Chapter 88: Airi Sakura: Naruse-san is Special (Two-in-One, 5k) (Patreon)

The May shower had already let up by around one o'clock.

After the rain the campus looked brighter and clearer, every color washed sharp, and the air had turned much fresher.

By the time Hikaru Naruse reached the meeting spot, Airi Sakura was already there.

The girl stood beneath a large ginkgo tree, her long red hair gathered into twin tails that swayed gently in the breeze.

Her signature red-framed glasses still sat on the bridge of her nose. Apart from the times she shot magazine spreads alone, she always wore them to hide her face.

Since today was about taking pictures, Airi Sakura had changed into casual clothes: a thin white blouse paired with a dark long skirt, white canvas shoes on her feet. The whole effect was fresh and understated.

"Sakura-san, good afternoon," Naruse said softly as he walked up beside her.

The voice startled her. Her body flinched on instinct, and only when she turned her head and saw Hikaru Naruse standing there did she let out a breath.

"N-Naruse-san."

"Good afternoon." Her voice was tiny, and a faint blush surfaced on her pretty face.

"Mm, I have to admit," Naruse said with a nod, glancing around at the scenery, "everything really does look better after the rain."

"You've got a good eye for scenery, Sakura-san. Shall we?"

"Mm."

At that simple bit of agreement the corners of Airi Sakura's mouth curled up. The movement was small, but it gave away exactly how she felt.

For the next two hours, Hikaru Naruse walked the campus with Airi Sakura while she took her photographs.

It turned out to be a rather surprising experience for him.

He knew the original story, but only seeing it firsthand made him understand just how wide the gap in Airi Sakura really was.

In ordinary life she was an extremely withdrawn, shy, self-effacing girl. When she spoke, her voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible.

But the moment the girl raised her camera, everything changed.

She was like a stage actor with a switch flipped. The instant the lights came up, every trace of timidity and unease disappeared, replaced by a focus that bordered on reverent.

Behind the viewfinder her eyes shone clear and bright, and every movement she made was deliberate.

When she captured a shot she liked, a radiant smile broke across her lips — a startling contrast to the skittish girl she was the rest of the time.

"Huh... the camera really is her switch. That's something else."

After that private observation, Naruse left her enthusiasm undisturbed. The whole point of tagging along on a shoot was to stay quiet so the girl could sink into it completely.

Between shots, the two of them stopped to rest on a lawn ringed by tall trees.

There was a wooden bench there, its surface still holding a trace of rainwater, though the sun had already dried off most of it and left behind only a faint coolness.

They sat down side by side. Hikaru Naruse set the umbrella beside him and turned his head to watch Airi Sakura scroll back through the shots she'd just taken.

"Sakura-san... you're honestly amazing."

"From the times we talked before, I thought you were the really shy type, but when you're shooting you're a completely different person. There's real charm in that contrast — the whole of you seems to shine."

Praise that blunt turned Airi Sakura's face even redder.

She dropped her head, too embarrassed to meet his eyes at all. Still, his compliment set her thinking about something else.

Did she really seem to shine when she was taking pictures?

The idea was utterly foreign to her.

Outside of her modeling work, in ordinary school life she was invisible. Nobody had ever noticed her, let alone praised her for shining.

"Naruse-san... do you think that's strange?"

There was a careful uncertainty in her voice, and Hikaru Naruse simply shook his head.

"Of course not."

"Everyone has their own habits and their own way of facing life. Nobody has the right to demand that you be outgoing and cheerful."

"You can live however feels comfortable to you, Sakura-san. That in itself is something to be proud of."

"Really?"

"Really."

Hikaru Naruse smiled faintly, his gaze settling on her small face.

"You already have a stage where you get to shine, so there's no harm in dimming the light the rest of the time. If anything, it makes you special."

"And it feels pretty good for someone like me, who's managed to get close to you."

"Feels good how?" Airi Sakura didn't follow.

"Because I know what you're really like, Sakura-san. A super-cute girl. And nobody else has a clue."

Hikaru Naruse shrugged, grinning.

"Doesn't that make me pretty smug about it?"

"That's..."

She knew he was praising her, but a phrase like "super-cute girl" left her mortified all the same. She ducked her head, and even her ears went red.

"Naruse-san... you always say things like that. I never know how to answer."

"That's fine. You don't have to answer."

"Oh."

After a few more minutes of small talk, Hikaru Naruse steered the conversation toward the approaching midterm exam.

"Sakura-san, how's your studying for the midterm exam coming along?"

"My grades... aren't very good." At the question, the light in Airi Sakura's eyes dimmed a little.

Her academic evaluation was a C. That didn't quite put her among the dregs of the student body, but it certainly wasn't good either. She hovered right around the passing line.

"I see. The midterm exam matters quite a lot, so you should put some work into reviewing."

Hikaru Naruse wasn't lecturing her; he was simply offering the appropriate advice.

Then he played the card he'd grown most practiced at, the one that always worked.

"Next time you're free, let's hold a study session together."

The suggestion caught Airi Sakura off guard.

"A study session?"

The girl blinked, surprised and a little nervous.

There was no way she could join a group study session. If one happened at all, it would only be the two of them — which meant being completely alone with him.

And... if the place turned out to be a dorm room, she'd be even more flustered.

Hikaru Naruse noticed the hesitation and asked with a smile.

"What is it? Something bothering you, Sakura-san?"

Airi Sakura wavered for a second or two, then gave a small shake of her head.

"It's nothing. If you want to hold one, Naruse-san, I'm fine with it."

"You're not just saying that?" Naruse raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not."

Airi Sakura nodded, then looked over at him. "I trust you, Naruse-san."

"Good to hear."

After resting a while, the two of them went on strolling around campus.

The rain had stopped, but puddles still lingered in places, and some of the flagstones looked dry while remaining dangerously slick.

They were chatting idly about cameras when Airi Sakura's right foot came down on a particularly slippery stone. Her sole skated across the film of water.

"Ah!"

Her balance vanished in an instant, and her whole body pitched sideways beyond her control.

Weightlessness rushed up through her, and the girl flailed in panic.

At that split second, Hikaru Naruse moved fast. His hand was already reaching out before she'd even begun to fall.

He stepped forward, hooked an arm around her slender waist, and with a light pull hauled her whole body against him.

The next moment, using his own center of gravity, he steadied her completely.

Her balance was saved. That much was true from one angle.

From another, the two of them were now pressed flush together, bodies in close contact.

Once the brief panic passed, the tension gradually left Airi Sakura's body.

She could feel the strength of Hikaru Naruse's arm circling her waist. Contact that intimate sent the color in her cheeks deeper still.

And leaning there against his chest, Airi Sakura could even hear the steady, powerful rhythm of Hikaru Naruse's heartbeat. That sound made her feel safe.

Hikaru Naruse kept her half-supported, half-held, aware of the soft, slender body in his arms, and spoke gently.

"Sakura-san, how are you feeling right now?"

Airi Sakura buried her face in his chest, not daring to lift her head, and her reply came out extremely small.

"I'm okay..."

Hearing that, a soft smile spread over Hikaru Naruse's face.

"I meant in a different sense."

His voice had turned mischievous, carrying a thread of good-natured teasing, and he deliberately tightened the arm around her.

"Does this feel unbearable?"

At those words her face burned even hotter.

She was wrapped up in Hikaru Naruse's arms, their bodies pressed tight against each other. For a girl this socially anxious, contact on that level would normally be flat-out impossible.

But...

Airi Sakura actually gave his question some thought, and discovered to her own astonishment that as intimate as this was, she wasn't the least bit repulsed by it.

She was tucked against a boy's chest, yet apart from embarrassment, her body offered no resistance at all. It even felt comfortable.

Hikaru Naruse sensed the subtle change in the girl he was holding, and the smile at his lips grew more pronounced.

"Sakura-san, your personality probably makes talking to people hard enough, never mind physical contact."

"But right now it seems like you're doing all right..."

He paused for a beat.

"After all, you haven't shoved me away, and you haven't decided I'm some pervert and slapped me across the face."

"Doesn't that mean you can be brave about expressing yourself after all?"

"N-no, that's not it."

Airi Sakura had realized she wasn't averse to being held against Hikaru Naruse's chest, but when she imagined herself talking with anyone else, the thought was still terrifying.

And so a conclusion formed.

The girl explained in a small voice, a firm certainty running under it.

"It's because you're special, Naruse-san... that's why I don't mind."

"A-anyone else wouldn't be okay."

The sentence could be taken more than one way, but Airi Sakura said it anyway — and once it was out, her face had gone red enough that a person might genuinely worry she'd faint from all the blood rushing to her head.

Hikaru Naruse blinked, briefly at a loss.

Then he gently released the arm around her and stepped back, giving her plenty of personal space.

"All right then. I'm honored to be someone special to you, Sakura-san."

"Mm..."

The photo outing with Airi Sakura ran until around four in the afternoon before it wrapped up.

Hikaru Naruse walked her back to her floor of the dormitory.

"Naruse-san."

Airi Sakura stood at the corner of the corridor, her pretty eyes watching his face through the red frames of her glasses. "So next time... when are you free for the study session?"

Her voice was a little louder than before. Still quiet, but now that the distance between her and Naruse had closed, it counted as no small progress.

"Have you thought about where, Naruse-san?"

Hikaru Naruse considered it. With more and more girls around him, scheduling was starting to become a problem. "Hmm... let's say next Wednesday or Thursday. I'll message you once I've confirmed."

"As for the place..."

He thought it over, looked down at Airi Sakura's soft little face, and abruptly teased her.

"How about your dorm room? I've been wanting to look through your photos anyway. It might come in handy for arranging your work later on."

"?"

A faint blush surfaced on Airi Sakura's cheeks again. This time there was less nervousness in it — mostly just plain embarrassment.

After all, inviting a boy into your own room carried a particular implication.

"Um..."

"Well..."

Seeing that the girl hadn't answered, Hikaru Naruse caught on at once.

"If it's inconvenient we can figure it out later. You could come to my room instead."

"No."

The moment he said it, something in Airi Sakura's chest surged, and she spoke up right away.

"It's — it's not inconvenient at all. Come whenever you want, Naruse-san."

"You're sure it's fine?"

"Mm..."

Under Hikaru Naruse's gaze, Airi Sakura reflexively reached out and gave his chest a little push — apparently the chain reaction of her embarrassment.

But at a deeper level, what that gesture meant was this: Airi Sakura no longer minded physical contact with Naruse.

It was a good start.

"I'll tidy the room up properly. You should head back now, Naruse-san."

"Mm-hm."

Naruse gave her a small smile and waved goodbye.

Time slipped by. With a little over a week left before the midterm exam, one evening found them in Hikaru Naruse's dorm room.

Hikaru Naruse sat on the living room sofa, textbooks and practice problems spread across the coffee table in front of him. Ai Morishita was over today as well — time alone for the two of them, since Squad Member Yamamura hadn't come.

Ai Morishita was sitting very close to Naruse.

More precisely, she had taken a giant leap forward today and planted herself directly in his lap.

The girl was curled up against him, her back to his chest, her legs in white tights resting across his thighs, the whole of her utterly languid. This was supposed to be a study session, and yet what she preferred was lounging against Naruse and playing with her phone.

Ever since the night outside the dorm building when she'd laid her cards on the table, Ai Morishita's attitude toward Hikaru Naruse had kept stepping past the boundary of "friends" like this — or rather, it had crossed that line long ago.

In the past, whenever she did something this intimate, she'd announce in advance that it was just something friends do. Now she didn't even bother with the act.

Hikaru Naruse had no good way to deal with it, so he simply kept an arm around her sweet-smelling, soft little body and got on with reviewing.

Ai Morishita's academic foundation was solid; Naruse had known that for a while.

Which meant their private study sessions were, in practice, mostly cuddling time.

"Hey... groped enough yet? Can we look at the problems now?"

Hikaru Naruse dragged the small hand that had crept under his shirt back out. Morishita had never dated anyone, but when it came to snuggling up to him, her technique was remarkably practiced.

"If you think it's unfair, Naruse, you can grope mine."

Ai Morishita tilted her head up, a flicker of displeasure at being interrupted in her eyes, then lifted the hem of her short-sleeved shirt — an invitation for Naruse to put his hand inside.

"Thwack!"

Naruse wasn't about to indulge her, and rapped her knuckle-first on the forehead.

"Study!"

"Oh."

Ai Morishita rubbed her forehead, withdrew her hand with a sulk, and turned her attention back down to the exercises.

Once things settled down, Hikaru Naruse and Ai Morishita spent fifteen minutes working through a full English practice test together. The instant they finished, the girl's hands started misbehaving again.

"Hold still."

"Naruse, be good, let me touch."

"You—"

In the middle of the scuffling, Hikaru Naruse heard his phone buzzing.

"Bzzz — bzzz — bzzz!"

He picked it up off the coffee table and glanced at the caller ID on the screen.

Suzune Horikita.

Huh, why her?

Hikaru Naruse raised an eyebrow slightly, then took the call.

"Hello?"

"Naruse-san."

Suzune Horikita's cool voice came through the receiver, as devoid of unnecessary pleasantries as ever.

"I have a new plan of action, and it concerns the midterm exam."

"So I'll be using one of my consultation opportunities."

"What do you want me to do?" Hikaru Naruse asked, curious.

"You don't need to do anything. You only need to watch me act. I'll let you see my... true ability."

"Is that so?"

Hikaru Naruse laughed softly, then said, "I'm looking forward to it. When exactly?"

"Tuesday, after school."

"Works for me."

After he hung up, Ai Morishita — who had been pressed against his chest the whole time he was on the phone — had heard the voice on the other end perfectly clearly.

She sat up straight and asked out of nowhere.

"Naruse, is this girl the next one you're planning to hit on?"

"...You think I'm some kind of stud?"

"Naruse isn't a stud, but Naruse definitely likes pretty girls. That much is certain."

"And?"

Naruse neither confirmed nor denied the assessment.

"And so I think... a whole lot of pretty girls are going to fall into your clutches."

"..."