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Up on a hill not far off the main plaza, the sound of wooden chimes tinkled softly in the cool morning air of a little family flower shop.
Onoda Sakamichi, aged 14 and very appropriately named, looked up from arranging a vase of fresh orange and yellow daylilies for today’s centerpiece. Caught by surprise at the unexpected sound, he bumped into the vase he just settled down. Fortunately, he caught it before even a single flower slipped out.
Feeling immensely proud of his dashing reflexes, he patted the flowers and wiped his wet hands on his sides, completely missing his clean pink apron and splotching his pale yellow shirt. He grinned to himself, turned and headed for the glass doors.
“Good morning, welcome to Hime Rakuen!” he greeted, a light happy lilt to his voice from the adrenaline. “My name is Onoda Sakamichi and I’m here to assist you!”
Onoda finished his usual greeting and took a step back to welcome his customer inside, as well as properly look them over. Even more surprising than the fact that they were there at 8 in the morning, his customer was a guy. Tall, black spiky hair, and a very prominent chin. Another unusual thing about this customer was his light blue shirt that was peppered with tiny rabbit prints. Weird, but very cute.
The man coughed and covered his face a little, but Onoda could pick out the light pink that dusted his cheeks through the glare of the morning sun. Yeah, definitely cute, he mused.
“I’m actually looking for something for my mother,” he explains while looking around, very pointedly avoiding Onoda’s amused look, “I don’t really know how to do this, this is my first time.”
Onoda fixed his glasses perched on his nose, fingertips tingling with the anticipation, and nods enthusiastically. He smiled up at him and instinctively grabbed the other boy’s hand that rested by his side. Though surprised at the sudden physical contact, the customer let himself be excitedly pulled along by the hand.
“I was actually just putting these up on display! We got them really early in the morning so they’re really fresh,” Onoda had pulled him to the daylilies he was working on. He picked up some yellows and oranges and gave it to the taller boy. Their hands lingered under Onoda’s pretense of making sure the other had the flowers secured in his hands and would not be dropped. Onoda smiled at him more, eyes crinkling and disappearing from the sheer joy expressed in it, as he pulled back and stuffed his hands in his apron pockets.
“Daylilies?” he asked, unsure.
“Yup!” Onoda claps his hands in glee, “you see, daylilies in the language of flowers can mean the Chinese emblem for mothers!”
“Can? You mean there are other meanings?”
Onoda suddenly balks at the unexpected reminder.
“Um, well, yes,” he fidgeted a little and fiddled with his fingers while still maintaining the megawatt smile directed at his customer, “The other is coquetry, which means flirtatious behaviour.”
“Oh,” he mumbled more to the flowers in his hands.
It was awkwardly silent for a second or two, but before Onoda could ask if he wanted to take the flowers wrapped, the guy suddenly started snickering. His eyes twinkled in genuine amusement as he looked Onoda in the eyes.
“That’s really fascinating,” he smiled, “I’ll take these bunch, thank you. By the way, are there any more interesting flower meanings? Do you mind sharing some with me? Or do you have to go back to work?”
He handed the flowers back to Onoda, his fingers very pointedly and not at all subtly nudging Onoda’s own ones.
“Sure! “ Onoda managed to say without fumbling on his words or his grip on the flowers, “I’ll show you some of my favourite ones… I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”
“Imaizumi,” he held out his right hand for the smaller boy, “Imaizumi Shunsuke.”
Onoda grinned, took it gleefully, shook it, and pulled him to a wall of colourful orchids.
Up on a hill not far off the main plaza, the sound of laughter tinkled softly in the cool morning air of a little family flower shop. There, a very special friendship in the very early morning was made.