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Working in the flower shop now feels more like a fun routine than a mere additional obligation for Akira. He's used to all the bright and beautiful colors of the flowers, the alluring scent wafting in the air, the ridiculous scientific names that he had to memorize. It's actually funny for him since he didn't think highly of these mutilated plant parts at first. He admits that they look good and he could spend hours smelling some of them, but that's all. He couldn't imagine having an actual passion for what is basically the reproductive part of a plant.
That is, until his manager brought a batch of sunflowers to his store.
Those yellow flowers quickly grabbed his attention. There was something... peculiar about them, a feeling that he couldn't shake off. He thought it might just be its bright and daring yellow color or its unique property of following the sun wherever it is in the day. He just tried to pass them off as mere curiosity for the first few days. These sunflowers are a bit different from the usual flowers, after all. It's normal to be curious, right?
Right?
Nope, that's not right, Akira stipulated when one fateful day Ryuji came to the store to check up on him. It is quite weird enough for a lot of people to come across their friends while working, even more so when their friends intentionally come to check up on them, but not for Akira. He was grateful to see the blond greeting him with that wide trademark smile of his which makes him feels like he's one of the bright stars shining beyond the limits of the Earth, hanging so high in his inexplicable joy. It made him even more happier when Ryuji told him that he simply came to check up on him. He didn't have any other agenda, his visit was entirely dedicated for Akira.
What a good friend, Akira thought to himself and while he's grateful for it, he also felt a bit of pain tugging at his heart. Ryuji is a good friend, indeed, but there's more than that. There's an aching desire, an urge deep down within Akira, thoughts that run wild in his mind, keeping him awake in the dead of night with a gaping hole in his chest. It feels like an ever-present entity, one that never leaves his side, and one that disturbs him especially when Ryuji is around. It's a feeling that prompts him to turn his head to face his delinquent friend wherever he is. What's worse is that it's uncontrollable. He can't shake it off and it won't leave him alone.
It got worse when Ryuji started to enter his shop and complimented Akira's ability to work with these many flowers, simple words that made Akira realized the excitement of an astronaut going to the moon for the first time. Ryuji then started to walk around, admiring the different flowers that they had in store at the time, and Akira was entranced. It was as if Akira was Narcissus and Ryuji was his reflection, but this time, Narcissus is looking at an entirely different, separate person, whose beauty demands attention, and Narcissus' eyes are glued onto him. There is no escaping this person's charm and Narcissus is enamored. He walks all around Narcissus, turning his back on him to admire the colorful gifts of nature, and Narcissus couldn't help but let his head turns accordingly, following him wherever he goes. It was only when the mysterious entity looked at the pot of sunflowers didbNarcissus finally regained control over his body together with a new piece of knowledge.
"I'm a sunflower," Akira muttered to himself with visible shock on his face.
"Hm? What's that?" asked Ryuji, still with a smile on his face, "You want a sunflower?"
"N-no I...," Akira tried his best to grasp for words as shock takes turn to control his body, "I-I, uh... I want... sun."
"Huh?"
"S-sun, yeah!" Akira was sure he looked like a fool at this point. This leader of an internationally wanted criminal group was falling head over heels for one teenage boy. He started to regret welcoming Ryuji in his shop, "Yeah! I think they need more sun! T-the sunflowers!"
"Definitely, yeah," Ryuji supported his weird ramblings and Akira took a deep, glad breather, "They look like they couldn't survive down here, y'know? But they're healthy so I guess you guys are giving them routine sunshine treatment."
"O-of course, yes. That is... a standard treatment," Akira swore he could hear Morgana's giggles from his bag.
After that short conversation, Ryuji stayed for a little while longer, helping him to do his part-time job, perhaps for the better... or the worse. It took all of Akira's willpower to not just shed his cool and calm demeanors so that he could curl up in the corner of the store to think of the things that rudely came into his mind, but once again, like a sunflower, he just followed Ryuji wherever he went. His urge was to not lose any moment with the blond and so he did just that: doing anything and everything in the store with Ryuji despite his desperation to just put his hands in his pockets and never use them again for the entire day due to how shaky they are. It was an agony and happiness at the same time. Only when Ryuji left did he literally drop down to the floor in front of his manager with blank eyes and trembling hands. He went home earlier that day with a little bit of pity bonus.
From that day on, he started to think about flowers. Sunflowers. The sun, as well. The sun. He couldn't sleep that night and went on a googling spree to read the meaning of every single flower he knows in the store like they're novels that get him so invested he buys the entire series at once. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe in himself, he couldn't believe what a single person could do to his sleep schedule and mind. He is at loss of words when Morgana caught him with his phone shining bright at 3 in the morning. He couldn't explain that he felt such a deep connection to sunflowers from the very start because he's been crushing hard on his best friend that he sees as his sunshine, so he just blankly stared at Morgana with his tired eyes before going to sleep immediately without saying anything. He didn't know what was going on in his mind at the time until now.
However, one thing that he knows now is that he's a sunflower, constantly looking for his sun and his proper sunshine treatment. He needs it.
That's why when Ryuji told him that he'll check up on him again today, he couldn't help but smile to himself. Today will be yet another fateful day for him, one that'll never leave his mind. He's been waiting for this day ever since he first realized his inherent connection with the sunflowers. He has cut up some Scarlet Rose, Care-Nation, and Enamored Orchid to be put in a bouquet. He's ready to leave his shift early to take Ryuji on a trip to someplace he's planned. He can hear his manager giggling while looking at him, but he knows he can rely on her when they eventually get back here. He puts on his sunflower-shaped keychain that he thinks of his charm on his empty bag. Morgana has promised to leave him alone today.
He takes a deep breath as he leans himself on the wall. God, he can't wait to break his limit. He might be a sunflower, but he knows this time that following wouldn't suffice, he wants to reach for his sun, to have his arms embraced around that burning ball of fire, and he can't wait for it.