Chapter Text
Camellias;
There are so many kinds!
So many colors, so many sizes and shapes.
Red ones and white ones,
Pink and yellow ones..
Large, fanned petals and small, delicate petals,
Tiny buds and bigger ones..
Thin stems and thick stems.. or ones with no stems at all.
Ones that grow and treetops and ones that don’t.
Camellias are everywhere, and some where you least expect it.
There, in the middle of a dark room, at a table lit by one candle, sat a boy and in front of his was a small white platter bearing a small red flower bud, it’s petals scattered along the pottery.
Disembodied voices laughed and cheered as floating glasses clanged against each other, tinkling sounds filling the small room.
Welcome, welcome dear Hanako-San to the Camellia Diner!
We are most pleased to have you here!
We hope that you enjoy your meal, it is on the house after all.
“And what would you call this?” The figure seated at the end of the long table hummed curiously, pointing at the plate and it’s scattered contents.
That?
Why that, we’d call— ‘This’, he calls the delicacy of a lifetime, can you believe it!
What you have on your plate there, Hanako-San, is what we call the Camellia platter.
“Camellia platter?” Hanako echoed, stabbing his fork into the petals and raising an eyebrow, reluctantly. “But it’s just flowers.”
Just flowers? Just flowers?!
Won’t you listen to him!
Just flowers, he calls our delicacy!
Why don’t you try it Hanako-San? See if it suits your taste.
“Very well,” Hanako sighed as he lifted the fork to his lips. “I’ve always wondered how red camellias would taste,” he mused opening his mouth and placing the fork on his tongue before closing it again. “Rather bland, I expect.”
Quite the contrary, Hanako-San..
I think that they have an amazing flavor.
“Oh?” Hanako hummed as he bit into a petal. “And what flavor may that be, do tell?”
Ah, the red camellia, the one on your plate, has many flavors..
The flavors of unrequited lovers sorrow,
The flavor of the bleeding heart...
The flavor of hacking chests and heaving breast’s.
Sadness...
Heartache...
And not to mention it’s of the loveliest of reds, Hanako-San.
Yes, yes! I think that it suits you dear guest!
Hanako nodded slowly as he chewed on the red flower bud. “I suppose,” he murmured. “But even so, I taste no flavor at all.”
Ah, Hanako-San— I’ve forgotten to tell you something.
“What might that be?”
Suddenly, Hanako found himself void of all air, his eyes going wide and the fork falling from his fingers as his hands immediately flew to his chest, clutching at his blouse.
Just a few rules..
Why don’t you sit back and we’ll tell you of them?
Hanako wheezed and coughed into his palm, whatever it was that was stuck inside him stubborn, unwilling to budge.
Rule number one: We don’t talk with our mouth full,
Hanako began to hack, his chest heaving and eyes watering.
Rule number two: We don’t deregade the host’s culinary skills.
He couldn’t swallow. The camellia had lodged itself in his throat and was slowly shoving itself down his esophagus.
And third: If the camellia has no flavor,
Tears began to fall from Hanako’s eyes as the camellia settled in his chest, grounding itself in his lungs and slowly reopening its bloodied petals.
He coughed again, this time red petals falling from his lips and onto the dining table.
Then it means that your aren’t worthy of love, Hanako-San.
Or should I say, Yugi Amane-Kun.