🥏Doorway into Summer Arc☀️
Written by EmtenDew
Edited by P. serrulata
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Cover art courtesy of Shamastus:
https://www.reddit.com/user/Shamastus
https://www.deviantart.com/shamastus999
https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/83764210/artworks
https://twitter.com/Shamastus_999
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Author's note:
ED: After dropping the bombshell that she may invite Rabi-chan to the beach, Gamo-chan continues her walk to the bus stop with Naoto.
Be patient a little longer. One more chapter with Naoto and Gamo-chan, and then a small Sakura/Hana-chan detour will lead into the beach stuff.
I like Naoto/Gamo-chan dynamics, but I wound up putting too much into the Wednesday karaoke night, and writing these dialogue heavy chapters can be tiresome.
That's not to say I dislike the "afterparty" chapters. They're just draining.
...
I tried watching the anime Mou Ippon!, and I can't stand the character design. It's just creeps me out, the design, and I've seen all the tropes before. It's nothing new.
I think Nagatoro might've left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to anything judo though.
I also breezed through the third season of The Venture Bros., and that gave me a lot less to complain about. A reader told me that I'd enjoy the world building, and I wasn't disappointed.
There was plenty of series "history" to be enjoyed too. The Action Man is my favorite from the old Team Venture.
"Action! Action! Action, action, action, action, action!"
The fact that the original Team Venture had a member named "Humongoloid" is one of the funniest things ever.
PS also directed me to this lovely video, showcasing Brock Samson's exploits from the first three seasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHIsL2LdsAo
I've started Season 4, but that's for next time. (Other than the Venture universe has a girl Hitler AND a dog Hitler. LOL?!?!)
...
I know I shouldn't complain about how the manga turned crappy, but it's like with Game of Thrones, even though I never watched it.
Even when the creators came to hate their audience and thought they were stupid, fans needed to see where things went.
...
Nothing happened in the canon chapter. Again.
I think it's kind of messed up that two guys that probably get beaten up more than Naoto ever did would want to properly meet Nagatoro. It would've been hysterical if Naoto let them have her. Once they knew what they were in for, they'd run screaming in the opposite direction, like in the Animal House movie after Flounder "killed" the horse.
I really do think that Orihara and the "head" art school girl are both a few donuts short of a dozen.
And their craft is all each of them has—and it really does seem to be all they have, so I'd feel sorry for them if they weren't such awful characters.
It's no way to live, feeling like you have nothing else.
What's funny is that Nagatoro has a lot going for her, but she's stupid, and her self-esteem is so far into the toilet, that she thinks that Naoto is all there is for her.
I'm not talking about just love either, but her whole life.
She couldn't do better than him, but Naoto is her end goal, the only thing she's currently living for, and that's pretty weak.
Even Orihara sees how good Nagatoro has it but knows she herself to have nothing of substance besides judo, and that won't help much when she's washed up as an athlete and living off the government for the rest of her life.
But Naoto's end goal isn't Nagatoro, and hopefully, she'll just wind up being a pebble on the road of his life, a pebble that he uses a larger, sharper, better rock to pry from the insole of his shoe and flicks into the ditch.
She "needs" him, but he doesn't need her. Naoto is settling with a girl like Nagatoro.
Bad writing. Nanashi should take a note from The Venture Bros. And Moral Orel. And South Park. And from the numerous fic writers that do a better job than him.
Wishful thinking on my part.
I'm guessing that Naoto will be able to beat HIS basket case "rival", but basket case Nagatoro won't be able to beat HER basket case rival unless she fights dirty, and I can't wait to see it happen.
And remember that COVID is still coming for them, the story taking place circa 2018, so no 2020 Olympics for Orihara. Maybe she'll still be alive for the 2021 Games. I don't think I saw her name on the list of athletes.
I suppose it WAS slightly satisfying when Naoto told that twin-tailed trainwreck that just because SHE had nothing else to give her life any meaning or worth didn't mean that he didn't.
It was also satisfying to see Nagatoro hurting, her knowing that her garbage behavior towards Naoto has convinced him that there's essentially nothing between them. Even better, she herself had to admit to three lame-o characters that there was nothing worth talking about going on between them.
Maybe she's finally learning that you can't give mixed signals and treat someone like you want them to die for 15 months and expect them to give decent feedback.
...
My editor did something mean, but it was a joke, and I think it was kind of funny.
I guess someone had a discussion up on the Nagatoro sub, asking what Nagatoro would do with that puerile ticket Naoto probably doesn't remember.
He said he responded that Naoto might take up smoking and whatever Nagatoro asks for, he burns the ticket in an ashtray in response.
Personally, I'd like to see him tear it in two.
PS told me a story when I asked him WHY HE'D COME UP WITH SOMETHING LIKE THAT. LOL
He said a teacher for some "bull$#!+" philosophy class wanted his students to fill out a supplied sheet on their definition of courage, and make it as long as it took to make their point. They could turn it in that day or take it home to work on.
PS wrote, if he remembers correctly, "Courage is finding it in oneself to do something—hopefully the right thing— and following through, even when one is afraid," and he handed it in.
A friend of his wrote, "This is!" and handed it in.
PS's fraternity brother wanted to one-up this classmate, so he took the assignment home, burned it in the ashtray he used for things other than tobacco, and filled a Ziplock baggie with the remains.
Apparently, they all got full credit. I do wonder if that baggie smelled like my head-canon Gamo-chan's favorite animal.
PS has a lot of anecdotes, it seems.
...
Please look at the Q&A section I set up at the end of the chapter. Ask us anything and we'll add another section in the next chapter. I would be happy if you ask questions.
Please enjoy what I wrote.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Taking a slow, easy stride down the sidewalk, on the long way back to the bus stops, Maki Gamo stretched luxuriously.
"Ooh, boy, Paisen," she chortled, half-yawning. "Do I ever feel better, showing you who's boss~."
Naoto Hachioji wished he could say the same.
He didn't feel bad, but a girl with ample assets, hanging on his arm—while making a show of it, not that she was still doing it—was enough to rattle him a little.
The sensation of the SQUISH was not fast forgotten~...
He trembled, saying, "Yeah, good for you..."
"Hey, that's what happens, Paisen..." she churled. "You can't say weird stuff like that and escape a maiden's wrath~."
Naoto had a mind to ask her what had been so weird, but doing so would've been dishonest and silly.
He'd said PLENTY, and he knew it...
"Mrmbl..." he stewed.
Gamo-chan giggled, not wickedly, "Hey, I said I was sorry for going overboard..."
She had...
And he believed her.
"Yeah, I know~..." He could even grin about it, though not with much ferocity.
"...~"
"..."
Speaking of "belief"...
"Hey, Paisen..." Gamo-chan nudged. "This stuff—what we're talking about—it's gonna stay between us, right?"
He thought this had been determined. "Of course... What, is there something else?"
"There is, yeah..."
'Oh, shit...' he fretted, though he gave better feedback. "Don't worry... this'll stay between us."
She ruminated, "'Cause, you know how I just said I wasn't sure if I believed Rabi-chan? The stuff about her being jealous?"
Naoto still felt that Rabi-chan was either telling the truth or was stupid if she wasn't, but he wasn't going to "rub it in" anymore.
"Yeah, you did," he replied.
"..." Gamo-chan felt the need to ease in. "Y'see, Paisen, Rabi-chan told me something else... and I wasn't sure I believed it either... until I, uh, did."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
She was getting to that, "You remember how she broke up with her boyfriend?"
"Yes, she made such a big deal about it..."
"But you know—also—how it was... completely bullshit... how okay she seemed with it?"
Yes, Rabi-chan had blustered her way through the entire episode...
She'd missed the last big beach get-together, trying very hard that weekend to fix things with her boyfriend, the one she'd picked up in November/December, and that had been a bust.
And while she'd proclaimed to being a "free woman" again, glad to be rid of the son-of-a-bitch, the breakup had been AWFUL...
Naoto knew that Gamo-chan wasn't the only girl to cry in the bathrooms, not that Gamo-chan knew for a fact that anyone besides him knew that, though a few did.
Rabi-chan had done A LOT of it—crying—on the matter, and it was a secret most poorly-kept...
The breakup had crushed Rabi-chan, and watching her mow her way through her grief had been a sad sight for all that knew better.
In short, Naoto could say, "Yeah... I don't think anyone believed her, Gamo-chan."
"I'll bet you're right about that."
"..."
"..."
"So... what happened?" Naoto asked.
Gamo-chan had paused.
She seemed quite uncomfortable. "I don't think she thought anyone believed her either, not that she copped to that... but she did tell me the truth."
"Really?" he gave a slightly skeptical response.
The Maki didn't seem to mind. "Yeah... she did."
"Oh..."
"But that wasn't it, Paisen..."
"...!" Naoto did a take. "Oh... then, what was it?"
She sighed, "She told me I helped her..."
"...?!"
"Yeah, I getcha." Gamo-chan smirked. "But that's what she said... What's more... she told me I was nice about it... that she felt better, talking to me, the week they broke up.
"She told me it was all crap... and how upset she'd been. I don't think I did anything special, but... she told me that I helped, how I supported her and stuff..."
Naoto gave, "I see..."
"I wasn't sure that I believed her, even then, but... she wasn't faking it..." Gamo-chan's voice softened. "She started crying, saying that she felt horrible over how she'd treated me. I mean, I wasn't exactly nice back to her when we were fighting, but she kept saying that I'd helped her, back when she needed it... and that she'd... betrayed a friend..."
"...!" Naoto was obliged to let her speak.
A witness might argue that the girl's senpai wasn't being all that attending, his kohai sharing something so confidential.
But he was...
Naoto hadn't seen much of the "crooked Gamo-grin", and it didn't always signify it, but he'd come to associate it with the self-doubt that she so easily fell into.
She'd started grinning in this manner, not long after beginning her tale.
She BELIEVED it, sure, that Rabi-chan saw her in this light, but she COULDN'T believe it...
Naoto wasn't sure how Gamo-chan had comforted the other girl.
But he was certain it was true...
He didn't think it really mattered what the girl next to him had done right, but he wanted her to know that she...
"..." He was stumped.
Shoot, he wasn't sure WHAT he wanted her to know...
Though, he did want her to feel she wasn't unworthy of offering aid to another, even if they weren't the best of friends.
After her little stunt in pulling his arm—and, yes, his upper body—that which fit—into the valley of her boze, he was hesitant of making further contact.
Nevertheless, hadn't he put an arm over her shoulders, the afternoon prior, when she needed her senpai...?
Hadn't he simply patted her on the back, wishing to establish a line between them, when words hadn't been adequate...?
It wasn't as if Gamo-chan was far off, and his arms being the length they were...
Naoto didn't ponder it any further, and he did something that would've had him dropping one of those "turd-treasures" down his pantleg, not so very long ago.
He supposed he'd done the same thing, just the day before, but there was something different about doing it while walking.
Placing his hand on her closest shoulder, he jostled her a little, an affable manner, saying, "Don't overthink it, Gamo-chan."
"...?!" Stopping, she juked beneath his grasp, causing him to recoil.
'Crap...' he vexed, her wild eyes darting his way; he regretted his abruptness. "Sorry..."
His feet planted, unmoving, he so wished he could've been cooler in his actions, but his blush betrayed him.
Seeing his demeanor, Gamo-chan smirked, pink herself. "Hey, it's okay, Paisen... you just surprised me."
How did she think HE felt, having her latch around his elbow...?!
Naoto hadn't meant to startle her, no way, but there was yet what he'd said.
Pushing aside his discomfiture, he finished, "It seems Rabi-chan's serious, so..."
"Just accept it~...?" She offered a tiny smile, a sweetness—and capitulation—enduring.
He'd take it...!
"Y-yeah..." he bumbled.
Gamo-chan met him with an amused simper, and this held no meanness either. "Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh~..."
'Damn~!' His insides stirred up, watching her ceriseness going "ceriser".
It was that "magical" laughter, though not as boisterous, again...! That unguarded bodily response to delight, like they'd seen out of her in response to Tohru Hijikata's "monstrous genitals" line...!
Naoto's senpai-ish mental wanderings almost left him in the dust, and his friend was a few paces ahead before he noticed she'd restarted on the extended trek to the buses.
"H-hey!" he wheedled. "Wait!"
Why he fussed over such a short distance, who knew...?
"...~" Gamo-chan walked, twiddling her hands.
Naoto wondered at what must've been traveling through that noggin of hers. "...?"
Turns out, he didn't have to imagine...
"It's not like I've ever hated Rabi-chan," she disclosed. "Until this, we always got on okay..."
"Huh..." was his weak rejoinder, not for lack of caring.
Gamo-chan passed on griefing him.
"We were just talking about forgiveness, weren't we, Paisen...?" she pursued this instead.
"Yeah... we were."
And had it ever SUCKED...
Naoto considered the fallout of Hayase Nagatoro's eighth birthday party a lot worse than his mother throwing out some ¥800 toy, but it wasn't a contest.
And the both of them had other things they had trouble letting go...
"I know I should forgive Rabi-chan, especially since I know how sorry she is..." Gamo-chan articulated. "But I'm still pretty pissed off about it..."
Naoto wouldn't fault her for that.
One girl calling another girl "mannish" and broadcasting to a school audience that she was unliked among boys, a virgin, and had never been kissed was pretty terrible.
People had been killed, opened balls to nose, and had their intestines pitchforked and hung on trees for a Helluva lot less than that... ...Metal...
Nagatoro had suggested—degree if seriousness unknown to Naoto—that Gamo-chan clobber Rabi-chan.
He was happy that his pretty friend, big, burly girly as she was, was a stronger person than that.
He also wouldn't have faulted her TOO much for such an action (a good, sound thrashing, not the waywardness with pitchforks and trees), not that he'd condone it...
"Yeah..." he consented. "You're not wrong for that."
"You're Goddamn right..." she carped.
Against his better judgement, maybe against his safety, he chuckled, "S-sh-yeah..."
Her immediate response and tone sold it...
She glowered at him. "...~"
'Hoo!' Naoto wanted none of it, and he put some space between them.
"Hmph~," Gamo-chan derided. "You're lucky I'm channeling 'Maki the Merciful' tonight, Paisen... otherwise, I'd give you a charley-horse~."
"...What's a 'charley-horse'?" he dared.
"Something that'd have you limping home~..."
'Nopers!' He wasn't a fan, and he hadn't gotten rid of his giggles either. "S-sorry."
Since he did trust the merciful Maki, he got back into step with her.
"Heh~..." This pleased her.
It also sat well with him. "...~"
"..."
"..."
"There's also something else..." Gamo-chan became more solemn.
Naoto rotated her way. "What?"
"..." She chewed on her words. "Uh... It's about how Hayacchi and I were able to make up..."
"...!" He hadn't been ready for this, but it wasn't an unknown. "Oh..."
How they'd done so continued to be a mystery to him... and it was one he could stand NOT knowing...
He wouldn't stop her if she wanted to tell him though.
Gamo-chan didn't tell him how such a miracle had been triumphed, but she offered, "We said some pretty awful stuff to each other, Paisen... Hayacchi had what Rabi-chan said... and her own words too..."
Naoto remembered Nagatoro's attacks.
She'd called Gamo-chan's breasts "cow udders", claiming their development had ruined her as an athlete... not to mention she'd called her a coward, a BIG, TOUGH girl who was afraid of men...
The big, tough girl in question had her own part in it. "I told her she was—"
'Ack!' He wasn't up for hearing it again.
But she'd stopped.
It was unlikely she'd picked up on his distaste, but it was distasteful to her too. "No... you heard what I said to her..."
Naoto sighed, "I sure did..."
Gamo-chan had likewise called Nagatoro a coward... and flat-chested...
"Yeah..." she recalled, with some pain. "Also..."
"Also, what?"
She let loose a sigh of her own, "And Hanacchi was able to forgive me..."
Naoto didn't want her taking this way.
"Hey, I don't think that was an issue in the first place, Gamo-chan..." he assured. "She knew you were—"
"Even so, she was able to," she interrupted. "Don't assume that didn't upset her, because... I know it kinda did... me snapping at her..."
He never imagined that it didn't; he'd just figured that Hana took it as a "glancing blow".
"Yeah..." he supported. "You're right."
She moved to the crux of the matter, "If I can't make peace with Rabi-chan, I don't think I'm worth much. I guess I... wanna show Hanacchi that I can forgive Rabi-chan... for saying something stupid..."
'Aw, fuck...' Naoto thought he was sure where this was going. "..."
She wasn't there quite yet. "I don't think she would, but I don't want Hanacchi to hate Rabi-chan just because other people do. I don't want her to have anything against Rabi-chan. I guess I never said anything, but Hanacchi and Rabi-chan had fun together the last time we did karaoke, so..."
"I didn't know..." He was legitimately surprised, but he stood by the notion that Hana could probably get along with anyone.
"Rabi-chan thought Hanacchi was hilarious, but not, y'know, in a mean way," Gamo-chan reinforced. "I think she understood her better than the rest of us."
Naoto was less astonished to hear this.
"I can see that," he tendered. "Sunomiya's like that. She doesn't have to try to be funny. And I think Sakura-san gets her a lot better than I do..."
"And what about the times Hanacchi does try~?" Gamo-chan snickered. "She can come up with some pretty entertaining shit~..."
Naoto threw himself to the wolves, "Yeah, like when she said I 'had a few things cooking' the week before finals~."
He was okay with doing so, and he was rewarded with a Gamo-guffaw.
"Ha!" she flourished. "Oh, man, that was a good one!"
Naoto beamed. "...~!"
It HAD been a good one... That whole Friday lunch had been good... until...
They'd all been having a gas until Nagatoro got huffy and stormed out for no good reason.
And she'd ruined lunch on MONDAY too~...
Divinely, Gamo-chan was unable to read his thoughts this time as well, and she kept them in more cheerful waters.
"Speaking of funny, Paisen, that joke you bombed a little while ago~?" she taunted.
Naoto didn't even try to hide the rolling of his eyes. "Yeah, what about it...?"
Maybe he did that too often around her...
"Aw, don't get all pissy about it..." she urged, poking at his shoulder. "Sometimes bombs are even funnier than successes~."
There was no denying that...
"I agree," he planted.
Gamo-chan said, "What I was getting at was you don't really need to try either."
Sakura Inori had told him the same...!
He was thankful to hear it from another girl. "...~"
"That's not to say your Spiderman joke wasn't funny~."
He felt the need to correct, and he again threw himself to the wolves, albeit with less enthusiasm, "That wasn't a joke..."
"Oh, I know," she followed. "I guess I should've said it was 'funny'. It wasn't a joke, but it was funny."
"I'm glad you liked it~." He truly was. "Sorry again for... telling you those stories..."
"Don't worry about it, Paisen..." she forgave... again. "It's cool..."
"...~" That meant a lot to him.
...
Now, if only he had a charming way of telling her that SHE was funny too...
Naoto wasn't above making a fool of himself—not in front of his more "understanding" female friends, but he wanted to be slicker.
Gamo-chan had given him plenty to laugh about, and a lot of it came in the last month or so, since they'd gotten closer.
Her Ramuné melon soda gag had been pretty great~... other than Hana joining in on the madness too, with Yoshi only compounding the problem...
But it was still funny, in hindsight.
He'd also gotten a kick out of her referring to a "dip in the bell-curve"—the generated graph of her class's exam grades—as a pair of... "sad boobs" or "mournful tits".
It was something along those lines, right...?
He distinctly remembered that Gamo-chan had used the word "tits", given the parroting enacted.
Hana muttering "tits" in front of him, for apparently no reason other than to hear herself say it, had been some pioneering stuff...
He also surmised Gamo-chan had probably slackened in studying statistics, if they'd already covered distribution patterns.
The so-called "dip" represented "bimodial distribution"...
A bell-curve wasn't much of a bell-curve, not shaped like a bell.
"...~" Even so, he wasn't going to gripe Gamo-chan too much about any of that—the content or the terminology, knowing that Hana was enjoying the Hell out of palling around with some of her senpai.
...
Little did Naoto know, his cognizance flagging, they were still getting nearer to the crux of things.
And Gamo-chan left the cheerful waters, her senpai along for the ride.
She burst his "dream bubble", "But I'm worried about Hayacchi, Paisen... she's been like a different person lately..."
'Yikes!' He reeled. "W-why'd you say that?"
"It's a lot of things, but one thing is that her jokes aren't funny anymore... and her sense of humor's turned shitty..." She seemed to think this was an answer to his question.
Had she been setting this up, just so she could talk about the farm-tanned, test-tanking wet blanket?!
Naoto doubted any deviance on the matter but was unsure. "..."
He also wasn't all that sure about Nagatoro being "funny" in the first place.
Nor was he under the impression that her humor had changed...
As far as he could see, she'd just reached extremes with the same malarkey she'd always been peddling, at least since he met her.
He wasn't about to agree with Gamo-chan, not without hearing more (not that he wanted to continue with the subject).
"You think?" he took on.
She insisted, "I know. I've known her since before we could read, Paisen... You learn some things."
"Oh..." he granted, having viewed things from his own perspective.
As it was, she did intend upon a more recent pattern.
"Just in the last semester, things have been strange with her, Paisen," she continued. "Have you noticed anything?"
Giving a smartass rejoinder would've been easy; Nagatoro had been pretty shitty a few times.
However, he knew Gamo-chan's meaning. "Other than her being kinda pissy when Sunomiya's the center of attention, no."
It was a curt counter, but it was true to him.
"That's some of it... and that's just in the last few weeks," she overlapped.
"..." Naoto found himself wondering what else Gamo-chan had seen, the two of them tuned differently, though he'd be satisfied to leave this behind too.
The erstwhile, fabled crux was finally touched upon.
"Paisen... what do you think would have to happen for Hanacchi to be good with Hayacchi again?"
Fucked if he knew...!
He shuddered, nearly sick over the issue.
Though, his thoughts came out easily enough, "I thought Sunomiya might have an easier time with it, considering how Nagatoro's semester went, but I'm not so sure, when I think about it."
"I was thinking the same thing," Gamo-chan revealed. "The exact same thing."
'Including that it wouldn't work?' he gauged; he had something better in his pocket. "Yeah..."
He'd trust they were on the same page...
"I wish I knew what to say to Hanacchi..." Gamo-chan bewailed. "I wish I knew how to get her to understand..."
"Me too..." Naoto was in accord.
But, really, what was there to understand...?
"Hanacchi seemed good last Friday," Gamo-chan illustrated. "And she seemed great the whole time she was on her trip, especially today~."
Naoto smiled a bit, his friend rebounding a little. "Yeah... that was some video call we had..."
He could almost hear the girls laughing at Hana's line about Gamo-chan not killing him, seeing as he had the keys to the Art Club...
It only caused him to smile more. "...~"
"What is it, Paisen?" Gamo-chan wanted to know about his sudden upswing. "What's so funny~?"
"Oh, I was just thinking about the funny stuff that Sunomiya says..." he didn't specify what.
She thought this was aces. "Again~? Guess I can't blame you..."
"..."
"..."
Trying to articulate it had been dreadful to mull over, but Naoto had something he needed to say.
He wasn't sure if he'd said it or if he'd just thought it... a whole lot of times.
There was probably—Hell, ASSUREDLY—a better time for this, but he'd been waiting to get it out...
"Thanks... thanks for—"
Was thanking her necessary? Was it appropriate?
He didn't think so; it wasn't as if Gamo-chan had gone out of her way...
She perked up, her senpai having shut up for some reason. "...?"
"..."
"...?"
"I'm really happy that you and the girls have become friends with Sunomiya..." Naoto forced out, turning red.
"Heek?!" Gamo-chan jumped. "Paisen, wh-wh—"
"I just wanted to say it," he said, swallowing that pesky lump in his throat. "I..."
The tall girl had taken on a greater color too. "Paisen?"
"I really couldn't believe when she and Sakura-san, one day, just became friends..." he recalled. "I mean, you and the others got to know her better at karaoke, but... that was special, with Sakura-san. But now, you and Yoshi both have become good friends with her too... Nekoba as well, I suppose, not that we get to hang out with her as much."
"..." Thoughtfully, she listened.
"And I feel like an idiot..." he went on. "Until just this spring, I don't think I ever saw Sunomiya as a friend; I just saw her as a kohai. I didn't even realize that she saw me as a friend; I thought I was just some senpai. I could kick myself for that."
As with the above, he wasn't sure how much he'd said aloud on this...
"I knew it, I think, that Sunomiya never really had any friends, as long as I knew her... and I didn't do anything about it... I worried about her, but I never did anything to try and change that, not really..."
Had he even told this to Sakura...? Had he shared his worries about his seemingly friendless kohai...?
He was zooted if he could remember, his words and thoughts mixing like the contents of a shared chamber pot in some overcrowded orphanage.
And what sort of madman was writing his metaphors~...?!
"But you invited her to karaoke that Friday~! It never occurred to me that you might do that. I don't think it ever occurred to her either...
"I wish I'd been there... Sakura-san wasn't there, same as me, but she said that Sunomiya had so much fun... and I know she did, all because you and the girls helped to show her a good time~."
He supposed THAT was what he should've been thanking her for...
"Oh, Paisen, I'm really happy I did that too~..." Gamo-chan was touched. "It just... seemed like the thing to do... and it did turn out to be a lot of fun...
"...~" He took heart, not that it put to rest the pain he felt there.
She beamed. "Hanacchi's really something else, Paisen~. I'm happy we've become friends with her too."
"Yeah..." He had a tickle in his eyes.
Gamo-chan wasn't much better off. "...~"
"But..." Naoto began.
She asked, "But what?"
"But" nothing...
"So, it really hurts to see Sunomiya against Nagatoro." He did feel it. "I want us all to be friends, but..."
"...!"
"..."
"But...?" Gamo-chan cocked her head.
He wasn't without conjunctional purpose THIS time...
"Sakura-san told me something, when I was feeling pretty low..." he said. "She told me I need to look at the bigger picture... Things might be bad for a while, but they don't last forever... And when things make sense again, it's time to reevaluate."
It sucked...
Hana had forgiven Gamo-chan, minute as the offenses might've been.
Gamo-chan was willing to try and forgive Rabi-chan.
As it was, Hana was firmly in his corner.
Forgiveness might've been more than she was willing to give, at least until the time came to reevaluate...
Naoto, additionally, wasn't about to tell Gamo-chan that Sakura was "Team Hana-chan", all the way.
Regardless, she might've figured it out already...
In the same vein, he wasn't going to tell her that he'd asked Nagatoro to cut Hana some slack.
Though, he'd told Sakura...
And, sadly, it was easy to forget how awful Nagatoro had been to Hana.
It was something they should've never forgotten...
...
That Monday of finals week had blown goat scrotum, and Naoto wouldn't want to meet the person to disagree with that.
He wasn't the only one Nagatoro hurt that day. And she wasn't the only person to hurt Gamo-chan.
...
Had Naoto forgiven Nagatoro...?
He wasn't sure.
He just knew, that for the last couple minutes, he'd had an awful twinge in his heart, gut, and balls, expecting Gamo-chan to invoke that miserable set of circumstances.
She hadn't, and he was grateful...
...
Similarly appreciated, Gamo-chan cast off the shittiness in which they'd begun to wallow.
"Hey, we got on a bad track, Paisen..." she opined. "Whaddaya say... fuck it... for now...?"
He was possibly never more pleased to hear a pretty girl drop an F-bomb.
This had pretty much come out of nowhere, but...
"Yeah... fuck it~..." he slurred.
She adopted the ethos, "Fuuuuuuck it~."
And they moved along.
...
...
...
"Hey, I wonder..." Gamo-chan led in.
Naoto regarded her, "What is it?"
"When you were talking with my mom, she didn't say anything weird, did she...?"
"...?!" He saw the hint of red creeping into her cheeks. "L-like what?"
That comforted her... NOT...
"You know what I mean..." She suspected he did. "Did she?"
She meant "embarrassing", he recognized.
He'd be lying if he said "no", there being a little Maki-mortification to be experienced... some private-ish things she'd likely never want him to hear, harmless as they were, as much as Mrs. Gamo loved her daughter, as much as he was her friend, etc.
But "weird"...?
He gave it a few seconds. "..."
...
Mrs. Gamo had asked if she could call him "Nao-kun", and it hadn't confronted him.
She'd known about him, more than he thought Gamo-chan would ever share with a parent.
Mrs. Gamo had been surprised—but thankful—that her daughter had made an actual, living, breathing guy-friend.
On top of that, she knew her Maki was struggling with some things, and his friendship and art room abode had been a lifesaver.
And she'd said the... not weird—but odd thing, the whole line about heroes showing up as unremarkable and sometimes in unexpected places.
...
Did Naoto think Mama Gamo had said anything weird...?
...
"No..." He didn't think she had. "Why?"
"I'm glad..." she started. "One thing I can say for Mom is she rarely embarrasses us..."
'Holy shit!' Naoto had thought the same thing.
He wouldn't avoid it, "Yeah, she kinda struck me as being like that."
Adding that he'd been shown no baby pictures or told any defaming anecdotes was tempting, NOT for reasons of provocation, but he held back...
"It's Dad that does that kinda thing..." she Maki-mumbled. "Mostly to me..."
Naoto would defend a man he'd never met, "I think he's just proud of you... I wouldn't worry."
Wow, had that ever come out slicker than it had any business coming...!
He'd been near trembling, dropping that line.
"You don't know, Paisen..." she sneered, saying it. "You know what it's like to be embarrassed for someone else?"
"Sure," he responded.
She liberated, "Well, I feel embarrassed for them at how bad they feel embarrassed for me."
That made sense~...!
It did to him, really, and he suppressed a chuckle, "I-I see... I getcha..."
"Yeah, laugh it up~," she purred. "If you meet him, you won't be laughing then~..."
"I didn't mean to, sorry..."
"Aw, it's awright..." she dismissed.
"..."
"..."
"So... why?" Naoto took a symbolic step backwards. "Why'd you ask?"
"..." Gamo-chan kicked a pebble in her path, not angrily—but only because it was there, sending it skidding a few storefronts away. "Mom asked me way too many questions on my way out, when I left home."
"Ah..." He could relate, his own mother interrogating him at times, when he wanted only to be on his way.
But she was his MOM...
Moms did that, whether they were worried or not.
Gamo-chan began telling him, "You know how I gave Sakura some crap about her mom letting her out of the house, dressed like a... what was it?"
"Nekoba called her a 'streetwalker'..." Naoto illuminated, the corner of his mouth twitching. "And Sakura-san said that her mom had not only driven her downtown, but she'd helped her put the outfit together."
Why he added the detail, he wasn't sure...
"Yeah, she did look like a hooker..." Gamo-chan used stronger terminology, adhering to the most relevant portion.
Naoto thought that was too harsh. "She was just having fun, Gamo-chan. You're the one who wanted the girls to do a theme."
"Yeah, yeah, I know..." She waved it off. "That's not it though..."
"So, what then?"
"..."
"..."
Gamo-chan wasn't very eager to impart, "Well, Paisen, I guess it wasn't really asking questions, mostly; Mom was, more like... commenting on me, when I was getting ready."
"Yeah?" He tried wrapping his mind around this.
What did she mean...?
"It was pretty uncomfortable stuff too..." she knocked. "Stuff that could've waited for another time..."
'Like what?' Naoto doubted he wanted to know. "Okay..."
"Hoo..." Gamo-chan sighed, and she took on fresh blush. "She said, uh..."
"...?"
"..." She wiggled, uncertain.
"You don't need to say, not if you don't want to..." Naoto somehow kept the longing from his voice. 'Don't wanna know, don't wanna know, don't wanna know...!'
His offer hadn't worked the day before either...
"We were talking when I was changing into the power suit." She flipped a sleeve of the garment over her shoulder, her flushing face twisted. "She said I've been a lot more... feminine... lately."
Great! Another F-word...
'¡Dios mío!' Naoto's head spun.
WTF was there to say to THAT...?!
...
Though...
Eyeing the tall girl, he did suppose she'd been paying more attention to her appearance.
Not that he'd been sniffing them, but the girls each had her own scent, and it was impossible to miss when one of them was in close-proximity.
Among the hodgepodge of products and perfumes they used, Gamo-chan's bouquet had evolved from the sorts of things boys—the ones who didn't really give a crap beyond cleanliness—used on themselves to far more exotic fragrances, body and hair.
Even in the humidity, her hair had kept the straightness he'd seen during their video call, that morning, indicative of the new-ish conditioner he'd been smelling...
He'd sensed it for a while, but the stuff was apparently starting to work, Gamo-chan's voluminous frizz gradually subdued to something now unrecognizable from behind.
That fiery frizz had been as telling as fingerprints, in identifying her in a crowd...
She never wore much makeup, but she did wear it, and it had been cleaner and preciser, of late.
It wasn't as obvious, but Naoto had noticed, and she had been watching her mouth and rough behavior more closely.
On top of all that, she'd been letting her guard down a lot more often, and it wasn't just around him.
These didn't necessarily indicate greater femininity, but he HAD observed that and more, and he hadn't been the only one...
Someone who'd known her since the womb, seeing 17 years of her, hadn't missed it either, not that he'd place himself on the same level as Mama Gamo.
And it'd be stupid to not think that Sakura, Yoshi, and more hadn't perceived it either.
...
So, yeah, WTF WAS there to say...?
Even if Naoto was at a loss, Gamo-chan had something.
"When she saw me putting on the Fawns, she said I was crazy to go out walking in them, even if I'd gotten better at it. I didn't think she knew, but she knows I've been practicing walking around, wearing heels..."
"You have?" Naoto tried picturing it.
"Yeah, dummy..." She frowned. "Do you think girls can do it naturally?"
"...Nope..." He would've been really dumb if he did.
She lamented, "And I thought I was being so sneaky about it..."
Naoto shrugged, wishing to remain casual.
"Mothers..." he mused. "They know things... our secrets..."
Though, his own had likely been surprised, that time she'd walked in on him, in the bath, pretending his stiff dick was a lighthouse...
Gamo-chan evoked, "Yeah... and I never even told her I'd bought the Fawns, because I thought she'd bother me about it."
"Bother you?"
"Paisen, when a girl suddenly starts bringing home different clothes and starts dressing different, her mom always makes a stink about it..."
He hadn't thought of that. "I suppose."
He supposed most parents would catch it, if they gave a damn, and hopefully, they did.
Mrs. Gamo surely did...
Gamo-chan declared, "And there are other things she's been saying too, but I got away, saying the bus station is half a block from our house. I was pretty much dumped on the steps of the club, so I don't think wearing the heels was the stupidest thing to do. Plus, I could've changed shoes anytime."
Giving her backpack a little shake, she reminded him she had it and the reason for it.
He'd wondered why she had a backpack, but Yoshi had been carrying her schoolbag, and so had he, not that there was anything weird about a high schooler with a bag.
"Plus, if I did get tired of wearing or carrying the jacket, I could stuff it in there," Gamo-chan added. "The suit only cost the price of lunch, and I got it just for today, only because it matched the shoes."
"Where did you find the suits?" Naoto questioned.
She said, "Yoshi remembered a thrifty store Sakura mentioned, and we couldn't think of a better place to find vintage junk. It was pretty sweet~."
Naoto was no stranger to hearing about the girls finding some swell bargains.
"I remember last Sunday, before finals, when Sakura-san and Sunomiya went shopping around town, they found some interesting clothes," he strengthened.
"I saw those pics too~," Gamo-chan gushed. "It was the same store, I guess. They were so cute, especially Hanacchi, who was adorable~."
'Woot!' Naoto rarely heard her refer to other girls as cute—at least with happiness—so it blew his mind a little.
"Paisen, you know how most girls seem to wanna keep under 170 cm tall?"
'What are you...?' He wavered. "...Mm-hmm, I've heard that."
"Well, it's a real thing; it's true," she whispered, as if this was a dirty secret. "But it is fun being tall... sometimes~,"
'Blorp!' Naoto's brain farted. "Uh..."
"They weren't the easiest thing to wear, but I really do like the Fawns~," Gamo-chan burbled. "They're pretty sexy... and being as tall as you is sorta fun..."
'Derp...' His brain did the crabwalk, right into a busy road during mating season. "...Okay..."
She giggled at his scrambled mind, "Hey, it is~."
"...!" He had a shiver run up his back.
"But what my mom said..." Gamo-chan fidgeted. "I suppose I have been trying."
'Naoto.exe has stopped working...' He tried to get back online. "...Okay..."
"A lot of it is because Hanacchi started... asking me stuff." She crimsoned further. "Last month, she started asking my advice..."
'*diarrhea sounds*' Naoto's brainstem was inundated with shit, and missing a few inhibiting barriers, his mouth fell open. "What about?"
He'd asked! Uh-oh!
Gamo-chan only gave a giddy grin. "She said I was cool~... and she wanted my advice on how to be cool too..."
"...!" He shouldn't have been shocked, but he was.
"It got me thinking, Paisen..." she extolled. "About who I wanted to be... And I did tell her something."
Naoto was drawn in. "What did you tell her?"
"...~"
"...?"
She flowed, "I told her she was plenty cool already, and that she should just be herself... to do what she wants..."
"Really?" he nearly exclaimed.
"Hey, eat a dick, Paisen..." Gamo-chan snarled.
He wouldn't pull a "Taiga", but he would watch his tongue. "Ack...!"
She confessed, "I know it's kinda sappy, but Hanacchi is pretty cool... or to use a word you used on me, I think she's 'really neat'~."
"...!" Naoto was running out of room for the shit to go.
Gamo-chan rolled on.
"After that, I decided I wanted to, I dunno, try a little harder," she said. "I like it~... and seeing Hanacchi having so much fun, doing makeup and stuff with Sakura, I just wanna do it more."
"..." Naoto's thoughts swirled about, evidently finding drainage somewhere. "Uh..."
Gamo-chan caught him at it.
"What, are you gonna tell me that I'm okay just the way I am or something~?" she crooned. "Don't feed me that cheese..."
'But you are!' Naoto wanted so badly to say it.
"Don't worry your fuzzy, little head, Paisen, I won't go overboard," Gamo-chan chortled. "I'll find a balance... yin for yang... suck for blow~..."
"Pfft!" he spluttered, her line catching him with his dick out, so to say. "Ha!"
"Heh-heh..." She leered. "Yeah, you like that, don't ya~?"
"I wouldn't say that..." He was immediately unenthusiastic.
"Alright..." she finalized, with a lack of Maki-menace. "Then, just balance~..."
He let it go at that, and he showed a little smile. "Okay..."
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Please look forward to the next chapter! Thanks for reading!