It was like any other day after school, as Toshihiro offered to escort Itsumi back home from the local train station. But, that afternoon was a stranger’s chance to walk in front of the pair, trying to make friends with them in a convoluted attempt to bring down her drug dealing father by the long run. Her name was Sakura Tanaka, the only child to a man known as “Bear Hide,” who had planned to use his daughter to get closer to Hiroshi Michio and his whole family, so as to avenge his brother. Armed with her backpack, and wearing nothing other than her school uniform, she stepped away from the street’s corner right on que. Having gotten the pair’s attention, she, however, was stricken with fear and awkwardness, unsure on how the conversation she rehearsed for at the back of her mind would turn out.

     “Hi!” she said to them.

     “Hi!” said the pair, both unsure if they had met before.

     “You’re Michio’s daughter, aren’t you?” asked Sakura, hoping it’d be an icebreaker.

     “Yes, that’s me!” Itsumi exclaimed, feeling like a celebrity meeting a fan, before asking, “But, how did you know?”

     “You and your dad were on the news last week, during one of your charity drives?” Sakura explained.

     “Oh yes!” Itsumi exclaimed.

     “I’m Tanaka,” Sakura said, as it was customary for Japanese who are not very close to address each other by their surnames.

“Michio, but you already know that,” Itsumi said, before introducing Sakura to Toshihiro, “And this is my schoolmate, Yamamoto.”

     “Hi!” Toshihiro, then Sakura, said to the other.

     Thus, that was how the trio became friends months prior to Bear Hide’s failed attempt in assassinating the Michios. Despite any sense of betrayal that may have resulted, explaining her true motives was enough to patch things up with Itsumi and Toshihiro. Like the first day they met, confidence had always been key to Sakura when speaking to people, whether they were strangers or close friends.

Since turning fourteen, Haru was known for his constant urge to maintain a presentable appearance. Even the other tenth graders knew him for his insistence on wearing the trendiest of outfits, with his long black hair and a pair of reading glasses complementing his looks. Thus, it was easy to mistake him for an extrovert but, in reality, he had always been self reserved. He hung out with close friends from his childhood, but beyond that was stepping out of his comfort zone. He hadn’t been able to meet new people, and that was a problem as he lacked the confidence in getting his crush’s attention, Sakura, for months ever since being smitten by her beauty.

     “Hey!” greeted two of Haru’s friends, Asahi and Kenji, with each holding a tray of food.

     “Hey, guys!” Haru greeted back.

     “Mind if we sit with you?” asked Kenji.

     “No. Go ahead,” said Haru.

     The boys took their seats, and chattered for a while at the school’s cafeteria. But, after a while, Asahi couldn’t help but notice Haru’s lack of attention to their conversations, and it wasn’t hard to see why.

     “Oh! It’s Tanaka,” Asahi commented, as he looked over.

     “The girl from ninth grade?” asked Kenji.

     “Yeah,” said Haru, as he turned his seat to have a good look at Sakura.

Sakura was accompanied by her classmates over lunch. They chattered for a while that she didn’t notice Haru staring at her, except by chance. Haru, embarrassed that he got caught, wasn’t able to look away from her, and just tried to play it cool. Sakura, noticing that a handsome boy was checking her out, greeted him back with a smile before turning to her classmates. To Haru, it felt as if embarrassment had tried to kill him that afternoon.

     “She looks cute,” said Kenji.

     “You still haven’t spoken to her yet?” asked Asahi.

     “No, not yet,” said Haru with a sigh. “Face it; I’m just out of her league. I’m just going to get friendzoned.”

     “Why do you sound defeated already?” asked Kenji.

     “At least tell her how you feel; someone else will take her if you don’t,” Asahi lamented to Haru.

     “I know! I know!” Haru grumbled, “Unless you have an idea of what I should say to a girl, I’m just going to let that door shut all the way through.”

     “You’ve always been such an introvert,” said Kenji.

     “Kenji’s right, but I may have a solution,” said Asahi, before reaching for his flash drive. “Take this,” he said to Haru.

     “What’s on it? A presentation file?” asked Haru.

     “It’s an OVA from the 80s, ‘Mr. Yuto Nakamura’s Warrior Girlfriend Princess from Jupiter’s Moon.’ I got it off a torrent site,” said Asahi.

     “Bro, I can’t take that!” Haru protested, as the movie was pirated.

     “Dude, relax! It hasn’t been in stores in years, and it’s not on streaming either. What’s the worst that could happen?” asked Asahi before passing the flash drive over to Haru. “Watch through the first forty-five minutes, and see how Yuto interacts with his girl. Girls love the bad boy type,” he added.

     “It’s an anime, and you guys are single too,” Haru lamented.

     “Yeah, but we all know that girls prefer guys with confidence. You just have to check out the senior students who are dating. Give the film a watch,” said Asahi.

     Haru set the movie aside till he was done with all of his homework for the day. By eight o’ clock, he stepped into his bedroom where he would insert the flash drive into his personal computer. He double-clicked on each folder till he finally stumbled upon the movie file. He double-clicked on it, and watched up to the forty-two minute mark when a particular scene got his attention. Perhaps, it was what Asahi said he should watch through.

     “Will this actually work on Tanaka?” he wondered.

     In that scene, the main character, Yuto Nakamura, tried to pull a move on the warrior princess who saw him as nothing more than an acquaintance, and a distraction from her main mission. All it took for her to fall for him was a kiss to the lips, but what followed was not safe for work. Perhaps, in his naivety, Haru thought that he would need to go as far as Nakamura did, and not just stop on the kiss, if he were to impress Sakura the next day.

     

It was the end of school for the day when Sakura reached for her locker. As she was exchanging books, something peculiar caught her eyes. It was a handwritten note. Someone had to have passed by her locker, which only piqued her curiosity. So, she pulled up the note, and read: “I couldn’t take you out of my mind, so I want to show you how I feel. Meet me at the alley between Shoto Warehouse and the local pharmacy at 5PM.”

     “It isn’t signed!” Sakura commented, as she slipped the note repeatedly.

     She looked around her trying to make out who could have put that note in her locker. On the other hand, there weren’t a lot of schoolmates on her side of the hall, and the author might have already left the scene a while ago.

     “Or, could it be him?” she thought, remembering Haru staring at her at the cafeteria the other day. That likelihood only made her more interested in meeting the author, as the alley wasn’t too far off from school or her dormitory.

     As requested, she made it into the alley with just a few minutes to spare. She wanted to put on her best appearance by wearing her best clothes, and letting her hair down instead of keeping her ponytail. Despite being sandwiched between two popular areas, Sakura was the only pedestrian to pass through the alley. It was a perfect spot for the author to meet with much needed privacy, but a cause of concern to Sakura who was uncertain of what could come out of the encounter.

     The more steps she took, the more Sakura wondered if she had arrived too early, or the author wasn’t going to make it. But, then, a voice called out to her from a shadowy alley to the left.

     “Tanaka?” it bellowed.

     “Hello?” Sakura bellowed back.

     “You made it!” said the voice.

     “Yeah! I got your note,” said Sakura, before asking, “but, who are you?”

     The figure stepped forward from the shadows to present himself. As she suspected, it was Haru.

     “Hi! I’m Takaikawa, the boy at the cafeteria,” he said to her.

     “Yeah, I remember,” said Sakura, as their encounter at the cafeteria came back to memory. “So, what do you want to show me?” she asked, referring to what Haru said in his note?

     “This,” said Haru, as he slowly walked towards Sakura till she was cornered. Like Yuto, he rested his hand against the wall, next to Sakura’s head, and leaned forward.

     “Takaikawa, what are you doing?” asked Sakura, with her heart racing, scared of what Haru could do next.

     “Just showing you how I feel,” said Haru, while trying his best to hide his hesitation through his bad boy persona.

     He placed his lips on Sakura’s, causing her eyes to widen in shock. Any doubt that she had that Haru would ever pull such a stunt disappeared, and replaced with the urge to tell him to stop. Despite her best effort, her words were reduced to mere mumbled speech, as there didn’t seem to be an end to the kiss. But, with each passing second, she grew to admire Haru’s courage in expressing how he felt for her, and embraced the gesture as she shut her eyes.

     But, without any warning, Haru botched the moment by grabbing her breast. Sakura’s face turned to red, going from panic to anger in a few, short seconds.

     “You jerk!” she screamed as she slapped Haru as hard as she could, before running away from the alley.

Undoubtedly, as he thought to himself, Haru blew any last chance he had with Sakura. Perhaps, taking advice from a movie wasn’t the best dating tip that his friends could have provided.

     “I blew it,” he said dejectedly, while nursing his cheek.

The encounter was enough to dampen the mood for Haru, especially during school hours. Understandably, he was upset with the idea of taking up dating advice from an OVA, especially if it were handed over by a close friend.

     “Of course, it didn’t work,” he lamented.

     “Did you kiss her?” asked Asahi.

     “Yes,” said Haru.

     “And…?” asked Asahi.

     “She got mad at me, and hit me before running away,” said Haru.

     “But, hold on,” said Kenji, “was it the kiss itself that got her upset?”

     The question got Asahi’s attention, as she stared at Haru for an answer.

     “Well, I did exactly what Yuto did to Jav’ibah. The kiss, and then, you know,” Haru explained.

     “No…,” Asahi remarked with his mouth wide open, realizing what scene in the anime that his friend was referring to. “Did you…?” he then asked.

     “Yes! I touched her chest!” Haru bellowed, shocking both Asahi and Kenji.

     “Bro, I meant just the kiss, and just learning to be a smooth, confident guy,” said Asahi.

     “You should have mentioned that earlier,” said Haru.

Little did the friends know that Sakura overheard the entire conversation from a distance. As the boys argued among themselves by the school’s entrance, Sakura stood next to the handrails just above them, hearing everything away from sight.

     “So that’s it; he was taking stupid dating advice from an anime,” she thought.

     School was closing for the day, and most students who weren’t partaking in side activities began to head home. This included Haru who, with a tail between his legs, still couldn’t get over the disastrous encounter with Sakura. But, he couldn’t afford dwelling on that any further as he also had homework to focus on.

     “Excuse me,” he said to a fellow student blocking his path, as he only noticed the individual’s lower body with his head lowered.

But, the student stood in place, as if the individual were blocking Haru’s path on purpose. Either it was a random student not paying any mind to others around them or, as it was the case, and more worrisome to Haru, Sakura.

     “Tanaka!” Haru bellowed, as he finally looked up.

Sakura didn’t say a word to him, but the stern look that she gave was enough of a reminder of his misdeed.

     “I’m so sorry!” said Haru, as he bowed before her for forgiveness. “I took my affection for you too far,” he said.

     “I heard everything,” she said to Haru’s surprise.

     “You did?” Haru remarked, as he rose up.

     “I can’t say that I approve of your behavior. I would have preferred it if we had taken things slowly, but it takes a real man to do what you did.”

She placed two fingers into her breast pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper before handing it over to Haru.

     “What’s this?” asked Haru, as he unfolded the paper.

     “It’s my phone number. Call me when you get home,” said Sakura, as she gave a gesture resembling a phone.

     Haru couldn’t believe his eyes, but it certainly was a phone number in his hands. It was something that he had little hope of ever getting from Sakura just a few days ago, and all it took was a misguided advice from two classmates to get it.

Sakura had just a few days left to pay the rent for her dormitory. Following Bear Hide’s arrest, the police sealed the Tokyo residence of the Tanaka family as a crime scene, forcing Sakura to move elsewhere. Unfortunately, Sakura was to be evicted once again as she was merely a highschool student with no employment. This was not to mention losing access to her father’s bank accounts over his involvement in illegal drug trades.

     For saving him and his family from Bear Hide, Hiroshi had offered her a place to stay, as well as promising to pay for her education. Hours before heading to school, just a few minutes shy from the rising sun, Sakura had already begun gathering her belongings to place in her luggage. Any items that she wasn’t going to use for the next few days, she gathered them. Once she was done, all she had to do now was to start heading to school, but not without first stopping by a local vending machine for a can of cake, and another for canned coffee just down the street. What lied ahead felt like any other day at school but, as she was reminded by a chat notification on her phone, she now had Haru to keep her company.