There was one word to sum up how Sakura felt. Embarrassed. That was how she felt. Sakura sat on the edge of the fountain, outside of the SGS Museum, resting her elbows on her lap and placed her hands on her blushing cheeks, as she started to think about what happened a few moments ago…
It all started when everyone was in the salon inside the SGS Museum, they had just finished collecting another Precious. Whilst Makino-sensei was examining the Precious with Satoru in his office, Sakura was finishing off a report on the laptop, as Natsuki took out her Sweet Box from one of the pillars, walked to the table and opened the box, when she looked inside and found there was no sweets. Natsuki began to groan, as she closed the box, and resting her chin on top of it, “Natsuki has no more sweets. Natsuki‘s a pitiful girl.” Masumi, who was sitting opposite her, chuckled, “Well whose fault is it for eating them?” Natsuki ignored him, turning her attention to Sakura and asked, “Sakura-san, can Natsuki go out and get more sweets?”
“Not until the reports are finished,” Sakura replied, as she continued to type.
Eiji was sitting on the settee, chewing on a leek. After he swallowed it, he asked Sakura, “Hey Sakura-neesan, why don’t you take a break so we can all go out?”
Sakura glared at him and replied, “You know very well that we’re not allowed to leave the place unattended.”
Suddenly, Masumi got up from his chair and walked over to Sakura, as he said, “Well Sakura-neesan, as the Chief of the team, I order you to stay here, whilst the four of us go out.” Though Sakura hated to take orders from Masumi, he was the new Chief. Masumi continued to speak, as he grinned at her, “Besides, it’ll be an opportunity for you to spend some more time with Akashi.”
“Sou Sou Souta,” Souta started to speak, as he was strumming on his guitar. “Ever since you and the Ex-Chief had returned from Space, you’ve kept your distance.”
“When are you going to confess to him, Sakura-san?” Natsuki asked. Sakura stopped typing for a few seconds, as she felt the question burning her ears. She knew that everyone, except for Satoru, knew her true feelings for him. She continued typing again, as she denied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Come on Sakura-neesan,” Eiji began to speak, as he stood up and walked towards her, “You snuck into the DaiVoyager to go to Space with Akashi, you even call him Satoru-san and you say you know what we’re talking about.”
“Natsuki-tachi knows that you like him Sakura-san, so why not confess to him?” As everyone started to hassle her into confessing her feelings to Satoru, Sakura had stopped typing, stood up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, causing everyone to be silent. As she turned to them, she confessed as she kept her cool, “Enough. Even though I have feelings for him, I want to take my time to tell him.” Suddenly, the lift opened, stepping out of it was Satoru and Makino-sensei. They began to hear what Sakura was saying. Everyone else spotted them standing there, before trying to hint to Sakura that Satoru was standing behind her. Sakura, who unaware that Satoru was behind her, continued to confess, “I mean, I can’t just go up to him and say, ‘Akashi Satoru, I’m in love with you.’”
Satoru was utterly stunned at the confession. Everyone, apart from Sakura, was completely silent, as they stared at Satoru’s stunned expression. Sakura looked at everyone, wondering what they were looking at. She turned around to find Satoru, who was still shocked, staring at her. Sakura froze, as she looked at him. She felt her heart pounding rapidly, her cheeks burning. She tried to say something, but instead, she walked out of salon, and out of the Museum…
As Sakura removed her hands from the cheeks and placed them on her knees, she asked herself, “How am I going to face him?” She took a deep breath, as she said, “What’s the point? He obviously doesn’t feel the same way.” She had let out a big sigh, before lying on the edge of fountain, and looking at the blue sky. Suddenly, a dark silhouette appeared above her, “Sakura.”
Sakura gasped. She sat up and found that the dark silhouette was Satoru, standing in front of her. As she stood up, she calmly asked, “Satoru-san, what are you doing here?”
“I was looking for you,” Satoru replied. He cleared his throat and continued to speak, “I want to talk to you about the confession you made earlier.” Suddenly, Satoru placed both hands on her shoulders, as he said, “Sakura, I’m flattered that you feel that way about me. Everyone told me that the reason you came to Space with me was because of your feelings for me.” Sakura looked down at her feet, feeling embarrassed, as Satoru asked, “Why didn’t you tell me how you felt about me?”
Sakura looked up at him and replied, “I wanted to tell you how I felt for a long time, but I didn’t want my feelings to get in the way of our professional relationship and our friendship. “ Sakura shrugged off Satoru’s hands, and turned her back to him. “Besides, I know you probably don’t feel the same way.”
“Look at me Sakura,” Satoru ordered her. Sakura turned back to him, when Satoru continued to speak, “Just because I might not feel the same way, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you.” As he moved closer to her, he said, “I don’t know if I will feel the same way, but I’m willing to give us a try.”
Sakura’s eyes had widened at what Satoru had said. She asked, “You want to give us a try?”
Satoru nodded his head at her and replied, “If you want to.”
“I do, but I don’t want this to complicate everything between us.”
Suddenly, Satoru wrapped his arms around Sakura and embraced her, as he assured her, “Don’t worry, it won’t. I promise.” Sakura smiled, as she hugged him back. After they had let go of each other, they smiled at one another, before walking back inside the Museum. Satoru had put his arm around Sakura’s shoulders, as they headed towards their biggest adventure of their lives.
