing to wipe a small tear from her eye, “This is something that should be kept between them. Besides, we all know how Hayacchi can get when she’s mad. Especially when paisen is involved.”
“You’re right about that, I guess,” Sakura nodded, “What do you think, Yoshi?”
“Wholesome-!” Yoshi blurted out in response to the kiss shared between Naoto and Nagatoro caught on tape. Gamo-chan quickly covered Yoshi’s mouth in fear that the two might hear them.
“Yoshi, should we post that video online or no?” Gamo-chan asked the blonde. Yoshi thought for a moment before violently shaking her head no, the orange-haired girl’s hand still covering her mouth.
“I guess I’m outnumbered, then. You’re probably right, anyways,” Sakura admitted, her eyes glued to the video, “Still though, you’re crazy if you think I’m gonna delete this video.”
“Again!” Yoshi murmured through Gamo-chan’s hand. Sakura happily complied, replaying the video and watching the cute scene once more.