Be A Flower

"Good... morning."
Adjusting the leather strap of his vintage messenger bag, Kuromoto Nishi waved a shaky hand toward the already irritated Shishigami High School manga club members. Scolding eyes bore their way through the slouching teenage boy, his glasses resting crookedly atop the bridge of his nose.

"You're late. Tetsunori-sensei is going to be here any minute. Would it kill you to be a little more punctual?"
Sakai Akinari exhaled a soft grunt, his own luggage resting on the cold, summer morning concrete beside him.

"Don't be so mean, Aki! I'm sure Nishi was working his butt off last night."
Yamaguchi Minami slapped the two boys backs multiple times, her energy never seeming to fade, even at the crack of dawn.

"Um, Nishi-senpai? You did say we were going to camp for three days, right? Is that bag all you're bringing?"
Tan-Tan hugged her own backpack close to her chest, her eyes showing signs of exhaustion equal to that of Nishi's.

"Sure is. I've got everything I need in here: pencils, sketchbooks, screen tone and even a few changes of clothes."
He patted the polished, leather bag resting against his hip.

Tan-Tan's eyes went pale with disapproval, her shoulders slumping foward.
"Nishi-senpai... It sounds like you prioritized the wrong things."

The moment of banter between the four teenagers was swiftly interrupted by the honking of a car horn. A sleek, red hatchback swerved the corner, tires screeching to a halt on the shoulder of the road before them. Rolling down the window was a man in his mid twenties, looking as if he had just been out at a nightclub moments before his startling arrival.

"Kuromoto-kun, please tell me you packed some headache medicine."
The man with untrimmed stubble on his chin stepped out of his vehicle and yawned, his breath reeking of alcohol.

Tan-Tan hid behind Yamaguchi Minami, her hands shaking slightly as she tugged on her sleeve.
"Why is that creep asking Nishi-senpai for drugs?!"

In a fit of laughter, Minami yanked Tan-Tan out into the open.
"That creep is a teacher at Shishigami High School! He's also our club advisor."

Tan-Tan widened her eyes. She did a double take at the bachelor of a teacher before them.
"That's... Tetsunori-sensei?!"

"In the flesh. Are you Minami's little cousin or something?"
The yakuza-esque educator known as Tetsunori Shinpachi gulped down a few pills while simultaneously lighting a cigarette. With a hand on his hip, he blew a cloud of smoke toward the rising sun.

"Little cousin?! I'm a first-year student!"
Tan-Tan stomped her foot.

"You're a student? Could have fooled me. Load your luggage in the back, kids. We got a beach to get to."
Popping open the trunk, Tetsunori leaned against the driver's side door to finish his smoke.

"Relax, Tan-Tan. He may look irresponsible-... scratch that, he's definitely unfit to be a teacher, but he's our club advisor. At the very least, he's never gotten in a car accident."
Nishi loaded his brown leather bag into the back of the car, his classic half smile resting handsomely against his cheekbones.

"I just didn't expect Sakuta Kintoki to be working at our school."
Tan-Tan narrowed her eyes at Tetsunori, her face bearing a nonchalant grimace.

"Sakuta Kintoki? I prefer to be seen as more of an Onizuma Eikicho type."
Tetsunori flicked his sunglasses down to reveal his eyes; a foolish attempt to make himself look cooler than he actually was.

Squeezing his way into the passenger seat, Nishi had to bury his legs in piles of fast food burger wrappers and empty coffee cans to make himself comfortable.
"I really like what you've done with the place, Sensei."

"At least you have legroom up there! It's like I'm swimming in onigiri wrappers back here! Eek! Something is touching my leg!"
Minami wrestled with herself in the back seat, causing Tan-Tan and Akinari to squish together.

"Why do I have to be in the middle?! Sakai-senpai stinks like salmon!"
Tan-Tan shoved herself away from Akinari, cuddling up to Minami's hip for comfort.

"You're in the middle because you're a freaking midget! No way in hell am I cramming myself between two girls who smell like a walking makeup store!"
Akinari crossed his arms, gazing at the passing mountains outside his window.

"Would you please keep it down? You kids are going to make my hangover worse."
Tetsunori Shinpachi kept one hand on the steering wheel, the other skillfully shifting gears as he effortlessly sped down the winding mountain road.

"A hangover?! You have a hangover?! Just wait until my daddy hears about this! He's a police officer!"
Tan-Tan's eyes shot a mean, unforgiving scowl into the rearview mirror.

"Shit, this kid's a snitch?"

"Nobody is a snitch, Sensei. Let's all just let Tetsunori-sensei do his thing, okay?"
Nishi let out a dramatic sigh.

Following the events of the restless morning, the club members successfully arrived at a luxurious beach resort on the coast of Otsu; alive and unharmed.

"I'm heading in for a nap. You kids do whatever, just don't bother me."
Tetsunori Shinpachi clutched his pounding head as he headed for the check-in counter. The four remaining students yanked their luggage from the trunk of the car, immediately heading for the beach.

"Whoo! Bring on the waves!"
Minami hopped onto the scorching sand beneath her feet, her eyes seemingly unfazed by the temperature.

Rubbing her temples in an attempt to calm her spinning head, Tan-Tan slumped foward.
"Minami-chan... How can you even stand up straight after that car ride. I'm going to be sick."

"Maybe you should head inside, Tan-Tan. You don't look very good."
Nishi rubbed her back in soothing circles, concern etched on his face.

Stepping foward, an unexpected hero appeared before her. He offered a hand of support to the sickly girl.
"I'll take Tanaka-san to her room. I'd like to set my luggage down while I'm at it. You two have fun, Nishi."
None other than Sakai Akinari wrapped his arm around the small girl's waist to keep her upright.

"Sakai-senpai... Ngh-"

"Don't you dare throw up on me!"
He winced in fear as he hurried his way toward the beach resort.

"Sakai-senpai... Everything's spinning."

"Hang on, Tanaka-san! Keep it together for 10 seconds, will you?!"
Sakai Akinari did his best to gently lower the little girl to her knees in front of the toilet. Wrapping his hand around her long hair, he patted the small of her back with a comforting pressure.

"Blargh!"

"There you go, let it all out."
He adjusted his grip on her silver locks.

"Shakai-shenpai. Fank you."
Tan-Tan tried her best to smile, but the remnants of her lunch on her chin only served to gross out her senpai more than he already had been.

"Wh-whatever. My little cousin gets carsick a lot, so I'm used to it. And wipe that damn drool off your face before you look at me!"

"How can you not be carsick after that? Tetsunori-sensei is a detriment to the law and all drivers within a 30 kilometer radius!"
Tan-Tan leaned her back against the cold porcelain of the toilet bowl beside them, her hair slick with sweat against her face.

"Hold that thought... Blargh!"
Following suit, the second-year student regurgitated his own lunch into the toilet behind her.

"Hehe, didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of Minami-chan? I envy you, Sakai-senpai... Ngh! Move! Blargh!"

"I hope Tan-Tan-chan is alright. We came all the way out here, I wanted to splash around with her."
Sitting in her purple, two-piece bikini, Yamaguchi Minami hugged her knees to her chest. She gazed out at the blue waves crashing over the white sand before her. Couples and families alike pranced around the water without a care in the world. Beside her sat a boy, sketching a few characters into his thick paged art book, his hand flying across the canvas.

"I'm sure she'll be fine after a nap. You should go wet your feet, Minami."
Nishi adjusted his glasses with his index finger. He glanced up at the sulking girl by his side, sensing her distress.

Minami pouted. She tossed a handful of hot sand on the nerdy boy's lap.
"Only if you come with me. It's lonely by myself."

"Ouch! Fine, I'll go change into my swimsuit, okay? No more sand attacks."
He dusted himself off before tossing his sketchbook toward the pretty redhead. He turned himself around and stopped.

"Minami, are you really going to ask Aki on a date by the end of summer camp? No more chickening out like last year?"

She immediately tossed an even bigger handful of sand toward him, her face burning with a crimson blush.
"I said I would, okay?! These things need time! Besides, I already bought that gift. There's no turning back."

"Ouch! Okay, Minami. Whatever happens, I'll have your back."
With a soft smile, Nishi disappeared into the changing room.