Work Text:
“Oh my,” Suo utters in disbelief, his eye widening at the sight in front of him. Quickly and quietly, he gets up from his kneeling position and exits the room, making his way to Nirei.
“Suo-san?” Nirei calls out at the sound of light and hurried footsteps, “Is Sakura-san up? Is he hungry? I’ll heat these up real quick and-“ he rambles, his hands busy taking out the electric cooker—a housewarming gift that their class had decided to pitch in to give their grade captain—from the kitchen wall cabinet.
“Nirei-kun,” Suo says, his tone somber that Nirei turns his head to him in alarm.
“W-What is it?! Is it bad? Is he okay? Is he-“ he asks, frantic and ready to bolt to the other room if Suo hadn’t held him in place by the shoulder.
Suo smiles, apologetic for causing him distress, “Do you want to hear the good news first or bad news?”
“B-bad news…?”
“Sakura-kun…” Suo starts, looking to the side, almost as if looking for the right words to say, which is rare—and bad, in this case. “He’s a child.”
Nirei blinks, wondering if he’d heard right, “… And the good news…?”
“Well,” Suo smiles, “Sakura-kun looks adorable as a child.”
Nirei blinks once, twice, before removing his fellow vice captain’s hands off his shoulder, placing the cooker on the kitchen counter, and making quick steps to Sakura’s room down the hall.
He’s joking!
… Right?
Suo always had this strange timing with his jokes. There’s no way-
In the middle of his rationalizing, he quietly slides the door open and peeks into the room to find,
A child, no older than five or six.
There’s a child sleeping on Sakura’s futon.
“Did you think I was kidding, Nirei-kun?” Suo chuckles, having followed the younger to the room, “I would never joke in times like these, you know.”
Nirei whips his head, “Suo-san-!” he cuts himself off, toning his voice down to whisper yell instead, “Who would believe anyone that says a 15-year old just turned into a child?!”
Suo shrugs, his smile sheepish.
Nirei tiptoes closer to the futon and stares at the sleeping child. The boy’s hair, a split half of black and white, and even with his eyes closed, Nirei can only think of mismatched twilight and gold orbs.
He was adorable, just like Suo had said, but still-
“This is bad…” Nirei mumbles, bringing his hands to his head as he looks to his companion, “W-what do we do, Suo-san?!”
“Uhm,” Suo hums, looking between Nirei and Sakura, “Oh! Good morning, Sakura-kun! I’m sorry, did we wake you?” he greets instead.
Nirei turns just as he feels something—or someone—grab on to his pant leg. “Huh?!”
Sakura, with one hand on Nirei’s pants and the other tiredly rubbing at his left eye, only grunts in response.
“Ah, g-good morning, Sakura-san,” Nirei fumbles in his greeting, glancing to Suo for help or instruction or anything at this point, “Are you hungry? I’ll warm up the congee we brought.”
The young Sakura blinks, realization finally setting in as he takes in his surroundings and the two teens standing close by, “Where am I?” his voice so much smaller than they’re used to, almost scared, “Is this a new facility? Are you the sensei?”
The two couldn’t help the surprise in their faces. They know enough to tell that Sakura had gone through something before coming to Makochi; a secret they may never have the privilege of knowing.
And that was all right, of course.
They didn’t want to know, unless Sakura wants them to. All they can do is be there for him right now.
Suo smiles, kneeling down to meet eyes with the young Sakura. He reaches out his hand, slowly and carefully, almost like asking for permission to touch him and be near.
The younger eyes the hand warily, looking between Suo and his hand before bowing his head, allowing the touch. Suo sighs a quiet relief as he gently pats the boy’s head, brushing his fingers through the black and white strands, “We’re not sensei, Sakura-kun.”
“Then who…?”
“We’re friends.”
Sakura’s eyes shine at the word, as if he’d always wanted to hear such a word, “Friends?” he asks, his voice going a tad higher, his hands clenching around the blanket, his lips trembling just a little bit for anyone to notice.
Nirei joins in, a grin on his face as he sits on the floor beside Suo, “Yeah! Maybe after you eat, we can go play with everyone.”
“Everyone?”
“Nirei! Suo!” Anzai makes a beeline to the door upon their entrance, “That was fast! Where’s our grade captain at?”
At the commotion, the rest of Class 1-1 begin their cacophony.
“Oh? Welcome back. How’s Sakura-chan?”
“Is it a fever again? I should’ve come with! I got some protein powder!”
“Is he not with you guys?”
“Wait- Suo, what’s that in your arms?”
Suo smiles widely, sidestepping from behind Nirei to show the class what he had in his arms—or who, in this case.
“Our precious grade captain, of course!” he announces with much enthusiasm, “Sakura-kun, why don’t you say ‘hi’ to our friends?”
At the mention of his name, the child in Suo’s arms lets go of the tassel earrings he’d been distractedly playing with and turns to look behind him.
The entire class holding various looks of shock and disbelief upon seeing the natural two-toned hair and heterochromatic eyes.
“Go on. Don’t be shy.” Suo says, the look on his face practically screams that he’s having the time of his life.
There’s a faint pink that settles on the young boy’s cheeks at their vice captain’s prompting. He turns his head again, hiding his face from the rest of the class and raising his hand to wave at them, “H-hi…” he mumbles quietly, but it’s audible enough for everyone to hear given their shocked silence.
If the hair and eyes weren’t already a dead giveaway, his shyness was practically confirmation of the truth.
“S-Sakura…” Anzai utters as he dramatically falls on his knees in front of their vice captains and regressed grade captain, “How can you be this cute, dude?!” he exclaims, throwing himself flat on the ground.
The cacophony of Class 1-1 ensues once more.
“How nice~” Suo says, chuckling as their classmates crowd over them and attempt to gain Sakura’s attention.
Nirei takes a step back and behind Suo, feeling a bit overwhelmed at the pack, “I-is it really…?”
Sakura huffs, his face growing much redder at everyone’s enthusiastic reaction as he makes himself smaller in Suo’s arms, “… Your friends are weird.”
It feels too unreal—well, Sakura turning into a child had already been unreal, but this moment here is just-
“What’re those shiny dots on your face?” Sakura asks, staring at Kiryuu with doe eyes shining with wonder.
There was just something about their grade captain, who usually just keeps to himself and only ever meddles when there are fights involved, going around the room and asking about this and that to anyone and everyone close by.
Seeing him being so relaxed, comfortable, and free makes their hearts clench.
This time, it’s Kiryuu’s turn for Sakura’s attention.
Kiryuu puts his phone down, having secretly taken a few (a lot) of pictures of Sakura since he made his way to him, and touches the piercings on his brow, “Ah, do you mean my piercings, Sakura-chan?”
Sakura tilts his head at the word, “Per- pear- p-piercings?” he repeats, staring at them more intensely.
Kiryuu chuckles, bending down on his seat for the younger to get a closer look. “Mhm, these shiny dots are called piercings. Do you want to touch them?”
Sakura purses his lips, his puffy cheeks turning a feint pink as wrings his fingers together, “Can I?”
“Of course, come here,” Kiryuu smiles, reaching his hands out for their grade captain to take and slowly guiding his small hands to his brow.
“Oh!” Sakura retracts his hands, barely grazing the metallic jewelry, “They’re cold.”
Kiryuu chuckles, endeared at the observation, “Yeah, I guess they-“ before he could finish his sentence, something warm attaches itself to his cheeks.
“Are you not cold?” their grade captain asks, his bottom lip jutting out in a pout as his brows furrow in concentration, attempting to warm up Kiryuu’s face with his small hands.
“So cute~ I wish I could take a picture” , Kiryuu thought, his lips curving into a smile at Sakura’s pure heart, “Hmm, maybe I’d feel warmer if you gave me a hug-“
Before he could continue, Tsugeura wraps his arm over Kiryuu’s shoulder, “Hey, hey! Nothing better to warm a guy up than with some muscle training, right?! Wanna join us, Sakura-kun?”
“… Jealousy is not a good look on you, Tsuge-chan.” Kiryuu utters his displeasure, frowning when he finds Sakura already off to another part of their classroom, “Why did you have to butt in just when I could’ve gotten a hug from Sakura-chan…”
“No way, man. I want to hug him first!”
“Well, he came to me first, so I should get to hug him first.”
“Does it matter who gets to hug him first?” Suo asks, overhearing the last bit of their conversation as he makes his way to their corner, while still keeping an eye on their grade captain.
Kiryuu sighs at that, “You’re one to talk, Suo-chan, it’s not fair that you got the first hug before we even knew anything.”
“Don’t be silly,” Suo raises a hand to his mouth, covering the proud smile on his face, “If anything, Nirei-kun got the first hug, but I did get to be his second… So, really, you’re fighting for third place.” he finishes with a light laugh.
“Hey, Suo?”
The vice captain turns his head, meeting eyes with Anzai’s slightly worried ones, “Is something the matter, Anzai-kun?” he asks before checking on Sakura, their younger grade captain taking a small bite out of some pastry while Nirei, Takanashi, Kakiuchi, and Kurita happily give him more treats to try.
The latter purses his lips, rubbing the back of his neck, “He’s a kid,” is all he says.
“Are you worried about Sakura-kun?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Anzai raises his hands in defense, “Sakura’s cute and all, but… Is this a permanent thing? Shouldn’t we tell, I don’t know, Umemiya-san, maybe? Or Hiragi-san?”
“Well,” Suo clasps his hands behind his back, “I don’t think there’s anything we can do about this…” he states, but quickly adds, “But I heard from my sensei about a case similar to this.”
“Really?! What’d your sensei say? Is there a cure?”
“Apparently, it just went away.” Suo says, assuredly.
“What?”
“It just went away,” he repeats, “They did nothing but wait, so that’s what we’ll be doing.”
“B-but…” Anzai starts, but nothing else comes out of his mouth as he looks to their vice captain, at a loss.
Suo places a hand on his shoulder, a look of understanding, “I know it feels awful not being able to do anything about this, but,” he smiles reassuringly as he looks to where Sakura is—on a desk as he points at something from outside the window—“Right now, just being by his side, making sure this younger Sakura-kun knows we’re right here for him is more than enough.”
Anzai follows his gaze, watching and smiling at how brightly Sakura’s twilight and gold eyes are shining right now with them. They’ve seen this younger version of their grade captain be more at ease and open in less than a day—a progress that can happen with their own Sakura if they wait just a little longer.
“Yeah, I, I guess you’re right,” Anzai sighs before laughing sheepishly, “I was overthinking it back there.”
“I can’t blame you. Sakura-kun can move people even without meaning to.”
Multiple pings from Nirei’s pocket garners the attention of their small circle.
“What’s that sound?” Sakura asks distractedly as he randomly taps on a game that Kiryuu let him play on his phone.
“Must be Nirei-chan’s phone,” Kiryuu answers, tapping along with Sakura.
“That’s a lot of messages, man. Who’re they from?” Tsugeura adds as he makes himself (or maybe Sakura) a protein drink.
Nirei quickly takes his phone out of his pocket, the pinging momentarily stopped as he opens the messaging app, “Oh, it’s from Kusumi-sa- H-HUH?!”
“What did he say?” Suo asks, curious at his fellow vice captain’s reaction.
“Th-they’re on their way to our class right now…” Nirei says, his voice trembling as he reads each message bubble, “And Kaji-san’s apparently pissed off at something…”
The door violently slides open and all eyes are immediately on the second year grade captain and his vice captains—the latter looking ticked off as he grinds his teeth on his lollipop, an audible crack could be heard as he makes his way to Suo and their circle.
“DOES YOUR DAMN GRADE CAPTAIN NOT KNOW HOW TO USE HIS FRICKIN’ PHONE?!” he yells, making the whole class flinch at the volume, until Kusumi takes his headphones off of his ears, “Where is he? I’m gonna knock some sense—?!” he stops once he meets eyes with a child that’s sitting where Sakura would usually be.
A child that looks exactly like Sakura, if not much smaller and more innocent-looking.
“…” Kaji stares just as the child stares back at him, shock and disbelief meeting curious and in awe.
After a moment’s standstill, Sakura breaks eye contact and looks to Suo and Nirei as he points a finger at the still confused second year, “Does he fight, too? He looks strong!”
“How observant, Sakura-kun~”
“Sakura-san really can tell from just looking, huh.”
Kaji sputters at the commentary, “S-strong?! Hey- y-you-!! You, you damn brat!” he exclaims, pointing a finger at the much younger grade captain, “D-did no one tell you it’s rude to point at people?!”
“But you’re pointing, too!”
Behind the grade captain, Enomoto covers his mouth as he clutches his stomach, “K-Kaji, don’t be like that, hehe, the kid’s, the kid’s just being honest with ya- pfft-!”
Kusumi was in a similar state with his head turned away from his grade captain as his shoulders shook immensely, “Pfft!”
“Shut yer traps!!”
Suo couldn’t help the chuckle he let out, covering it up by clearing his throat, “My apologies, Kaji-san. As you can see, our own grade captain is currently out of commission,” he smiles, apologetic.
Kaji clicks his tongue, a feint pink on his cheeks as he takes out another lollipop from his pocket, “This is so stupid.”
Enomoto nudges his grade captain’s shoulder, “C’mon, Kaji. You went thrrrough the same thing.”
“Ugh! Why’re you bringin’ that up?!”
At their confused looks, Kusumi shows his phone to them, a bit too happy as he does so.
The notes app was open with a message, along with a picture of a very displeased five- or six-year old Kaji wearing earphones that are much too big on his head:
‘Did Sakura-kun regress, too? He’s adorable!!
( ⸝⸝ ´ ꒳ ` ⸝⸝ )
A similar experience happened to us with Kaji-kun!!
But don’t worry, your Sakura-kun will be back before you know it!! ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧
Have fun with this Sakura until then!! ⭑𓂃⟡♡’
“H-Hey!” Kaji screeches, making a grab for Kusumi’s phone, “You said you deleted everything!”
Kusumi shrugs, giving his own grade captain a proud smile as he continues to show the picture off.
“Did you need him for something by any chance, Kaji-san?” Suo inquires, getting back to the matter at hand, “Nirei and I can take care of it. We’re his vice captains, after all.”
The second year sighs, nodding his head to Enomoto.
“Ah, well,” Enomoto huffs the last of his laughter, “We werrre hopin’ some of you could help out with the patrrrols laterrr. Some of ourrrs caught a stomach bug, so we’re shorrrt on people.”
“Oh, if that’s the case,” Suo stands, facing the rest of their class, “Everyone, if any of you are free later, let’s help out our second years with the patrols.”
A chorus of affirmatives follow right after.
“Sure thing!”
“No prob, vice cap!”
“Ya can count on us!”
“Can I come?” their little grade captain interjects, half standing on his seat with Kiryuu keeping him from falling off, his eyes twinkling with not so hidden excitement.
Suo and Nirei glance to each other, unsure of what to say,
“Sakura-kun…”
“Uhm, Sakura-san-“
“No.” Kaji answers firmly.
Sakura pouts in response, looking to his vice captains.
Suo pats his head, “I’m sorry, Sakura-kun. We have to follow Kaji-san’s orders.”
“Maybe you can join next time, Sakura-san. You can stay here and play until we get back, okay?” Nirei suggests, a bit wary of how the young Sakura would react.
“Don’t worry, Sakura-chan~ We’re not all going on patrol, the rest will stay here with you, okay?” Kiryuu says, comforting their grade captain.
Sakura puffs his cheeks, his eyes downcast as he slumps down on his chair and swings his legs, “Okay…”
Enomoto chortles, “Well, ain’t this familiar? Right, Kusumi?”
Kusumi nods in response, covering his mouth behind his hands.
Kaji groans, rolling his eyes as he takes another lollipop out of his pocket, “Tsk, here,” he says in annoyance as he taps the candy on Sakura’s head, making the boy look up.
The younger grade captain takes the lollipop hesitantly, looking at it before directing his questioning gaze to the second year’s grade captain.
Kaji sighs, glaring at his vice captains before pointing at the lollipop and telling the younger, “You need to be strong when you’re doing patrols,” he recites the same words he’d been told when he was in this state, “If you can rip that wrapper open, you can come with us. If not, you’re staying here, got it?”
They see the twinkle in Sakura’s eyes as he nods.
“You better not cry if you can’t open it.” Kaji says, rubbing the boy’s head roughly and ruffling the split colored hair into a mess.
Sakura can’t hide his blush as he tries to bat the hand away, “I ain’t a crier!”
A few seconds turn into a few minutes as their little Sakura struggles to rip the wrapper off the lollipop, his small fingers trying and failing to get even a scratch on the plastic.
They all watch in anticipation and worry, secretly cheering their grade captain on while simultaneously hoping he can get the wrapper off.
Kaji, Enomoto, and Kusumi look at the scene with boredom, amusement, and endearment respectively.
Sakura, with cheeks red from exertion and brows furrowed in frustration, frowns and places the lollipop on the desk, crossing his arms over his chest indignantly, “… I don’t wanna go on patrol anymore.”
“This is what happened with Kaji back then, too.” Enomoto whispers as Kusumi supplies them with a picture quite similar to what’s happening now.
Kaji ignores them, taking the lollipop on the desk and ripping the wrapper off with ease, “You’re not strong enough,” he says, making the younger look down and purse his lips.
The rest of Class 1-1 were just about ready to pick a fight with their upperclassman at the sight, but the second year continues, tapping the lollipop on Sakura’s lips, “So, get stronger, brat.”
Sakura bites on the lollipop, pouting around it as he turns his head away from Kaji, “Hmph.”
Kaji huffs a laugh, a minute twitch of his lips makes even his own vice captains pause and stare. He looks up and narrows his eyes at them, pointing towards the door with his thumb as he announces, “What’re you punks lookin’ at? Get your asses movin’ already, we’re heading out!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Where’s Sakura-kun?” Suo asks, noticing the lack of the palpable presence of their grade captain and more of their classmates frantic searching in the classroom when they returned.
Tsugeura jumps at the question, fear visible in his eyes as he looks at everywhere except their eye-patched vice captain, “Uhm, well, you see,” he stammers, before looking to Kiryuu for help.
Kiryuu’s smile falters when Suo stares at him this time, “Sakura-chan is, kind of, uhm,” he fidgets with his phone in his hands, then looks to the next person to finish his words.
The chain of turning heads and filling in vague and roundabout answers began, all of them nervous (and scared) to face their vice captain’s quiet wrath. It didn’t take long until their gaze returns to Tsugeura, who looks as if he’d seen a ghost.
Suo raises a brow, his smile unwavering, but there’s a scary look in his eyes that even Nirei flinches at from beside him, “Tsugeura-kun?“
”I-I’m sure Sakura-san’s around here somewhere, Suo-san!” Nirei says in reassurance, but is just as uneasy as his fellow vice captain tries to hide his. “Right, Tsugeura-san?”
“…” Tsugeura attempts a reassuring smile, raising his hands to placate their vice captains, “Don’t be mad.”
Suo laughs lightly at that, “I think we’re beyond that now, hm?”
“Hm?” Umemiya sits up and puts his manga down, hearing the rooftop’s door open, but not finding anyone who came.
He hears the quiet splashes of water on soil, so he knows Sugishita hasn’t left. He also hears the lively chatter between Hiragi and Tsubakino from the dome, so he knows they haven’t left either.
Umemiya lies back down and goes back to reading. It was probably the wind, or a cat, or something, he thinks as he reads the same panel.
“What’re you reading?”
Umemiya turns to his right at the voice—a child’s voice. “Uh, huh?” he says unintelligibly, staring at the unexpected rooftop guest.
A split of black and white hair, bright orbs of dark and gold, and cheeks flushed a faint pink all on an innocent, cute face—his features reminding the Bofurin leader of a certain first year.
“Just a little something to pass the time,” Umemiya puts his manga down to give his full attention to the boy by his side, turning to lie on his stomach and resting his chin on his crossed arms, “I’m Umemiya, and who are you, little one?”
The child looks to the discarded manga, then glances to the teen before looking away and placing his hands on the sofa’s cushion as he swings back and forth, a telltale sign of shyness.
Umemiya waits patiently for the boy to speak, smiling to himself.
“… Sakura…” he answers eventually, tracing patterns on the cushion as he continues to avoid the older’s gaze.
“Hm,” Umemiya hums, “And what’s Sakura doing up here?”
“I’m hiding right now.” Sakura announces, already walking away from Umemiya and the sofa to look at everything else that’s on the rooftop.
“Hiding, huh?” Umemiya sits up, looking at Sakura in amusement, “Who are you hiding from?”
“Mm…” Sakura hums aloud, distractedly staring at the array of things on the rooftop, but not straying too far from where Umemiya was still sitting, “My friends, I guess?”
The third year chuckles, endeared at hearing the younger say such a precious word, “You guess?”
Sakura trails his hands over the surface of the table tennis table, circling around it, “I never had friends before, but that’s what they said I could call them… I, I never had anyone before…” he says, quietly as his hands grip on the edge of the table, looking much smaller with his back turned to Umemiya.
“Sakura-“ the older jumps to his feet, ready to check up on Sakura.
The younger turns to face Umemiya, his eyes wide and almost shining as he says, “So, I really like it here!”
“You do?”
“Mhm! Everyone talks to me and plays with me, they’re all so nice.” Sakura adds, much quieter, “It’s so different from before… I like it here better.”
Umemiya exhales a sigh of relief, making his way to where Sakura stood and crouching down, “Really? I’m glad to hear that,” his eyes growing a bit softer as his smile curves fondly, reaching out to pat the boy’s hair, who lets him without a fuss, “We like it here with you, too, Sakura.”
“Oh my gosh! Is that-?!” Tsubakino smiles widely upon seeing the younger boy clinging behind Umemiya’s leg.
Umemiya grins, placing a gentle head on their de-aged underclassman. “Yup! This is-“
Tsubakino barely lets their leader finish, rushing towards them and gushing at the younger as he crouches down to meet eye to eye, “Awwe, you are soo adorable!”
Sakura huffs, hiding his reddening face behind Umemiya’s legs, “I’m not cute.” he mumbles as the tips of his ears and fingers become tainted a red shade.
“Soo cute~”
“You’re cute!” he says, as if that were a retort.
“You little charmer!” Tsubakino squeals, “Come here and give me a hug, will you!!”
“Noo!”
“Hah,” Hiragi huffs a laugh as he approaches the three, “Sakura, huh?”
Tsubakino chuckles, “Something like this happened with Kaji, too, right?”
“Oh yeah, I remember their class beggin’ me to stay until Kaji was back to normal cuz he wouldn’t stop growling at ‘em.” Hiragi shakes his head, almost fondly as he recalls the memory. “I think Sakura’s class is doing well for themselves, though.”
“They’re both cute either way~” Tsubakino coos, trying to take a peek behind Umemiya. “Sakura~ stop hiding already and- EH?!“ he pauses, quickly getting up and looking behind their leader, “Where’d Sakura go?!”
Umemiya turns around at that, “Huh?!”
“Oi! This is the second time, man!” Hiragi accuses as he starts looking around the table and under the benches.
Umemiya screeches in defense, “Last time wasn’t my fault! Kaji ran off on his own!”
“At least we’re still at the rooftop!” Tsubakino interjects, “I can’t imagine running all around town- ugh, nevermind! I didn’t hear the door so Sakura should still be around here.” he reasons, separating from the two.
Umemiya scratches his head, turning to his garden, “Hey, Sugishita-?!” he meets eyes with the first year who, if he looked disinterested at little Sakura’s introduction earlier, now held a vexed expression, as if annoyed at something—or, well, someone.
Umemiya sighs a breath of relief, they can’t have a repeat of last year ever again, “Oh, good, is Sakura over there with you?”
Sugishita nods, a pained expression on his face as he awkwardly looks to somewhere below him, at Sakura most likely.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Tsubakino exclaims as they make their way to the first year.
“No running around for us, then,” Hiragi snickers.
Tsubakino slaps the other’s shoulder, “Don’t jinx it!”
They hear Sakura before they see him, “Hey! Why’s there so much grass here?” the younger asks, just as the three spot him, pointing at the seedlings with one hand while the other is tugging at the taller first year’s pants.
Sugishita scowls, pulling his pants off the other’s small grip, “Hmph.”
Sakura frowns at the taller figure as Umemiya chortles, “Now, don’t be like that, Sugishita, Sakura’s interested, ain’t he?”
The younger points at the seedlings again, this time clinging to Umemiya’s sleeve when the latter came closer and crouched beside him, “Why are you growing grass?”
“This isn’t grass,” the older chuckles, “I’m growing all kinds of produce! See, those are the tomatoes, and those are cucumbers, there’s some bell peppers over there, too, and-“ he says while excitedly pointing at various areas of the seedling storage.
“Mm,” Sakura squints his eyes at the seedling closest to him, obviously trying to comprehend everything that Umemiya had been saying, “But they don’t look like tomatoes.”
“Well, not yet.” Umemiya says, gently caressing the sprout with a patient smile, “But they will, just give them time,” he turns his head, looking at the younger with a wide grin before giving him a pat on the head, “This little guy’s definitely gonna grow up real strong!”
“Isn’t it boring to wait?” Sakura asks, imitating the third year and grazing his fingers on the seedlings he can reach.
“There’s still a lot to see and do while you wait though,” Tsubakino chimes in, poking at the younger’s cheek to get him to look to his left, “I think waiting can be fun.”
“It can get boring, but it’s definitely worth waiting for.” Hiragi adds, “There’s potential you can’t just make in an instant, y’know?”
Sakura tilts his head, something telling him that they aren’t just talking about the tomatoes, or cucumbers, or bell peppers, in the garden.
“Sakura, you know what’s the best part of waiting?” Umemiya starts, bringing the boy closer.
Sakura doesn’t protest the action, taking his own steps to the third year as he asks, “What?”
“It’s getting to eat the good food we made with everyone, of course!” Umemiya cheers, pulling the boy into his arms and in a warm embrace.
Sakura yelps, “P-put me down!”
“Nuh-uh! Let me hug my little brother a little longer!”
Sakura wraps his little arms around the older’s neck tightly, his face as red as Umemiya hopes his tomatoes will be, “I-I’m gonna fall!”
“And we’ll be here to catch you.”
🍃🎐🌸
Umemiya turns his head at the sound of a camera’s shutter, surprised that Sugishita would take a picture, “Hm?”
At the questioning hum, the taller first year shows them his phone screen, a group chat of Class 1-1 spamming various messages of,
‘Any updates on Sakura?’
‘Have any of you found our grade captain yet?’
‘No one in town’s seen him!’
‘WHERE’D OUR BABY GO?!’
“Oi, I thought you said he was playing hide and seek!” Hiragi exclaims, already taking out his stomach medicine after reading a few messages.
”Sugishita, quick! Tell them Sakura’s with us now!” Tsubakino pleads, seeing Suo’s profile appearing and disappearing as he types and deletes his message to the group chat.
Umemiya laughs sheepishly at the prospect of being the cause of their first years turmoil. “Huh… I guess Sakura wasn’t supposed to leave their room while they played…?”
The little boy, having gone quiet in his arms, tightens his grip around Umemiya as he mumbles, “… There weren’t any good hiding spots.”