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“Did you know, Nirei-kun…” Suo hasn’t even finished his sentence, and Nirei is already furrowing his brows like a disappointed mother. Suo, with a barely-perceptible huff of laughter, continues. “Morning glories bloom every morning. However, their petals always close by noon.” Mischief plays with the curl of his lips. “Did you think I was going to say something else?”
Nirei sighs, though his expression softens into a sort of affectionate fascination, honeyed eyes bright with wonder as they follow the trellis of morning glories that strew like bruises. Instead of entertaining Suo’s remark, he says, “You know a lot about flowers, Suo-san.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
Nirei tilts his head toward Suo, eyeing him sidelong. The sunset ignites his classmate’s silhouette, the red in his hair and the red in his eye, always so soft and kind. It sharpens the shadows that cut across his face, and Nirei cannot tell if it is that harsh light or if it is truly forlorn that is etched onto his delicate features. It is almost as if he is grieving, and Nirei wants to take the seeds of that sadness and plant them so something beautiful, something full of color, will blossom in its place.
He cannot help but recall when the three of them – himself, Suo, and Sakura – helped a fashionable elderly couple (who compared Nirei’s hair to mimosas), and Suo explained the words that flowering dogwood speak in hanakotoba.
“Do I seem indifferent to you?”
Nirei supposes that flowers are more than what meets the eye, and like everything in this world, there is a light and darkness to explore. Perhaps that is what compels him to ask, “What else do you know about morning glories?”
Suo, seemingly entranced, does not look at him. They have been staring at these flowers for at least five minutes, so there must be something else about them – some hidden meaning, a secret message, that only Suo can decipher. It must be special, because otherwise, they would still be on their way to school. After all, they pass by these flowers daily. What makes them so particularly interesting today?
“Well, since they’re only open for so long, they symbolize the fleeting nature of life.” Suo tenderly brushes his knuckles against the indigo petals, and now, Nirei is certain that the lighting has nothing to do with the deep-seated sadness in Suo’s eye. “They remind us to cherish each and every moment.
And maybe it is because Nirei cannot stand to see that sadness on the face of his best friend, his mentor. Maybe it is as simple as curiosity. But Nirei asks, “If I was a flower, what flower would I be?”
Suo smiles.
And Nirei realizes that sadness in Suo’s eye was the most honest expression he has ever made.
...
Nirei’s vision fades with the retreating thump of Suo’s footsteps. He couldn’t stop him. And he can’t help but think,
I was the morning glory.