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“You love her, don’t you?”
Tamaki Gou laughs.
“Of course I do,” he says. “Everyone knows that. I love her absolutely. I would do anything for her. But she’s your girlfriend.”
Sakura hmms.
“That wasn’t my question,” she says.
“Then what did you want?” Gou asks. “I’d do it. I happen to care about you, too. And not just because…”
His mind wanders. To Hikaru, injured. Making a promise. But of course, by then, they both knew it was extra security at best. Hana and Sakura were the best of the best in every way that mattered, despite all of the odds.
And yes, of course, it was Revice in the center of it all. Gou thinks he can somewhat understand this desire for hierarchy. For order.
But Sakura, he thinks, was a close second. And Hana was her own personal close second, and Gou…
“I’m not really sure,” Sakura says. “Just curious. We’ve all started hanging out, now.”
Gou looks away.
Only because he brought himself, most of the time. Sometimes, Hana invites him. Usually she just lets him stay. It’s an odd dynamic, but not one he entirely minds.
…Except when he does mind.
Gou isn’t afraid of the future. Why would he be? He knows most of his own life. There’s nothing to look to the past for, and, even once his community service sentence runs up, about 5 years from now, he plans to stay with Bluebird.
Leaving now just feels impossible as it does useless. Gou refuses to run away again.
So her he is, some awkward third wheel on the date between the woman he swore everything to and her girlfriend, who he also swore to look out for.
He wonders if he’s doing a good job. Probably not. But then, Hikaru is straight up trying to avoid them all. As though he has any sort of plan for the future. It really just makes Gou sad to think about.
He should check up on his predecessor.
Maybe next day off?
“You’re being pretty quiet,” Sakura says. Gou jumps.
“Oh,” he says. “Sorry. Just thinking. Do you want me to leave? I don’t have to stay—”
“If you’re here,” Sakura interrupts. “It’s because Hana and I want you here. And we do.”
“…Oh,” Gou says. “On the other hand, Hikaru and I did kind of stalk you guys. Together and separate. Multiple times.”
“Yeah well,” Sakura says. “At least Hana always knew about you. I… did not.”
And god, how must that feel? She seemed to enjoy working with Weekend, and she very much got to choose it, too.
But they had stalked her family for years. Headed by the man who was responsible for the breaking and remaking of the father she loved. Run by a false family which had stalked hers for all her life.
They were regulars, they were close, and now…
Now it’s all over.
“That must have been hard,” Gou says. Sakura shrugs.
“I don’t know how to feel,” she admits.
“I think that’s normal,” Gou says. “It kind of turned into a 50 layer mess, by the end there.”
“So what about you?” Sakura asks. Gou hmms.
“I’m not really all that important, in the end,” he says. “Am I?”
“Don’t be ridiculous—”
“I’m not,” Gou says. “I’m just realistic. But it’s fine, of course. I still have things to enjoy, even things to look forwards too. Like, I live with Hana-Sama now. Again, not that… she’s your girlfriend. I know that.”
Sakura hmms.
“She really does care about you,” Sakura says.
Gou smiles.
“I know,” he says. “I did all this just to see her smile, you know.”
Sakura hmms.
“And you don’t have anyone else?”
“No, not really,” Gou says. “In all honesty, I ran away as a kid. And my cousin isn’t sure about meeting with me after the whole joined a terrorist cult thing.”
Sakura pauses, face scrunched up and think, and then she nods.
“That’s fair.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’re happy where you’re at, then?” Sakura asks. Gou grins.
“I’m exactly where I want to be.”