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Seven Colors of Anemones

you, me, and seven colors of us

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first

[pink]

.harutaka, haruka-centric.

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'Love is a curious thing.'

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Haruka noticed that Takane had been acting quite strange around him for these past few days.

For one, her face sometimes looked so red that he almost thought she actually had a fever.

He found Takane staring at him once when they were having a self-study session. Their teacher had gone somewhere —in which Takane was sure he was just too lazy to teach them—, only giving them an assignment to work on and telling them to collect it by the end of the day.

Haruka inclined his neck, before deciding to ask, "Takane? Is something wrong?"

She blinked. And then, she realized that she had just been caught staring at him.

"H-huh!? Nothing!"

Her face reddened, before turning her face away and busying herself with her own assignment.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see her ears were also red.

'Is she getting a fever?' he mused.

With a frown marring his usual bright expression, he asked again, "Are you sick? You face is red, Takane."

Her only response was an inaudible grunt.

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And then, somehow, she started to avoid his gaze whenever their eyes met.

They were talking inside their classroom like usual, yes, with Haruka mostly talking about foods and drawings and such, and Takane would drop comments like she usually did. But, this time, when their eyes met —and he unconsciously gave her a bright smile for this— she quickly turned her gaze away, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Takane~?"

"What?"

"As I thought." With a determined expression, Haruka moved so that he was now in front of the blushing girl's desk. "You really got a fever! Let's go to the infirmary!"

Takane scrunched her face as she looked at his expression. She then ruffled her hair in exasperation and stood up from her desk, stomping on her feet.

"It's the heat!" came her reply, "I'm going to cool off my head!"

"Ah~ wait for me."

Before he even properly stood up, Takane's sharp voice rang out again. "Don't you dare follow me!"

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Haruka thought Takane would eventually be like her usual self, but nearly a week later, there's no slightest sign of that happening.

Sure, she still talked with him daily, but with her deliberate avoidance from looking at him, he started to feel worried. He then went on to ask Kenjirou-sensei.

"Y'know, Haruka," the teacher patted his student's shoulder, a supposedly all-knowing-smile bloomed on his face. "It's all part of youth! You'll understand sooner or later!"

'Just what part of 'youth' does he mean?' he bemused, before shrugging it off, deciding that for once, Takane was right about their teacher being rather delusional.

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A month later, Haruka wondered if Takane's strangeness had rubbed on him.

He was grateful that Takane no longer purposefully avoided looking at him like she did some times ago. She still, however, blushed every once in a while.

The thing was, he also found his own cheeks warming up every time she blushed. Moreover, he could also feel his heart beating a little bit faster than usual.

Was it a sign of his illness getting worse? he had asked himself once, but quickly dismissed it. It's strange, he admitted later on, yet in a way, it's not unpleasant at all.

It was a very warm feeling.

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"I kinda don't like seeing Takane interacting with Shintaro-kun," Haruka muttered aloud, earning a curious glance from the girl beside him.

She stopped doing her assignment; some complicated mathematical equations she didn't even understand. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Hmm," he tapped his pencil on his sketchbook thoughtfully. He had finished his assignment a little earlier and decided that he'd just draw something to spend his time. "I just don't like it."

"You make no sense."

"Right~? I think so, too. It's weird."

Haruka didn't really have anything against the younger boy. He found his junior was rather level-headed, despite being a little bit self-centered at times. But whenever Takane started bickering with Shintaro, an unpleasant, rumbling feeling bubbled in his chest.

"Anyway," Takane started, thoroughly giving up on finishing the assignment. "Ayano-chan invites us to have lunch together in the rooftop. Let's go."

"Eeh, no," he answered curtly. Closing his sketchbook, he continued, "Rather, why don't we just eat here? I missed having lunch with only the two of us. Okay?"

For the first time, he came to realize that her reddening cheeks were quite cute.

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When all the thinking about the strange feelings he recently felt began to hurt his head, he concluded that asking for advice from his two juniors was the best course of action.

On a fine day in the middle of spring, Haruka told them exactly what was bugging his mind.

Ayano's face brightened with joy as she clasped her hands excitedly while Shintaro —Haruka still didn't like seeing Takane interacting with Shintaro, by the way— was heaving a big sigh with an expression that clearly said 'why do I get dragged into this?'.

Takane was obviously not there; she was currently being called by Kenjirou-sensei, which meant that she wouldn't be there on the rooftop for another 10 minutes.

"Say, Haruka-san," Ayano said, her red scarf swaying to the spring breeze. "What do you think of Takane-san?"

"She's cool," he remembered the time at the school festival when Takane had single-handedly defeated many players on their booth before she was defeated by Shintaro. "And she's a little bit stubborn, but she's really nice."

Shintaro snorted at the last statement. But after realizing that Ayano had given him a disapproving look, he ducked his head while murmuring an inaudible 'sorry'.

The younger girl then gave her attention back to Haruka, excitement returning to her expression. "And, do you like her?"

"Of course I like her," he answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What she meant to say is," Shintaro interrupted rather irritatingly. "Do you like Enomoto— ugh, I mean Enomoto-senpai more than what you like the most? Like eating or drawing for example?"

Haruka put his hand under his chin. "I like eating... but... I like Takane a bit more than eating, or drawing... I think."

"It's settled then, Haruka-senpai. You're obviously ofgh—"

Ayano silenced Shintaro before he could say anything.

"I assure you it's a normal thing to feel that way, Haruka-san. You see, most people also feel that kind of thing. Unfortunately, I can't really tell you what it is. You have to figure it out by yourself," but rather than sorry, Ayano said that in a quite cheerful tone. "If you've figure it out one day, please tell Takane-san properly. I'm really sure she'll be happy!"

"Who will be happy?"

Three pairs of eyes looked at the rooftop door. There, Takane stood while holding her lunchbox, most probably the one her grandmother had made for her.

Ayano was the one who answered her question. "Ehehe, it's nothing, Takane-san~ Now that you're here, let's eat then. I'm sorry that my father is holding you up."

"Ah, no, you don't need to apologize really," Takane walked up to them, giving a slight glare at Shintaro who only scowled at her.

'Will it really?' Haruka thought to himself. A slight tap on the shoulder successfully broke his train of thought.

"Why are you spacing out?"

"Oh, Takane! No, I'm not spacing out."

"Really? You've been spacing out a lot recently, like; you're really deep in thought."

When a frown made its way to Takane's face, Haruka quickly reassured her with a smile and a pat on her head. Ayano quietly giggled at this.

"It's fine, Takane~ I won't space out anymore, see?"

He decided then; he really looked forward to the time when he figured out this strange, warm feeling.

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Because after that, he would make her happy, definitely.

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[look forward to; eagerly await]

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1,292 (bdg, 21/05/2014)

Hello~ I'm new here~~ ah, well not really. I'm not planning on leaving my 4-years hiatus actually, but since all anemone flower's hanakotoba just literally screamed 'HARUTAKA! KONOENE!' I can't help but write this. My writing skill sure is getting dull... /scratches the wall on the corner

anyway, harutaka-konoene are the cutest.

Long story short, thank you so so much for all who are willing to read this piece of work. Until next time. ;)