Chapter Text
“It’s been one month. Are you sure you don’t know?”
Ouran Academy.
The university division is renowned to prepare their students coming from their high school division into their careers of their choices. Versus their lower divisions where they had assigned uniforms, they allowed students to wear casual clothes like other universities, with some restrictions. With the gap between most of the students, each day felt like a red carpet day for certain groups.
“Ah! Nao-senpai’s here!” “Nao? Asahina Naohito?”
A refined man got out of his sports car, making way to the passenger's seat to open the door for a woman. The man was wearing a designer suit, his dark hair was short and styled, and his token hazel hues were hidden underneath a pair of sunglasses. Asahina Naohito. A kabuki actor and a rising star in the entertainment industry, who transitioned into the silver screen, where he had well-known charming smile.
“Aya-san. I’ll be sure to pick you up when you’re done?” the man questioned, looking at the beauty before him.
“Isn’t that...” one of them whispered.
“Oh! I remember her from high school! She was the President of the Ikebana Club, Tsukikawa Aya-san,” another noted.
A smile crept up from the woman who had been sitting in the passenger’s seat. Emerging from the car, a woman with shoulder length black hair and charismatic emerald eyes, quietly held Naohito’s hand and stood in front of him. Sporting a simple, light blue sundress, she looked at her beau with a kind smile.
The two of them standing together, it looked like an ideal scene from a romance manga.
“Naohito-san. I’ll make sure to call you when you’re not busy,” Aya replied with a bright smile on her face. “I don’t mind waiting, as long as it’s you picking me up.”
Smiling at her, the male kissed her on the forehead. Squeals could be heard from their spectators as he waved goodbye to her. Turning and walking away from him,that smile had quickly faded from her face. The face that she displayed in front of her peers had long been gone into obscurity.
Tsukikawa Aya. The youngest daughter of the Tsukikawa school, one of the top schools for ikebana or flower arrangement in the Kanto region. If the name Tsukikawa had came out of someone’s lips, people would either think of her older sister, Mai or her mother, Rie. Aya? She was simply the youngest daughter, who had a tabloid-worthy engagement.
“Tsukikawa-san! Do you have class?”
Oh no.
“Yes! It’s only Classical Literature this morning and a few others,” she replied, a billion dollar worthy smile popping up on her face. “Would you like to walk together there?”
Deep down, she wanted to be left alone. As a few more of them slowly continued to gathered towards her, annoyance grew in the ikebana heiress. Although it wasn’t hard for her to tell them off, most of them were either her peers from high school or underclassmen. She had a reputation to uphold as a reliable ‘Senpai’.
As she walked with them, they passed by a missing poster was tacked on the school bulletin board. It was a picture of a smiling woman with a curly, dark brown ponytail and catty blue eyes. In the picture she was wearing a kimono and holding a Japanese confectionery.
Missing:
Shinohara Mizuki
Height: 150 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Last seen: July 20th, 20XX
If found, please contact the Minato Prefectural Police Department.
“Tsukishima-san, you knew Shinohara-san, right?” one of them questioned gazing at the missing poster.
“Of course,” Aya smiled closing her eyes briefly.
“...Mizuki-chan, please!”
Heading down a pathway, Aya was chasing down her best friend. Her geta clapped on the concrete, watching her hurrying down the riverside path. The fireworks show they had gone to, was going on farther down the path. Watching the brunette slowing down to a stop, Aya quietly caught up to her, gently grabbing her wrist.
“What...is wrong with you?” she whispered, trying to catch her breath.
Looking up at her friend, she couldn’t see her expression, until the sky lit up. Mizuki’s face was filled with pain, while she gently held her best friend’s hand.
“Promise me, Aya-san.”
Her eyes slowly cracked open, looking at the concerned, yet confused girls, who were still focused on her.
“She’s my best friend and I miss her.”
Weekly afternoon tea with her fellow peers and underclassmen has been a routine for the last four years. It was in the same place, the Third Art Room in the high school division, a designated room for the Ikebana Club. Newcomers to the club were always invited to make them feel welcome, and it was difficult to break the tradition ever since Aya had graduated.
Girls were chatting over snacks provided by Hanabira-ya. The Japanese confectionery store owned by Mizuki’s family. Newcomers were often in awe with the decorative pieces from the shop, which often stood out from traditional confectionery shops. They were eating flower-shaped manju, while others were eating doriyaki.
Kneeling in front of the flowers, the current President of the Ikebana club, Hagiwara Yukio, was quietly making his arrangement with Aya picking out the flowers. Her hues inspected each flower with a careful look on her face, making sure the flowers the Gardening Club had chosen were the right ones.
“Tsukikawa-senpai. I’m hoping we can get the Central Salon this year,” Yukio remarked, clipping stem of the flower. “There was a lot of hope for our club!”
Closing her eyes briefly, she slowly nodded. “I see,” she remarked. “Do your best, Hagiwara-san.”
Her voice came out into a whisper. She didn’t care about the status of the Ikebana Club. Her sister was the President during her time in Ouran, and Aya had eventually became president simply because of her name. Although she was great at floral arrangements, there was a lot of pressure that she couldn’t handle back during her reign. Even now… She still hates being in this particular club room.
“Senpai? Are you alright?” Yukio spoke up once more, snapping Aya out of her trance.
A small smile formed on the woman’s face. “I need to go check with the Gardening Club to get more flowers,” she said. “I will be back.”
Leaving the club room, Aya took a long deep breath, her hand quietly clutched a silver flower necklace. The topic of the Central Salon from the Ouran Fair was still haunting her.
“Hello. I’m the President of the Ikebana Club, Tsukikawa Aya.”
Quietly bowing in front of the audience, she stood there. A spotlight shined down upon her, a carefully picked arrangement of flowers and grasses laid behind her the nearby table. Her lip parted briefly, trying to recall the speech that she always gave in every arrangement ceremony.
Nothing came out. Her voice...stopped.
Her blood turned cold. Goosebumps formed on her skin. Her hands became clammy from the stares. Her stomach was in twisting up into a knot. It felt like someone was suffocating her. Familiar faces of her classmates were different versus eyes of a stranger.
Judgmental eyes. Eyes hoping she would fail.
Turning towards the flowers, everything suddenly turned gray. Her shaking hands gripped the clippers. Everything slowly became blurry.
Failure.
She was going to fail.
“Here you are, Tsukikawa-senpai!”
The flowers she asked from them… It looked perfect. They were part of the Seven Flowers of Autumn: bonesets, chinese bellflowers, and yellow flowered valerians. Closing her eyes, Aya held the selection of flowers close to her, continuing to make way back to the Art Room from the Gardening Club. Humming to herself, she clutched the flowers close to her chest.
Thud!
“Ah…!”
She bumped into someone. Her heels stepped on a piece of fabric causing her to slip and stumble over. Her flowers escaped her grasp, and flew all over the place. Unable to reach out to catch any of them, Aya didn’t realize what was happening next.
The scent of flowers surrounding her… A pool of darkness, yet she felt warmth.
She was on top of someone.
“A-Are you okay?” she questioned.
They didn’t say anything. Slowly sitting up, she found herself straddling the fallen person, with a questionable look on her face. Black hair, dark eyes. Moving down, her delicate fingers gently brushed aside his locks revealing his handsome face.
Why did he look so familiar?
Suddenly, this man’s eyes flashed open. A grim aura was surrounding him, like she was awakening the final boss of a dungeon.
“Ugh...” he groaned.
“GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Aya screeched hopping off of him.“You’re… You’re alive?”
Her hues stared at him rise up from the floor. His mouth ajar, his pitch black eyes watching her, trying to strike fear into her soul...
“How dare youuuuuuu…!” he groaned.
Crunch!
A brief silence. The two of them stared at the gorgeous flower that was crushed underneath the male’s foot. Immediately, looking up at his taller figure, Aya frowned.
“How dare YOU. That was for the Ikebana Club, you...you jerk!” she hissed. “You know you’re going to suffer from misfortune if you dare destroy a flower!” she scolded, jabbing a manicured finger on his dark chest.
“Ah! Tsukikawa-senpai! There you are!” one of the girls called out.
“Yeah! We were wondering where you were, Aya-san!”
The man remained silent. He looked at the woman once more, inspecting her. Black hair, green eyes. Whenever she looked back at him, her eyes reminded him of a black cat.
“Haha~ Thanks for finding me!” Aya replied to her underclassmen with a smile, trying to shoo them away. “I’ll be back shortly!”
Gathering whatever flower wasn’t crushed in their mishap, Aya glanced up at the male thoughtfully, curious about him. She had been familiar about those students wearing the dark cloaks when she was in high school. She had to assume he was another member.
“Tsukikawa...Aya-san...” he muttered underneath his breath.
“…!”
His voice repeating her name immediately caught her attention.
“E-Excuse me…?” Aya’s voice cracked.
“Y-You’re Tsukikawa-san, aren’t you?”
She assumed from his voice and appearance, that the man she encountered was him. Nekozawa Umehito. Former President of the Black Magic Club. They were the same age, and yet she hasn’t seen him since their high school graduation, due to the fact they were in completely different departments.
Oh no.
Why did it have to be him?
She couldn’t speak another word.
Her lips parted to say something, but instead, Aya immediately shuffled around to grab the rest of the flowers. After quickly bowing to Umehito, the woman slowly got up and began to hurry out of there. Upon reaching the end of the hallway, her pristine demeanor was flushed and panicked.
Out of all people she had to yell at, why did it have to be him?
‘Oh no...No, no, no, no…!’ she whined in her head.
Covering her lips, the woman stood there in a daze. Peeking over to watch him standing there, reaching out, looking like he wanted to say something to her.
‘I’m so sorry…’ Aya apologized in her head.
She wanted to see him again.