Hm. I think I'm experiencing what I call the NaNoWriMo effect-- I'm totally motivated to write, so long as it isn't my actual novel. Sorry for the spam.
Roses
"Sumeragi-san!"
Subaru took a minute to finish locking the door of his apartment before he looked up at the woman jogging down the dimly lit corridor towards him. "Yes, Kadu-san?" he asked evenly, feeling mildly irritated. His landlady ran a relatively neat, clean building and never asked awkward questions about his job or why it usually involved such late nights, which was a rare combination in Tokyo, but she took a ridiculous amount of pleasure in conversing with him. There was no logical reason for this interest; she would merely come up to him and randomly start jabbering about whatever happened to be uppermost on her mind that day, no matter whether he wanted to talk or not (and he never did). He almost suspected that she knew something, but her remarks were simply too banal to be anything but meaningless chatter.
"Did you hear? There was another earthquake downtown today!" the woman babbled. "The entire street—you know, the one right by that new mall?—it was all shaken to bits! I heard over a thousand people died when it happened! Poor things," she added unconvincingly. "Such a shame. But the entire street! Really, you have to wonder what the world's coming to nowadays…"
Subaru shrugged, resisting the brief temptation to say "an end". Apparently the other Kamui had managed to destroy a kekkai. He didn't really care, apart from a faint, careless sort of hope that none of the Seals were hurt, so vague it probably didn't even count.
Bowing briefly in a way that he hoped indicated his complete indifference to the topic and muttering something polite-sounding but completely incomprehensible under his breath, he started walking down the hallway. He had a job that evening, one he had been forced to put it off for a week already, and he would prefer to have it done before midnight.
"Oh, wait, Sumeragi-san!"
Subaru paused and let the flustered woman catch up to him. "I almost forgot," she said quickly, a little disconcerted by his insensitivity but less so than he would have expected. "Look what came in the mail for you today!" A full bouquet of roses was shoved into Subaru's surprised arms—how on earth had he missed her carrying those?
"It looks like you have an admirer! My, and she has taste, too. Aren't they pretty?" she prattled on, giving the blooms a surreptitiously resentful look for no discernable reason. "You know, I don't think I've ever seen roses quite that shade of red before—it's so bright. I didn't know you could even get flowers that color naturally; I'd say they were dyed, but I know the florist they came from and he would never so much as look at a dyed flower, he's that finicky about his plants." She giggled, a gratingly false little-girl giggle that usually made Subaru wonder if perhaps it would be worth looking into the real-estate market. "These must have been expensive! She certainly has taste, whoever she is—though I must say, I've never heard of the girl sending the boy flowers."
She waited expectantly, but Subaru was still staring blankly at the roses. "Oh! Is it a secret admirer? Oh, how romantic! There was no card, but you know, I'm almost certain I can go back and ask the florist if he remembers the girl—and he must, I mean, these have to have been specially commissioned or something, they're not just ordinary roses—just give me a day or so…"
"Don't bother." Subaru's voice was hoarse and raw. "He won't say anything. Besides, I know who it's from." He recognized that shade of red, even if his landlady didn't. He recognized it far too well.
"What? Sumeragi-san, is something wrong?"
Subaru had turned around and was slowly walking back to his apartment door. He had to try a couple of time to fit the key into the lock; his hand was shaking. "You're right, Kadu-san. The girl doesn't send the boy flowers."
"Well, who, then—unless—Sumeragi-san—a man?" Her voice was shot up a few outraged octaves as he finally managed to get the door open. "Sumeragi-san!" He closed out the sound of her indignation.
Standing over the kitchen sink, knife in hand, Subaru watched his blood as it ran down his arm. Red. The same vivid scarlet as the roses.
He didn't move for the rest of the night.
::looks hopeful::