Chapter Text
-7:45
"Y-Yumeno-sensei!"
"Yes?"
"Yumeno-sensei!" Sakura repeated, rocking up onto her heels and close to Nozaki.
"Yes?"
"Yumeno-sensei! Yumeno-sensei!" she cheered, throwing her hands up in the air and bouncing a bit in her excitement.
While she'd figured out that Nozaki was a mangaka, she had never really considered what mangaka he was. She had asked for his autograph mostly because knowing what he did made him seem unbelievably cool. Figuring out that he was one of her favorite shoujo mangaka was a surprise, but it was one that only made him seem even more interesting. She couldn't help getting excited over his identity.
"Yes?" he said again. He turned towards her this time, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck. "It's weird to be called that at school."
"Huh?" she said, surprised. It had been so easy to figure out what he was that she was surprised to find out that there weren't more people who knew what he did and what his pen name was. "You mean everyone doesn't know?"
"Yeah. Most of the people in class don't know," he responded. He shifted, turning his back to the window again and looking at the people passing them in the hallway. There was a flat look on his face as he said, "Even when I told them, they didn't believe me."
"Nozaki..." she said. She had figured out what he was doing easily enough, but she could understand why it was that other kids had thought he was joking. It was obvious in a way, but she supposed that she probably would have had a hard time believing that one of her classmates was a mangaka if they had just come up to her and told her the way she imagined Nozaki had told their other classmates.
"Eventually they told me to give it a rest."
"I bet."
There was a moment before Nozaki spoke again, "Oh, right. Thank you for yesterday. Missing art club wasn't a problem?"
"You know what club I'm in?" Sakura asked, confused. A blush settled over her cheeks, embarrassed at the idea that she had done something that would get her noticed.
"I've had my eye on you for a while," Nozaki said. Sakura stuttered over a question, wondering what she had done to draw his attention to her. He let out a breathy chuckle before saying, "I figured whoever could color in that poster so cleanly would do nice work..."
There was only one poster Sakura had worked on recently, so she knew that he meant the hand washing PSA posted on the school's bulletin. She found her blush increasing, she hadn't been particularly pleased with the outcome so it was even more flustering to find out that it had been enough for a mangaka to notice her art skills.
"Plus, a friend of mine told me about you."
"Eh?" Sakura said, some of her embarrassment receding. She and Nozaki were in the same class, but she didn't think they ran in the same circles. "Who?"
"Hori-senpai," Nozaki said.
"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed. A wide smile settled on her face, just the mention of her boyfriend enough to bring a little extra happiness into her. Things with the drama club were hectic right now, especially since Hori was always chasing down the second year he'd told her about a few times, so they hadn't seen very much of each other. "I didn't know you knew Hori!"
"Mm." She opened her mouth to ask him how he knew Hori, but before she could get the question out, Nozaki looked down at her and asked, "Would you be free to come over and help out again today?
-14:54
"Senpai," Sakura said.
Hori hummed a bit to let her know that he was listening.
The two of them were walking out of the school together, their hands hanging between them with their fingers loosely intertwined. It was late, the sky darkened from blue to a mixture of oranges and pinks, but both of them had had club activities that day. With as busy as they were, days like this were the only days they got to walk home together and Sakura treasured them.
With her experience with Nozaki the day before fresh on her mind, she found herself asking, "Would you ever ride a bike with me?"
"With you?" Hori echoed. He looked over at her, confusion on his face. "Like... you standing on the back while I pedal?"
"No," Sakura said. She thought, again, about her experience with Nozaki and how awkward it had been. She imagined it would probably be a little more awkward riding a tandem bike with a boy she actually liked, feeling the uncomfortable distance between their seats or the guilt of not pedaling while he did. Shaking her head a bit, she said, "Actually, never mind."
"Are you sure?" he asked, looking a little uncertain, like he was confused enough to want the conversation to stop but loved her and didn't want to just dismiss her question.
"Yup!" Wanting to wipe the look off his face and start talking about something they would enjoy more, she said, "Do you have to be home soon? Or could we go somewhere first?"
"We can go somewhere," Hori agreed. Sakura found herself smiling. She was happy anytime she got to spend time with him, but it would be nice to have more then just the short walk home. "Where do you want to go?"
"Let's get ice cream," she suggested.
"Sounds good."
-16:32
"Sakura, what's the matter?"
"Oh! Uh, nothing." Looking away from the pages she'd been examining, she asked, "Why do you draw shoujo manga, Nozaki?"
"Hmm... Well, it was a hobby, so I just went with it."
"You say that, but this subject matter..." She thought about how flustered she had gotten about romantic things before beginning her relationship with Hori, how flustered she had gotten in the beginning of their relationship, how she still got flustered over little things between them that were unfamiliar. "I'd never be able to write it." Wondering if Nozaki had more experience than her, because Hori was the only boyfriend she had ever had and it was possible Nozaki had been in relationships in middle school, she said, "Maybe the difference is in our experiences with love."
"Well, I don't think you need to hurry your relationship," Nozaki said. Sakura let out a small sound of surprise, looking up at him. He grinned at her, "I haven't even experienced my first love yet!" Sakura found herself wondering why Nozaki was writing shoujo manga for an entirely different reason now. He continued, "But I've given quite a bit of love advice to girls, when they ask. Do you have anything you want help with, Sakura?"
"Me?"
"Yes," he said. "I know you're with Hori-senpai. Do you need any advice?"
He was looking at her so earnestly that Sakura felt like she had to say something, but she was struggling to come up with anything that she would need Nozaki's advice on.
"At first I was attracted to him because of how strong his back is," Sakura said finally. "There are lots of people depending on him, but he always carried his head high and he never slumps under the weight of it all. So I really admire how hard he works, but he does so much that we don't get to spend as much time together as I'd like."
"Mmm. Shouldn't you just ask him to spend more time with you, then?"
Sakura found herself sighing.
She didn't know what else she'd been expecting from someone as straight forward as Nozaki.
-21:18
The classroom door slid open.
"Sakura," a familiar voice called out. Sakura had been looking down, she had her bag on the seat of her chair and was shuffling her books into it, but now she glanced up to find Hori standing in the doorway. "I don't have club today. Do you want to go home together?"
"Yes!" Sakura chirped. She put her last book in her bag before closing it and swinging it up to settle the straps over her shoulders.
Hori had been braced against the door frame, hands on either side of it, but he dropped his arms as she approached and reached out for her hand.
She was smiling as she slipped his hand into hers.
She liked when he reached for her. She knew he wasn't the type of person to accept her confession without having feelings for her himself, but since she had been the one to ask him out it was nice to have him initiate things sometimes. It was nice to know that he liked her, to know that he wanted her and would reach out for her.
"Senpai," she said as they stepped out into the hallway.
"Yeah?"
She squeezed his hand, shifting a bit to bump their shoulders together. "I like you."
Hori looked a little surprised by her words, but after a moment he smiled at her and squeezed her hand in return. "I like you too."