Chapter Text
So, what comes to mind when you think “flower shop”?
If it’s anything along the lines of cute and loving, then you’re way off.
From the moment people enter these places, they are enchanted by the sweet smell of -wait for it- flowers. Working at a flower shop automatically makes you an angel on earth: the literal embodiment of love and tenderness. These shops are gentle places, where one can express their emotions through the beauty of nature.
Yeah, that’s all wrong. Believe me, these places are short of a battlefield.
Let's just say that my experience on this topic has traumatized me enough to need to document my story:
How I came to work at the Earth Defense Shop.
Another day just spent staring at the ceiling fan blankly as it spins, feeling increasingly older with each spin and thinking that maybe at some point I’ll just stop existing, becoming a gust of wind it pushes out of the way. I feel like I should be doing something, anything, but I can’t bring myself to. That is my constant inner battle.
“I’m home.”
I sighed at the familiar voice of my goody two shoes of a best friend, Kinugawa Atsushi: the guy who for some reason continues to stick with me despite what most people call an unbearable lack of motivation. Somehow this has made him worry about me and try being with me constantly. I’ll admit I’m lucky to have met him.
“Welcome back.” I had gotten over the fact that we sounded like a married couple since day two of living together. It was only because Atsushi pointed it out that I even noticed, otherwise I would have never minded enough to do so.
Atsushi walked around the rooms, trying to spot me. Our apartment is way too big for two collage graduates, this is all thanks to Atsushi’s family, which has the big bucks and would not stand seeing their son in lowlier levels.
He’s insisted on maintain it himself, though. Hasn’t accepted a yen from his folks for a long time. I’ve kinda always wanted to just take him away from all of this and go hide in some small crappy apartment together, something belonging to just us and where we could stay away from the rest of the world.
“En?” I heard him come close. I grunted in response, and then heard him take the few steps necessary to reach me. He chuckled lightly at the sight of me. I like hearing him laugh. “Been up to a lot?”
“Same old.”
“Meaning not really, then.” I thought of sending him a weak glare but didn't feel it worth the effort. He shook his head at me with a smile and walked towards the kitchen. “Have you eaten?”
“Eh…? I can’t remember.”
“So no.” Damn Atsushi for knowing me, not even well, but freaking perfectly. He didn’t even seem to need to think about it to know what was going on with me. It made me think I was easy to read, but it turns out it’s just him.
I heard something sizzling in the distance and knew he had started cooking. I finally got off my seat, not truly motivated by food but by the idea of company.
“Everything cool?” I asked casually as I sat down at the kitchen table. I didn’t feel like asking for details and I knew that if anything important had happened Atsushi would take that as a request for information. Yes, he knows me well but it goes both ways.
“You know how this time of the year is, the busiest actually.” He said, referring to Valentines Day. Ever since I met him, Atsushi had been working at a flower shop with a really weird name. I never bothered to learn it.
He went quiet for a moment, thinking of something. I watched his expression with slight curiosity.
“Hey, En.”
“Hm?”
“You need a job.”
I snorted, sitting up on my chair.
“Am I getting an eviction notice or something? A speech about not pulling my weight around here?”
I didn’t mean any of this and Atsushi knew it. I was eternally grateful for him helping me out and I always beat myself up over not being able to help him with money…but… working just isn’t for me. I had tried going into many jobs and I just didn't work out for any. I don't have any particular skills or likes so there’s nothing I truly excel at or even something I desire to do.
Except help Atsushi, which in the end means I need a job, any job.
“I thought of something!” He said cheerfully, giving my previous comment the full attention it deserved, meaning none. “Since things are so busy at the shop, why don’t you come help us out? I’m sure the guys will appreciate the extra hand.”
“Atsushi, we both know my thumb is black as coal.” I muttered, feeling slightly concerned as to where this conversation was heading. I could already picture the shop catching fire for no apparent reason but that of my presence.
“It’s not gardening En, you just have to cut and put them in place."
“It’s too artsy and craftsy for me, don't ya think?” I insisted. Atsushi gave a small laugh, turning to look at me.
“Oh I’m sure we’ll find some use for you.” He looked back at the food. “But really, you should try it out! You never know what could come out of it.”
“Disgrace…” I muttered under my breath. And unnecessary effort.
“Did you say something?”
“Fine.” I said, giving up. Yes, I needed a job and at least Atsushi would be there to fix things if I started messing up too bad. Also him being there would stop me from getting bored.
Atsushi smiled at me, and it made me feel both better and more anxious about the whole thing.
“Knew you’d do it! We have to wake up pretty early tomorrow.”
I was regretting this already.
The first thing that hit me as we entered the Earth Defense Shop was the heavy stench of flowers that hung under your nose. I’ll admit it wasn’t necessarily a bad smell, but it was so palpable that it could barely be considered pleasant.
“There’s no one at the reception.” I muttered with little interest. I took this time to look around the shop and judge its design. The walls were pink with rows upon rows of wooden stands for around 50 flower arrangements. Almost all the spaces were taken, which had me slightly impressed. There were also balloons floating everywhere and bouncing lightly against the ceiling, which gave the room the perfect “cute” atmosphere.
“That’s because I’m usually the one attending it.” Atsushi explained. We walked past the reception desk, and towards a door which I guessed would lead to the workroom. All in all, it seemed like a relatively pleasant place.
The moment Atsushi opened that door, the illusion shattered and all hell broke loose.
Inside, not only did the floor have a light layer of water (enough to make me almost slip at my first step), but it was covered with rose petals and stems. Not an inch of it was bare. It seemed more like the lair of a flower-hating club, wanting to destroy all that grows on the earth.
“This is a slaughterhouse!” I said with panic.
“It’s usually not this bad, but like I told you these are really busy times.” Atsushi’s leveled voice answered. Before I could understand, a blonde head of hair popped right in front of my face.
“OOOH! You’re Atsushi-senpai’s friend, right??? He told us you were going to come!!” A pair of excitable scarlet eyes locked right onto mine. I took a startled step back and almost slipped on the wet floor again.
“Yumoto! What did we say about personal space with strangers?” Atsushi instructed, and any other day I would have teased him over how motherly he sounded but at the moment I felt like I had just entered a madhouse
“Sorry!” The boy said with an anything but apologetic tone. Now that I could see his face he just seemed like an overly energetic kid and I felt kind of bad for reacting so violently.
“Eh… it’s ok. Um…” I noticed his apron, and wondered how old he was. “You work here?”
“Yeah!” He gave me a bright smile. “I love flowers! I could make these arrangements all day! The only thing better would be cuddling!” Ok I was feeling weird about this kid again.
“Right…” I said, stepping around him. “Shouldn’t you be in school or something?”
“Don’t try to scare our head florist away, please.” I turned towards the sound of an unfamiliar voice and spotted a desk at the very back of the room. There was an elegantly dressed guy with a sharp face and haircut, typing on a tablet. Piles of papers surrounded him. He did not even look up at us.
“Good morning, Io.” Atsushi greeted. He turned to me and whispered in my ear. “He’s one of the owners. He pretty much organizes everything and keeps the place running.” He began walking, and I quickly followed. “Where’s Ryuu?”
“He left the new ribbons in the van.”
The room was more like a hall, the walls all lined up with tables covered with arrangements in the making, while buckets of all types of flowers were set bellow them. If I thought the store stank of flower, I could barely breath here.
“This is the person I was telling you about! He’s going to help us out today and tomorrow.” I gave a slight jolt as I realized Atsushi was introducing me. Io finally looked up from his tablet and held my gaze for a moment. I thought he would surely look back down and ignore me but he surprisingly smiled.
“Thank you very much for your assistance. You’ve probably noticed, but we are all a bit overworked here and are starting to feel the pressure. Not Yumoto of course, he has the willpower to work for days on.”
Just as he mentioned that, the blonde had already gone back to work—on a GIANT rose heart.
“Wow, how many roses are those?” I asked weakly.
“200!” The blonde said cheerfully before working on as he hummed some tune. Just watching him made me feel tired.
“As you see, Yumoto is our ‘muscle’ here. He takes all the long tedious works."
“That’s a good strategy.” I acknowledged. Everyone should give the exhausting work to those unnatural energetic types. The world would be a better place and the rest of us could just do nothing in peace. “Hey.” I couldn’t help ask. “Why are there so many petals and stuff on the floor? It’s really bothering me.”
“I do suppose it would look strange for an outsider." Io said with a hint of humor in his voice. "If Atsushi doesn’t mind, I’ll ask him to guide you and explain those things to you. Atsushi, since it is his first day we will try to have him make bouquets only, besides helping clean flowers for the rest of you.” He looked back down at his tablet. “Sorry, En. I usually like to talk the beginners through everything but we really are behind here. I’ll explain once Ryuu gets here.” He flashed me a smile suddenly. “Time is money.”
“Um… yeah… thanks.” This one’s a loony also. Atsushi nudged me.
“My station’s over here.”
We set ourselves in front of a table, Atsushi handing me an apron which I stared at as he put on his own. He then bent down for a second and came back up with a giant package of roses. The table shook as he set it down.
“You were asking about why the floor is such a mess! Well, the flowers are put in buckets filled with water to keep fresh. The mess is also because they are imported, so they may be a bit damaged.” He instructed, and I felt like I was back in grade school. “Therefore the first thing we have to do is ‘clean’ them, which means taking out any imperfect petal, most of the leafs, and the thorns.” I winced at the thought. “Here.” He handed me a rose and I stared at if for a moment.
“Now what?” I looked blankly up at him. He chuckled in that way that makes me smile even if I’ve had the most annoying day.
“You use this.” He took a claw-like metal tool and gave it to me. “You have to pull it over the stem to take off the thorns.”
I was really starting to feel like I was going to suck at this. I was about to sigh and tell Atsushi that maybe this wasn’t a good idea, when I heard Io curse.
“This is so much worse than I thought…” He muttered, but I could still hear him clearly. A strong frown was marked on his face as he read over something. I suddenly felt very annoyed at myself.
You’re not here to play around! They need help.
I took a deep breath and gripped the tool determinedly.
“Alright, let’s try this.” I closed it tightly around the stem and pulled hard…
It got stuck on the first thorn.
“W-wha- why?” I stuttered as I looked down. Atsushi patted my shoulder.
“You’re surprisingly motivated, which is both weird and refreshing.” I gave him a weak scowl, which he ignored “You’re pressing too hard.”
He took my hand and loosened its grip slightly. I then pulled it through and it worked a little better, leafs and everything else falling to the floor.
“Oh.” I said with annoyance. So much for my determination. “There are still a few thorns thou-“
The workroom door opened and a guy with bright pink hair entered, carrying a box bulging with ribbons.
“I know I know, how could I have forgotten about such a huge box right under my feet, but you didn’t remember either otherwise you would have gone back for it before opening up here!”
The pink haired boy stopped for a second as he spotted me, then recognition flooded his features.
“Ah! You’re the guy who’s going to help us out, huh? Thanks, we’re really going to need it.”
“You have no idea.” Io said with a sigh. Ryuu turned to look at him and tilted his head.
“What do you mean?”
The manager scowled as he pointed at the papers beside him.
“Those people we hired to take calls are idiots, I’m firing them this instant.”
“What? Why?”
“They messed up my tables. Not only did they erase certain works we had scheduled, but couldn’t ‘figure out’ how to put other ones in and just now thought it would be a good idea to tell me that they left them listed on paper.“ Ryuu’s mouth dropped open. “Now we have more than 30 arrangements we did not expect."
“No way.” He practically threw the box of ribbons at me and ran to a wall covered with papers, tracing them with his finger. “We already have more than 70!” Ryuu looked over his shoulder at Io with something akin to panic. The other sighed.
“We’ll have to read them all and see if they have been listed or not.” Ryuu nodded.
I rubbed my face and looked back down at my not-really-clean rose. This situation was worse than I thought it could’ve been. I was about to pass the tool over the stem once more when I heard Io’s voice.
“Ok, we’ve got ‘To steal love without regret’.”
“No.”
“In the name of love.”
“No.”
“Love shower.”
“Ugh we might not have enough alstroemeria for that one-“
“Whoa hey!” I couldn’t help cutting in. “Are those… the names of your arrangements?” Ryuu blushed.
“H-hey don’t look at me! I only design them! YUMOTO is who named all of them.”
I blinked in surprise.
“You designed all of them?”
“Well, yeah. Io and I started this place. They didn’t have names at that time.”
“Ok, that’s great can we get back to this?” Io said impatiently. “Please go back to work everyone, as you see we are more than a little busy.”
“Yes!” Atsushi and Yumoto called out. I looked back down at my rose and tugged at its thorns once again, finally having it clear.
“Got it!” I said proudly, looking back at Atsushi , I realized, like a freaking puppy for praise.
“That’s great, En. Clean 12 and I’ll tell you how to make a bouquet.” He looked over his shoulder. “Ryuu, what should I do?”
“Sweet baby.” I snickered at the name.
“What was that one again?”
“Orchids and Roses.” He said with no hesitation. I realized he probably knew all the products and their names by memory. How exhausting.
I watched as Atsushi took another package of roses, then gaped stupidly as he cleaned them, clearing all thorns and leafs with a quick movement of his tool.
I forced myself to focus on my work and struggle against my own roses. By the time I had 12 ready, Atsushi was already placing his inside a vase.
“Alright.” He said, nearing me as he noticed I was done. “Now put them all together, like this.” He took them from my hands and showed me. “With the stems touching. Try to make it as round and even as possible.”
He gave them back to me and it immediately lost its shape. I groaned as I manhandled the roses, trying to get them into the proper shape. I tried ignoring the way Atsushi was trying not to laugh.
“Once you’re done with that,” He said, biting back laughter. “You need to wrap it with tape so it’ll stay that way. When you´re done, give it to me so I can put a bow around it.“ He set a thin transparent roll beside me and smiled before going back to his own work.
I clumsily held them together the best I could and pulled a strap of tape with my teeth. I moved my hand around the stems but the tape started twisting and messing up.
This was definitely not for me.
As I stared with defeated at the ugly taped bunch of flowers, the tape roll still hanging on them, a pair of scissors appeared in my line of sight and cut it off, having it land softly on the petals on the floor. Ryuu took a step back and put his hands on his hips.
“Stop being so negative, I could practically feel your lack of motivation from where I was.” He pointed at me with the scissors. “Get something straight: no one starts knowing anything. You think Yumoto is good at arts and crafts in general? Please, the most he can make are paper airplanes.”
“It’s true!” The blonde chirped, poking his head out of his 200 roses. Ryuu smiled before looking back at me with determination.
“He had a lot of slips and difficulties. Don’t expect your work to look like ours; we have years of experience. You just need to try, and you will learn, but you need to let that attitude die, got it?”
It was weird to get sermoned by someone younger than me, but it didn't change the fact that his words made sense.
“G-got it.” I tried saying.
“I hope so!” Ryuu winked. “It’s most definitely going to be a long day.”
And that was the beginning of what I can only describe as the “rush hour” of the flower world. It turned out that in fact there were around 32 arrangements that they had not been expecting, and the need for speed was evident. Arrangement after arrangement was made and set out on the shop’s wooden stands. They were slowly becoming ridiculously crowded.
A costumer would drop by from time to time and Atsushi would go attend them. They would make orders for tomorrow, and Atsushi would return with slight dread as he added more to the already huge pile.
Valentines day is truly of the devil.
Anyway, I wasn’t getting any better at cleaning and it was really getting on my nerves, As I struggled to get a particularly stubborn thorn off, cursing.
“That’s it!” I threw the tool down and gave a battle cry before pressing against the thorn’s side with my bare thumb. Soon it flew off and I cheered victoriously.
“En don’t do that! You’ll hurt yourself.” Atsushi said worriedly.
“It works better, though!” I must’ve looked like a maniac but hey, it worked, and I still do it today.
My rose production increased dramatically, and Atsushi, Ryuu, and Yumoto would occasionally come to my station and take roses from there.
“Yumoto! Don’t forget to add the chocolates to that ‘love is forever’ like last time!” Io barked.
“Got it!” Yumoto called out as best he could with a ribbon in his mouth as he ran to the reception with a box of chocolates in his hand.
“What’s next?” Ryuu called out to Io.
“I miss you.” The name distracted me.
“That doesn’t sound like the other arrangements.” I commented.
“That one is a more recent design than the rest. Kinugawa chose the name, actually.” Ryuu answered absentmindedly. I raised an eyebrow and turned to Atsushi, who was either too focused on his work, or purposefully avoiding my gaze.
Huh… I wonder what made him think of that name…
Once Ryuu had finished the arrangement, I couldn't help judge it a bit; wondering what about it would give it that wistful, longing, look that Atsushi thought it worthy of the name. It was elegant, not too extravagant but with every flower completely upright and perfectly placed. The overall effect was a pleasant tint of purple, with the roses being both a light violet and pure white.
I don’t get it… I shrugged it off and went back to work.
My skin pulsed from pushing at thorns but I would not go back to being slow for the tool. I was finally getting into the rhythm the others were in and I wasn’t backing down now.
“That one goes with a stuffed animal!” Ryuu called out to Atsushi who nodded before going off and returning with a large black bag.
“Those are the stuffed animals?” I asked as I plucked a rose’s petals (yes, I had achieved the ability of multitasking. I don’t think I ever had before in my life, doing one thing is bothersome enough).
“Eh, I wouldn’t say animals in plural.” He opened the bag, and I almost lost my footing in the slippery floor at the sight.
The bag was filled with the same type of pink…. creature. It had an ugly large black nose, beady eyes, and stupid looking teeth.
“What’s with the alien koala…?” I raised an eyebrow as Atsushi took one out of the bag and gave a weak laugh.
“They are the cheapest designs we could find; best for profit.” Io's voice traveled from his desk.
“It’s not a koala!” Yumoto suddenly appeared and took the weird thing from Atsushi. “It’s a wombat, and I love it!” He started cuddling it so ferociously that I felt the need to look away.
“Are you still selling that to someone…?”
“No ‘wombat’ ever leaves this store without having gone through Yumoto.” Atsushi muttered, looking slightly disturbed as well. “After all this time I’ve learned to ignore it mostly."
Atsushi went back to work and I finished the bouquet I was working on. How many was it now? 8? 10? I'd lost count. I was going to have blisters tomorrow and I didn’t really know how I felt about that.
My mind felt numb as the time passed and at some point I became aware that someone had turned on the radio to some stupid news reporter whose voice just made me feel more like I was being dragged along some current and was drowning.
I put down the small white flowers I had been setting around the roses and I went to get more ribbons, nearing Io as I did. I felt the need to stop working for a minute and just do something else. Anyway, there had been something I had wanted to ask for a while now.
“Hey I’ve been wondering,” I murmured as I leaned against Io's desk. “If Yumoto’s specialty is the time consuming works, then what about everyone else?”
I thought he might ignore me, but he actually put his tablet down and looked at me with a tired smile, obviously glad for the break himself.
“Ryuu handles the arrangements with the most details. The more complicated ones, you could say.” I turned to look at what he was doing now and it was, in fact, the flower sculpture of a dog with ribbons at the ears and a long stemmed flower as the tail. I compared it to Yumoto’s arrangement of a tall vase of innumerable flowers. “Atsushi handles everything else.” This surprised me, making me look at my friend.
“Atsushi?” I said, obviously impressed. Io nodded.
“He’s a good worker. He is the kind of person who focuses on the need of his employers instead of on what he wants or even what he can provide. He was eager to learn and do everything we needed him to do.” Io went back to his tablet. “He is worth his salary.” I felt like that was the highest compliment that could possibly come from him.
I took that as a sign that our break time was over, and I went back to my station. Ryuu yelled over his shoulder.
“Io! I thought someone had ordered a ‘Fallin Love’ but its not on the list."
“They haven’t paid for it.” He said simply.
“So?” I asked.
“We have a strict policy for that. We don’t make the arrangement unless it has been paid for.” His will was hard as steel. I watched as Ryuu rolled his eyes with a small smile, looking at Io in an “Oh, you” fashion that suddenly made me wonder the history between the two.
“It is the one thing I never really agreed on with him, but also the one thing I just can’t coax him into changing.” He said almost fondly.
I went back to my work and finished wrapping the stems with a thicker tape that I had found and was easier for me to manhandle than the other one. Atsushi winced as he watched me near him with yet another bouquet, then gave me an apologetic look.
“Alright, En, I think it’s time we give the bows a try.” I almost winced too, but decided not to stupidly predispose myself into sucking. I knew he hadn’t wanted to bother me with the bows because they were more complicated, but with all the workload he really needed all the time he could get to focus on his own arrangements.
We stood before the bouquet and Atsushi took a red ribbon.
“First you make a regular knot around the stems. Then you need to cut it.” I took some scissors and did just that.
“Ok, that wasn’t so hard.”
“Oh, we’ll see.” He teased, knowing it would make me want to prove him wrong. Damn Atsushi.
Then the doorbell rang, and I took the ribbon for him so he could go to the reception. I mindlessly twisted it around my hands, when I saw Atsushi freeze at the workshop’s door out of the corner of my eye.
“Good day, Earth Defense Shop!” An unfamiliar voice called out cheerfully. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and turned almost apprehensively towards the voice.
I followed their gaze to a person standing at the store’s entrance with a hand raised in greeting.
The long pink hair braided to the side and the casual sunhat made me think the person was a girl, but their figure seemed too tall and curve-less.
“Good day to you, Gero.” Atsushi said in the most formal voice I had ever heard from him. He seemed more relaxed now but I could tell how tense he really was. I glared at the person, wanting to know why they caused such a reaction (also what kind of name was Gero? No wonder they tried dressing up so nice to compensate).
“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Io asked, speaking cordially as well. “I’m sure this time is as busy for all of you as it is for us.”
All of you? I was going to look at Io but instead caught sight of Ryuu, who was glaring daggers at the pink haired individual. Their attention, though, had gone from Atsushi straight to Io with a large grin.
“Oh, we hired extra hands and they have most of it under control. We’ve also closed any more requests for the days: we’re prioritizing the companies and their requests.“ There was something definitely masculine about their voice, although their movements and gestures were soft and elegant. Blue eyes shone curiously. “I just thought I’d come visit our favorite competition. Wanted to see how you were doing on this date.”
“Well we’re doing just fantastic!” Ryuu said with impatience. “And we still have many orders to do, since we do like the personal touch for our clients.”
Gero did not seem upset at his words. If anything, amusement was evident on his features.
“Well I see you didn’t close your orders for these days. I wonder if it wont be too much work for you to handle…”
Wouldn’t you love that… I couldn’t help think, even though I knew nothing of this person I could already tell the kind that they were.
“It has proven challenging, but I’ve run plenty of calculations and have not let the numbers or the organization get out of hand.” Io said with confidence. Gero actually seemed to brighten at this.
“Of course not! No one could doubt your abilities, Io.” Ryuu seemed to almost hiss at this. Gero gave an exaggerated sigh. “It’s still such a shame you turned down our offer that time.”
“Yes, it was quite generous but I have my hands full here. “
“Yes I do suppose so.” Gero’s eyes slid to Ryuu's and they locked in a sort of battle for a moment.
“What are you looking at?” Ryuu finally said with frustration. An almost maniac grin split on Gero’s face, as if that had been the reaction he had wanted.
“Weren’t you the one looking at me?” He chuckled. His eyes moved to me, and a delicate eyebrow was raised, but he soon ignored me and waved once more. “Well, It seems you all have plenty to do. Gentlemen.” Those eyes suddenly focused on the person beside me. “Atsushi.”
“Thanks for your visit.” He said almost emotionlessly, which made me frown. Gero gave a small laugh.
“God knows you never do.” Atsushi did not react, but I could tell there was some heavy meaning behind those words. Gero turned around and excited the shop.
Atsushi sighed, and Ryuu made an exasperated noise.
“I hate him so much! Why does he keep feeling the need to peek his snotty little nose here! He was probably just showing off the fact that they have free time.”
“I disagree with their strategy, not only are they wasting money on other salaries but their arrangements lose identity.” Io said, shaking his head.
“Hey, maybe someone can tell me what just happened?” I offered with annoyance. Ryuu blinked in slight surprise.
“Oh, since you are Atsushi’s friend I thought you might know him already.” This made me greatly confused.
“Why?” For some reason, Atsushi wasn’t saying anything, but Ryuu didn’t seem to have a problem talking about it.
“He’s one of the workers at our biggest competition: the ‘Earth Conquest Shop’. “
“Earth… conquest? It’s a flower shop?”
“Yeah. Atsushi used to work there.” My eyes widened. I turned to my friend, who gave me a weak smile.
“It was before I met you, so I didn’t feel the need to mention it.” His words seemed strained and I disliked every second of them.
“What happened?”
“They are a very different type of store than us.” Io said, wanting to help Atsushi. “In fact, their ‘mission statement’ is exactly the opposite of ours. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but one of our greatest slogans is ‘love’, particularly that towards the earth and each other. “
“It was tricky, coming up with it.” Ryuu said. “But we knew we needed something to catch people’s attention, so we decided that our store and products needed to contain a ‘message’ to make them even more impactful. We want to spread love to each other through the beauty of nature while respecting and loving nature itself. Quite corny, eh?”
I couldn't help but agree. Then Ryuu scowled.
“That shop though, the earth conquest shop, has the mission to show human’s superiority over nature and their right to mold it to their will and handle it for their own needs. Their slogan is that we, humans, are the ‘rightful rulers of this blue earth’." He said it with great distaste.
I would have never expected flower shops of all places to have such strong hostility between each other. It was a little disturbing for such a love-y sort of place. Then again, nothing about it had been like the pretty pink bubble I had expected.
“It’s a more elegant idea.” Io explained. “Their work is more proper and aesthetic than ours really, but because of that it does not really connect with the general public. They make their money by providing and making contracts with big chain hotels or companies. It works quite well for them. “
Atsushi cut in, taking the ribbon from my hands.
“I think we were learning to make bows, right En?” He was obviously trying to change the subject, and this made me frown. Everyone else seemed to shrug it off and go back to their work, but not before Io gave me a knowing look. I made a mental note to ask him about that later.
Atsushi folded the ribbon expertly over itself making loops and knots that my brain simply wouldn’t register. I tried following his instructions but it always exploded into a shapeless mass.
“Senpai! Go over-the-top!” Yumoto cheered.
“Yeah!” I almost yelled, surprising not only Atsushi but everyone else. “Over… the… top!” I moved my hands fast and wrapped the loops together with the ribbon already around the bouquet and…
…it stayed together.
“You did it!” The blonde said happily, Atsushi laughing as well.
“Great, now you can stop interrupting Kinugawa’s work.” Io said passive aggressively as he focused back on his tablet. My joy was short lived as I remember the 5 other 24 rose bouquets I needed to make.
The atmosphere went back to the focused “busy bee” vibe it had for the past hours. Although I was feeling ridiculously exhausted, not being used to standing for nearly so long, Ryuu seemed to be the one most affected.
He seemed stressed and overly concerned for every detail of his designs. Whenever he looked at the next order he had to do, his eyes would linger over the ones they had left and he would wince lightly. Besides that, the orders were still piling up more and more. I wholeheartedly believed we would not be sleeping that night.
“Damn it.” Io suddenly said, slamming his hands against the desk and standing. Ryuu turned to look at him with startled eyes.
“Io?”
“Give me an apron.” The pink haired boy was shocked for a moment before grinning and quickly searching for one. Io pulled back his sleeves and put on the offered item from Ryuu.
“What do I do?”
“Love Wonders."
“Got it."
I realized that Io knew all the products and their names by memory as well. It should also have not surprised me that he learned florist skills along the way. He immediately searched for the proper flowers and began to expertly clean and cut the stems at different sizes.
I continued working, peeking a look at Io’s desk once in a while. Suddenly I chocked on air as I realized he was making a spiral effect out of the different sized stems. His work was almost as detailed as Ryuu’s.
We went on like this for an hour more. I hadn’t realized how long I had gone without eating, which was very rare for me. I wondered if I should be proud or worried. No, definitely worried.
“Next.” Io called out as he set the finished arrangement. Ryuu looked at the orders on the wall and suddenly smirked.
“Perfect. A ‘Sulfur’”. Io smirked as well, cracking his knuckled playfully in preparation.
“That name’s also different.” I commented. Ryuu grinned.
“That’s cause it’s one of the special arrangements!” I blinked blankly. “Last year we had the idea of each of us designing one giant special arrangement to our own taste. We would chose our favorite flowers and designs for it, limitless choices and amounts of flowers.” I raised an eyebrow at this. It sounded interesting.
“So you all have one?” I asked, looking at Atsushi. He nodded.
“I designed it around a month after I started working here.”
“What does it look like?”
“Here!” Ryuu seemed to be ready for a break, leaving his station and going over to Io’s desk for his tablet. It had seemed like such a sacred object before that, something untouchable and only Io’s, that Ryuu grabbing it like it was nothing and knowing the pass code for it as if it were his own took me slightly by surprise.
He stood next to me and went to the store’s webpage, which was overly pink and cute.
“It’s these.” He handed the tablet to me, which I held precariously as I looked at the arrangements. They were all bigger than any we had made today (and that was saying a lot), each seemed color orientated. I recognized the name of Io’s arrangement: Sulfur. The overall color was yellow, most of it with tulips. Next to it was Ryuu’s, mostly pink (not surprisingly). It was made with stargazers and astromelias, and was named Vesta.
Then there was a HUGE red one full of roses and that weird wombat thing, letting me know it was Yumoto’s. The name was Scarlet.
Lastly was Atsushi’s. The chosen tone was green, brought on by lots of small chrysanthemum around huge calla lilies. It was called Epinard.
“These are so big and elaborate that they are not ordered often, but when they are it’s like we’ve hit the lottery.” Io said excitedly. “They’re expensive!”
“It looks so troublesome to make.” I muttered. Something gleamed in Io’s eyes and I immediately regretted my words.
“That’s why you two are going to help me.” He smirked. “I'm going to need lots of these, so it looks like you two better get cutting.”
And as he went back to his station all I could think was who the hell said flower shops were run by nice people.
Tulip stems look just like celery. They smell like it too.
I sighed tiredly, leaning against Atsushi as we sat back to back next to buckets full of the celery-like flower.
“I really don’t get why people like tulips so much.” I muttered under my breath.
“Really?” Atsushi mused.
“I mean look at them, they're just lumps of color. No cool texture or tones or shapes. “
“I'd beg to differ.” I gave a small jump in my seat as Io’s voice reached us from his station. “They’re elegant. They have exotic colors, which most flowers need to be dyed to have, and those colors are bright. They are also expensive.”
“Shouldn’t that make you dislike them?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Ryuu chuckled as he passed by, carrying another finished arrangement towards the store entrance.
“He has an expensive taste.” He called out before being out of sight. I hummed in thought for a second.
“So which are your favorite flowers exactly?” I asked everyone in general.
“Calla lily.” Atsushi answered. Yumoto poked his head out of a giant bouquet.
“Red roses!”
“Stargazer!” Ryuu’s muffled voice was heard through the door.
“Tulips.” Io finished. “What about you?”
“Eh…” I paused my celery cutting to think about it.
“Maybe it’s too soon to judge.” Atsushi commented.
“Maybe.” Io agreed. “But something that appeals to us aesthetically rarely stops doing so later on.
I crossed my arms and thought about it with dramatic effort.
“Those small blue ones…” I finally spoke. Io blinked before turning to the mentioned bucket.
“These? They’re called Hyacinth.” He took some out. “I’m surprised. They’re quite soft and difficult to work with.”
“Like En, in a way.” Atsushi joked.
“Eh? That was mean, Atsushi…” I whined as I leaned more of my weight against him.
“Of course your favorite flower represents you!” Ryuu exclaimed as he entered the door. “And someone as starstrucking as me could only pick stargazers!”
“You could have said because everyone’s gaze gravitates to you like to a star." Io teased, fighting a smirk as Ryuu gasped.
“Oh man, that’s so cool! I take that back!”
“No, it’s too late.”
“Aw, Io!”
The manager chuckled before turning back to look at us.
“Are you almost done with those?”
“Yes!” Atsushi said, finishing his last stems. I was also nearly done. We put the cut tulips back into their buckets and Ryuu helped Io take them to where he was working.
It still felt unreal to see Io out of his desk, with an apron, and doing handwork. When he walked past me I couldn’t help stop him and say the first think I could think of, which was ask him how my bouquet was doing.
He took it carefully in his hands and looked at is for a second. Then in a quick few moves somehow shifted the flowers around and made it look a million times better.
“Good.” He said genuinely to me and gave me the bouquet back. I was kind of shocked by the obvious demonstration of skill.
“What should we order for lunch?” Ryuu suddenly asked aloud, efficiently making me forget all about my bouquet. “I was thinking pizza.”
“Pizza’s good. Cheap.” Io nodded. Pizza sounded freaking heavenly right then.
“Kay! Is 2 boxes ok?” I thought of Atsushi and the way he would only eat 2 slices unless I bugged him about it and forced at least one more. I couldn’t help look at him with annoyance at the idea of how little he probably ate here considering he’s the kind that likes to focus on his work, and the surprisingly demanding work this turned out to be. I was going to force 2 slices extra for sure.
But then I realized we didn’t have time for 2 extra. No one spent more than a few seconds sitting down before going back to work, and the only reason Atsushi and I had been sitting as we cut tulips was cause I had begged him to, turning 2 boxes into improv chairs. As much as it pained me to admit, it did make progress slower.
I silently promised to insist on some heavy dinner back home, and went back to work. Atsushi had started to ask me to do the bows for his vases to save time while he did other stuff (over the top worked!). We spent the rest of the hour in productive silence until the pizza arrived.
Yumoto cheered and was the first to take a pizza slice but did not grab another after that, too infatuated with the work he was on. Both Io and Ryuu did the same, grabbing one quickly but then getting easily distracted and forgetting about the food altogether. I wanted to make everyone stop and sit and just do nothing for a second (it’s my specialty, after all) but I knew we could not afford that. Besides, the list of pending arrangements was reducing and there was progressively escalating excitement in the room because of that.
“Only 2 more bouquets!” Ryuu said to me at some point and it sounded unreal to my ears. Only 2? How many had I done already? My hands had gone numb hours ago. Another thing flower shops like to keep secret is how dry your hands get for some reason. It was ridiculous and I didn’t even understand how it happened. Was it the water from the buckets? The general humidity of the flowers? Beats me, but I was suddenly terribly annoyed at how I never noticed this on Atsushi. Had his skin gotten used to it? Had I not looked well enough? Did he use hand creams?
Yeah I was officially losing my mind, good thing we were almost done. I brainlessly took the pizza box and walked around the room with it, forcing everyone to grab a slice even though the intensity of their work had intimidatingly increased tenfold at the idea of almost reaching their goal. They were each shocked at the action, but seemed genuinely thankful for it.
A little less than an hour later we were done.
Everyone stood before the arrangements piling the shelves and floors of the Earth Defense Shop looking almost teary eyed… each for completely different reasons, of course.
“My designs.” Ryuu released a dreamy breath.
“Our profits.” Io said just as enchanted.
“Look at all that.” Atsushi smiled at me. “These are all going to someone. We’re providing a service to society. That has always been the best part for me, you know?”
I actually felt pretty great too, looking at everything we had been fussing over all day.
“Wait…” I began as I realized something. “So all of these works are for tomorrow?”
“Well yes, Valentines day is tomorrow.” Io said simply.
“Why were we killing ourselves finishing them today?!”
“Most of these have to be delivered first thing tomorrow, we would not have had any time to make them.”
“Deliveries are such a mess. You’ll see.” Ryuu commented with slight dread, stretching tiredly. “Taxi drivers always try to get the best of you.” I was too brain-dead to process that comment.
“Besides, there are always many who forget to buy their valentines present until the last minute. We will be able to work on any orders that come that very day, and anyone who walks into the shop will be able to have anything made. Many other shops actually closed orders since yesterday, so this will make us stand out.” I sighed with defeat at Io’s words.
“What a pain.” I muttered, Atsushi patting me on the back.
“Tomorrow will be calmer, after the morning that is.” Io spoke gently. “We’ll have a proper lunch too.”
“Yaaay! An outing!” Yumoto said happily.
“It’s not an outing, Yumoto! It’s still going to be busy!” Ryuu scowled.
We all paused and looked around the store once more. There was barely any walking space because of all the arrangements, and they had turned the place into the most colorful room I had ever been in in my entire life.
“Good work today.” Io said with a smile.
“I might actually die out of how tired I am.” I commented.
“Welcome.” Ryuu teased. I groaned and let my head drop on Atsushi’s shoulder.