Chapter Text
Touya and Kohane. A long story.
[...]
Long ago, castles stood and royals roamed, imposing within the now ruin of the grand kingdom Nocturne. One known of its high expectations from nobles, everyone was held in strict watch on everything they did. Nobody had privilege to privacy, except the nobles.
..and the captain of the knights. The administrative captain of the knights, Aoyagi Touya, stood tall. He was never a fan of all of this... romance, the man's virtues as rock solid as they could get.
He swore an oath, pledged to the statue in the kingdom's square that he would never stray far from his duties and forever stay loyal to his kingdom, his virtues, and his loved ones. He pledged with full confidence, aware he would never even dare to step out of line and go over his words.
And never had he expected that a florist of all people would be able to take down his walls and make him vulnerable, exposed to love.
Who this florist might be, that caught the captain's eye so hard he fell for her? Well, none other than Azusawa Kohane.
Kohane, the ever-cheerful owner of the best flower shop in town—Azusawa Florals—was the one that managed to draw the captain in. Her adorable smile, the small giggle that would slip through her lips whenever she greeted a customer in her shop...
It drew him in—it charmed him. It made him fall in deep, and he didn't regret it one single bit.
How he found all of this out? Well... this is the part where the long story I mentioned before comes in with a radical kick to Touya's strengths.
Touya was out patroling. Nothing usual. He walked rounds all over the downtown of the kingdom, the zone where the civilians resided. The area was filled with smells of ranging variations, stalls full of merchants trying to advertise their products only for the captain's men to simply walk past them.
It was the dead of night by now. No soul was out and about like he was. This was his favourite time to patrol, as anyone who had a brain and a sense of time would be asleep for the next, impending day.
He liked the dark, he loved the dark. He could wander under the faint glow casted by the lamps in the square. The captain scanned the zone, ready to return to his barracks and finally get his very needed dose of sleep. That was, until...
Touya caught the sound. Sobbing. He didn't waste a second to try and find out who it was and where it was coming from; he might be cold but he wasn't heartless.
A few seconds later, his eyes also caught it. A young woman sobbing by the fountain, glancing into the pristine water and disrupting its staticity with her small tears, dripping into the fountain.
He didn't hesitate.
Touya looked at the young woman, approaching her steadily yet slowly to not disturb her. Upon further inspection, he noticed that this was the owner of Azusawa Florals—the figure that would enchant him with her smile everytime he passed by, making his day a tad better.
He inhaled a soft breath before starting to speak—softly, so he didn't disturb her. “Miss Azusawa…”
Yet he didn't know what to say. He wasn't used to comforting people or soothing them, so what was he supposed to say? He looked like an idiot. His brain shut down as he tried to desperately think of ways to stop her pretty face from swelling up with tears.
“Captain…” she sobbed quietly, looking down into her reflection off of the water. Her eyes went to Touya's, seeing he was looking at her almost tenderly. “it's… it's no big deal. It-it's… a personal matter, sir. I'm going to be okay. Thank you.”
The captain couldn't help but let a ghost of a smile grace his lips as she spoke. He'd gotten thanked by her, what else could he do? He felt his chest swell. “No worries.” he answered smoothly, his stern facade starting to crack.
It'd been like this for a while. He couldn't get her out of his mind, ever since she'd sold him that intricate bouquet of carnations a few weeks earlier at her beautiful flower shop. Those were her favourite flowers, yet that was up to him to learn.