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Despite how it would sound if she said it to anyone other than Kotone, who instinctively always understood her better than most, lunch was Yukari’s favorite part of the school day. Not only because she could finally eat something, more often than not forgoing breakfast in her rush to get in an extra hour of archery practice before classes began, but for the small bit of time in the middle of the day where she could turn her brain off, worry less about the often dull back and forth between teacher and students, and recharge before the afternoon ahead. Usually that rest and recharge included Kotone, but as was becoming the case more often these days, someone from another class had claimed her attention. Whether it was an emergency or something trivial like the latest gossip, Yukari did not know yet, but she would surely hear all about it on the walk home later…
“Takeba-san. Do you have a minute?”
Yukari looked up to see Akihiko standing beside her, appearing what seemed out of thin air. “Sure, Senpai,” she said, moving her bag from the desk beside her and motioning for him to sit if he wanted. “Is something wrong?”
Akihiko shuffled a bit, as if he were nervous. If he wasn’t very much taken, and seemingly happily so, by her best friend, Yukari would find it far cuter than she should considering how different this fidgeting and — was he blushing — was from his usual cool, almost aloof, confidence that he seemed to have with everyone else.
“I was wondering if you were available this afternoon,” he finally replied, coughing once and turning so Yukari was the only one who could hear their conversation. “I could use your help with something.”
“Sure, I don’t have practice today,” she said, finishing her water before putting the bottle back in her bag. Why was he asking her though? It wasn’t as if she could do anything or give an opinion their other friends couldn’t. “Wouldn’t you rather ask Junpei or Kotone though?”
“No, I think you’re the perfect person to ask.”
That answer, given so easily and without a moment’s hesitation, shocked her. It was much easier to believe him when he put it that way, but it didn’t stop her curiosity. “Okay…”
“I promise I’ll explain after school. Meet me by the gates?”
“Sure, yeah. I’ll meet you there.”
“Thanks.”
And with that, Akihiko turned to leave, walking past Kotone without anything other than a smile on his way out the door. Kotone walked back over and took the seat next to Yukari, looking confused and slightly concerned if she read the look on her best friend’s face correctly.
“Hey… What was that all about,” Kotone asked, their classmates beginning to walk back into the room before the bell could ring. “Is something wrong?”
Yukari shrugged. “I don’t think so. He just asked me to help him with something after school. It didn’t sound like a big deal?”
The variety of emotions that seemed to flit across Kotone’s face — concern, disbelief, confusion — before they all faded to a comfortable nonchalance. It seemed, by the fact that she decided not to say anything else, changing the subject to what Fuuka had told her out in the hallway, that Kotone had simply decided to trust that if she needed to know, she’d know. Yukari found herself wishing she could be that trusting, that calm and collected with something she couldn’t know. It was something else she could stand to learn and maybe there could still be time…
The bell rang, shaking Yukari from her thoughts. Break time was over, now the afternoon — with its mysteries to later discover— began.
*** *** ***
The final bell of the day sent Kotone running off to volleyball practice, promising to get dinner with Yukari later that evening and leaving her alone in the slowly emptying classroom. Though she herself would usually be running off to archery practice as well, her shooting skills in Tartarus always needing work with the growing number and strength of shadows they fought during the Dark Hour, today she had nowhere to run to other than the front gates where Akihiko was already waiting for her.
“Hey Takeba, thanks for meeting me,” Akihiko said the moment Yukari approached him, looking back at the gaggle of girls that were approaching. Judging by the looks on their faces, he would be surrounded if they didn’t leave very soon.
“No problem. Want to get going?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
They walked to the school gates before Akihiko turned to lead them toward Port Island Station.
“So…you never said where we were going. Or what you needed my input on.”
Akihiko stopped, making Yukari nearly run into him. He seemed to be thinking of how to actually ask instead of just having her follow him. “I…wanted to get Kotone some flowers, but I guess I just…” He sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know what to get. Or what she’d like.”
“And that’s where I come in.”
“Yeah,” he replied, grateful that she seemed to understand without him having to search for more words to explain. “You’re her best friend, you know her better than any of us. I trust your judgement on what you’d think is appropriate.”
“Are you sure it’s not just because I’m a girl?”
“No, if it were just that, I would have asked Mitsuru,” he said, before pausing and chuckling a bit. “Though this may be a rare occasion when she’d be less useful than I am. I wouldn’t have bothered you with something like this still in that case, but I… I really want to get it right. Kotone deserves at least that much.”
It wasn’t long after their short walk to Port Island Station that Yukari could see Akihiko was in way over his head. The variety of flowers of all different shape, size, color, and scent around them was overwhelming on the best of days, but when you didn’t even know where to begin at all? It was good that she had come with him, just to keep him from walking away entirely.
“There are plenty of options, as you can see,” she said, shrugging before waving to the shopkeeper as she greeted them. “It’ll be difficult to go really wrong here and if you do, that’s what I’m here for right?”
“These are nice,” he said, walking over to the white lilies and smelling them. Despite the fact that Yukari was quite sure that Kotone would like them, they were just the right amount of delicate femininity that her best friend had, despite the strength she presented to the world, they wouldn’t do.
“They are and she would like them,” Yukari replied, but shaking her head. “I don’t think they would say what you want them to though. Unless they were for her funeral.”
That statement, simple as it was, was enough for him to step away from the lilies entirely. There had already been too many funerals, too many goodbyes to contemplate another, especially for one so dear to both of them. “I guess these are out too,” he eventually said, pointing to the honestly beautiful, but again very white, chrysanthemums that were sitting just nearby. For someone who didn’t understand flowers, he sure did have good taste in them or at least knew enough of Kotone’s — and her own — taste to make good choices. If he only needed her to point him in the right color direction, this was going to be far easier than she imagined.
“Yeah, we should probably just avoid white flowers entirely. Just to be safe.”
Akihiko nodded, thankfully not entirely put off by the immediate negative responses just yet. He wasn’t one to give up easily, after all. “I don’t want to say that I want her to die or something… That’s not what I want at all.”
“Do you really want them to mean something, or is it just supposed to be something she likes?”
The question, judging by the contemplative expression that formed on his face in the moment, caught him off guard. It was clear, even if he began moving toward the roses, that he hadn’t thought of the question before, only single-mindedly focused on moving toward the solution to the problem, instead of thinking deeper about it. “Both, if possible. I want…” He paused again, hesitating. “I want to show Kotone how much I like her. That I…I think I love her. That I want to be with her as long as she’ll let me, but without having to actually say it out loud.”
Yukari nodded, picking up a single red rose to smell. “You just said it to me without a problem. Why can’t you just tell her that?”
“It’s different with her,” he replied, shaking his head. “I want it to be right, to be perfect, and I’m not…great with words. Actions are more my thing.”
That statement was enough to make Yukari laugh just a little, nodding along. “Yeah, they are. I’ve never known you to be anything other than a man of action. Luckily for you..,” she said, handing Akihiko the single rose she still held. “I know just the thing.”
*** *** ***
“You’re sure she’s going to like these,” Akihiko asked as they finally turned onto the street heading back toward the dorm, leaving Iwatodai Station behind them. He carried a simple group of three red roses wrapped with a matching ribbon in his hands, looking down at them with concern. Perhaps it seemed too simple for him considering the idea he was hoping to convey, but Kotone would see it, of that Yukari was positive.
“Roses are her favorite flower. I got her a bouquet of pink ones for her birthday, so there’s no doubt that she’ll love them. Especially from you. And you remember what the shopkeeper said, about the significance of the number of flowers,” Yukari replied, holding onto a small bouquet of brightly colored daisies for herself. Though it had taken a fair bit of convincing from Akihiko to allow him to purchase the flowers for her as a thank you for her help, she couldn’t help but be glad to have accepted the offer. They would certainly add a little bit of life to what had begun to feel a bit too…blah. Too ordinary.
“I just imagined a little more than this. It feels too simple,” he replied, still looking a little unsure.
“Well, you may still have to use a few words,” Yukari teased as they approached the dorm, seeing Kotone and Junpei walking out the door before Akihiko did. “…but I think they’ll get the point across well enough.”
“Hey guys,” Kotone said as she walked over, leaning up to kiss Akihiko on the cheek before noticing the flowers in his hands. “Oh, those are beautiful roses. Did you two go to Rafflesia after school?”
It took a moment of staring before Yukari bumped him with her shoulder, making Akihiko nod and give Kotone the flowers. “Yeah, we did. I, um..,” he stammered, trying to find the words now that it was time to say them. “I wanted to get you something nice.”
The look on Kotone’s face as she smelled the roses, her eyes closed with the most serene smile Yukari had ever seen, would have been thanks enough for her help. There was no denying it, Kotone was just as much in love as the boy in front of her, stunned into silence by her beauty.
Grabbing Junpei by the arm and pulling him back toward Iwatodai Station, it was clear to see her work was done. Now, it was up to them to decide what was next.