A/N

This is my first attempt ever at writing any fanfiction (if, that is, one excludes an attempt at writing a crossover some years ago, which was stopped halfway through chapter 3 when I realised that my writing was, leniently described, pitiful) but I thought I should give it a shot since I had this weird idea about a Nagatoro story. Who knows, maybe this will get me to start writing again…I have sorely missed that.

Now, regarding the story, I know that songfics are quite a cheesy practice to begin with, but I hope that my story won't fall under that category. In reality, I would call it a "symfic": it was initially based upon a single work of classical music, but I decided to associate each of the chapters with a different work once it became apparent that the work could not be a one-shot, so two chapters (or more) would be necessary.

A few further notes for now:

1. This first chapter is loosely based on the 1st movement of J. Sibelius' Symphony #6, which I encourage you to listen to (the Youtube link is watch?v=FChg3ERp6C8 ; movement 1 ends at 09' 12'').

2. The flashback section takes part about two months prior to the primary narration time, ergo mid- to late August, in Chigasaki Satoyama Park.

3. As per fanfiction custom, sentences in italics represent characters' thoughts.

I would imagine that this story would be taking place in Naoto's 3rd and Hayase's 2nd year of high school, so about 12-16 months since their first meeting (and presumably, even months later than the current chapter (#63 as of July 2020)). Sorry, but I'm having trouble keeping track of time throughout the progression of the manga (and I have skipped some chapters as well).

FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS RE: THE MUSIC:
I have been informed by some of my readers that the pacing of the musical works which I quote does not match the reading of the story. Please note that this is not the intended function of the music associated with each chapter. Unless otherwise stated, each work is supposed to act as a musical comment upon either the whole or parts of the plot, NOT as a musical background accompanying the reading step-by-step. As such, if you decide to listen to each work while reading the chapter which it accompanies, chances are you will be disappointed. You are instead encouraged to listen to each work after having read the accompanying chapter at least once.

For this chapter, I have conceived the musical choice so as to represent the beauty of nature, but also Naoto and Hayase's noble thoughts about each other in that context (especially since the "pure spring water" statement was a description of the symphony by the composer himself).

Hachiouji residence. 8.00 p.m., 10th of October.

That more than a year would have passed since her first fateful encounter with her senpai, her capital-S Senpai, until she got to visit him at his house…

…was not a particularly surprising observation for Nagatoro once she carefully considered it.

Firstly because the idea had somehow rarely occurred to her in the first place. And whenever it did, earlier on during the time when they knew each other, well…he could barely entertain the thought without a huge burden of embarrassment. She? In his house, his room, observing his possessions? Perish the thought!

After all, this was Senpai that we were talking about. The very possibility of visiting her own house, even with others around, had made him flustered all right; actually being there for the first time, in her presence and nobody else's, had him turned into enough different shades of crimson per minute to cover an entire encyclopaedia of the colour red. Ah, their gaming mania be thanked, though, he could manage to be distracted enough from the enticing teasing-master sitting beside him. Feeding each other's competitive nature was strong enough a distraction for both of them.

Yea, even for Nagatoro. The same Nagatoro whose prime expertise and goal in life, her sport of excellence, was to tease her Senpai to the ends of the world and back.

And so the awkwardness gradually, if not too easily, faded, time after time, with visit after visit, throughout that year. They would play video games together. They would study together, exhibiting an unprecedented ability to intently focus on something other than each other (or, in the case of Naoto, his paintings). They would play board games together (no guarantee of protection of the game components from damage, thank you very much). And Big Sis-Toro would contribute amply and generously to the involvement of her younger sibling in embarrassing contexts.

"…hmph."

She let out a rather flustered grunt as that last thought made her more aware that Sis-Toro was unwittingly honing his skills in competitive teasing as much as his regular co-existing with Nagatoro. Oh, indeed. His unprecedented attempt at a comeback during their excursion to the summer festival was only a meek first.

You see, after more than a year of "chaotic playful" coexistence, they both had fallen to the "vice" of letting their guard down easily around each other.

Yeah, woe is me…

And thus, more often than not, her "attacks" would be met with a counter-"attack". A uniquely coy (or sometimes perhaps more sly) comeback, in his unique style; filled with humour as much as affection, he well knew subconsciously. Thus the game would sometimes become two-sided. A duel of wits, if you like. And once in a while, he would even score serious points, and Nagatoro would be the one more vying for first place in blushing intensity.

Speaking of scoring, though…

Oh, for the love of God, why can't I let my mind rest just once? Why…why did I have to remember?

Her most humiliating defeat had dealt her a blow with thundering force on that day. And the most annoyingly excruciating thing about it was that he had landed a lethal hit against her without even knowing.

Possibly without even trying…

Gorgeous…absolutely gorgeous…

A visit to the park was definitely yet another gift from the highest heavens for this budding artist. First came their assignments for landscape sketching, and now this. Oh, how much he owed to that president of his, and to her assignments…his inspiration and his heart had opened up to a beauty which he would have imagined to exist only in the realm of…fantasy manga, perhaps?

But this was real. The lushly filled canvas of creation lay before him, earthly nature illumined by the sun's rays after their playful dance with the clouds and the foliage. The southern wind and the rustling leaves were a musical accompaniment most fitting.

Indeed…today, we paint. Today, I, Hachiouji Naoto, rescind my vows to the ancient monastic order of Otaku and resign myself to the vile, lewd temptations of the world.

Hardly suppressing a chuckle at the last thought of his…

Today…there is peace.

His mind was brought back to earth by the sight of his brunette friend some twenty or so feet before him, waltzing to and fro between the tree trunks, her gaze dancing all over in an endearingly carefree manner, a cheeky smile gracing her face. His mind was blissful to acknowledge that this beauty was something which he would not explore alone.

There she is…the perpetual enemy of peace, struck mercilessly down, wallowing in the misery of her defeat.

And as he chuckled to himself once more, he stopped dead in his tracks as an alarming observation suddenly hit him.

Wait…Nagatoro…carefree…do these words even belong in the same sentence?

He glanced at her again, more intently, hardly bothering to conceal his blushing face and an almost unnoticeable gasp, while letting his thoughts become more specific as he averted his gaze:

Has there…been a time, ever before, when she stopped running, and prancing, and shouting, and decided to merely…be?

Is this…what that looks like?

He was grounded once again, this time perhaps in the most predictable manner possible:

"Seeeeen~paiiiiiii…at what are you staring like that?"

"Huh?"

"You look like you've gone into power saving mode or something, Senpai…"

Oh, of course. This is Nagatoro, after all is said and done.

"But fear not!"

Oh dear, what's into her this time?

"For I am here to rescue you, fellow warrior! Behold, my secret weapon…"

And then she dug into her purse, emerging with a look of victory on her face, holding high a black power bank in a theatrically triumphant manner.

"The almighty oracle of battery revitalisation!"

"Ah…is that so…" he replied, donning his traditional Senpai-trademarked coy smirk.

"Behold its awful power!"

With that, she started lightning-speed pinching him with the bank's connector on various parts of his body, while he, evidently tickled, tried to push away the assaulting cable, looking rather like an annoyed cat in the whole process.

"Heeeehehehehe HEY! Naga…ow! Nagatoro! Ai! St…stop it already…"

"Ooooohoohoohoo…traditional Senpai over here, a sight to behold. A disgustingly timeless value…but look! He is indeed fully charged, and back in action!"

"Oof!"

"Isn't it so?" Her sly grin never failed to make its appearance.

"Feh…like I needed you and your magical contraptions in the first place."

"…huh?"

"Well, I'm solar powered, of course. I run on the power of nature, hmm? You know, sustainability and all that jazz that's in vogue nowadays?"

Her expression barely changing, she continued:

"Seriously, though, man, you had completely spaced out for a moment there. You literally looked like your batteries had died."

"Yeah…sorry 'bout that." He shyly replied, looking towards an opening nearby. "It's just that I got…"lost in wonder"…"

"…can't blame you, really."

She resumed to visually appreciating the beauty of nature as he did and added:

"Maybe you were right."

"Huh?"

"I think you might run on the power of nature, after all."

"Ah…"

They stayed still for several moments until, predictably, Hayase broke the silence again as she walked towards the clearance.

"I, unfortunately, do not possess such futuristic, life-enhancing upgrades yet, so I'm feeling completely beat."

"Well, I've been so dazed that I forgot I was tired…how long have we been walking again?"

"Two and a half hours…and we're going back on foot again later."

"Oh, golly gosh…"

They were lucky to find a bench very close to the edge of the forest, and both promptly proceeded to make use of it. It turned out that the same was near the cliff of a hill, offering a magnificent view over the town, with the sea stretching to the end of the horizon.

Gorgeous, I say again…

Losing himself in the sight, he could scarcely notice Nagatoro's sardonic expression foreboding another surprise attack.

"Senpaiii…you've taken the meaning of gross to a whole different level today."

"HEH? Whu…what do you mean this time?"

"You're not ogling just any girl this time…oh no, you've upped your game, it seems; this time it's Mother Nature herself, in all her naked beauty…"

"Uhhhhhh…"

"Your lewdness knows no limits, does it?" she continued as she inched closer to him, dropping her voice's register to a mock-seductive tone.

Naoto, resolved to not give her charms an easy victory, returned to looking straight ahead, with a mouth and eyes as flat as an ironboard.

"Gross, Senpai! Gross, I tell you!" With that she started lightly but passionately hitting him on his back, her arms not all that different from boiled noodles in terms of flexibility…

"Only one person in the entire world could ever come up with the concept of leering at landscapes…" He responded, his tone matching the look on his face perfectly.

She let out her characteristic Nagatoro laughter, unable to withstand either the situation itself or Naoto's dramatic expression. Yet when she quieted down, for several moments she said nothing and moved only minimally, instead allowing herself to become immersed in some "landscape-leering" of her own. Not that she'd ever admit as much…

Her mind carried away as she gazed towards the horizon and listened to the distant sounds of the sea, she did not notice straight away that, at some point, Naoto had left the bench and was walking around with an inquisitive expression.

"Huh? Whatcha doin', Senpai?"

"Trying to find an ideal spot to capture a good angle of you and the landscape…yup, this will do." He settled on the grassy ground a few feet to the left of the bench, and started mentally capturing the scene, pencil and sketchbook in hand.

"Sheesh, dude! Maybe I overcharged you earlier? Cut yourself some slack!"

"It's all right, Toro! I'm fine, really…I feel like I need to draft this right now…it's too good to miss, everything's perfect; the scenery, the lighting…"

"Your attire, even…" he added internally, not wanting to betray how he thought that she looked transcendentally cute in her floral dress.

"…all right, then. Keep your lewd secrets to yourself." She winked at him, her elvish expression persisting. "I'm having some ice tea, wanna save some for you?"

"I do. You probably don't."

"…DUDE. Stop calling me out pre-emptively!"

A subdued rascally chuckle was enough of a victory sign for him right then, as he resolved to return to his work. Meanwhile, Hayase got her bottle of iced tea and started drinking calmly while shifting her stare to enjoy the view towards the south-east.

Maybe I should do some sketching of my own, eventually…but gosh, I can't bring myself to that yet.

The charms of Mother Nature, "in all her naked beauty", were sometimes evidently too much even for Hayase. Being quite foreign to the art of romance, as the scores of popular guys who were met with her abject disapproval could testify, she dared to imagine that maybe this feeling was the closest to falling in love which she had ever experienced.

I…I don't know what this is, but I somehow want it to last forever…it's as if I have got some sort of nostalgia for…for something which I might have never lived?

Unable to decipher this foreign sentiment in the slightest, she sat in silence further still, her lips slightly parted and forming a shape which matched her internal "warm and fuzzy confusion", as she would have described it. Eventually, after several minutes, she looked at her Senpai at a moment when he was resting for a short while, and thus…it happened.

The proverbial "first hammer-stroke".

For on the exact moment when she decided to look in his direction, he had taken off his glasses, letting himself be mesmerised by all around him which aroused his different senses, and he was smiling.

No, that was not his once creepy, otaku leering face. Neither was it his shy, flustered smirk which made its appearance so often after she had become his official tease (well, his official sadist master, initially). Nor was it the satiro-diabolical grin which he wore when he jumped on the offensive, nor was it anything like his usual laughing face, nor did it resemble anything else she had ever seen from him.

It was a carefree, serene half-smile, bearing all of his soul's noble thoughts and desires, and becoming elatedly united with the resplendence which shone all around them.

What in the world is he doing? This is……it's like a genuine, heartfelt painting of the bliss which he seems to have found…it's like……like…

To her utter (posterior) horror, she remembered, and uttered under her breath, a phrase which he had quoted during one of their study sessions some months before, though she barely remembered the context, and she could barely care:

"Like a drink of pure spring water, amidst a world drowning in cocktails…"

To her extremely greater horror, she consequently noticed that her heart skipped a beat at that moment.

This is…unreal, this can't be him…and THIS…can't be me…DANGIT, Senpai…have you no shame…do you have ANY IDEA of what you're doing to me?

Feeling that the moment in which she was so happily trapped would never end, she was left with a feeling of deprivation when Senpai eventually put on his glasses again and shot a concerned look in her direction as he noticed her undecipherable countenance, thus dropping his expression of serenity.

"Ah…Nagatoro-chan, you look a bit…umm…is everything OK?"

"YES! Why…yes, of course. Totally. No problem here. No siree! I'm just...making sure you aren't...um...drooling...as you sometimes do, because...aha! See there! Those two hills in the southwest, they...look like a pair of breasts or something, and you were looking towards, er...you know you've got a goddamn perverted mind, so..." She retorted, trying to mount her best defence, which anyone in the world except for him would promptly know was a pitiful attempt to save face.

Naoto, while somewhat perplexed, eventually merely brushed it all off as just her being typical hyper Nagatoro, and returned to the bench without haste, though his thirst had made him greatly crave his iced tea…almost as much as she was craving a drink of cold spring water again.

Dangit…home run…just like that, with no effort, with no shame…game, set, and match to Senpai, to IDIOT SENPAI…

Thenceforth, she really tried her darnedest to forget all about what happened on that day. For the ever-resilient Nagatoro Hayase, this would hardly be a burdensome task. She always had so much going on in her life, that she could always choose what would be kept afloat; everything else would be buried beneath an ocean of busyness (whether the proverbial waves thereof be swimming, studying, girl talk, sleepovers, karaoke and movie nights, or competitive teasing, they were too many to count). She set her mind on forgetting, and she promptly forgot.

Until, a few months later, she didn't.

F*ck…the idiot went and landed a home run while blindfolded…stupid Senpai, you are loathsome…you…you disgustingly peaceful sheep-haired Gioconda giving people heart attacks for no good reason…UGH…

She was unsure whether her greatest mistake was allowing herself to remember that day, or having repressed the memory so intently and tactlessly that it had resurfaced ever so violently, or having allowed that incident to happen in the first place. Cursing her ever-hyperactive mind which brought her back to that memory against the best of her efforts, she held her frame to keep herself from shaking.

Dishonour…dishonour…dishonour…dishonour…

Here ends the first chapter.

(Please review if you have read; your criticism shall be valued.)