Hitsuzen: Fate of a Cherry Blossom

Chapter 15

- | Must Work Hard | -

Sakura stared in a daze, her emerald eyes blank and emotionless. Even though she was in class and staring at the teacher, she could hear nothing. Flashbacks occurred in her mind, her head hurting from over thinking too much. However, her train of thoughts were interrupted by Mikan.

"I hate tests!" cried Mikan. Sakura nodded, understanding Mikan. She hated tests too, especially Maths. Hotaru and the other classmates watched in amusement.

"Well, it is a painful thing for idiots to go through..." smirked Hotaru, flipping through the pages of a magazine. Yuu tried to calm things down.

"If you work hard and rank high in the grades for this test, you could be a candidate for the Best Student Award!" explained Yuu. Everyone disagreed. However, Yuu pointed towards a poster, in which enlisted the reward if one gets the Best Student Award.

"Sakura-chan, isn't that wonderful?" smiled Mikan. "You get to see your family for the week if you get the award!" Sakura smiled along with Mikan.

"Mm, so try your best Mikan-chan," cheered Sakura. Mikan tilted her head.

"E-eh? Aren't you going to try too?"

Sakura shook her head, smiling nervously. "Studying... isn't my forte..." The whole class looked at Sakura.

"NaniI?! I thought you're smart like Natsume-kun!" cried Mikan, pointing to him. Natsume stared at Sakura, before getting a smirk and looking away. Sakura pouted a bit, before turning her attention back to Mikan.

"N-no, it's not like that," explained Sakura. The class however, just thought that Sakura was being modest so they didn't jump to any conclusions.

"Well, for one she's got to be smarter than Mikan," explained Koko.

"Hey! I'm not that stupid!" cried Mikan. The whole class laughed but Sakura noticed that because of her cheerful spirit, studying became more fun and enjoyable, as everyone was very determined.

~ * ~

"Why is maths so hard..." grumbled Sakura, rubbing her head. She was currently studying beneath a cherry blossom tree, and not aware that Natsume was resting above the tree. He occasionally made glances at Sakura.

"So you weren't lying when you said studying wasn't your forte?" She heard Natsume ask. Sakura looked up from her work and stared at Natsume, shocked of his presence. She wasn't able to feel him since she was busy and exhausted from studying.

"Ano... I just..." started Sakura. "...don't like maths."

Natsume nodded and jumped back down. He walked towards Sakura and sat down beside her, explaining things Sakura couldn't understand.

And so, the two spent a while going over maths problems. However, Natsume was beginning to lose his patience.

"Seriously," growled Natsume. "How the hell did you not get that..."

Sakura smiled nervously. "Ano..."

"Pay attention, you baka!"

"Hey, don't call me a baka! My Japanese Tests were higher than yours!"

Natsume tsked, but he rebutted anyway. "What do you want me to call you then, baka?"

"Hmph," pouted Sakura. "If you can call me baka, I'll call you baka-kun then!" Natsume glared at Sakura.

"Don't you dare call me that," growled Natsume. Sakura put her hands on her hips.

Instead of studying, the two ended up bickering.