xxxviii.

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"we're goin somewhere
today!"

It's saturday morning, and
saihara's door is kicked open
just as he is enjoying sleep.

as saihara is a light sleeper, it
does not take long for him to jolt
out of slumber.

somehow, he is not surprised on
seeing momota and tenko in his room.

"shu! did ya hear me right?! we're
goin somewhere today, so wake up
and get yourself off that bed!" momota
practically yells.

"what?" saihara groggily stares at
momota confusedly.

"TENKO ORDERS YOU TO WAKE
UP! CHOP CHOP, SHUICHI!" tenko
screams, yanking saihara off the bed.
"AND GET READY!"

"w–why?" saihara asks. tenko only
glares.

"just because. now go take a shower!"

saihara decides there is no use in
defying tenko, so he complies and
trudges off to his tiny attached bathroom,
blinking sleep away from his eyes as he does so.

...

after one shower, saihara feels
considerably less groggy, so he
has the energy to throw on some
half-decent clothes, which was just
a pair of black slacks and a gray
sweater.

tenko tuts at his gray sweater (to
be honest, it was butt ugly, but
it was comfortable and he doesn't
really want to change into anything
else), but says nothing.

quickly, tenko grabs the brush and
brushes his messy, damp hair for
him. once she deems his hair
presentable, she drops the brush
and drags him outside his room,
momota following closely.

'w–why so fast?' saihara wonders.

(but at this point, he was too
afraid to ask).

"we're gonna borrow him for a
while, mr. s!" momota calls at saihara's
uncle, as he is being pushed out
the door.

his uncle, being used to situations
like this, only nods. "bring him back
by six. now listen, i want him back
in one piece, so be careful kids."

"WE WILL! ARIGATO, SAIHARA'S UNCLE,"
tenko yells just as momota slams
the door behind them.

saihara is surprised to see tenko's
beat down station wagon at
the front of the driveway, basically
blatantly ignoring the don't block
the driveway sign set up by saihara's
uncle.

"get in the car!" tenko commands,
and saihara quickly files into the
backseat before she could throw
him in.

after momota gets in and shuts
the door, tenko immediately starts
up the car. it takes her a few tries
considering how old her car is, but
it starts up with a smooth purr, and
tenko smiles proudly at that.

tenko backs up and starts
driving out of the neighborhood,
so saihara decides this is the right
time to ask where the hell are they
even going.

"so...tenko-san. where are we going?"

"meguro river park."

a concrete answer, but it leaves
saihara with more questions.

"why?"

"you'll see later." tenko curtly
answers, keeping her eyes on
the road in front of her.

"just sit back and enjoy the ride,
saihara-kun~!" angie chirps from
her passenger seat shared with
himiko.

this only unsettles saihara even
more, but he's decided that he can't
do anything but wait it out.

he sits back and sighs.

...

their party had arrived at
meguro river park, so saihara
pipes up with a question again.

"so? why are we here?"

tenko and momota are flanking
him on the sides, both dragging him
somewhere. presumably near the river,
where the cherry blossom trees were.
angie, himiko, and kiibo followed behind
closely.

for some reason he could hear angie
giggle every once in a while.

"just wait. at the cherry blossom
trees." tenko curtly replies again.
"now move along!"

they push through families and
dog-walkers until they reach the
river. saihara could feel his arms
hurting.

then the group stopped by the
river. saihara rubs his sore arms.

"are you going to tell me what's
going on?"

"you'll see it yourself," momota
answers this time, distracted.

saihara sighs and instead focuses
on the river. cherry blossom trees
were planted along the sides, so the
river was covered by a blanket of
petals. saihara feels disappointed
that he can't see the colors, but it
was beautiful to him, nonetheless.

a few of the petals drifted down
on saihara's hair.

"holy shit." he hears momota mumble
behind them.

"okay, so shuichi, you've been
asking tenko what is going on, yes?"

saihara diverts his gaze from the
river to tenko.
"yes. are you going to tell
me now?"

"well, there's your answer."
tenko gestures to somewhere
alongside her, and saihara turns
to look there.

there was a huge group of people,
but his attention is on the boy that's
in front of the group.

his hair looked fluffy.
the boy had a soft handsomeness
about him that was somehow
familiar to saihara.

he wore a shirt with lots of stripes.
he looked much taller than saihara.
his shirt was baggy on his relatively
lanky figure. and...he had stupid looking
shoes.

saihara has seen him before.

"a–amami-kun?"

yet he can't help but be surprised.

oH BOY

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