title: canvas of words
pairing: yukimura seiichi/oc
summary: much to her surprise, her seat mate isn't dead.
There is a small chance that she may have missed crucial information regarding her constantly absent seat mate. However, she was never the type to poke herself into other peoples' businesses. She often let it pass her, uncaring it may sound but better than being outright disrespectful. Thus, Kohiko simply ignores the lack of presence beside of her and sits down in her usual spot, trying to battle the morning fatigue from consuming her body. Luckily, her homeroom is fairly quiet except for the small chatter amongst friends. She comes early most of the time as commuting to Rikkaidai is a journey on its own.
Despite the somewhat tedious journey everyday, she continues to attend the school, mainly to ease her mother who in a way had demanded she attend the school. Whilst not straightforwardly telling her, the authoritative aura was visible in her mother's eyes from the moment they arrived in Japan. Having lived overseas for two years somehow struck a cord in her mother. After attending a school overseas that her father had once attended, her mother had made it her objective to get Kohiko to attend the school she herself attended.
Kohiko being the passive individual she was simply agreed with a tired sigh and easily gained her mother's approval. Her father on the other hand was rather disappointed she did not continue to study at Hyotei Academy but dismissed it soon afterwards. Her mother seems to enjoy arguing, often debating with her father which school was better. Her father, Masato Kazuki, a once renowned kendo athlete and now a full-time doctor, used his history of national championships as evidence of Hyotei's apparent greatness. Her mother, Masato Hana, on the other hand used her occupation as an ikebana artist and florist along with her previous affiliation as the president of the Rikkaidai ikebana club to combat this.
Kohiko was always left to decide who won the debate and she always left before they turned to her for a decision. In a way, her parents can be seen as petty and childish, however when they decide on things like this they never back down. Now, here she is, attending a school she definitely did not need to attend but is simply doing so to appease her parents. Her parents were people she highly respected but they had a bad habit of causing her trouble.
The students weren't all that bad. She found the usual kinds of students you would probably find in any other school but there was one thing she always noticed. There is an obsession with victory emanating around the school and being as lazy as she was, she decided to never contribute to anything involving competitions for the sake of her own sanity. Her classmates she observed on multiple cases came into class looking as if they met eyes with satan after club meet-ups or even right after contests. Kohiko is not interested in falling down to hell so she decided to avoid the idea of competing in anything the moment she entered the classroom on her first day. Being a transfer student transferring into the third year classes did not help because she often found herself bombarded by random invitations to join said clubs until they eventually gave up.
"Dirt," Kohiko looks up and finds Yukie sniffing the air, "you smell like dirt."
Kohiko blinks, "Thanks."
Yukie sighs and shakes her head, swinging her bag down on the desk in front of her. "So, like, are you gonna stay like that?" She asks. "Uh… Well, I mean know one besides you sniffed the air around me so aggressively so I doubt anyone'll notice." Kohiko replies with a small yawn.
The brunette sighs deeper this time, pointing her index finger at her face, wagging it in disapproval. "A woman must be graceful, Decaf." She states and Kohiko stares at her questionably. "A woman should be able to do whatever she wants— and do you really need to call me that?"
Yukie smirks. "Decaf is decaf, Kohi-chan. Plus, you're a lazy-ass so a name with coffee in it doesn't suit you."
"Please do tell my mother that." Kohiko grumbles as she slides next class's notebook out of her bag. Yukie opens her mouth only to be stopped by Kohiko's mechanical pencil that is shoved into her face. "And no, I will not let you meet my mother. It was just a joke."
Her friend pouts childishly at her and Kohiko ignores it easily. Yukie quickly recovers and grins almost loud enough that Kohiko is forced to spare a glance towards her, "Decaf, you gotta explore more, y'know."
Kohiko stares at her again. "Excuse me?"
"You have like, barely any friends, you eat lunch in the classroom, you aren't part of any clubs and you go home right after school." Yukie lists with each finger, wiggling them in front of her face. Kohiko shrugs, "I'm perfectly fine with it."
"And that's the problem!"
"It isn't. You're just being dramatic."
Yukie gasps at her, an expression of mock offence dancing on her face. "How dare you—!"
"Oi, Takihara, sit down. Class is starting." The teacher's voice sounds as the door slides open and the students all shuffle back to their seats. Yukie reluctantly backs down and chooses to sit obediently in her seat, of course a pout on her face like usual. Kohiko rolls her stiff shoulders as she waits for the class to settle down and glances to the corner of her eye at the empty seat beside her. She notices all her other classmates seem to simply ignore the empty seat and look on ahead at the teacher.
Ah, there was definitely something she missed about her seat mate.
.
.
.
Masato Hana is a proud and renowned ikebana artist who also runs the Kanzaki Flower Shop her grandparents had started together when their family's reputation as ikebana artists grew. Her mother and now herself, they had followed her grandmother's footsteps in pursuing the traditional Japanese floral arts. She married Masato Kazuki who used to be her ex-boyfriend's rival in kendo during her early years of her twenties and had a child the same year.
Masato Kohiko is her precious daughter who inherited her talent in the floral arts and Hana was ecstatic when she realised during the girl's elementary years. Kohiko's natural affinity with flowers and ikebana in general astounded her. The first time she was five years old but Hana entered her in a competition against several older students who came from more prestigious backgrounds in the arts. Despite being the youngest entry, Kohiko grabbed fourth place in a regional contest and shocked the judges and the public.
Hana from that moment knew she needed to help her daughter's talents blossom. Afterwards, Hana made sure to continue to train the girl and teach her everything she knew about ikebana. Her enrolment in Hyotei Academy helped her she had to reluctantly admit. They were very supportive and their arts department assisted in Kohiko's development despite her young age. She had to praise their elementary division for that.
But there had always been one issue. Kohiko being the calm and passive child she is never was interested in competitions. She did not continuously strive for victory like Hana did when she was introduced to flower arrangement. Kohiko did not mind losing, Kohiko did not mind winning, the girl simply did not care about her overall outcome at the end of a competition. How could her daughter who looked almost like a carbon copy of herself end up so different? They had the same sharp but full face, the same black hair (albeit Kohiko's being shorter than hers when she was in middle school) with neat bangs brushed to the left, and the same bright eyes (Kohiko had her father's blue eyes but nonetheless they had the same eye shape).
Kazuki also had a very competitive spirit but Kohiko did not inherit any of it from either of them. So, in an effort to somehow motivate the girl to be ambitious she argued for her enrolment at Rikkaidai which pushed their students to strive for greatness in every form. From what she has observed so far Kohiko seems to be exactly the same every time she gets home. Just like today, the girl announced her presence in complete monotone as she pulled her shoes off.
"Kohiko, welcome home. How was school?" She asks, poking her head into the foyer.
"Good." Kohiko replies as she lazily drags her bag on the tatami mats and make her way into their traditional Japanese home. Hana frowns, "Don't do that. You'll wreck your bag."
Kohiko reluctantly lifts said bag a centimetre off the floor and floats away to her room. Hana steps out into the foyer, hands on her waist as she abandons her ikebana commission to watch her daughter. She shakes her head with a sigh.
Hana decides that she's made the right decision sending her to Rikkaidai. She just needs to wait a little more.
.
.
.
The hospital Kazuki is working at is often filled with all sorts of patients from a variety of different ages and different cases. Kazuki works with adolescents most of the time and usually does check ups with upcoming athletes whom he could understand well especially as a former aspiring athlete himself. When he met with those kids he could not help but wish that Kohiko trained in kendo.
It definitely was not a bad thing that she trained in flower arrangement instead especially since his wife was extremely competitive in almost everything, including whatever Kohiko decided to pursue. Kohiko's talent in ikebana interested him because it is very rare to find someone with such a natural affinity with flower arrangement. So, he promptly enrolled her into his alma mater, Hyotei Academy during her elementary years. It took two weeks to convince Hana to accept it and by the end of it he was right. The elementary division at Hyotei had been incredibly encouraging and assisted in developing the girl's abilities into something past her peers.
Another reason why he is satisfied with Kohiko practicing flower arrangement is that she never got hurt to the point she needed to go to a hospital. He had patients breaking bones everywhere and patients straining muscles or anything for their sport. Admirable but definitely not what he wants to see his only daughter go through.
One particular patient he has suffered from a very difficult illness. Kazuki talks to him almost everyday and learnt about his ambitions as an athlete. Just listening to the boy's never wavering determination to overcome his illness was enough to push Kazuki into researching the illness more intensely then he had ever before.
He told Hana about the boy (after receiving permission, of course) and the woman responded in a instant by declaring she would give the boy an arrangement to encourage him. Hana's arrangements were known for being very connective and communicative towards their recipients. Kohiko's arrangements were alike to them but not at the same time. Kohiko's style from what he noticed seemed to make the viewer reflect instead of instantly sharing a message with them.
The judges often told her that is what caused her to fall short of winning first place but the girl never seemed to be concerned. Some however praised her for it instead, rewarding her the number one spot in the contest for her piece. Kazuki thinks, he is no expert, that Kohiko's work is somewhat lacking as if she is still searching for answers. Kohiko herself seems aware of this yet does not outwardly seek for them.
That is why he often asks for her to come with him to the hospital when she is not working at the flower store. He silently hopes she'll feel inspired watching those striving for a healthy life. She complains during the ride for a few seconds every single time but she always accepts it in the end.
"Have you arranged them yet?" He asks her, spinning the wheel of the car.
"Hm… Not yet." She replies, staring out of the car window and watching the buildings past by.
"No need to rush. The competition is in what— three months?" Kazuki glances at his daughter for a second in the corner of his eye. "Ah, yeah, that's what mum said." Kohiko nods to herself as she continues to watch the scenery fly past.
Kazuki smiles to himself quietly. "How has Yukie-chan been?"
.
.
.
"Oh?"
Kohiko turns around, hand falling from the wired fence to face the unfamiliar voice. The winds are calm today and the rooftop of the hospital feels relaxing as always. It is rare that someone comes up here so she can't help but feel a bit surprised. She meets dark eyes and a pleasant smile from a boy that seems to be around the same age as her. Dark purple strands frame his frail-looking face but there is something about his very presence that screams the opposite.
"Ah…" She pauses, "good afternoon."
"Good afternoon." The stranger replies and it is silent again, only the small gushes of wind between them sound in the area. The boy places a hand over the cardigan he has over his shoulders, holding it in place to prevent it from falling due to the wind. He takes a seat on a bench near the door and she faces the fence once again, turning her back on him.
"Excuse me, miss, but are you a patient here as well?" His voice is soft and graceful, not even faltering once despite her being a stranger to him. Kohiko looks back at him, "No, I… I'm here because of my father."
His perks up at her reply and gazes over at her cautiously. "May I ask what's the problem with him?"
Realising how her words may have formed a kind of misunderstanding, she speaks up, "Oh, sorry, I mean my father works here." The boy nods in understanding and the comfortable silence returns around them. Kohiko ponders for a bit whether or not to continue the conversation and decides to ask despite her doubts, "Uh… By any chance, are you here for someone too?"
To her surprise, the boy does not answer and simply smiles at her almost daring her to push the question further. The aura surrounding him changes and it becomes darker; she can feel the air go thinner. Tactfully, she bows her head before making her way quickly out the door. The boy does not move at all when she glances at him over her shoulder.
He only looks forward.
.
.
.
She goes to school the next day, dragging her feet up the stairs as she makes her way towards her homeroom. Kohiko tries to blink away the constant fatigue as she slides the door of the room. However, she snaps out of her trance when she takes notice of the flowers on top of the desk of her missing seat mate. The flowers are red tulips which she can tell from so far away after years of flower arrangement. She slowly makes her way to her desk, placing her bag on the hook as she continues to stare at the vase.
Usually one would put flowers on a desk like this if someone died? Wait. Did her seat mate die? Is that why they were never here?
"Oh! Masato-san, I was waiting for you!" A female classmate waves her over with a bright smile. Kohiko nods in acknowledgement, surprised someone can look so happy so early in the morning. "Did you need something from me?" Kohiko watches as the girl dashes through the tables of the class and stands before her. "Actually, since you weren't part of any clubs the class rep wanted to know if you were okay with being the one in charge of the flowers?"
Flowers?
The black haired girl looks at the vase beside her curiously. "These ones?"
Her classmate nods, "Usually we have a rotation but no one seems to be actually doing anything. All you need to do is swap 'em out whenever they start wilting. Oh, and the beautification committee let's us use the flowers they've got."
To be fair, she really isn't doing anything to contribute to the school and the fact she had been completely unaware of this going on made her feel even more obligated to help. They were only asking her to just keep an eye and replace the flowers after all, it wasn't much.
She awkwardly scratches her head, "Uh, yeah, sure, no problem."
The girl smiles and claps her hands together, "Thanks so much! We've been looking for someone to do it for a while. Thanks again!" Kohiko nods calmly and watches as the girl skips over to their class representative as they enter the room to deliver the news. The class representative smiles at her with a nod in silent thanks which she returns.
Kohiko moves to sit in her seat and glances at the vase of tulips again. They weren't arranged in any particular way and it looked rather messy, showing just how much the person rushed when getting the flowers into the vase.
Then next thing she knew, Yukie barges into the room carrying a bag of pastries from her family's bakery. Before the excited girl can reach Kohiko she glances at the red tulips one more time.
"Huh."
a/n: at this point im just like 'lets just post fics man'. reviews appreciated.
update (26/10/16) - some things i forgot to mention: kohi - coffee (that is why yukie calls her decaf because of her name and her somewhat lazy personality + she looks tired all the time).
red tulips in the japanese flower language means fame/charity/trust. (i googled this so lmao if im wrong) kohiko is aware and knows the japanese flower language that's why she glances at the flowers again lowkey wondering if the person who put it there understood what the flowers meant or simply looking at them curiously. (plus she also thinks yukimura's dead so she's like 'why red tulips for a dead person? thats not common?')