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More often than not, the opinions of Class 1-1 about each other varies greatly.
For example, Nirei might have one opinion about Sakura—describing him like this, like that, and it can be entirely different from what Sugishita had in mind too.
Different strokes for different folks, basically.
However, if there is one thing they can all universally agree on, it is how they view a certain Suo Hayato.
“Someone who is full of crap.”
“His words are like gacha. You never know what kind of truth you're gonna pull.”
“The greatest prankster of our class, I think? At least he’s cool tho. I respect his skills, man.”
And so on, and so forth.
But if you summarize all their opinions in one sentence, Suo Hayato, according to Class 1-1, is—
“A cool and strong Vice Captain who talks nonsense.”
Indeed he is. Sakura Haruka, the Grade Captain, the eternal victim of teasing, and Suo Hayato’s boyfriend, can vouch for that.
As mischievous as Suo is with everyone else, for some whatever reasons, he is twice as ridiculous when it comes to Sakura.
Teasing his boyfriend is like a permanent item on his everyday schedule. His irreplaceable routine was laughing off Sakura’s death glares, dodging a few of his kicks, then going on with his day.
It’s always been like that.
Of course, there’s no denying that Sakura is fun to tease because of his reactions. His cheeks always explodes red, sometimes he'd yell at you, or other times he'd chase you down just to kick your ass. He’s exactly like that bratty child you couldn't help but tease because their tantrums are just so damn satisfying—except when it comes to the Grade Captain, the way he reacts is actually pretty cute.
Even so, no matter how tolerant a person is, everyone still has a breaking point. Even if it's all just harmless messing around, doing it over and over again would of course wear anyone down. You’d end up getting fed up, annoyed, and want to strike back—
— Payback. Yeah. That’s the word. That’s exactly what Sakura plans to do right now.
He’s thinking of getting back at Suo for shitting with him every day. He wants Suo to realize that being the butt of the joke doesn't feel so great sometimes. Naughty kids will learn it the hard way—like they say.
And right now, Suo Hayato is going to take it the hard way.
“Are you sure you can do that, Sakura-san?” Nirei asks, a bit skeptical.
“... why not? It’s easy,”
“Well, it’s Suo-san we’re talking about here… you know? He might also do something unexpected…”
Sakura clicks his tongue and frowns. Nirei’s right. Knowing Suo, his brain works terrifyingly fast, making him the most unpredictable person to deal with. Worse, he would probably figure it out in two seconds and just play along for his own amusement. If that happens, then the whole revenge plot would blow up in their faces.
And Suo no doubt, would love every second of it.
“Hmmm, if you really want to do it, I will help you, Sakura-san! But I think we’re gonna need more allies to pull it off effectively…” Nirei suggests, his smile starting to widen as he thinks of something.
At the moment, he's the only one who knows about Sakura’s scheme, and also the best accomplice to help him carry out the Operation: Revenge against Suo.
“Fine. But don’t go babbling it to everyone. If Suo catches a hint of this, then we’re busted immediately. Leave a few people clueless so we can get some natural reactions,” Sakura replies.
He is really serious about this one. He genuinely wants to see Suo get pissed, rattled—even if it's just for one glorious second.
Nirei nods his head and giggles, looking so excited.
“Alright, alright! I’m gonna tell two of our classmates that I know will really pour more oil on the fire!” he says, pulling out his phone and starting to type a text.
First thing tomorrow, they’re going to start right away.
The revenge plan is very simple, something that happens quite often among couples. One might think it's just a silly prank—but Sakura? Pulling a prank? Seems unrealistic, right? Especially for Suo, who knows his boyfriend really well, he’d definitely think it’s super completely out-of-character for Sakura to pull something funny since he's always been the type to throw a punch before he'd pull a trick.
Which actually made it the absolute peak moment to catch him off guard. The chances of making this work are pretty high, Sakura only just had to play his cards right, and oh, also… yeah, try his best not to laugh.
It’s a harmless little prank, really. All he has to do is…
“Good morning, Sakura-kun.”
“Sakura-san, good morning!”
“Morning, Sakura-chan~”
“Oh, Sakura-kun! Morning!”
Sakura nods at them, avoiding looking at one person among the circle.
“Yeah, mornin’, Nirei, Kiryu, Tsugeura.”
… to ignore the hell out of Suo.
“Hmm?” Suo eyed his boyfriend. “What about me, Sakura-kun? Where’s my good morning?”
“Hey Nirei, here’s your notes. Thanks for lettin’ me copy yesterday’s lecture.”
Sakura didn't spare that person a glance, and even goes as far as sitting beside Nirei, despite that not actually being his seat.
They sit in arrangements by surname. So naturally, Sakura and Suo are supposed to sit beside each other. Nirei’s seat is much farther away.
“No problem, Sakura-san! I’m glad I could help!”
“You copied Nirei-kun’s notes? Why didn’t you ask for mine?” Suo saunters over to their desk, standing in front of them and flips through a few pages of Nirei’s notebook.
He waits for Sakura to answer, but even after a full minute passes, not a single word has come his way.
“Sakura-kun…?”
Suo blinks, staring at Sakura, who is simply looking out the window with his arms crossed and a deadpan face, like he doesn’t hear anything at all.
“Oh my, Suo-chan. Did you do something? Looks like Sakura-chan is giving you a cold shoulder, huh?” Kiryu chuckles, busy playing with his phone but still listening to everything that’s happening.
“Did I?”
Suo walks closer to Sakura and tries to get his attention by blocking his view of the window. But not only does Sakura refuse to look at him, but he also just turns his head in the opposite direction.
Quietly, naturally.
“Woah, Suo! Sakura-kun's really ignoring you!” Anzai, who has only been watching from the sidelines, joins in and bursts out laughing.
“Dude, what did you even do yesterday?”
“Sakura-kun and I were okay yesterday,” Suo retorts with a slight frown. “We talked just fine. So I’m afraid I don’t get why he’s suddenly treating me like a ghost…”
He glances at Sakura again, who's absolutely just staring into the middle distance as if he can't even hear or feel Suo’s entire existence standing right there.
The slight crease on Suo's brows deepens. As he is about to reach out to poke Sakura's shoulder to force an acknowledgement again, the classroom door slid open right then. Their sensei steps in, and the first period kicks off without Suo receiving a good morning from his boyfriend, let alone a single look.
Lunchtime finally rolls around, and Suo still hasn't got so much as a single breath of attention from Sakura.
Each time he tries to lock eyes with him, Sakura would just simply look away with that effortless neutral face. It’s like he genuinely doesn’t see him at all, as though Suo is nothing more than a ghost that he can’t be bothered to notice.
“Can I get a sip of that, Nirei? Forgot my water.” Sakura points at the juice box on Nirei’s table.
“Sure thing! Here you go, Sakura-sa—”
Suo suddenly stops Nirei’s arm.
“I’ll get you something from the vending machine instead, Sakura-kun. Tell me what you want. I can get it for you,” he says, staring intently at Sakura.
“... hey Kiryu, gimme some of that.” Sakura swiftly turns to his side.
“You can have it, Sakura-chan~ want some of my bread too?” Kiryu offers with a laugh.
“You can have mine as well, Sakura-kun—”
“For real? Hand it over then. I’m still kinda hungry, Kiryu.”
As Sakura takes the bread from Kiryu’s hand, the pink-haired boy can’t help but shoot a quick, sneaky glance at Suo to see his dumbfounded reaction.
His boyfriend has rejected him.
Rejected his food.
Rejected giving him any attention.
Suo can barely believe this is happening, but here he is. For the absolute first time in his life, he can’t figure out why Sakura is acting like this toward him.
He leans back in his chair and pouts, watching Sakura enjoy Kiryu’s food with a slightly bitter expression. Half the day is already gone, and his boyfriend still hasn’t paid him any glance. He hadn't heard Sakura call his name today, and his eyes wandered to everything but in his direction.
Sakura pays attention to everyone except him.
Suo would admit, he’s getting a little sad.
Lunch is over, and it is now Class 1-1’s turn to patrol the town.
Usually, Suo is always included in Sakura’s group since they took the main streets of Makochi for patrol. The rest takes the other routes, where the residential areas and backstreets are.
But today, things are different. Instead of choosing Suo to go with him, Sakura picks Tsugeura.
Yes, Tsugeura Taiga. Like a direct insult to Suo’s face, Sakura has chosen the muscle-head to accompany him instead of his own boyfriend.
“Sheesh, man! You got replaced! Do we have a lover’s beef here?” Anzai crowed, already shaking with laughter. “Hey, Sakura! Why'd you skip over Suo? Look at him, he’s sulking over here!”
Suo turns to Sakura and pouts, hoping he notices that he is, in fact, sulking.
But Sakura, as persistent as ever, only looks directly at Anzai.
“Your group is going to the park. There's always a bunch of punk gangs loitering around there.”
“Oh sure! But how about Suo? Is he rolling with us?” Anzai jerks his thumb in Suo’s direction, rather intentionally.
Sakura still remains unfazed.
“Don’t start unnecessary fights unless you have to. Just ignore em’ if they’re not doin’ anything funny.”
“Kind of like the way you’re ignoring me?”
Suo steps in front of Anzai, hoping he’ll make Sakura finally look at him. Still, zero luck. Sakura smoothly dodges his gaze.
Suo's pout deepens into a full-on scowl. He really doesn’t like this.
“Why didn’t you pick me? Why won't you even look at me? Do you seriously not want me around anymore, Sakura-kun—”
Sakura claps his hands loudly.
“Alright, move out! If Hiiragi catches us wastin’ time here again, he's goin’ to blow my eardrums out, and if he does, I'm taking all of you down with me.”
Without another word, he spins on his heel and marches off with his new group. Tsugeura, who looks quite troubled, stops in front of Suo for a moment. He presses his palms together and bows his head.
“S-sorry, Suo-kun! I have nothing to do with this, so please don't hold a grudge against me, man!”
“Genuinely... what do you have that I don’t?” Suo asks slowly, wearing an eerie smile.
Meanwhile in the background, Anzai and his friends are really losing their shit.
“Suo my guy! Sakura’s really freezing you out! Must be hard, eh?”
“What even happened between you two? Damn, is this literally the first time you two have ever beefed?”
“I told you already, Sakura-kun and I didn’t fight.” Suo groans and rubs a hand over his face. “We were really fine yesterday, I swear...”
“Then why is he acting like that? What did you do yesterday?”
Suo shrugs his shoulders, looking so defeated.
“I just slept after our good night. Then when I woke up, I don’t know, he was already ignoring me.”
He tilts his head back and groans again. Then he clicks his tongue hard, turns around, and starts to walk ahead.
“Wow dude, what the hell? Are my eyes deceiving me…?” Takanashi whispers beside Anzai. “I’ve never seen Suo act like that before."
“I know, right? Makes you wonder if it’s a good thing. I’ve never seen him look so heartbroken and frustrated at the same time,” Kakiuchi chimes in.
The trio watched Suo's lonely silhouette as he trudged ahead towards the park. Only when they’re certain he can’t hear them does Anzai finally speak.
“I kinda feel bad for the guy, not gonna lie. But let’s play along with Sakura for now. He doesn’t plan on ignoring him for that long.”
“What?” the two guys widen their eyes. “You mean this whole thing’s just Sakura’s prank?”
“Haha, yeah. Surprising, right? You really wouldn’t expect our Grade Captain to pull something like this.”
Anzai shakes his head, grinning. Nirei only tells him about the plan last night, and he is more than happy to go along with it when he finds out Sakura is going to mess with Suo today. He doesn’t know why, but he also really wants to see what happens when their Vice Captain finally gets his swagger knocked down a peg after becoming the victim of a harmless prank.
So far, so good. He can’t believe Sakura is actually good at acting and has managed to genuinely make Suo feel troubled.
But there are some major kickbacks though. Because of that too, the moment Anzai’s group reached the park, they immediately found ten men sprawled across the ground.
The fight is already over. Suo takes them all down in the blink of an eye.
“Poor bastards. They really picked the worst time to start some shit when Suo’s in a bad mood,” Takanashi smirks as he scans the area.
One of the thugs, clutching his stomach and writhing in pain, suddenly speaks.
“W-we… cough!... just tryin’ to fool around, man… that guy suddenly came over and started throwing punches…”
“Well yeah, man. Y’all shouldn’t have done that. Our Vice Captain is especially stressed right now you see, since his boyfriend is giving him the silent treatment. So congratulations, y’all became his emotional punching bag,” Anzai snickers.
“The fuck are we supposed to do with that information…?”
“The thing is...” Anzai crouches down and grabs the man by the collar, his voice turning dangerously sharp. “You get the hell outta here, yeah? Don’t show your face again or we’ll pulverize it.”
“E-eek!”
Terrified out of his mind, the guy shoves Anzai off and scrambles backwards. He limply runs away, and his pathetic little minions follows right after him.
“Ha, that’s what I thought.” Anzai stands up and dusts off his pants. He looks around. “Okay, so... where’s Suo?”
“Probably went off to hunt down a few more unlucky bastards to take his frustration out on,” Kakiuchi shrugs.
The three of them exchanged a knowing look and nods.
“Let’s go catch up.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Sakura’s group has just finished their rounds and decides to stop by Café Pothos to chill for a while.
The sky is getting dark too, making it the prime time for Sakura to grab his usual dinner there.
“What kind of mischievous little demon possessed you to do that, Sakura?”
Kotoha, who is about to plate the omurice, stops and widens her eyes.
“You? Trying to ignore Suo? No way you can actually do that?"
Sakura frowns at her. “You think I can’t?”
“Actually, Sakura-chan can.” Kiryu points a finger up, chuckling. “He’s been successful so far. I’ve never seen Suo-chan get so sulky! Hehe, today really makes me want to thank my parents for bringing me into this world that I got to witness such a rare sight.”
“I just hope Suo-kun doesn’t take it personally on me…” Tsugeura says, resting his chin on the table. “He looked really upset earlier, Sakura-kun. He might take it out on me, you know?”
“Tch, he wouldn’t dare. Relax, I got your back.” Sakura grumbles.
As he is about to reach for his freshly brewed coffee, the Café door opens, revealing Anzai’s rowdy group.
And right behind them—Suo.
“What’s up, fellas! We’re back!”
The pack of guys comes in, greeting Kotoha as they enter. But Suo only offers her a weak smile, before slowly walking past Sakura. His gaze lands on him, focusing entirely on the back of Sakura’s head so intensely as if he intends to melt him.
Sakura grunts and shuts his eyes. He could really feel the weight of that stare so vividly that his hand trembles slightly as he takes a sip of his coffee.
“Sooo Sakura, can we talk about why you’re ignoring Suo?” Anzai chuckles, leaning against the counter beside Sakura.
“The guy said he only slept last night, Captain,” Kakiuchi pokes a finger into Sakura’s shoulder. “Won’t you forgive him already…? Look at him, see?” he points towards Suo. “He’s been so down all day, Sakura…”
Sakura lets out an aggravated tsk and slaps Kakiuchi’s hand away.
“The hell are you talkin’ about? I don’t know anyone named 'Suo'.”
“OOHHH!!!”
“BEEF! BEEF!”
All the boys inside the Café, except for Sakura and Suo, erupt into cheers. Kotoha can only laugh and shake her head. She really doesn’t know whether to be amused or feel sorry for Suo right now, since Sakura’s commitment to the prank is pretty psychotic.
“Yo! Did you hear that Suo, my boy!? Sakura doesn’t even know you!” Anzai stomps his foot and snaps his fingers, clearly enjoying every second of this.
“Guess you gotta reintroduce yourself then, Suo-chan!”
Kiryu taps Suo on the back and pushes him towards the counter. Surprisingly, Suo puts up no resistance. He actually intends to get Sakura’s attention again.
“Nice to meet you, Sakura Haruka-kun.” Suo said smoothly, holding out his hand to him. “I am Suo Hayato, the boyfriend you’ve been neglecting, by the way.”
The boys in the background cheers again, clapping their hands and hollering like a bunch of lunatics.
“YEAAHH, GET IT MY BOY!!”
“GODDAMN I WISH MY RELATIONSHIP WAS THIS SWEET!””
What a load of tease. They are absolutely no help to Sakura’s revenge plan at all.
“Did you hear what Suo-san just said, Sakura-san?” Nirei nudges him, giggling along now with everyone else.
But Sakura only just shrugs and says,
“Nah.”
“Damn, man.” Anzai slumps into a chair, still grinning widely. “You’re really hard to win over, Captain.”
“Sakura-kun, are you actually serious right now…?”
Suo’s voice sounds so wounded as he moves closer to Sakura and tries to touch his arm. But Sakura quickly spins his chair in another direction and stands up.
“Thanks for the coffee, Kotoha.”
The woman hides her mouth and waves her hand. “S-sure… pfft. ‘Kay… ahem! See ya, Sakura!”
“Sakura-kun…”
Suo whispers, walking closer to reach for Sakura’s waist—but Sakura stepped neatly aside and walked straight out the door without so much as a backward glance.
The whole café falls silent.
Everyone looks at one another, except Suo, who remains frozen in place, staring at the door. They silently communicate with each other through several deafening minutes of silence before finally deciding that Nirei should be the one to break it.
“E-erm… Suo-san… Do you want me to talk to Sakura-sa—”
“Let’s call it a day, everyone. I’m going home.”
Suo turns to face them, smiling—but not one that reaches his eye. He looks completely dead and hollow, out of his usual warmth.
He is genuinely sad.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow.” he turns his back.
“Suo-san…”
Nirei makes a move to chase after him and try to cheer him up, but Kiryu places a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“You don’t have to, Nirei-chan,” he says, shaking his head.
“But... but, you saw how sad he is... I-I think I’m going to contact Sakura-san now and—”
Anzai steps in and pats Nirei’s back, shaking his head as well.
“Kiryu’s right, Nirei. You don’t need to do that! Come on, man. Did you really think Suo was going to let the day pass without making things right with Sakura?”
The guy’s smile widens as he raises his thumb.
“Trust me. Don't worry, I feel like right now as we speak, Suo is already on his way to Sakura's apartment.”
Sakura lets out a satisfying sigh as he steps out of his bathroom after taking a shower. He hooks his towel around his neck and, with a faint smile on his lips, trudges toward his small kitchen to get a glass of water.
As he drinks, his phone vibrates on the floor near his futon. It keeps buzzing with text after text that Sakura can’t help but glare at it. Whoever is messaging him right now seems to be demanding for his immediate attention.
He unplugs his charger and unlocks his phone. He scrolls up. He has received five texts from Nirei.
Nirei: Did you get home safely, Sakura-san? :)
Nirei: I think Suo-san followed you. Is he there? Is he with you right now?
Nirei: When are you going to talk to him? :(
Nirei: You’re both my dear friends. I don’t want either of you to be sad…
Nirei: Your prank duration is over, Sakura-san, and I think Suo-san has learned his lesson… I hope I get to see you two together again tomorrow (^-^)!
The corners of Sakura’s lips curve upwards as he reads the messages. That little guy, seriously. Sakura couldn’t imagine what his life in Makochi would be if he hadn’t met him back then.
“Wait, what did he say?” Sakura knits his brows and reads the texts again.
I think Suo-san followed you.
“No shot?”
Sakura stands up and slowly walks toward his door, careful not to let his footsteps make a sound. He first peers through the small peephole, checking if there’s anyone outside.
And sure enough, right there on the other side, just like Nirei said—is Suo.
He is just quietly standing in front of Sakura’s door, staring straight at it. There’s no telling how exactly long he has been there, or how much longer he plans to just stand there and rot.
But before anything else, Sakura informs Nirei. He crouches down to text him, minimizing the chances of being seen.
Bastard was really here.
Nirei: What happened, Sakura-san? Did you guys patch things up? :)
Not yet. He’s just standing outside my door. Creep.
Nirei: Poor Suo-san (T0T). He must be walking on eggshells around you. ( ´∀`)
Sakura’s faint smile turns into a full-blown smirk as he reads the message. Total success. He has officially avenged every single annoying head-trip Suo has ever put him through. Now the bastard knows that Sakura can retaliate by being petty as hell, and make him taste his own medicine.
He waits a few minutes until the smile disappears from his lips. Once his expression returns to its usual blank look, Sakura finally opens his door.
“Sakura-kun…”
Suo lifts his chin and looks at him gently. His lips are curved downward, making him look so absolutely depressed. Sakura tries to stare at him for a little longer, but he can’t help smiling and eventually laughing at Suo’s utterly miserable expression.
Shit. He looks like an abandoned puppy.
“You’re so mean, Sakura-kun…”
Suo slumps his shoulders dejectedly and turns, about to turn away to leave when Sakura reaches out and grabs his arm.
“Alright, alright, chill out. I'm only kiddin’... pfft, sorry Suo… haha, I was just playin’ with ya.” he giggles and pulls Suo closer to him. “I was ignorin’ you on purpose, idiot. Now you know what it feels like to be pranked? So? How's it taste, huh?”
Suo pouts and hugs Sakura tighter, burying his face against his neck.
“It doesn’t feel good…”
“Back to you, dumbass.” Sakura smirks, stepping backwards inside the apartment since Suo still refuses to let him go.
“Don’t do that again… I don’t like it, Sakura-kun…” Suo whines, the two of them moving clumsily around until they finally sit down together on Sakura’s futon.
“Didja learned your lesson then?”
“Yes… I won’t tease you much anymore.”
“Now we’re talkin—wait, what?!”
Suo lets out a low chuckle, using his weight to lay them both down onto the futon. He wraps his entire body around Sakura, like an octopus—literally cocooning him.
“You know you’re the highlight of my day, Sakura-kun. I can’t get through one without teasing you a little. But since you’ve punished me so thoroughly today… fine. I’ll just cut down on how often I do it.”
Sakura scowls deeply and wiggles his body away, but Suo tightens his grip around him and even throws a leg over Sakura’s stomach to keep him from escaping.
“Get the hell off me! You’re so clingy!”
“Nope. After you ignored me all day? Not happening. My entire system weakened, Sakura-kun. I’m traumatized, for your information.” Suo grumbles and snuggles even closer against his lover’s body. “I’m sleeping here…”
“Since when did you make the rules in my apartment?”
“Don’t care. Not moving. Even if you don’t want me to, I’m not letting you go tonight. I need to recharge. I'll probably wake up with a fever tomorrow because my boyfriend decided to emotionally execute me.”
Sakura scoffs and turns his head away. The tips of his ears are visibly turning bright red. “... psh, you're so dramatic.”
Suo lets out a soft laugh and presses a kiss to Sakura’s flushed cheek.
“I love you too, Sakura-kun.”