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It had been a while since Sakura and his friends became third-years in high school. And though the crimes had significantly lowered thanks to the previous two years, the amount of work did not decrease at all in Makochi town. After all, people would always have problems arising new, just in different forms.
Sakura himself had succeeded Umemiya and Kaji as the Furin representative. Both his seniors had their own style of leading, so did Sakura. But just like them, he still intended to keep helping and protecting the city. For that reason, he wore the same long flowing jacket as his predecessors proudly as the third generation head of Bofurin.
"Sakura-san, are you done?"
The voice of Nirei called him from outside the restroom.
"Go ahead first. I'll wrap things up here myself. You get the report from Suo and the patrolling Tamon guys in school."
"Leave it to me. Oh, Sakura-san, it'd be late when you're done. I think it should be okay if you just go home after that. Nothing much seems to happen today, so you don't need to go back to school."
"I see. Then, I'll leave it to you, Nirei."
"Roger that, Sakura-san! See you tomorrow!"
As it happened, Sakura himself was another part of the city.
He wasn't like Umemiya, who usually spent time in the rooftop garden while others went on patrol. The reason for that was because he himself was not good at gardening and still not really fond of vegetables, despite the white-haired senior's insistence. Although Sakura kept the garden anyway, with Sugishita maintaining it ever since Umemiya graduated.
Sakura's patrolling habit was more like Kaji's. They both were nimble, highly physically active types of people. So they tended to go onsite themselves as opposed to staying at the basecamp. But in Sakura's case, he went to a designated area which was confirmed to need help more often than patrolling around. It was because Sakura was somehow still bad with smartphones. Therefore if he was known to be at one location, it would help anyone else to reach him should the need arise.
Sakura wiped his wet hand with the clean tissue paper available. Staring at the mirror, he tidied the left side of his head, where the white hair that brought him so much pain in the past grew. The hair strands now grew slightly longer than they used to be. Practiced fingers tucked a few strands behind his ear and clipped a single orange bobby pin on.
"Alright."
He looked at the mirror one more time and left the restroom.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan! Sorry it took so much time!"
"It's nothing much."
A couple of elderly people, who Sakura had spent his afternoon helping to clean and move their furniture around, thanked him for his hard work. They didn't mind that he answered with such a curt reply. After all, they and the Makochi knew he was always being bashful after being thanked.
"Ah right, here, I got some manju left from Kyoto!"
The grandma handed him a box of manju with red bean and matcha fillings.
"Kyoto..." Sakura muttered dreamily.
"Right! Have you ever been there? We went to visit my brother's family last week. My niece got me this from near her new college. Oh, remember Nana-chan, the girl who was here last Spring break? That's her!"
To that, the grandpa chimed in. "Oh right. Nana-chan is a quiet girl too, but she is kind. Wait, isn't she..about Sakura-chan...?"
Hearing that, the grandma pinched her husband's cheek as fast as lightning, effectively cutting him off.
"Hey, what are you blabbering about?! He already has Suo-chan! Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry, he's being really rude."
"Oh yeah, hahaha! Forgive this old man's mouth, Sakura-chan! This fine weather makes me want to gossip nowadays."
"This is why Nana-chan didn't want to talk much with you. Get over that habit before it gets worse, won't you?"
They gave Sakura an apologetic smile, the sensible wife even more so than the carefree husband. Then she continued to give her husband an earful.
Sakura, none the wiser, quickly bowed politely and took his leave. He never got to hear the elder couple whispering among themselves, with something like "Apologize to Nana-chan" and "Let's give Suo-chan some apology sweets too" being emphasized.
A group of high school girls suddenly appeared in front of Sakura, forcing him to halt his steps so as to not bump into them. Luckily he stopped at the right moment.
"I bet this would look good on the festival!"
"Yep! I gotta try experimenting with mine tonight!"
Seeing the girls chatting while holding up the same colorful packages with big smiles, Sakura somehow felt curious enough to check out the place they popped up from.
It was an accessories shop with various items inside. Looking at the standing banner, it seemed like there was a special price for hair accessories today. At the nearest spot to Sakura's field of view, there were some samples of hair pins, clips, and crunchies on the display, presumably the finest, most attractive ones.
He remembered sometime ago when Kotoha and Tsubakino were bringing out similar little sticks to these in Pothos. They excitedly tried out different hairstyles with them. For Sakura, the fact that they could make so many kinds of hairdos with just a single stick was next to magic.
At that moment, a single hairpin caught Sakura's eyes.
A jet black stick resembling a branch of a tree. The end of it is shaped like a pair of ginko leaves. On each leaf was a hole filled with a red jewel.
"... It's kinda like that guy..."
The image of his boyfriend Suo Hayato appeared in his mind. He had shot up in height quite significantly in the past years, increasing their initial 5 cm gap up to nearly past 10 cm. His now long burgundy hair, kept in a tidy braid, was as silky and flowy as ever. He still wore the same tassel earrings and the same friendly smile, enhancing his elegance. His one scarlet eye always curved upward when he looked at Sakura.
Pretty...
Sakura didn't have much interest in fashion, so he didn't really know whether a clothing article or an accessory was good or not. But the piece in front of him reminded him of his dear boyfriend who always looked graceful and flawless. So Sakura unconsciously decided that it was enough reason to be considered pretty.
As if entranced, Sakura took a step inside the shop.
Five minutes later, he emerged with a small wrapped package and an aghast face.
—I bought it...
Why did I buy it?! I don't even know if Suo likes this kind of thing!
Panicked, he stared hard at the new package with wide eyes. But since it was no use crying over spilt milk, he had no choice but to put it inside his long blazer pocket and went home.
"Sakura-kun, are you home?"
A knock at the front door brought Sakura's attention back. Previously he had been leaning on the wall of his apartment room while scrolling through the unread messages in his group chats.
He knew all too well whose voice that was. He was about to say 'come in' when the sound of the door unlocked filled the air. It was followed by the rustling of someone entering the unit and closing the door.
"Oh, you're back already!"
Popping up through the opened partition was his boyfriend Suo. He was still clad in his favorite white chinese shirt and Furin blazer. In his hands were a key and a plastic bag full of something.
"You bastard... What's the point of knocking if you were just gonna unlock the door yourself?"
The home owner automatically berated Suo, who shamelessly replied with a guiltless laugh.
"If I just unlock it from the get go, if Sakura-kun was in the middle of doing something naughty, he wouldn't have time to clean up."
"H-huuh?!! I was NOT! And you unlocked it so fast anyway I wouldn't have the time to do anything either way!"
"Oya, did you just imagine the scenario? Oh my, how dirty~"
Sakura was fuming red while Suo was smugly grinning. This was their third year of knowing each other and yet it was still impossible for Sakura to win a verbal battle against the silver-tongued Suo. The latter was simply on another whole league in the department of annoy-people-to-death.
"Don't be angry, Sakura-kun. Here, I brought you dinner and snacks."
Quick to diffuse Sakura's temper with food, Suo walked towards the small folding table in the tatami room. He placed the plastic bag on top of it, next to a brand new box of confectionery that caught Suo's eye.
"Wait, is this manju from Kyoto?"
"Yeah, the elderly couple I helped today gave me that as thanks."
"That's nice! This would go well with our tea. Let's have it for tomorrow's afternoon snack!"
Suo, who loved traditional sweets especially ones that went well with tea, hummed cheerfully while he unpacked his own plastic bag.
"So I've got you fried chicken and rice, mineral water, iced green tea.. Oh, and strawberry puddings! You're already hungry, right? Let's open this—"
"Before that, Suo, can I have a moment?"
The eyepatched boy freezed abruptly. Did Sakura just stop him from starting dinner? That gluttonous Sakura? Seriously?
"...Yes, what's going on, Sakura-kun?"
Feeling like it must have been something serious if Sakura acted this out of character, Suo let go of the meals and sat properly facing his lover.
"Uh, well..."
Despite his own escalating heartbeat, Suo waited patiently for the fidgeting Sakura. He thought his boyfriend was going to talk. But instead the cat-like boy pulled something from his jacket.
"Here. For you."
In his palm was a slim box wrapped with modest but neat maroon paper.
"Eh, for me? From Sakura-kun?"
With a dumfounded doe eye, Suo asked to confirm. Sakura answered with a nod and small affirmative mumble.
"Thank you! That's surprising. Can I open it now?"
"Sure."
With his long fingers, the elated Suo gingerly unwrapped the gift from his beloved. The wrapping style happened to be one that did not require a lot of tapes. It was fortunate for Suo since he tried to avoid tearing apart even the wrapping papers of Sakura's presents as much as possible.
When he opened the box, he saw a black ginko leaves-shaped hairpin with red jewels inside it.
"Sakura-kun, this is..."
Suo didn't continue his words. Only his single eye gazed intently at the hairpin. The sight of a speechless Suo triggered Sakura to offer some excuse.
"I... I thought it would fit you... so.. I bought it. I don't know if you'd like it... If you don't, just keep it somewhere."
Truthfully, Sakura was just as panicked as when the realization hit after he exited the shop. But instead of saying "If you don't like it, give it to someone else or throw it away", he told Suo to keep it.
Because from the bottom of his heart, he sincerely wanted to appreciate Suo. He really thought it was pretty and would fit Suo. Even if it was just quietly stored somewhere in Suo's place, that would be enough for Sakura.
"Sakura-kun, do you know what giving a hairpin to your lover means?"
Suo asked him a strange, out of topic question, which Sakura could only reply with a "?" expression.
"In ancient China, it served as an engagement pledge, as in, a marriage proposal!"
"M-MAR-P-PR-WHUH??! Again with the lies, huh?!"
Trying hard not to stare at his lover’s electrified hair antennae as its owner incredulously yelled, Suo immediately reached for his own phone and typed in something.
"I'm not lying. See, it's even on the net.”
He promptly held his phone screen in front of Sakura's face, which quickly turned into a ripe tomato the longer he scanned the words written on it.
“&@#%^*(X))1@*#)$!!"
Sakura could only scream out gibberish in his shock.
"To think that Sakura-kun would propose to me... I'm so happy!"
He kept teasing the overclocking representative even more. Although Suo did know that Sakura surely didn't buy it with that particular intent—it was unlikely that Sakura would even know about that piece of history in the first place. Sakura just earnestly thought it seemed to fit Suo. He just wanted to make him happy.
But just that intention alone, the fact that his shy, shy Sakura thought of Suo that much, sent Suo on cloud nine.
"Well, that's just an old tradition from the past, though. Nowadays it can even serve as a simple gift of goodwill. Anyway, thank you, Sakura-kun. I'm definitely going to treasure this!"
With practiced moves, he put his braid into a hair bun and stuck the pin into it. The long braid was now pulled up, giving the illusion that his hair had become short. Looking from the front side, the hairstyle makes Suo look like he's reverted back to his first year.
"How? Does it look good on me?" Suo asked excitedly.
The red jewels shone side by side with his reddish hair and the red pearl on his antique earrings.
"...Yeah. It does."
Though he was still annoyed and blushing heavily, Sakura gave him a satisfied smile. One that was also gentle and full of love.
The sight of Sakura's sincere smile shook Suo down to his core—It had always been like that ever since the first time he saw it under the daylight in Pothos. He, who had always kept his distance from other people, couldn't stop himself from pouncing on Sakura and hugged him tight.
"I'm so happy right now. Really, thank you, Sakura-kun!"
"N-no problem... Glad you like it."
"Yeah. Yeah, I like it very much. I love it. I love you, Sakura-kun!"
"....I..love you too..."
The words were quietly said, but Suo heard it all the same. He rested his head on Sakura's as he felt the latter's hands timidly encircled around him. Suo could feel the smaller body in his arms was heating up. He was sure Sakura could feel the same with his own body too.
And then Suo's eye fell upon the single, glinting bobby pin.
What if I told you that bobby pins, however unassuming and small they are, also count as hair pins?
Yes, it was Suo who gave Sakura the bobby pin. At the start of their third year, he brought a pack of them to Sakura's house, saying "Since Sakura-kun is the new representative, how about we get you a new hairdo? A fresh image change, so to speak?" with a gleeful smile.
All the bobby pins he gifted were the same shade of orange. When Sakura wore one of them like now, it complemented his unique eye color well. Yet when it was under a certain light, for example like the sunset they were basking in now, it looked almost undistinguishable to a glaring red.
Of course, I gave you these with that very intention.
Marking Sakura as his. Telling the whole world that Sakura was his. That all of Sakura's time, body and soul was his.
Sakura was so popular, after all. Despite, or maybe because of, his adorable awkwardness and shyness, his noble spirit and unwavering conviction had attracted so many admirers from all genders. Not to mention he had such a beautiful, unique appearance that deserved to be called heavenly.
From the time they were freshmen, Suo had witnessed many of his fellow friends, seniors, and even people outside Furin looking at Sakura with the same longing stare as he himself did. And when they became sophomores and later seniors, new students came to Furin simply because they admired Sakura.
2 years and counting, there had been bad bugs after bad bugs going after Sakura. Suo's status as Sakura's boyfriend did keep them all at bay. But that was not enough. He needed solid, physical proof that Sakura belonged to him. That's why as a highschooler not yet 18, he came up with the best method he could think of: The bobby pins and hairstyle change. It was all to warn everyone to never take a single step closer.
Sakura-kun is mine.
Mine.
Mine.
Mine.
With a smile that was so meltingly sweet it was borderline mad, Suo gently caressed the pin and the temple it adorned.
Well, that's enough subtleties. Let's find a fancier hairpin worthy of engagement this weekend!