Falling (Down) For You

The clock on Nozaki's wall is ticking slowly towards six o'clock when the phone sitting on his desk vibrates with a text message. He flips it open as Sakura sets her brush aside, expectantly awaiting an explanation. Mikoshiba begins twiddling his pen between his fingers when Nozaki types out an answer, closes the phone, and turns towards them from his seat at the desk.

"It's Ken-san. He wanted to remind me that the holidays are coming up in a few weeks."

"Oh, right," Sakura glances at the time and date on her own phone. "It's almost the end of November. Are you going to do a special chapter?"

"Well, last year, I didn't do anything special. I was in the middle of a plot arc, so Ken-san and I agreed not to interrupt it. I had to make up for it by drawing cover art for the December issue. But I don't think I'll get away with that this time." Nozaki explains, sitting down at the table and grabbing a blank piece of paper, along with Mikoshiba's pen. "I suppose we'll make a list of ideas first."

"Hmm...Something for couples to do around the holidays, huh?" Sakura leans back on her hands. What was it she had dreamed of doing with Nozaki at Christmas, back before she knew he drew manga? The Daydreaming Stage of her crush seemed so long ago, it was hard to remember.

"Suzuki and Mamiko give each other presents!" Mikoshiba pipes up, and Nozaki writes it down. Sakura immediately feels some problems.

"But what would they give? It would have to be heartfelt."

"What if Suzuki gave her one of those giant stuffed bears that says 'I Love You' across the front? That would be romantic!"

"How would you even carry that to school without looking conspicuous? Can't it be a smaller bear?"

"But the amount of love is directly related to size! The bigger the bear, the bigger the love!"

"Would they even be at school?" Nozaki suddenly says, gently tapping the pen against the paper where he's been transcribing Sakura and Mikoshiba's argument. "Gift-giving isn't much to make a chapter out of, unless it was focused on searching for a gift. And I don't feel like drawing a mall this close to the end of the year." Lazy, Sakura thinks. "Maybe they should go out on a date and then exchange presents?"

"That's a good idea," Sakura eyes Mikoshiba, "but it makes the giant bear idea even more ridiculous. Could you even get one of those into a restaurant, or would they ask you to leave it outside?" The mental image of Mamiko and Suzuki sitting in a booth with a giant ursine onlooker was more comical than romantic.

"Fine, we'll forget the bear for now." Nozaki crosses out the top part of the page despite Mikoshiba's protests. "What kinds of dates do couples go on during the holidays?"

"Well, they could go out to look at Christmas lights." Sakura suggests after a few minutes of silence. "Or they could go out for dinner, or something." She thinks that at some point, she imagined doing both of those things with Nozaki. Not that she'll ever admit it, and not that he'll ever ask her.

"Laaaaaame." Mikoshiba drags out the word and Sakura glares at him. "Where's the fun in looking at lights? Besides, that'll be hard to draw. And they could go out to dinner anytime."

"Well, what would you suggest?"

"They could go to a shrine!"

"That's for New Years, not Christmas! They're an entire week apart!"

"Okay, wait." Sakura and Mikoshiba look towards Nozaki to see him digging through his desk drawer for a notepad. The paper he's been writing on is filled with lots of words and not many actual ideas. Once he finds a notebook that's mostly blank, he turns back to the table. "You were saying?"

Sakura sighs and leans onto the table, careful to avoid the manuscript in front of her. Holiday activities...Winter activities….

"Oh!" She shoots straight up, not noticing the way both boys flinch at the sudden sound and movement. "What if they go ice skating? It's not really a holiday activity, but it's winter-y enough, right? And it's romantic, too!"

Nozaki scribbles the words ice skating down in his notebook. "Suzuki and Mamiko go ice skating, then exchange presents. Not bad." Sakura beams. Hearing Nozaki praise her ideas never gets old. "Have any of us actually been ice skating before?"

"I have." Sakura volunteers. "It was during a class trip, so it wasn't very romantic, but it was still fun to be with friends!"

"I've never skated before." Nozaki taps the pen against the notebook page.

"Neither have I," Mikoshiba says. "But it could work. You have to hold hands so you don't get separated, right? That would get Mamiko's heart beating."

"Alright, we'll stick with that idea for now. What about the presents?"

"They could skate with the bear!"

"Mikorin, I thought we got rid of that idea!"

…

The next day, Sakura walks into Nozaki's apartment almost twenty minutes later than usual. One of the juniors from Art Club had stopped her just as she was heading out the door, and, just because she's determined to be a good mentor, she had obliged them for longer than she should have. Part of her is proud that the underclassmen already trust her so much, even though she's only a second year; the other half of her mind is still upset that she couldn't walk with Nozaki today. She's almost gotten her shoes off when a loud voice rings out from the main room.

"Sakura! You're finally here! We get to go on a field trip!"

"What?" Sakura looks confusedly at Mikoshiba, who's sitting on the floor next to Nozaki. Her hands are frozen in the knit of her scarf. "Where?"

"Ice skating, of course!"

"You mean now?" Sakura glances down at her uniform skirt. Should she risk getting it dirty on the ice? What if it flew up and everyone saw her underwear? She's blushing when she looks back up to Mikoshiba's excited face. "I'm not sure I'm dressed properly."

"Not now," Nozaki rushes to clarify, "This weekend. Ken-san liked your idea, but he's concerned that I won't know how to draw an ice rink." He leans back to his desk and grabs his laptop, flipping it open. "I told him I tried to look up reference pictures of couples skating, but all I found was…"

Sakura leans over his shoulder to gaze at the screen. Immediately, she smacks her forehead in exasperation. The Google search page is covered with images of bedazzled skater skirts and skin-tight leotards. "Nozaki-kun, those are Olympians. Couple Skating is a category in the Winter Olympics."

"Ah, that makes sense." Nozaki digs through a stack of papers next to him on the floor. "I tried to make do with what I could find, at first."

Sakura takes the offered page. On it, she finds a sketch of Suzuki and Mamiko skating arm in arm (Not bad, she observes), right above another sketch of Suzuki lifting Mamiko up above his head, spinning her through the air (...Horrible). "Nozaki-kun, I don't think these will work. Unless Suzuki's secretly a professional figure skater, which would turn this into an entirely different genre of manga."

"I figured." He leans over to take the paper back, and Sakura hopes that when his fingers brush against hers it's on purpose, and not on accident. "That's why we need to go skating. I'd like to take some reference photos to work from before I start sketching anything."

"Okay. Do we have a place?" Sakura finally sits down at her usual spot at the table, setting her bag down next to her and stuffing her scarf into it.

"Yep!" Mikoshiba flashes a colorful flyer in her face. Sakura takes it with a raised eyebrow. "I had Kashima-kun ask around, and it turns out there's an outdoor ice rink at this amusement park. They're letting people in for half price this weekend." He winks. "Perfect, but that's to be expected from me." Sakura lifts her eyes from the paper to stare at Mikoshiba, at the way his cheeks slowly begin to turn red. "...Sorry."
"No, no." she waves her hand to calm her own blush. "It is perfect! So, we'll go this weekend, then?" Nozaki nods. "Do we want to meet at the station? Or at the park?"

"I think it will be easier to meet at the park." Mikoshiba says. "That way, we don't have to worry about missing the train if someone's running late."

"Good idea." Nozaki begins punching in the meeting information into his phone. "What time do we want to meet up? Is three on Sunday alright with both of you?"

"It's fine with me!" Sakura smiles, taking out her own phone to make the appointment.

"I'm good," Mikoshiba agrees. He gives Sakura this look from across the table, and she gazes back questioningly. Subtly, he nods towards Nozaki, then back to her. Raises his eyebrows a bit. Suddenly understanding his meaning, Sakura ducks her head to hide her blush in the light of her phone screen. It's almost like a date.

Later, when Nozaki's excused himself to go to the bathroom, Mikoshiba leans across the table conspiratorially. "Hey." Sakura pinches her mouth shut as she looks up. She can already tell what he's going to say, and she's decided that she'll keep the sputtering to a minimum. "I'm going to duck out of this one. Don't want to be a third wheel and all."

And even when she knew what he would say, she can't help the little string of nonsense that pours out of her mouth, can't help the heat rushing over her cheeks. Finally, she gathers herself enough to spat, "It's not like it's a date! It's for research!" Mikoshiba's face falls when she says this, and Sakura can tell that he's only mirroring her own expression. "Nozaki-kun wouldn't ask me out on a date."

Mikoshiba continues frowning at her for another second. He opens his mouth to say something when the lock of the bathroom clicks open. As Nozaki walks back into the room, he opts for whispering, "Not with that attitude."

"Hm? What won't happen with what attitude?" Nozaki asks, picking up his pencil.

"Oh, you know. This and that." Mikoshiba pulls another paper to his end of the table. Before he gets back to work, though, he mouths something at Sakura, and even though he has to repeat it six times very slowly, but the end of the fifteen minute ordeal, she's translated it.

Tell him how you feel, already.

…..

Saturday afternoon, Sakura's rifling through her closet, searching for a certain sweater. Which she cannot find. All her wardrobe has replaced the carpeting of her room, and she carefully chooses pairs of sweatpants and bras to step on as she makes her way over to the door. She leans out and directs her voice towards the stairs, down to her mother in the kitchen.

"Mom! Do you know where my mint green sweater is? The one with blue stripes?" There's a brief period of clinking dishes before the answer floats back up.

"I thought we threw that one out in the spring? You said something about not needing it anymore, sweetie."

Sakura groans and clonks her head against the doorframe. "Never let me throw anything away ever again." She turns to close her door when her mother appears at the bottom of the stairs, drying a glass.

"What do you need it for? We can go shopping, if it's a special occasion." Done wiping the glass, her mother wraps it in the dishtowel and looks up the stairs at Sakura. Her brow wrinkles. "Honey, what's wrong? You look awfully red."

"Um." Sakura shuffles her feet on the doorjamb. She's told her mom about Nozaki-how could she not?-but also doesn't want her to think it's a date. Because it's not. And she hasn't quite gotten around to telling her mom about Nozaki's job as a mangaka, which is the only other explanation she's got.. "I'm going skating. With some friends. Tomorrow afternoon. And I thought the sweater might look nice."

"Which friends? Seo-san? I don't think she'll care if you show up in a t-shirt, dear."

"No," Sakura grimaces. She's never been a very good liar, only a good not-truther. Time to come out with some not-truths. "With Nozaki-kun and Mikoshiba-kun." Even though Mikorin's ditching us, she adds mentally.

"Nozaki-kun?" Nod. "Ice skating?" Nod. Her mother leans on her hip, thinking. Suddenly, she snaps her fingers and looks Sakura straight in the eye. "I think I might have something." She turns and just as quickly backtracks. "Don't tell your father."

"What is it?" Rushing down the stairs, Sakura follows her mother through the kitchen, where the glass and towel are hastily dumped on the counter. Silently, her mother leads her to the storage closet in the living room and opens the door, pushes aside some coats, and lifts a box out of the corner. She brushes some dust off the lid and hands it to Sakura. While her mother shoves the coats back into place and shuts the door, she opens the box. And sitting inside, folded neatly, is a sweaterdress.

"We were going to give this to you for Christmas, but if it's a date with that Nozaki fellow, it's alright if you take it early." She taps Sakura's nose. "Don't tell your father. Hopefully, he's forgotten we even bought it."

"Mom!" Sakura can feel the blush climbing up her cheeks toward her hairline. "It's not a date! We're just. Hanging out. Because we're friends."

Her mother just laughs, patting Sakura on the shoulder and shooing her back up the stairs. "Whatever you say, sweetie. I won't tell a soul."

Shutting the door, Sakura unfolds the dress and tosses the box into the doorway of her closet. It's purple-her favorite color-and a heavy knit that feels warm just resting in her hands. She finds the tag, intending to cut it off, and finds herself staring at the price instead. Holy-Mom and Dad seriously bought this for me? Should I be wearing it when it could get dirty? But, after ten minutes of internal debate and reboxing and unpacking the dress, she decides: If Mom said it was okay, then it's okay. And it's not like I have anything else to wear, anyway.

The tags finally come off and Sakura slips it on over her head, shaking her hair loose of the static. It fits well, upon first inspection in the mirror. It's tight across her hips, maybe, but that's to be expected. She turns around to start cleaning off her floor, now that she's decided on an outfit, and something catches her eye in the mirror. Standing back up, she looks over her shoulder and has her second double-take in the last half hour. Really, her heart shouldn't be under this much stress.

It fits really well. Almost uncomfortably well. She is uncomfortable with how her butt looks so good in this dress. Her blush is more than hot, it prickles at the back of her neck and heats her scalp. And is that-oh, god. Abruptly, she turns back to cleaning, tearing open her sock drawer in the process. Tights. I need to wear tights.

….

She's there at 2:30 Sunday afternoon, looking around nervously and desperately trying not to pull out her phone and check for texts. Or the time. Or her hair. She fidgets with the edge of her scarf for five minutes before giving in. No new alert messages present themselves, and Sakura's just about to put her phone back in her purse when she hears a wolf whistle. Oh, god. That's probably for me.

Blushing, she brings the phone screen back up to her face and furiously pretends to text someone. Much as she tried to tone down the sexiness of the dress, it still sticks unnervingly well to her curves, which, it was apparent, was not escaping the notice of several young men standing in a group near her. They hadn't looked at her when she first walked up, but now a few of them were openly staring. One of them was practically leering and Nozaki-kun hurry your ass up.

Right on cue, her phone buzzes in her hand, and right on cue, she almost drops it on the concrete. There are sniggers from the group of guys, and her face flushes a deeper shade of red. She opens the message with shaking fingers.

[Nozaki-kun] I'm here. Where are you?

[Me] I'm over by the gate.

[Nozaki-kun] Do you have your hair up today?

Her fingers hover over the keyboard, ready to type a simple Yes, when she feels a shadow fall over her. There's a prickling sensation on the back of her neck, and she hears the groups of boys stop twittering. Looking up, she recognizes Nozaki's face and breathes a sigh of relief. "Hi, Nozaki-kun. Yes, I'm wearing my hair up today. I didn't want it to get in my face." She swings her ponytail a bit and feels the cold air hit the back of her neck. Then, gently, she murmurs, "I'm glad you noticed it." Nozaki's only reply is a soft hmm, and Sakura can feel the topic drop to the ground like a brick. Why do I always say weird things when it's going well?

Nozaki puts his phone back in his pocket. "Mikorin texted me when I was on the way here. He said that something came up and he might not be able to make it." Sakura ducks her head, putting her phone back into her purse. "Should we wait for him, or just head in?"

"No, I think we can go on inside. Mikorin can find us later, if he shows up." Not likely, she adds mentally. Nodding, Nozaki turns toward the front gate, Sakura rushing after him. She catches a glimpse of the boys following her with their eyes, and resolutely focuses on Nozaki's shoes. "Did he say what it was that came up?"

"He didn't." Nozaki slows down a bit so that Sakura is walking a step ahead of him. She glances over her shoulder, quirking up one eyebrow. "He's probably stuck in the middle of one of his dating games. Sometimes that happens." The line for the skating rink is mostly made up of a group of giggling middle-school girls, each of whom pays for herself. By the time Sakura's standing in front of the toll booth, she's memorized the process in her head and is ready to hand over exact change to the cashier when Nozaki steps in front of her. "I can pay for both of us. This was my idea, anyway."

"O-Okay," is what comes out of Sakura's mouth, although she knows the appropriate response should be 'thank you'. That nagging voice in the back of her head, the one that's been insisting Nozaki doesn't like her that way and not to get her hopes up, is oddly silent. I'm alone with Nozaki-kun, he's paying for my entrance fee, and he noticed my hair. The blush, which had calmed in the presence of the middle-schoolers, is back in full force. Oh god. Mikorin was right. This really is like a date.

Once they get past the booth, they go up to the counter to get skates. To the clerk's amusement, Sakura and Nozaki fall on almost opposite ends of the sizing spectrum, which causes a whole new round of blushing on Sakura's part. For a few seconds, she even swears she catches Nozaki's cheeks flushing a little-just a bit, so slight she could've just been imagining it. The jibes and jokes don't stop until they've both gotten their skates on and their shoes safely tucked away in a cubby, and Sakura's face doesn't return to normal temperature until they hit the frigid air of the rink.

From the moment Nozaki stands from the bench, Sakura can tell that he's not going to be very good at this. Standing on blades barely over a millimeter thick is hard, she knows, but she recalls finding the walk to the rink being easier than skating on the rink itself. Nozaki, however, is wobbling all over the place just making his way to the entrance. He tries to walk normally for a bit, but eventually his steps become less certain, smaller, more shuffling. At some point, Sakura has to slow down for him. Without really thinking about it, she reaches out and places a hand onto his arm to steady him. She only realizes what she's actually done when Nozaki pats her hand, smiles weakly but appreciatively. They collapse onto the bar separating the concrete from the ice as soon as they reach it.

Still leaning against the barrier, Nozaki pulls out his camera and starts snapping photos of the people already on the ice. A few skaters notice him and turn their faces away; one waves-probably thinking they'll be posted online. Carefully, he turns around and takes two pictures of the entryway-two, because Sakura accidentally gets in the first shot. She's deliberately moving out of the range of the camera lens when Nozaki asks her to stand in front of him. He teeters away from the bar and lines up the shot. "Just turn to look out at the rink. Good, good." Sakura squints at the ice, artificial lighting bouncing up to meet her eyes directly. The camera snaps. When she turns around, Nozaki is staring at the review screen, motionless except for the slight shaking of his legs.

"Did it not turn out okay?" she asks, turning fully back to Nozaki and advancing toward the camera. Before she can peek at the photo, though, he yanks the camera upwards out of her reach. Offended, Sakura begins to extend her arms up, and the insistence that he let her see is travelling up her tongue when he hastily interrupts her.

"No, it turned out fine. We should get on the ice soon, though." Sakura hears the distant beep of the camera being turned off above her head. She chooses not to question Nozaki's behavior, and instead offers her arm in helping him to one of the entrances to the rink. Nozaki holds her arm loosely until he has to lift his feet onto the ice-and then, suddenly, Sakura finds herself wincing, gently trying to pry his hand loose from the vice grip on her bicep.

Once both of them are on the ice, Sakura picks her feet up into a slow glide. She's well aware that she's not the best skater in the world, but she'd also like to think that she's not the worst one, either. Back in middle school, on the class outing, she had helped more than one of her friends in learning how to stay upright on the ice. Even one of the guys had sucked up his pride and asked for her assistance, a fact which still made Sakura rather proud. But Nozaki -Nozaki is an entirely different case. For one thing, he's significantly taller than anyone in her middle school class, and for another, he's significantly more off-balance, as well. They have a few scares within a few minutes, barely covering twenty feet.

"We don't have to do this for very long, Nozaki-kun," Sakura whispers after their fourth near-accident. "There's an exit up ahead, if you want to stop."

"No, no." Nozaki sighs, exasperated. He still hasn't let go of Sakura's arm; in fact, he's practically hanging off of her left side. "This was my idea, so I'll go through with it." Sakura is silent in confusion for a minute-hadn't ice skating been her idea?-before she hears that damn wolf-whistle again. The boys from outside are gliding effortlessly across the ice, staring and giggling. Her face heats up with the realization that she and Nozaki probably look like a lovey-dovey couple, what with the way their arms are tangled together.

Sakura is just about to suggest that Nozaki lean against the railing, instead of her arm, when one of the boys-the one who was leering before, she thinks-clips her shoulder as he speeds past. Her foot slides out on instinct, trying to regain some semblance of balance, and the motion throws off Nozaki's tentative steps, and before she really has any comprehension of what's happening, she's staring at the ice, cold water seeping in through her tights, air forced out of her lungs by the suddenness of the impact.

She rolls over from her stomach onto her back, with the intent of trying to stand. Instead, she's greeted with the sight of Nozaki trying to hold himself up on his hands, looming over her body. The blush that covers her face is hot and quick and probably makes her look like a tomato, but the only thing on Sakura's mind is how she's going to get up without accidentally flashing her bike shorts at either Nozaki or the boys from outside, who are still laughing at them. It's only after scraping uselessly at the ice with her skates and stuttering a few nonsense phrases does she notice the shell-shocked expression decorating Nozaki's face. There's definitely a blush now-if she'd been unsure before, there can be no doubt now. He's embarrassed.

"Nozaki-kun." Sakura finally manages to get a grip on her vocal cords. His eyes shoot up to meet her face, and she tries not to think about where he might've been looking before. "I'm going to try and stand up now." He nods, a little too quickly. Sakura moves her elbows underneath her, flipping back towards the ice, then scoots out from under Nozaki with her hands. When she's finally standing, she almost feels like cheering since she's pretty sure no one saw her bike shorts, and she didn't stumble once. That's something to be proud of, at least.

Turning back around, she sees Nozaki slowly getting his knees beneath him, preparing to stand back up. She leans down-carefully-and takes one of his arms in her hand. Somehow, they get him into a standing position, wobbly as it might be. Gently, slowly, Sakura takes one of Nozaki's hands in both of hers and skates them over to the railing. From there, the going is relatively easy, especially with a few well-timed glares at the rowdy boys (and not only from the two of them, Sakura notices-plenty of other people are sending dirty looks, too).

Both of them exit the rink as unobtrusively as possible, collapsing onto a nearby bench. Sakura lays her head back, sighing in relief. At least that ordeal is over. Breathe, Sakura. Exhaling one last time, she turns to look at Nozaki, who is leaning forward with his elbow on his knee. Just one elbow. The other is straightened by his side, hand cradled in Sakura's own palm. Sakura looks down at their hands. Looks back up at Nozaki. Back to their hands. "Um...Nozaki-kun? You can let go of my hand, you know." I don't want you to, but you can.

"No, this is fine." Nozaki says noncommitally, turning his face away to look back down the rink. Although she can't see his expression, Sakura notices that the tips of Nozaki's ears are turning pink-whether from the cold or from embarrassment, she's not certain. Regardless, she relaxes her hold on Nozaki's hand, giving him the option-unspoken-to pull back.

He doesn't.

For a few minutes, it's all Sakura can do to keep from screaming in delight. Nozaki is holding her hand! Willingly! And even though this isn't a date-probably, she thinks-she's gotten to touch Nozaki more today than in the previous five months combined. After she gets her giddiness back under control, she savors the weight of Nozaki's hand in her own-the way his fingers are calloused from holding pencils, the roughness of the pads of his fingertips. The warmth that radiates from his skin, the ridges of his fingerprints.

"Sakura." she turns her head so fast her neck almost cracks. Nozaki is looking down at her. She feels his hand tighten around hers, and she gives an unconscious squeeze in return.

"Y-yes? Nozaki-kun?"

"They're selling tea at that stand over there. Would you like to get some?" Sakura is about to nod yes, when she hears Nozaki mumble, "With me?"

Sakura could faint dead away with no regrets right now. She'd probably be smiling as they lowered her into the grave. Instead, she smiles nervously and twines her fingers with Nozaki's in a firmer grip. "I'd love to."

…..

She's practically skipping by the time she reaches her front door, three hours later. Her hand is still buzzing from Nozaki's touch. Her mouth still tastes like the tea he bought her. Nozaki watched her skate around the rink and complimented her profusely. Just before she got on the train to go home, he promised to call her about going out somewhere ("At some time, maybe, if you wanted to?"). Sakura Chiyo may very well be the happiest girl in the world right at this moment, with the way her heart is beating ten kilometers a minute and the corners of her mouth tug up into a smile without her knowledge.

That is, until she actually enters the house.

"Young lady, do you know what time it is? We expected you back almost an hour ago!" Her father is standing ready in the doorway from the moment Sakura stoops to remove her shoes. She winces, the smile drooping off her face, but steps up into the hallway to take the reprimands anyway.

"Sorry, Dad. My friend and I got caught up talking. Lost track of time."

"And you didn't think to call? Or text? Your mother's been worried sick!" Just at that moment, Sakura's mother turns into the entryway.

"Oh, please, dear. I wasn't worried at all. Now, Chiyo, dear," and Sakura knows that whatever words are bubbling behind her mother's near-predatory smile can't be good, "only one 'friend'? So you and Nozaki-kun were alone?" Begrudgingly, Sakura nods. Her mother claps her hands, jumps a little bit (to the shock of her father). "Wonderful! How did it go? Did he walk you home? Did he kiss you goodnight?"

"Mom!"

"Hold up now," her father holds up one hand, using the other to rub his temple. "You went out with a 'he'? A boy?" Another hesitant nod from Sakura. For a while, all he can do is gesture vaguely in annoyance and send accusatory looks at his increasingly guilty-looking wife. "Why doesn't anyone tell me anything around here? She went out with a boy for four hours and you knew about it?"

"Of course I did, dear." Sakura's mother gently takes her shoulder and leads her into the house. "We ladies have no secrets from each other."

Her father gives an irritated 'hmmmph', and makes to return to the living room. He stops. "Wait a minute." Both women pause and look back, confused. "Didn't we buy that dress as a Christmas present? I remember, 'cuz it was so damn expensive." Simultaneously, Sakura and her mother glance down at the dress, then to each other. An unspoken agreement passes between eyes.

"No, dear, that was a different dress. This is an older one, don't you remember?" Sakura's mother pushes her towards the stairs, putting on her best admonishing tone. Sakura tip-toes up the stairs to her room, preparing to rip the dress off and shove it back in the box as quickly as possible.

Distantly, she hears her father mutter, "Was it? Damn, I'm getting old."

…..

And now, a brief overview of Nozaki Umetarou's Google search history.

what does it feel like to be in love

what does it mean to hold hands

ice skating feelings

how to tell someone they look nice

girls hairstyles

girls dresses

what to wear to a dinner date

how to tell someone their butt looks good

….

Two weeks later, Sakura's packing up her things to go over to Nozaki's house for the afternoon when she overhears two of her classmates giggling over an issue of Monthly Shojo Romance.

"Yumeno-sensei did it again! I don't think I'll ever forget this chapter!" The girl holding the magazine holds it closer to her chest and sighs. "So romantic." Sakura almost snorts, but pulls in the urge at the last second.

"I know, I know!" Her friend pulls at the issue so she can turn to a certain page. "Look at this spread! It's so beautiful." She also sighs, leaning against her desk. "I wish I had someone like Suzuki-kun. He's so charming, isn't he?"

"He is." the first girl confirms. She fidgets with her pencil for a minute, then looks up at her friend. "Do you think, if I showed this to Haruto-kun, he would do something like this for me?"

This time, Sakura can't reign in the urge to giggle, and it comes out harsh and sharp in the still classroom. Both girls turn to look at her worriedly, and she turns the giggle into a sort of cough, mumbling something about colds and bad weather.

Sakura stands up and catches a glimpse of the magazine, open to the spread she remembers almost killing her hand with brushstrokes. She grimaces unintentionally; thankfully neither of the girls see her face.

The second girl rolls her eyes and groans. "Mei-chan, you're lucky you already have a boyfriend to be with during the holidays. Don't force him into anything! Suzuki-kun had to do lots of hard work this chapter."

Walking towards the door, wondering what Nozaki will make for their snack that afternoon, Sakura has to grit her teeth to keep from laughing when Mei replies, "But I want a giant stuffed bear, too!"