She sat in her Homeroom, watching the clouds go by from her desk as her teacher talked about math or some other subject she wasn't paying attention to.
"I got to figure out how to get it all done before tomorrow." Short brown hair covered her vision for a few moments, looking down at the flyer for the event happening the next day; "The 1st Annual Inaba Valentines Day Flower Viewing!", is what the paper below her vision said, along with pictures of all kinds of flowers that she could spot and name on the spot.
"Maybe the others could help?" She asked herself, hoping in her mind that her friends would be willing to help her with this task; her job depended on it.
Her name was Mallory Nakagawa, age fifteen, freshman at Yasogami High School in Inaba. Short brown hair cut in a pixie hairstyle and chocolate brown eyes is what made her average looking, but she made it up in her personality. Nice, loyal, kind to everyone and wanting keep everyone happy; that was her, and that's how she always was. However an event cause her personality to go blank, a few months before she was always hiding in her room, shut away from the world after her parents had died. She felt lonely, scared, empty inside; only because they wanted to visit her and her job in the flower shop.
"No time to be thinking about that right now." Mallory said to herself, hearing the bell for lunch to begin as students began to hustle out of their seats to meet their friends. Her own friends had helped her through it, and she was living life anew; a positive outlook and living life to the fullest with her friends.
A transfer student.
The Son to the towns supermarket, Junes.
The Daughter of the towns best historical inn.
A girl a bit too obsessed with kung-fu movies.
A tough looking misunderstood male freshman.
A retired Pop Idol.
A boyish looking female Detective.
and a confident girl with a crush on said detective.
Those were her true friends.
"They're probably waiting for me right now." Mallory said, a smile appearing on her face as she took out her lunch from her bag, making her way out of the classroom, jogging through the hallways to the stairs that lead to the rooftop; she hoped they could help her with dilemma.
"Yosuke, stop eating my food!" Chie yelled, elbowing the boy straight in the gut, hard. He doubled over in pain, groaning as the others simply sighed, some giving a laugh, while a few commented saying that he deserved it; just another day with the Investigation Team.
"You didn't need to hit me so hard y'know?" Yosuke said, getting on his knees as he looked back at Chie, though still recovering.
"Well that's what you get—huh?" Chie was cut off, hearing the rooftop door open, the others looking as well as Mallory came into view, two instants ramen bowls in her hands ready to eat.
"Looks like I came a little too late." Mallory commented with a small laugh, seeing Yosuke on his knees; probably trying to eat Chie's food again. She handed him the ramen, knowing that he was still hungry as he took it, a grin on his face.
"Thanks Mallory, you're the best!" Yosuke exclaimed as he dug in, Mallory giving a smile as she sat down on the ground, setting her ramen on the ground.
"I don't get why you thank me, I do this probably once every few weeks." Mallory took out the flyer, looking at the others for a few moments, before unfolding the paper. "Uh, hey guys, could I ask you for a favor?" Heads turned to look a her and the paper in her hands, one girl looking at it rather curiously, Erin, or Rin for short.
"Oh, I heard about that from some other people in my class; it's like some flower viewing thing, right?" She asked, eating her homemade onigiri as she took the paper, inspecting the contents, reading the message on it.
"Flower viewing, what's it for?" Chie said, finishing her ramen as she took a sip of her water, inching over towards Erin to inspect the paper as well. The others looked at the flyer as well, some a bit curious as to why Mallory would have it with her to show them. Yu, the leader of the group, looked at the paper, before turning to look at Chie.
"It's for Valentines Day tomorrow; says here it's for couples to come and see the flowers, and participate in games and have food." Erin blinked at the paper for a few moments, before handing it back to Mallory. Mallory took the paper back with a small smile, though a bit nervous, shifting a bit for a few moments.
"Yeah, that's right, but..." Mallory said as she trailed off, looking at the others. Kanji looked at the girl, watching her nervousness.
"Well, what is it? You can ask us Mallory." The others nodded, looking at their friend. Mallory gave a smile, holding the paper, looking at it.
"I kind of need help with the event; I'm helping host the event, but the volunteers that signed up bailed on me, and now I don't have anyone to help set up the booths or help with the flowers." Mallory gave a small sigh, looking at her friends. "So, if it's not too much trouble...could you guys maybe help after school? You'd just need to help set up some booths and help water the flowers, and help plants some extra flower beds." Mallory looked at the group, giving a hopeful look, before she saw Rise give a smile.
"Well I'm happy to help, it sounds so romantic, walking with someone you love and looking at all the flowers together; right Rin-senpai?" Rise asked, giving her friend a sly look as she elbowed her in the side lightly.
"Y-Yeah, I guess it does." Erin answered a bit nervously, her face a bit red; the pop idol knew of her not so secret crush on the young Detective Naoto, one of their teammates. A plot was being developed in Rise's mind for her, she could tell; she shook it off for now and turned back to her friend. "I'm in too Mallory-chan; not like I'd leave my friend all alone with all this work!" The others soon agreed, giving their friend a definite yes as she gave a grin, ecstatic and excited.
"T-Thanks guys! I promise you won't regret it!" Mallory said, grateful for finding help on such short notice.
"Tomorrow would be perfect..." Yosuke muttered as he walked back to class from lunch, his feet shuffling against the wood flooring as his mind clambered with thoughts of only one person; The Flower Queen as some people called her, but to him and the team, it was just Mallory Nakagawa. It was because she always smelled of flowers, as well as her knowledge of the plants, due to working at the towns local flower shop for the past few months; and ever since she had become friends with the team, Yosuke had always felt something for her, right when he had set his eyes on her. He admired her beauty and kindness, and always having a positive outlook on life; she helped anyone in need, and kept her goals and priorities straight. For past few months since she had been in Inaba, Yosuke had been trying to find some way to ask her out, or possibly even confess; it was the first time in a long time that he had felt something for anyone, ever since the incident with Saki. Unfortunately, every time he tried, he would always stutter and get nervous, and go on a tangent, steering off from his original goal.
But not this time.
"I'll do it tomorrow." Yosuke said lowly, getting closer and closer to his next classroom. "I'll just find somewhere where we can talk alone, and finally ask her out." He was a bit nervous, fearing rejection from the girl that he had feelings for, but it was being brought down by his new found determination. "No, I can do this."
There was one problem though, and it got in his way of his whole entire plan.
Yosuke tightened his fist as he gave an aggravated groan, remembering the one small detail. Someone else in particular liked her as well, and it was certain someone that was in their Team...
"Damn it." He said, his fist connecting with the wall roughly in frustration, a glare plastered on his face as he stood in the hallway that lead to the rooftop; Kanji Tatsumi wasn't exactly content at the moment. He was contemplating, trying to think of some way to tell her, the one that invaded his thoughts every damn minute, on how he felt about her. He growled in frustration, before leaning against the wall that he had hit a few minutes prior, taking in a deep sigh, trying to clear his thoughts. Why, he asked himself; why was she always stuck in his head, invading his thoughts when he would least expect it? At first it annoyed him to no end, but once he started to notice her more and more, he saw why he kept thinking about her. The way she always helped him if he needed advice, and never thinking of him as scary or intimidating was what he saw, but what complemented her so well was the smell of flowers around her, completely intoxicating him whenever he was around her. Kanji quickly jolted, snapping out of his wandering thoughts, his face blushing slightly as he made sure no one was around to see him daydreaming.
"I gotta deal with this." He muttered to himself lowly, making his mind up. He'd find some way to tell her tomorrow, but for now, he would try to talk to her more while helping with the event setup, hoping that everything would go well. He gave a scoff, before halting for a moment, remembering one detail in particular that made him get a bit angry. "There's no way in hell he's gonna stop me." Kanji grumbled, turning quickly to walk down the stairs to get to his next class before he was late.
"No way are you gonna play Matchmaker with me again Rise-chan." Erin said with a somewhat annoyed look towards Rise, nothing but fear filling within every nerve of her body as the girl in speaking was holding an arm around her friends neck, a smile on her face as she gave a sly wink.
"Aw come on Senpai, I know who you like, and I know the best tips on snatching them; it'll be full proof!" Rise always had a way with words, but Erin didn't want to take the chance. No matter how much she liked and admired Naoto, she wasn't sure she wanted to use one of 'Risette's secret love tactics!', or whatever they called them in the fashion magazines these days.
"I'm pretty sure I can figure out for myself." Erin said as the two turned the corner, since school had ended, they were making their way to the entrance to the school to meet up with their other friends; and of course Erin's not so secret crush.
"Senpai, I know what I'm talking about, and I promise that my plan isn't gonna blow up in your face and you'll get your girl; I swear!" Rise exclaimed, looking at the girl with a pout, making Erin sigh out in surrender, looking at the copper haired girl with a nervous look, but gave a flat 'fine'. She gave a giggle, taking a few moments to give a small victory dance, before looking at Erin with a grin as she dragged her towards the others. "Don't worry, my plan is full proof!"
"That's what I'm afraid of..." Erin muttered quietly to Rise, having no more say in the conversation, before the group left to make their way to the event grounds.
"Well, here it is." Mallory said to the group, showing all the flowers beds around the park that they were using, being covered by tarps in order for the magnificent sight to not be spoiled before the holiday. "There's just a few more flower beds that need to be planted, and then we have to set up a few booths, and then also make a few signs and we'll be all good!"
"Sounds do-able." Yu said as he looked around, seeing where the booths were, along with supplies to make signs. "Let's get started then." Mallory began to give each of them jobs; Yu, Yukiko and Chie help with planting more flowers in the park, Rise, Erin and Naoto help with making the booth signs for the food and activities, and Yosuke and Kanji help decorate the booths and organize the extra boxes of flowers in the backroom.
"Come on Senpai, you too Naoto~" Rise said with a slight step in her voice, sounding happy for some reason as she dragged the two girls along with her to go and make the signs, her plan going through her mind, trying to make sure she had the entire idea hatched and ready for Erin. "I'll tell all about the plan while we work." Rise whispered to Erin, before taking some supplies and beginning to make the booth signs.
The two boys began to diligently work, every few moments glancing at each other, obvious tension between them, but to the others, it wasn't noticed. Yosuke began to decorate the booths with flowers that needed to pin, taking the flowers that he thought would impress Mallory most and decorating them to the signs that hung on the wood booths; Roses, Daisies, Pansies, Violets and carnations, but not forgetting to add the most important flower, sunflowers, to the booth; her favorite flower, which she had mentioned only a few times, but he always made sure to remember.
"Doesn't that seem like a bit...much?" Yosuke's positive mood turned sour when he heard Kanji's voice, hearing a slight hint of annoyance towards him as he turned back to look at him, a scowl on his face as well to match Kanji's.
"No, it's fine the way it is," Yosuke gave a small triumphant smirk, looking at his work, "I'm sure Mallory will love it." Kanji gave a frown at the declaration, about to voice his own, obviously opposite opinion, when Mallory had seen the work, walking over to the two. Both men returned to keeping up good moods for her, trying to make sure she didn't notice their obvious clashing.
"Woah Yosuke, this is really good; and you even put in sunflowers too!" Mallory said with a smile, looking at the booths design.
"Glad you like it Mallory." Yosuke said with a smile, taking a few moments to glance at Kanji with a triumphant smirk, before Mallory noticed. "I knew you liked sunflowers so I made sure to add them in."
"That was sweet of you to remember." Mallory said with a smile, taking one last look at the booth, before excusing herself to get other work done around the area. When she was out of earshot, Yosuke turned back towards the bleached-blonde haired boy with an obvious look of victory.
"You were saying?" Yosuke asked smugly, Kanji keeping his mouth shut, but giving Yosuke an annoyed look, showing him that it wasn't over yet.
"Don't get too overconfident, there's still more work to be done." Kanji said, breaking his silence, a small smirk of his own forming before he got to making the signs for the booths.
"You can do it Senpai." Rise said encouragingly to her friend as they painted signs, making sure Naoto was out of hearing range to listen to them.
"It's still tough; how am I supposed to do that anyways?" Erin asked, remembering Rise's first part of her plan involving having to ask Naoto out to the event tomorrow; how was she supposed to do that?! "M-Maybe I shouldn't do it..."
"No way, you're doing it whether you like it or not!" Rise said to Erin, giving her a paint bucket as she pushed her off in the direction towards Naoto. Erin fumbled a bit from the push, almost losing her balance before someone had stopped her, seeing Naoto on her feet, holding Erin by her shoulders to stop her before she fell, her body quite close to hers.
"You alright Senpai?" Naoto asked, looking at her friend for any signs of spraining her ankle or injury, Erin shaking slightly as her face began to go red from how close the two were.
"U-Uh...no, I mean, yeah! Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?!" Erin said, quickly backing away from the detective before she did anything stupid, holding the paint can as she looked at Naoto for a few moments, laughing nervously at nothing in particular, causing Naoto to give her a confused look.
"Uh, that's good then." She looked down at the paint can, giving a small smile as she took the can from Erin softly, her hand slightly brushing against hers. "I needed this paint, thanks." Erin froze up for a few short moments, her breath hitching in her throat as she felt her hand brush against Naoto's as her face went a bit red again, feeling herself get hot.
"N-No problem!" Erin forced out, trying to get calm as she watched Naoto get to work again; she wondered how Naoto could be such a diligent worker, while at the moment, she was being a fumbling mess. She stopped though when she noticed that Naoto was having a bit of trouble with opening the lid to the pain can. "Uh, here, let me help you!" Erin got down and grabbed a screwdriver, getting the tool to go under the lid, before beginning to struggle to get the lid off. She stopped taking a breath as she tried again, growling as the lid was stuck tight. "Come...on!"
POP!
The lid came off as it clambered to the ground, but the force of Erin's push caused her to push back, falling back against Naoto as they fell back together. Erin expected to land on the rough ground, but felt Naoto's arms wrap around her for safety, the two inches away from each other. Silence came over the two, the moment lasting for a few mere moments, before Erin quickly saw what had happened, and quickly got to her feet, her face blushing madly as she took a few breathes to calm herself down. Rise had seen the entire thing, giving a smile as she watched Erin; she may not have noticed, but the Detective's face was red as well, and getting redder by the minute.
"There's still a few more flower beds over there that still need some flowers in them." Yukiko said over to Yosuke and Kanji, who were done with their first task. The two gave each other a wary glance, before nodding to Yukiko and getting to work. Yosuke ran as fast as his feet could take him, grabbing as many flowers as he could and began to start planting, making sure that he was putting in more work then Kanji.
"You know, rushing isn't going to help you." Kanji said to Yosuke, watching him put in flower after flower at lightning speed.
"You're one to talk; you were trying to paint faster then I was while we were making the signs!" Yosuke countered back at the male, giving an annoyed look; but now wasn't the time for that. He quickly got back to work, putting in the flower beds and Kanji gave a scoff, beginning to put in more flowers as well, but having some difficulty getting the flowers in. Yosuke gave a snicker towards him, watching as her laughed a little. "What's the matter, the flowers too tough for you to handle?" Kanji looked back at Yosuke, giving him a glare as her growled, almost crushing one of the flowers in his hand.
"Why you little—" He was cut off though when he heard someone giggle behind him as well, turning to see short brown hair and chocolate brown eyes meet his blue ones.
"Maybe you need some help Kanji." Mallory said with a smile, walking over closer as she sat down next to him, looking at the flowers. "Here, I'll show you." Taking her delicate hand, she held Kanji's as she showed him how to put the plants into the flower bed the right way; gently and with only a small amount of force if needed do to the grounds soil. "There, that help?" She turned to look at the boy next to her, seeing that his face was tinged a bit pink, denying to look at her, and only straight down at the flowers beneath him.
"Uh, y-yeah it helped; thanks." Kanji said, his voice breaking a bit from his sudden shock of shyness. He saw her get to her feet and give a smile to the two, telling them that they were doing good work and that they were almost done, before she left to organize some boxes. Kanji swallowed, bringing himself back to his senses, before glancing at Yosuke, who had a look of envy on his face, which in turn made him smile. "See, told you rushing wouldn't help."
"Shut up Kanji."
You can do this Erin, all you gotta do is go up to Naoto and ask her; plain and simple! Erin thought to herself as they put up the signs, trying to find the right approach to ask the girl. The day was almost over and she still wasn't able to ask the the girl she liked if she wanted to go with her tomorrow; she already screwed up with the paint, and that awkward moment where they were nearly inches apart didn't help either. Just be confident, don't stutter, and ask her! When the last sign was put up for the booths, Erin quickly made her way over to Naoto, making sure she was reciting what she was going to ask to her in her head, not wanting to screw this up. When she got next to Naoto, she glanced at her a few times, three to be exact, and cleared her throat lightly, hoping to get her attention.
"Hmm?" Naoto heard something, and turned to see Erin next to her, quiet as ever. "Oh, hey Senpai. Did you need something?" Naoto asked, her face still a bit pink after that moment they had; it wouldn't come out of her head for some reason, she just kept thinking about it. Why, she didn't know...
"Uh well, I was wondering kind of, I mean if you aren't busy..." Erin kept trailing off, trying to keep herself from going off track, but ended up doing it anyways. Naoto gave a confused look at Erin once more, before Erin shut her mouth, shaking her head. "W-Wait, let me start over! What I meant to ask was, well..." Erin was cutoff however, feeling a push against her as Rise came over to the two, a smile on her face as she looked at Erin and Naoto.
"What Rin-senpai is trying to ask is, do you want to hang with me and her at the Flower Viewing tomorrow? It sounds like fun, and Mallory said that all of us could get in for free!" Rise glanced at Erin with a smile, before looking at Naoto. "So, what do you say?" Naoto looked at Rise for a few moments, glancing from side to side a bit nervously, before looking back at the two.
"Uh, sure; I don't have anything to do tomorrow, so why not." No one could tell how happy those words made Erin feel; a bubbly feeling of happiness and excitement was flowing through her, and she couldn't help but have a grin on her face, though wouldn't exactly know why. The only problem was that only Erin and Naoto were supposed to go together, what was Rise going to do. Erin began to panic, but looked at Rise as she gave a smile, winking; she still had a plan up her sleeve, she just needed to make a few adjustments first.
"I can't wait for tomorrow." Mallory muttered to herself, laying in her bed as she looked up at the ceiling above her; nothing could make her more happy, and it would help the flower shop she was working at even more. "Even some of the others are going to be there." She had heard that Rise, Erin and Naoto were all going to be there, so hopefully with enough luck, they could all hang out at the viewing together and have some fun as friends. "I'll have to make it up to all of them, especially Yosuke and Kanji; they worked extra hard for some reason." She wished she knew why, but still wondered to herself why she got shy and nervous around those two boys, having to stop herself from stuttering a few times when around them, or making sure she didn't do anything to embarrass herself. "Why do I get all weird around them?" She asked herself, giving a sigh as she turned off her room light; one of her friends from class joked around with her, telling her that they liked her, as in 'more then friends'. "No way is that true." Mallory muttered to herself in her blankets, tossing around to get comfortable when she thought for a few moments, just thinking about it; could they really like her like that? She closed her eyes slowly, not wanting to dwell on the subject, though she still wondered as she drifted off, if they did like her that way, which one would she love more?