"SO? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?"
She was clearly expecting something, but I wasn't expecting to see her
"SAKURA?!"
"I see you've skipped the formalities as always."
Before I could even think, my body moved on its own and hugged her tightly. I wasn't in control
Calm down. Calm down.
Take a deep breath
Man, her perfume is so sweet, I'm melting.
"Hey, you're squeezing me!"
"Sorry! I'm so happy to see you that my body reacted on its own."
She hugged me too.
But that wasn't enough.
And she knew that too.
There was no further hesitation.
We both kissed like there was no tomorrow.
"Don't you have important things to take care of? What about Yukiko? And others?"
"Screw Yuki-nee! Screw everyone! You're all I need."
Like that would ever happen! I'd have wished for it, but this ain't a seinen romance manga. Snapback to reality!
"SO? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?"
"SAKURA SENPAI?"
"Drop the senpai. I don't remember being your senior."
"Then Sakura!"
She moved towards me and pulled my cheek hard.
"Don't forget the -nee part!"
My body started to move on its own, in disbelief, after seeing her. I wanted to test it out by trying to hug her.
But she got wind of my ill intentions and knocked me out. As Resilient as ever! Reality sucks. But I'm back home.
"Seriously! How do you never get tired of this?"
"I've taken serious training! Ooe Kintarou has shown me the path!"
I wasn't ashamed of mentioning it.
"Just die!"
"There's still time for that. Let's not rush into it!"
This was normal for us both.
She chuckled.
"You've changed. I never thought I'd be the one saying that."
"Marry me!"
"No! And why that all of a sudden?"
"You're beautiful. Too beautiful. I can't remember the last time I was this speechless. I may be an idiot in these scenarios, but I'm sure I'm not wrong."
"We can't get married even if I said yes."
"Why?"
"You're underage! Technically you'll be 18 this year, so you're eligible. But since you hit a reset button around 5, you're 13 in my opinion."
Critical damage. Life support required!
"No!!!!!"
I cried out loud.
"Why? Why am I the one who's always denied!"
I exclaimed.
"I thought you've given up on me! I asked you to, didn't I?"
"Hmmm...."
I was thinking for a while before I remembered.
"Ahh!Yes. That did happen."
Thinking about the past was annoying. I wasn't living much in the present anymore.
"Sakura!"
I called her.
"What?"
I pulled her close.
"Hey, what are you do..."
I covered her lips with my hand.
"Shut up, will you? You're giving me a headache."
I didn't hesitate any further.
I pulled her close and kissed her.
She pushed me and after a momentary pause, slapped me.
"What's wrong with you!"
I didn't bother to reply, as I went in closer and kissed her again, this time holding her tightly, as a strong wind blew past us.
She didn't hesitate any more and responded passionately.
I'd like to mention the fact that I've only ever kissed 3 girls to date. The most recent was with Yuki-nee.
And the only one I ever kiss passionately is Sakura.
'Cause, she's the one who took my first kiss.
...
The present-day Sakura isn't how she was back when she was in her first year of middle school, while I was in my final year of elementary school.
When I say she's a bully, I don't actually mean it. She's a good girl with some personality issues and insecurities. Anyway...
After what happened to me, I was in recovery for a while and then had therapy. In that time Yuki-nee dropped a year of her school, because of the shock she incurred, while the impact on her mom was also severe. She was bedridden for a couple of weeks, before slowly starting to recover.
At this stage, since I was nothing more than a doll-like being, that is, I didn't have any proper idea of what was going on nor I could understand the different emotions people were radiating, my mother gave me a set of instructions to follow, and then would let me play at Yuki-nee's house.
During that period, Sakura would visit her every day. So much so that she dropped school for the whole year for her sake. Turns out she visited me together with Yuki-nee during my bedridden period.
Every day, when I would go their home, whenever my eyes met with Sakura's eyes, I was greeted with a cold feeling. How do I put it?
I hate you!
I wasn't sure about it, so I asked her directly and she responded instantly.
"Sakura-san! Do you hate me?"
"Yes! I'm amazed you could understand that, in your condition."
" You always have an angry face and clench your fist tight, so I thought that might be the case"
"It's your fault! Because of you, she is in this state. She won't talk to me at all. Why!"
That was the first time we ever had a conversation.
Sakura was an emotional girl, even if she wouldn't show it. And that's the worst match for me.
Over time, Yuki-nee recovered in a way and would join us in our conversations.
Things were pretty normal until both the girls entered middle school. While Yuki-nee started being more open and was a sought out girl, Sakura was a silent girl at school and was always mocked for it. But Yuki-nee would always stick with her, and that resulted in some bad reputation points for her.
Sakura felt guilty, but never expressed it.
We would still meet regularly and have our normal chat about the useless stuff. Yuki-nee would always try to bake stuff she would learn from Rinko-san.
I would try to try to have a normal conversation with her.
At the start, it was nothing but debates or arguments. But slowly we would have normal conversations.
But lately, they've been very moody from her end. She would always be lost in her own thoughts. At first, it would last for a few seconds, but now it would last for minutes. She would need a physical stimulus to regain her senses.
And one day...
"Sakura-nee! Sakura-nee!"
I started pulling her and it was getting on her nerve.
"Just leave me alone! Please."
"Hey..."
Before I could say anything else, she snapped and flew towards me with rage and pushed me to the fall.
I hit real hard.
She came back to her senses to see what she had done. She was devastated.
I was on my knees with my hands on my head and my back against the wall.
As I was about to let out the pain, I felt the sensation of something soft near my lips, that prevented me from letting out my pain.
I opened my eyes and it was truly shocking.
Sakura was kissing me.
I was caught off-guard. But before I could react, she hugged me tightly.
"I'm sorry!"
She started sobbing in a low voice.
I was lying down on the floor now, and she was on top of me, on her knees, as she separated herself from me, but her tears were falling on my chest.
"I...I didn't mean to take it out on you and hurt you. I don't know what to do anymore. I think I should stay away from everyone for a while. I..."
She was crying desperately now. She wanted to let it all out. She still wanted to continue and let her pent-up feelings out. That's what I could figure out.
But, I don't know why. I didn't like her blaming herself. I thought that was wrong.
I raised my hand and reached out to her face and wiped her tears away. She stopped crying.
"Sakura!"
I called out to her, as I lifted my upper body towards her.
"Don't get up, it'll pain even more. Stay still..."
I don't know why, but my body moved on its own.
I gently pulled her close and I kissed her.
I gently pulled her back with me to the ground. We were in that state for a while, before stopping it.
I hugged her tight.
"It's alright. You can cry now. I'll hear you out."
"That's too cheeky. Especially from you."
She chuckled and never let go of me, for the next half an hour or so, she cried it all out, before finally falling asleep.
I pulled the pillow close to me and gently lay her down and covered her with a blanket.
Ever since then, the distance between us has reduced progressively.
We would always sit next to each other, and she would help me with my homework and other general knowledge stuff.
On the very rare occasion that Yuki-nee would be out, I would pull her close into my lap and cuddle her.
There was a sense of warmth in my body. I wanted more of it and at the same time, understand it.
"Sakura?"
"Hmmm..?"
WILL WE GET MARRIED SOMEDAY?