Chapter Text
"Haruka."
"Yeah?"
"You're doing well in your new place?"
"...Well."
"Pfft- You couldn't even deny that anymore."
"Oh, Shut up!"
"..."
"..."
"I hope you could tell me everything...later? It's been a long time, you know?"
"...Who...are you?"
"...You remember me, didn't you?"
---
Sakura woke up with a gasp as he sat up with a painful headache. He groaned as he tried to ease down the pain by massaging his head. His heart beating furiously and it felt hard to breath. His eyes narrowed around without anything to focus on. He shut his eyes and tried to focus on breathing.
As seconds went by or maybe even minutes, his heart slowed down to the normal pace and his breath finally felt easy. Relief started to flood through him again as he let out a sigh. The headache still there and to add more, his body felt tiring as if he hadn't been sleeping for...eh he didn't know.
He looked out the window and instantly regretted it when a bright light from the sun blinded his eyes for a moment. He didn't even realize that it was already morning or felt the sun basically burn on his face. Though, it might be the reason why he was sweating heavily right now.
His mind was dazing as he tried to remember back why he woke up in such a shock state but to no avail. He gave up trying to remember anything for a long time anyway, afraid that if he tried to find out what it was, it was going to be bad. Maybe, his brain just doing what the best for him by shoving his nightmare to the back of his head.
"What an awful way to start the day..." Sakura mumbled to himself. Then, at the edge of his eyes, he saw his phone lit up with a buzz sound. The phone was too far from where he was sitting as it sat there, charging. He let out a long heavy sigh before crawling towards the phone. The phone continued to buzz and lit up every second he was getting near it.
As he finally reached to it, he looked at the time. It was 7:28. Still had around 35 minutes before the school start. Who the heck making such noises right now? As his eyes looked down, various messages appearing from Class 1-1 Group. The messages kept on appearing non-stop for a few seconds that Sakura squinted his eyes and tried very hard to focus on certain message.
Masaki Anzai
GOODDD MORNIINGG!!
Hayato Suo
good morning, Anzai-kun. You seemed to have a lot of energy
Masaki Anzai
OF COURSE! Did you all forget what today is???
Junpei Kurita
We have something planned today???!!!
Mitsuki Kiryu
What's going on here??
And then everyone kept on appearing, asking basically the same thing that he no longer had any energy to try reading them anymore. He put the phone to the side and massaged his forehead a bit as the headache seemed to ease slowly. He thought deeply what Anzai meant by the plan of today. As much as he felt guilty for not remembering anything at all, he couldn't bear the idea hanging out with anyone today. Okay, maybe just a little company was alright. But too many people would probably made him poke and not to mention, if they went around somewhere else or outside the town, he might as well faint during the walk later on -he hoped that wasn't the plan today-.
Just thinking what they were going to do already sent a shiver to his spine.
Another buzz from the phone alerted him once more. He glanced at the phone on his side, looking at the bright screen that now shown another notification. He looked a little close and it wasn't that another person or group chatted him or something. It was just his calendar reminded him of something.
"Did I put the reminder of the plan for today?" Sakura grumbled as he picked up his phone once more and looked at the screen more clearly this time, wanting to see what was written on the calendar.
Then, his eyes read the same words written on the screen over and over again. He felt his lung tightened as his eyes widened at the realization of what the day was. His hand trembling a bit as a gasp managed to escape his lip.
The clear thing was that...He was sure this wasn't the plan Anzai was buzzing about in the group, and he clearly wasn't going to be a part of it today.
---
Carefully, he tried to walk past the café Pothos unnoticed. He'd manage not to bump onto Granny Sato today and as much as the guilt lingered in his heart, he couldn't risk going to the café right now considering it would be suspicious that he was wearing a grey hoodie and a black hat instead of his school uniform. If Kotoha found him like this, she would constantly nag him with questions and he unfortunately -as much as he wanted to deny- would give in and that wasn't going to happen. No one need to know about this.
Sakura glanced inside the café as he hurried his pace. He caught a sight of Kotoha who was talking with Granny Sato -he knew it! That Granny actually had a strength to walk all the way here! He just can't prove it this whole time- talking to each other. To his surprise, Nirei and Suo also joined the talk with them as they all laughed together. Usually, around this time, he would eat a breakfast at here, meeting Nirei and Suo along the way later on and walked together to school with Nirei's talk filled them.
They must be thought he was late and wanting to meet him here. Sakura's stomach gave a twist as he turned his eyes away from the scene and walked away. Well, at least he wouldn't need to worry about the risk of bumping onto them later on.
He walked past some stores which now opened and started the day as usual. The smell of bread and desserts reached his noise as he looked at the Bakery shop on his left side. It was full of people as usual and Sakura almost let his desire get over him before he tried his best to shake it off. He walked past the shop unnoticed by the owner or so he thought.
As Sakura looked around for something, his eyes caught the sight of beautiful decorated shop right across the street. It was a normal shop like everything around here but anyone passed this shop for the first time might feel interested or mesmerised how beautiful it was from the outside. He had seen some newcomers would take a picture of the shop before.
The bushes with all kind of flowers surrounding the shop and a few pots of flowers filled the empty space. Some leaves dangling on the roof as branches covered some part of the roof as well. The big cursive words that wrote 'HANA' on top of the roof look blended with everything. Sakura walked towards the store.
There were some boxes arranged outside of the store and as he looked inside from the transparent window, a woman in her mid-twenty was holding a pen and a board in her hands. She constantly looked around and write something on top of the board.
'Is it open yet?' He wondered curiously. He worried that he might disturb the woman who clearly looked busy, judging by the boxes around. But the sign that hanging on the entrance clearly written 'Open' in a cursive word. Maybe the owner didn't expect some high-schooler would barge here in early of the morning and clearly every normal person would be busy going to work and school right now. "Maybe I can buy the flowers... at other place later..." Sakura muttered under his breath as he slowly turned around and thinking what he should do next.
"Wait right there!"
A cheery voice appeared right behind him as a hand on his shoulder suddenly held him in his stand. Sakura startled and quickly turned around in surprise. The woman stood in front of him with a bright smile on her face.
"Hello!" She greeted him as he stumbled on what to say. She looked at him up and down before closing in on his face as if trying to remember something. "Hmm...Those hair and eyes...Where have I seen it before...?" She squinted her eyes and before Sakura could answer, she stepped away from him and her face full of recognition now. "Right! You're Sakura from Furin Highschool. That newcomer!"
"I-I...uh...Yeah-"
She looked proud of herself as she continued. "We haven't properly meet each other yet. My name is Hana Kaika! The owner of this flower shop. Welcome!"
The sudden change of mood was too quick for Sakura to grasp everything that happened just now. Hana tilted her head at Sakura's stilled form and vaguely remembered how the boy reacted at the sudden closeness. Even the people around her told her to let the boy in his own space...Well, she kind of...forgot?
"Ah- Hehehe...Sorry for surprising you there." Hana said as she rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. Sakura blinked, confused why the woman was apologizing to him. Before he could say anything, Hana put her hands on hip and say with lower tone this time. "I noticed you turned around from the window. I am guessing that you want to buy...some flowers perhaps?"
"I-..." Sakura fake a cough and tried to pull himself together this time. A blush tinted on his face as he stuttered "Y-yeah...I want to buy a banquet of flowers..."
Hana had a big smile on her face as she clapped her hands together. "That's nice to hear!" She said with excitement that slowly build up by hearing from her voice. "Who is it for? Lovers? Friends? Family?" She asked as variety kind of flowers started to form in her mind.
"Lovers-?" Sakura spluttered as his face instantly went red at the slight mention of that word. He didn't even have someone that he loves or something! For some reason, the woman laughed by looking his expression which made him feel embarrassed more. "I- ugh.."
"Sorry, sorry." Hana calmed down and asked again. "So? Who is it?"
"It's..." And there it was again. The feeling of his heart being squeezed tightly that made him felt numb at his place. He'd practiced to say what he wanted on his way to the shop but his mind went blank and his tongue was as numb as everything was. He'd say that person's name countless time before but his mind refused to remember it.
"Hello?" Hana called out as the boy stood there in silence as seconds went by but Sakura didn't hear her. She tried again. "Sakura? You there?" A worry entered her as she worried that she just said something wrong.
"Ah-...Yeah yeah." Sakura immediately snapped out of his thought and he had to clench his hand so hard that his knuckle turned white. How weak he was just because of the past memories. "It's for...a long friend..."
"Ouhh! Meeting them today?" Hana smirked playfully as she added in whispery voice. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you skipped school today." She winked and Sakura felt a slight relief spreading all over his body, knowing that his classmates wouldn't know where he went -Though...It wouldn't end well when he went to school tomorrow-.
"Alright! I know just what flowers you can give to your friend! Come in! It's hot out here anyway."
"Ah-" Sakura reached out his hand when Hana quickly turned around and started looking around excitedly in the shop, already decided which one she would pick. But Sakura wasn't finish talking yet. "Uhm...Hana-san."
"Yeah?" Hana turned her head and got confused at how there were worry and...sad expression -maybe?- on Sakura's face. The boy's hand was shaky that Hana was worried that Sakura was about to faint or passed out considering how pale he slowly became now that she noticed it.
"Something's wrong, Sakura?" She stopped right by the entrance of her shop. Sakura rubbed the back of his neck.
"I-...It's just..." Even his voice sounded shaky and before Hana could further ask, Sakura took a deep breath. He opened his eyes again and this time, his expression was braver like someone finally getting himself together. "Do...there a specific flower you give for like...death?"
"Huh?"
In a second, Hana understood immediately why Sakura seemed full of hesitation and worry.
---
"Sakura probably overslept...or maybe he is sick again?" Kiryu tried as Nirei seemed to be full of worry at the simple fact that Sakura hadn't making appearance yet since this morning.
"Maybe he is, Nirei-kun. We can visit him again like before." Suo added assuredly as he put his hand on Nirei's left shoulder.
"Uhmm...But he did read our group chat...so I thought he might be waking up or something..." Nirei said with a gloom all over him. Suo and Kiryu exchanged look at how easy Nirei to fall in bad mood.
"He will be alright." Suo thought for a moment and then added "Today is our class to patrol, right? Maybe we can buy something for him later on." That helped Nirei to lit up a bit as he nodded with eyes filled with determination. Kiryu snorted at how easy Suo could find a right word for Nirei.
"Sakura not coming today, huh?" Tsugeura walked over with a towel hanging on his shoulder. Sweats poured all over his body that Suo took a small step away from the guy.
"We just assumed he might be sick." Kiryu smiled before adding "Well, we three wanted to go to his apartment later."
"What do you mean thre-"
"I want to go to!" Tsugeura yelled out loud that some classmates turned to him with puzzled looks. Kiryu scolded him, saying he shouldn't say that out loud.
"Go where?" Anzai who one of the students suddenly felt interested with what the group was talking about. "Didn't we agree to go to Karaoke before?" Anzai said with disappointed look, wondering if there were some of his friends couldn't make it for the fun.
"I am afraid we need to change the date for that, Anzai-kun." Suo smiled pitifully -there seemed to be a relief there if someone carefully observed him-. "You see, Sakura isn't here so-"
"We're going to barge his apartment!" Tsugeura helped Suo finished him with a star in his eyes, though the choice of word there wasn't what Suo intended to use.
"Ouh! No wonder I feel something is wrong here!" Anzai looked around as he finally managed to point out the strangeness in the class. "I guess that would be boring if Sakura can't come-" He then shifted to another topic as he said with excitement. "Wait- Barge into his apartment? I want to go to!"
"Now, now...when you guys put it like that-" Suo tried to calm the situation, but three students popped out of nowhere and surrounded the group.
"Go where, Anzai? Didn't we planned to go Karaoke today?" Takanashi interrupted.
"Sakura can't come. So, we should change our plan to barge into his apartment instead!"
"Barge Sakura's apartment?! We want to go too! It's been so long since that Potluck thing we did!"
"HAHAHAHA! Just remembered that only make me want to puke!" Kurita this time turned to Suo and Nirei who already panicked at the sudden raise numbers of people that wanted to go too. Kiryu chuckled nervously, wondering if it was his fault or Tsugeura's that it turned like this.
"I-I...Uh...uhh..." Nirei's eyes wondered around, looking at all his classmates' faces full of expectation that he gave up and turned to Suo who had a tense smile on his face.
"My...seems like...It would be...full of people again this time."
Suo could pinpoint just how frustrated Sakura would react at the numbers of people who wanted to visit him this time around -not barging-. Clearly, that guy wouldn't enjoy it at first before finally gave in. Hopefully, these classmates of him could at least keep a look on their behaviour if Sakura was really sick again -Suo didn't put that much faith in that-.
----
"Be careful on your way to school, sweetie!"
"Okay, mom!"
A black short-haired girl rushed to pull up her white sock and grabbed her schoolbag from the couch. She checked herself in the mirror beside the table one more time, making sure her school uniform was perfect. Her eyes glanced at the picture on top of the drawer. A framed picture of a boy with black hair and a red line stood out had a grin on his face.
The empty feeling that she thought she already patched up, slowly made itself appear, but this time, she embraced and filled it unlike before. She smiled back at the picture with a warm smile.
"...Today isn't it, brother? I'll visit you soon." She said one last time before stepping out of the door and getting ready to walk to school.
---
"Next station: XXXX"
That was the sign for his next stop. Sakura pulled down the hat further to cover his eyes. He made sure that his hair was properly covered and really thought deeply on wearing a sunglass but couldn't bring himself to. As much as he regarded against these accessories, they helped him to not stand out in public space that clearly was cruel and different from Makochi. In other sense, he needed to appear 'normal'.
He clutched tightly a banquet of white lilies in his arm. Ms Hana had carefully picked and wrapped them beautifully. The way they seemed to glint under the sun was enough to almost bring him to tear when he thought back about that guy all over again.
"Fuck." Sakura sniffed as he formed the thought how that guy would say to him if the guy saw him like this. "He would probably be laughing at me."
Because that just the type of the guy he was.