computer code and cherry blossoms ???;; senpai x reader

?>>; Thorns

"N-- n-no, sir," he stammered, cursing at himself internally for how his voice had wavered. Her father had chuckled grimly, and it only furthered the absolute dread Senpai was feeling.

Her father had stepped forwards, and had leaned down where only Senpai could hear him. He wanted to back away, to scream, to fight, anything to get him away and to get himself to safety--

"If you lose," Daddy Dearest began, "we'll make sure you never see our daughter again. In fact, we'll make sure you can never see anyone ever again."

He dragged a finger horizontally across his own throat, sending the message directly to Sam and sending every signal in his body into full panic mode. All he could think of now were the dozens of rumors he heard about the Mearest-Dearest family, the gossip about all the people they had supposedly made disappear. He was absolutely fucking terrified.

Cherry came out after a while, finally setting the speakers up and giving them each a microphone. She sat upon the top speaker, and the music began.

The first song had been the easiest when Senpai had been practicing. But now, with nothing but his own safety and the fear of what was going to happen to him on his mind, he failed to make the words come out correctly. He missed notes and his voice cracked and went too sharp at times, and he would mix up the rhythms and find himself seconds behind the actual music. He could see Girlfriend wincing, and where she had previously been bobbing her head to the music she was now sitting still, knees together and hands folded in her lap. Her eyes kept darting between her extremely nervous partner, and her maliciously elated father.

Mister Dearest was grinning ear-to-ear, and it made Senpai wonder if this had been his goal all along. To make him so focused on himself that he would bomb his performance entirely.

By god, was it working.

He barely managed through the first song, and he was only getting worse by the second. The faster pace of the second song wasn't helping in the slightest. 

His awful performance, her fearful, disappointed look, her father downright relishing in his failure,

the realization that he still had her mother to battle, the rumors he'd heard so often, the fear of his own demise--

Senpai switched off his microphone and dropped it to the ground. For a moment, he saw Mister Dearest falter, and stop singing entirely, genuine surprise overtaking his previous gloating nature. He saw Girlfriend sit up straighter, raising an eyebrow at him and clearly communicating, 'Just what the hell do you think you're doing?'

He'd walked off of the stage then, marching down the corridor and towards the left-hand exit which was closer by. He left them both just standing there, dumbfounded and shocked, and he swung open the doors and let his fingers tangle in his hair.

What was he going to do? He didn't want to die. He loved Cherry, but--