Chapter Text
That morning, Takashi wakes up with flowers growing from his right eye.
He feels nothing at first. After all, it’s just another day. He keeps his eyes closed and curls further into his futon- five more minutes, he tells himself. There’s a maths test today, and the history assignment is supposed to be turned in today. Last night, Nishimura texted him and asked if he wanted to hang out after school with the others- Takashi said sure. Yesterday afternoon Touko-san mentioned wanting to buy a cake from a shop in the city. Takashi plans to buy her one while going out with his friends. He groans, and finally opens his eyes. So much to do-
His right eye hurts.
A small throb. Then suddenly it’s unbearable pain. Takashi jumps from his futon, clutching his face with his hand, but it only hurts more. Nyanko-sensei, who was sleeping on top of him, yowls in protest, but Takashi ignores her and opts to scramble to the bathroom.
He slides the door open and goes to the sink, turning it on. Water pours out, Takashi with eyes scrunched shut cups some of the water and splashes it to his face. The cool water soothes the pain a little, and Takashi finally manages to open his eyes.
There are flowers on his face. To be more precise, there are flowers growing from his face. From his right eye.
He blinks.
“Natsume! You brat-” The fat calico cat comes sauntering into the bathroom, annoyed and very much does not want to be awake yet. He keeps talking, not realising Takashi’s dilemma, cursing the boy out. “A great youkai like me needs their beauty sleep you know!”
“Sensei,” Takashi says instead, “Nyanko-sensei,”
“What??”
“Why are there flowers growing from my face?”
“What are you talking about-” Takashi turns to look at Nyanko-sensei. The lucky cat pauses, looking over their human ‘servant’.
He hums.
“It looks like you’ve been cursed,” She said, before looking away and opting to groom their paws instead. He didn’t seem to care at all- as if it’s just another Tuesday.
Which it’s supposed to be; Just another Tuesday. And yet here Takashi is.
Although to be fair, finding out that he’s been cursed doesn’t come as much as a surprise he would’ve expected. Flowers blooming from his right eye as a curse is definitely new though- he’s gonna have to deal with this before anyone finds out.
“Takashi-kun? Are you okay?” Soft footsteps are his only warning before a head pokes into the bathroom. Touko’s gaze is that of concern as she looks over him, worried.
“T-Touko-san! I can explain-”
“Oh my! You look very pale, Takashi-kun,” Touko goes over to him and gently rests her hand on his forehead, checking his temperature. “Do you feel sick again? I can call the school to tell them that you’re resting today,”
“Touko-san…” Can she not see the flowers?
“I’m okay, really! There’s no need to call in sick,” He waves his hands around, trying to assure Touko that he’s fine.
“Oh dear…alright then, get ready for school. And if you do feel sick, don’t hesitate to call alright?” Touko softly sighs, before smiling and letting Takashi get ready.
After Touko leaves, Takashi hurriedly slides the bathroom door close before facing Nyanko-sensei, who is now idly sitting on the closed toilet seat. “Can she not see the flowers…?” Takashi asks, not really expecting an answer.
“No. It’s a youkai curse most likely, so normal humans won’t be able to see it,” Nyanko-sensei answers anyway, jumping down from the toilet seat and walking out the bathroom. “I’ll go on patrol and try to find what happened to you. You better pay me back with manjus!” The cat left, leaving Takashi alone.
Takashi sighs. It is too early for this.
“I guess I’ll have to go find out after school…”
Nobody asks him anything about the flowers on his face.
The walk to school is surprisingly peaceful. The youkais and ayakashis that he encounters doesn’t bother him at all, only passing by him with a glance. The Book and himself are still intact by the time he makes it to school, so that’s a win.
Even with the flowers growing on his face, Takashi can still see things just fine; the flowers don't obstruct the vision in his right eye at all, and he can still blink albeit it’s followed by a dull throb of pain.
But although it’s almost like it isn’t there at all, everytime Takashi reaches up, he can feel the flowers. The petals of the small orange flowers feel soft under his fingers, and he can faintly smell the fragrance of the flowers. Passingly, Takashi wonders what the name of the flowers is.
Some of the people he passes by in the hallway waves at him or calls him with good mornings. Most of them are girls from the first year though, and the group of girls would giggle amongst themselves when he waves back.
There are ten minutes left before the bell for homeroom rings. Takashi slides the door to his classroom open, and smiles when a chorus of good mornings comes from his classmates that are already there.
“Natsume!” A familiar voice calls, “Morning!” Takashi’s smile widens.
“Morning, Nishimura-” He freezes.
His energetic friend waves at him from his seat, a bright grin on his face. Surrounding his desk are Takashi’s other four friends; Tanuma, Taki, Kitamoto, and Sasada. They all smile at him, happy to see their blond friend.
And Takashi wants to smile back; he really does. But his hand is stuck into a half-wave in the air, and he’s questioning his own eyes for once.
"What's wrong, Natsume? You look pale," Nishimura asks. Kitamoto and Sasada look at Takashi in concern, while Tanuma and Taki silently question him.
Everything, Takashi wants to say. Because there are flowers growing from his right eye, and not just him. All of his friends--Nishimura, Kitamoto, Tanuma, Taki, Sasada--They all have flowers growing from their right eyes, and Takashi doesn't know whether they know or not.
"It's nothing...uhh- Nishimura?" His friend hums in response, "There's something on your face...hold on, let me-" Takashi reaches his hand out, gently grabbing one of the yellow flowers on Nishimura's face, before plucking it out.
"OW-!" Nishimura flinches and reaches to cover his right eye. "Natsume?? What the fu-" He let down his hand.
Everyone freezes.
There's blood on Nishimura's hand.
The bloodied flower sits on Takashi's hand.
Dread starts to settle in Takashi’s gut, slowly and steadily growing bigger and bigger.
“The flower…” Taki mumbles to herself, and four heads immediately snap to look at her.
“Wait, you can see it too??”
“Wha- What do you mean too?!”
“Hold on, you guys can-”
“My eye hurts-!”
Takashi stares at the chaos that are his friends, holding the bloodied yellow flower in his hand, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.
Fuck, he thinks.
“Fuck,” He said outloud, the gravity of the situation dawning on him.
Surprised eyes stare back at him, and Takashi doesn't know whether they are surprised about the knowledge that they can see the flowers on each other, or it’s because he just swears out loud.
“Natsume-” Tanuma starts, but the bell rings, effectively cutting him off.
Takashi takes a breath. Inhale. Exhale. There’s still that horrible sense of dread and a hint of panic.
He takes another breath. “Let’s meet at the rooftop for lunch, okay?” He smiles.
Everything is fine, he seems to say. It was not.
Homeroom starts.