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A peaceful day of early spring began. While yesterday was a day full of rain and clouds, today the sun was shining...a bit too much. But as Ena woke up early, surprising even her brother, she only had one thing in mind. Ok, maybe two. The picnic and Airi.
Airi and Ena were friends since the first year of middle school, for all those years they hung out together so much that it would be a surprise to her old classmates to know that they now barely see each other, which always saddened the girl a bit, but she couldn't help it. After all, she has lots of work with N25 at night, school in the evening and...sleeping in the morning. Plus, Airi is an idol, an idol! A real one! Of course they couldn't spend much time together. Ena knew it. But deep down, she still missed those days of summer where they would sneakily eat the other's ice cream with their never-ending laughter filling the streets, their voices being so loud that people would come to complain. And she misses those days a lot. No, that's not what she misses, she misses Airi's laughter and...
But that's beyond the point!
Today was a special day marked in everyone's calendar-
The start of spring! The moment when cherry blossoms, the national symbol, bloom!
But even more importantly, the day when Ena and Airi have a picnic together! All alone! At a park filled with such beautiful trees!
She could barely contain her joy. As she wore a pretty orange dress and neatly put on her signature white ribbon, she headed downstairs. Jumping around. Her face filled with a dumb little smile that reached onto her ears. Her occasional hummings made Akito want to just...run away from there...But obviously, he couldn't.
As her mother gave her a plate with a three-stories pancake, Ena KNEW that today was gonna be perfect. Even if her mother gave her a few worried glances. And her brother was horribly trying to hide his face with the huge pancake in front of him. But that wasn't enough to make our girl upset, no! NOTHING could ruin this beautiful day where she can get to hang out with her beautiful friend!
Wait, beau-?
..that's not important. Ignore that, please.
As the girl thanked her mother for the delicious meal, she took her bag and ran outside, wanting to reach the park as soon as possible. As she ran. she couldn't help but just imagine how it'll go. Will they have fun? Will Airi like the orange juice that Ena bought? What about those cat-shaped cookies she personally made for her? What if she forgot something? Orange juice? Her phone? Her wallet? Oh no, there are so many things she could have forgotten! Hey, this isn't the moment to worry! Just...Pray that you aren't gonna mess this up, you big mess of a shinonome.
So, if she can't think about what she might forget, then what can she think about?
...Maybe...She can think of Airi. After all, she's great. She's a professional idol, a good student, she's smart and kind and reliable, but she's also down to earth, willing to take you back if you're too much out of it. She's soft. Her hugs are really nice, they make you feel at home, even if you don't know where that is. Her voice is so nice to hear, and her singing cheers you up instantly. No matter how Ena is, whenever she sees Airi, she feels like she can do it, no matter what. It's that feeling of comfort that makes you feel really good. She smells like peaches, but it's faint, you need to get really close to her to smell it. But it's worth it. And her hair is really silky and pretty. It could even rival the beautiness of cherry trees. Plus, how her cherry lips move when she speaks Ena's nam-
Ah. Again, ignore that, please.
As Ena shook her head to get those messy thoughts out of her system, she looked up again and saw the end of her life. Or what could also be called a pole that she couldn't dodge. And so, in a desperate attempt to not make her face look horrible, the young girl tries to keep her balance up as she screams unholy noises. Maybe she should think less about Airi and more about what's ahead of her right now, Isn't that right?
Needless to say that the girl got a small wound on her cheek because of that. A little bruise, but it was still visible to anyone that would get close to her. She truly is unlucky.
As she waited, her back laying on a pole, and her eyes fixed on her orange-cased phone, a squeaky, distant voice called her name from a distance. As Ena heard the call, she immediately jumped for the surprise, scanning with her sight where that voice came from. One thing was sure, though. It was Airi’s voice. She couldn’t not recognize it. But still, it was weird that she couldn’t still find her, she’s an idol! Shouldn’t her appearance stick out from everyone else's? Weird…
“Shi!no!no!me! Ena!”
The same voice from before now echoed around Ena’s head, and as the realization hit she quickly stepped a bit away.
“Airi!! There you are! you were making me worried sick…” Ena blurted out, as her voice was still shaken up a bit from before. The other girl giggled a bit in response, making ena a bit pouty.
“You’re such a worrywart, ena! Have you been waiting for a long time?” Airi replied with a grin on her face, asking another question.
“Not too much time, don’t worry about it, it’s fine.” Ena lied, as if she didn’t spend 10 minutes doing nothing but check their dms and stare at other people. She barely even bothered to look at the new cherry trees. What a waste.
“Thank god, I was worried that I made you wait too long! Sorry about that anyway, my mom took too long to make breakfast and I guess I ran a bit too slow… Can I buy you anything?” Airi looked a bit down while saying that. Noticing that, Ena held her hand, squeezing it tightly.
“It’s fine, it really is. Just the fact that you’re now here for me is good enough.” Ena softly smiled at Airi, as the idol’s face started glowing a bit from the new smile that was forming.
“You’re really such a good friend, Ena!” She was beaming while saying that, squeezing Ena’s hands even tighter. Ah…Friend. Hm. Not bad. Ena sighed a bit and, before Airi could question that, the artist smirked.
“Well then, let’s go to our picnic! Tell me if you find a good spot!” Ena affirmed as her energy filled up a bit, now starting to run around the park with a confused Airi. “Waaaaait! Enaaaaa!” Airi isn’t used to such an energetic ena. Which made her worry a bit.
As they finally found an ideal spot, near the lake, and under a beautiful cherry tree, they set down the picnic-items they bought over. As they planned, Ena bought the food and drinks, and Airi bought the needed utensils, like plates, plastic cups, the big red&white blanket and such. Airi started by putting the blanket down, claiming their territory, then Ena put down the picnic basket, starting to take out the sandwiches, the orange juice, some ramen that Kanade suggested her, cheese, fruits, and… ah, she should probably take out the desserts after they finish all of that. Or else, Airi might get tempted. While Ena is doing that, Airi puts her backpack down to take out the two pastel pink plates, four cherry tree-themed plastic cups, plastic forks and knives and such. And soon enough, their territory looked really pretty. Ena chuckled a bit to herself, feeling overly proud of her and airi’s work.
“Woah, this looks better than how I thought it would!” Airi confessed, feeling surprised yet proud.
“Of course! After all, this is the work made by our aesthetic-abilities uniting together!” Ena replied, comically puffing out her chest.
“Exactly! C’mon, let’s take photos before we sit down and eat!” As Airi asked exactly what Ena wanted to do, she gave her a little nod as an answer, and they both excitedly took out their phones, ready to pick the best filters and angles.
After discussing and looking over the many photos (and selfies) they took while eating the sandwiches, they finally took down their phones to just enjoy the gorgeous scenery, and just to chill out with the other. But Ena felt…strange. Atleast, for Airi, she did. Between talks, Ena would sometimes end up staring at Airi for a long time, and when the latter would bring it up, she would just refuse it and look away for a bit, now staring at the cherry blossoms.
…It’s just that…Under bloomed cherry trees, the pink haired idol would just look too breathtaking. It fit her face and hair too well. Even her outfit matched. Was it intentional? Of course it was intentional, there’s no way someone could look so perfect without much thought put into it! Just thinking about it made Ena wonder if her cheeks were dyed in a color as pink as the trees.
As Ena took a sigh, trying to throw her weird thoughts away, she gave her attention back to Airi after staring at the trees for the nth time. Except that now, Airi was too busy looking at her phone. Which made Ena’s heart…tremble a bit. In a negative way. Who was she texting? Was it someone more important than her? Was it someone prettier than her? Was it someone closer to Airi than her? Does Airi now think that Ena is a weirdo after her cheeks got a weird color???
While thoughts were once again running around, Airi picked up the signs and looked over at Ena, who just had a completely blank face now. The girl panicked a bit and put her phone down, just now realizing what she was doing, and currently feeling even more guilty than before.
“Sorry! I saw Shizuku text me something, and I was worried that she got lost in a forest or something… I’ll take the volume off now!” Airi panickingly said, picking up her phone again.
“No, it’s fine! I don’t really mind it, I just thought that something bad might have happened. You can keep the volume on. Anyway, how is Shizuku doing? Haven’t seen her in quite awhile!” Ena tried comforting Airi, even if she did mind it. Alot. But there was no point in saying it to her, that would just hurt her. She also tried talking fastly, bringing up new topics, so Airi could not notice her true thoughts. Even if she knew that it wouldn’t work.
Airi stared at her for a bit, without an answer, with a concerned look on her face. She was really worried for her friend. Really, really. “Ena… If something is wrong, you can just tell me.” Airi tried reassuring her. But even without that, Airi always cared greatly about Ena, and if she had needed any kind of help, she would be there in a heartbeat…Or atleast, that’s what she hoped for. As she started being an idol, that changed. They couldn’t be always together anymore, and hanging out got too hard. There was a time of peace and happiness once she quit for a while, but as More More Jump! came, they ended up hanging out even less. How did they end up like that? It made her feel too guilty. That even when Ena needed help, Airi couldn’t be there for her.
And what made her worry even more was the fact that Ena wasn’t answering her question. Nothing. Not even a “don’t worry” or “yes, actually…”. Just simply nothing. So instead Airi started her own thought train, thinking about the many reasons as to why Ena would be acting like that, while staring at the brunette eating her homemade sandwich. And then, it popped into her mind.
“Want to invite Shizuku and Mizuki-san over? I wouldn’t mind it at all.” How didn’t she think about it sooner? Hanging out with just the two of them to see such a special moment was too little, she needed her other friends with her. Airi didn’t mind it, really.
“N-no! We can’t do that!”
…That’s even weirder. Why would she reject that? Then what is it? And why would she want to have a picnic under the cherry trees with just the two of them? Too confusing.
“Huh? Why? Did you argue with them?”
“Of course not! It’s just that I want to just be with you, and only you!” and as ena shouted that, she immediately covered her mouth, her cheeks turning pinkier than they already were.
…oh. could it be that…ena..feels something more towards airi? no, that’s impossible. they’ve always been just friends, after all. but what if-
“Ah!” Ena suddenly shouted again, interrupting Airi’s thought train and surprising her, too. Ena suddenly took out her sketchbook from her bag, taking out some pencils too.
“Is something wrong, ena?” Airi was now getting confused. What just happened? Did Ena see something she wanted to draw? Too sudden!
“You look perfect in that pose! And the cherry petals coming all down behind you…Sorry, I just gotta sketch this down, don’t move!”
“EEEEHHHH????????!” And so, Airi hardly stood frozen still, not moving an inch for half an hour, her muscles hurting as hard as her head. But she had already long forgotten about what she thought before.
“...Thank god. I managed to make up an excuse right before the disaster…” As she entered her room again after an extremely long day, Ena immediately fell down onto the infinite black hole called “bed”, a part of her hoping that she didn’t need to get up again for the next 24 hours. She covered her eyes with her arm, hoping to not remember anything that happened today, but it was the only thing she would think about. God, was she pathetic. If Mizuki would have seen her today, they surely would have teased her to no end. “I was too careless.. What if she ends up finding out? I gotta be less obvious!” She then switched onto stomach down the bed, immediately taking her phone out to look at the photos she took with Airi. Every photo was so good in its own way. Airi looked too pretty in all of them. It’s unfair. Too unfair. How can she hide her feelings against someone so beautiful?
“...I hope that MMJ will take good care of her. She’ll surely be oh so much happier with them.” After all, Airi seemed so happy looking at her screen. She must be having lots of fun with them. More than with her. “Geez, what am I even thinking…”
Ah.
There it is.
In the end, Airi didn’t feel like posing for another hour, so she let Ena take a photo of her. A photo she would never and ever share with anyone else. A photo that makes this pretty girl look too beautiful for this planet. Too beautiful for Ena.
Looking more at the petals behind Airi, Ena realized something. Cherry blossoms…They’re really like Airi. They come rarely, yet they’re such a delight for the eye and heart to see. And once they’re gone, it hurts. Alot. And then you have to spend the whole year hoping, longing, yearning for them to come back. And they will. And then they will be gone again.
…She can’t take such a heartache.
But at least, just like the cherry blossoms, Airi will always come back to her.