after several weeks of becoming sakura’s partner, natsuhiko made it his mission to better understand his, “partner in crime” as he calls it, better. of course, sakura paid no mind to his shenanigans, too preoccupied with tsukasa’s plans to care. though, she never did put an end to it either.

natsuhiko started small, he watched over sakura while he cleaned around the broadcast room. his little “sakura watch” has led him to new discoveries about her. for one, sakura liked astronomy, something natsuhiko would’ve never guessed from her outward appearance. he often found sakura reading about the constellations and the different meanings throughout history and in different cultures. natsu took note of this and decided to ask her about it another time.

another thing natsuhiko has learned is that sakura is fond of teas. it seemed that sakura had a collection of different types of teas, most of them originating outside of japan. the weird thing about that was, despite sakura normally drinking tea, she always had a faint smell of coffee. it was a sweet and homey smell, it only made it more pleasant to be around her honestly.

there were other things natsuhiko had noticed as well, all relatively small things; sakura has a habit of dog-earring her personal books but when borrowing books she always carries around her own yellowish-gold bookmark. or how sakura always had a slight pout in her frown, something natsuhiko had grown to love. when natsu would focus on her lips, he had noted that she had beauty marks as well; one under her lip, one on her pinkie finger, and one on her neck. natsuhiko had often found himself fantasizing about kissing the one under her lips.

slowly but surely, natsuhiko had grown to adore each of sakura’s features and little habits. he hadn’t realized this of course, not until sakura finally spoke up about his staring.

“why are you staring at me like that, natsuhiko?” sakura sighed, closing her book. when she turned to face him, natsuhiko had suddenly felt an intense overwhelming, and unfamiliar feeling washes over him. words caught in his throat, unable to speak proper sentences, natsuhiko sat there with a dumbfounded look on his face. up until now, sakura had never looked at him directly like this before, she had always kept her gaze down to the ground.

sakura sighed once again, shaking her head as he turned back to what she was doing before. “you know it’s rude to stare at someone like that?” she commented, paying no mind to the slightly embarrassed look natsuhiko had. natsuhiko had no idea what that was, that was the first time someone had ever rendered him speechless.

“sakura…” natsuhiko blurted out, her name felt so foreign on his tongue. sakura turned towards him once more, only this time she didn’t spare him a look, yet natsuhiko could tell her attention was all on him.

“you like kamairicha tea, right?” natsuhiko had no clue as to what he was saying, but nanamine had looked up to him with a curious gaze and he took it as a good sign. “what about kamairicha-” before nanamine could finish, natsuhiko cut her off with another question.

“sakura...would you like to have kamairicha with me…”

“what?”

what the hell was he thinking, natsuhiko has no idea how to prepare tea! yet here he was, nervously serving tea to sakura, who hadn’t spoken a word for several minutes. natsuhiko was starting to get anxious, his hands began getting clammy and shaky. but he still hid behind that confident persona of his.

“i didn’t know you knew how to make tea, natsuhiko” sakura broke the silence, taking a sip of the green tea. ‘yeah me neither’ natsuhiko thought. sakura hummed at the taste, she could tell it was made by a total amateur but, it still had its sweet taste. natsuhiko took a sip of his own. sakura let out a light airy laugh.

“natsuhiko, are you sure this is kamairicha? this tastes like licorice root” sakura smiled contently, but natsuhiko was internally panicking. did he pick the wrong one?? she can tell?? sakura noticed his nervousness and waved a hand,

“it’s fine, i like this one too. it’s not bad for your first time” she reassured or at least tried to. natsuhiko was beating himself up at the thought of messing up something so simple. he doesn’t know shit about teas!

natsuhiko needed an excuse to change the conversation, to save himself from further embarrassment. he looked around the room before his eyes landed on sakura’s hair, more specifically the two twin braids in her head.

“say uhm, what's with the braids? i’ve never seen anyone with that kind of style before” natsu laughed awkwardly, taking another sip of the sweet tea. sakura reached up to her hair, lightly tracing the braid on her right side before humming in thought.

“when i was little, my mom used to braid my hair this way.” sakura stared into her cup. natsuhiko perked up at the mention of her mother, sakura’s finally opening up? after like what, a month?

“your mother?” the comment flew out of natsuhiko’s mouth without thinking, instantly regretting it when he saw the frown on sakura’s lips. shit, did he say something wrong? what if it was a sensitive topic? did he just fuck up again? sakura let out a sigh before looking up to the ceiling. it was silent for a moment, maybe to sakura it was a calm and peaceful silence of her pondering about what to say, but to natsuhiko it was torture.

“....yeah my mother.” was all nanamine said before getting up from her seat. she slightly bowed before putting the teacup back on the tray in the center of the table. “thank you, natsuhiko. i enjoyed my time here with you, but i must get back to work” sakura reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a green tea packet. she put the packet in natsuhiko’s hands with a slight smile.

“this is kamaircicha. for next time, of course” with that, sakura took her leave. natsuhiko stared down at the packet in his hands, he could feel his heart racing and his head buzzing with confusion. after a whole month he still couldn’t figure out what sakura’s deal was. she truly was a mystery.

© natsuteru. <3