"Hey look! There's the flower shop where Hanna works!" the brown haired, blue-eyed man excitedly exclaimed.
Pausing with his friend who had stopped walking, Nezumi turned to give the guy an uninterested look, "Why don't you go inside then?"
The wind blew gently, causing Nezumi's dark hair to brush against his cheek. It was a bright, cloudless day, the air fresh and cool. It had just rained the day before, draining the air of all the stifling humidity No. 5 had been experiencing for the past week.
"No way, man! That's way too embarrassing. Hanna definitely knows I like her," Brandon said, shoving his hands into his pockets, but still looking longingly at the store. It was obvious from his gaze that he wanted to go in and say hello to his female fancy.
Nezumi sighed, "What day is it?" he asked.
"Wednesday, why?" Brandon asked.
Nezumi turned on his heel and started making his way toward the quaint little flower shop. Brandon followed him but his eyes widened at the destination Nezumi had in mind.
"Dude, I told you, I can't go in there!" Brandon said in a high-strung voice.
"Then don't. It's Wednesday and I have to get some new flowers for my apartment," Nezumi said, knowing perfectly well that Brandon would still follow him, especially since he'd just given him the perfect excuse to go inside and at least see his crush.
Brandon fell into an easy pace a little behind Nezumi who was keeping up a brisk tempo whilst crossing the lively pedestrian road.
"Flowers?" Brandon asked, laughing a little, "That's a pretty girly hobby for a manly guy like you."
Nezumi glared at him, an action that didn't have nearly the intensity and coldness that it would have had three years ago.
I wonder whose fault that is, Nezumi thought, the image of a certain fair-haired male coming to mind.
Shaking his head almost imperceptibly to clear his mind, Nezumi said coolly, "Why not? Makes the place smell nice, adds a bit of beauty to the atmosphere."
That isn't the real reason, Nezumi thought briefly.
After, the name Shion means flower.
"Yeah, but—agh! We're here!" Brandon squawked awkwardly, interrupting himself as they approached the shop.
Nezumi pulled the door open, causing the door bells to chime, and stepped in. Brandon followed behind him.
"Coming!" a young female voice called from the back of the store.
A pretty blonde girl Nezumi recognized from around the No.5 Theater came to the front of the shop, blushing a little when she saw Nezumi who was known for his good looks and charm.
"C-can I help you?" she asked, looking at Nezumi and seemingly ignoring Brandon.
Nezumi ignored his bristling friend behind him, "Yes, I would like a bouquet of asters."
"Oh yes, of course. Here," Hanna said, leading them to a certain section of the shop, "are the asters."
"You have a fairly diverse variety," Nezumi said, eyeing all the different types of asters.
"Yeah," Hanna said, laughing lightly and causing Brandon to frown.
He was being idiotically jealous in Nezumi's opinion. Nezumi would never be interested in Hanna. He wouldn't be interested in anyone else in No.5 for that matter.
There had only been one person Nezumi had ever been interested, and that person had stolen his heart so completely there was virtually no place for anyone else.
A light blue aster caught Nezumi's eye. The color reminded of something.
He picked up the flower and inspected it, taking a whiff. He instantly remembered what the light blue aster reminded him of.
Shion's sweater. He used to wear a light blue sweater much like the color of these asters.
Nezumi smiled a little remembering the soft feel of Shion's sweater, the soft feel of Shion.
Still smiling he turned toward Hanna, "I would like a bouquet of these."
"N-no problem!" Hanna exclaimed, blushing, a bit too taken with Nezumi's smile for Brandon's liking.
The girl collected the asters in her arms and brought them to the counter, "Would you like any other flowers to go with these?"
Nezumi looked around and was about to decline when some little flowers caught his attention, "I'd like some baby's breath."
"Okay," the girl said, moving to retrieve the flowers.
Nezumi went over to the counter to look at the flowers.
The baby's breath were pure white, just like the soft, silky locks of hair of a certain somebody Nezumi knew.
"What color do you want the wrapping to be?" Hanna asked, once she'd cut the stems of the flowers to size.
"Clear," Nezumi said almost without his knowing.
Clear? Why would he choose that? Normally he would go for white or very light lavender.
But clear represented purity and innocence…purity and innocence just like that which Shion possessed.
Because no matter what, Shion would always be pure and innocent. That was the essence of Shion, and after all, Shion would always be Shion.
"Uh, excuse me, Nez—I mean, sir, here's your bill…" Hanna said staring up at him.
"Oh— sorry," Nezumi said, snapping out of his reverie.
After paying the girl her money, Nezumi suddenly remembered why he'd walked into the flower shop in the first place.
"By the way, I meant to ask you, but are you hiring?" Nezumi asked casually.
The girl's eyes lit up, "Um, not really, but if someone wanted to work here, we probably couldn't pay all that much, but we'd be delighted for the extra help! This is my grandmother's shop, I'm sure she'd love to hire a handsome—I mean helpful young man!" Hanna giggled a little and blushed at her own Freudian slip.
While Brandon furrowed his brow and glared at him, Nezumi smirked, "That great."
Nezumi slapped Brandon a little too heartily on the back, making him step forward in surprise.
"This is Brandon. He's looking for a job, and would love to work at a great flower shop such as this one," Nezumi said.
Both Hanna and Brandon stared up at Nezumi in surprise.
Hanna faced Brandon, her face looking as if she was seeing him for the first time. She probably was.
"Have I seen you before?" Hanna asked, her previous giddiness gone.
Before Brandon could answer in whatever awkward way he was going to, Nezumi spoke up, "Well, look at the time. I'm sorry, but I have to go and take care of my pets at home, so I'll have to leave you two to work out the details of Brandon's new job. Thanks for the flowers."
With that Nezumi turned and left, leaving both No.5 residents in shock.
Outside it was getting dark. But the people on the streets hadn't decreased as much as changed. The family-friendly atmosphere had become a more romantic one. Instead of children running about, the pedestrian road was now filled with couples holding hands and laughing together, in the middle of an intimate moment.
Nezumi's previous smile of amusement faded and he subconsciously held his Shion-resembling flowers a little closer to his chest.
He was suddenly eager to get home. Seeing all the love and warmth around him was starting to cause an ache in his chest.
Nezumi had experienced that ache many times for the past three years. It had never ceased to go away or even lessen as Nezumi had initially thought it would.
After all this time, Nezumi knew what the pain in his heart was now.
It was a yearning, an emptiness within him only to be filled with Shion.
Sighing deeply Nezumi quickly made his way home.
Once he was inside his apartment, Nezumi immediately put the asters in a pretty, clear vase with little frosted designs after filling it with water.
Putting the vase on the tea table, Nezumi flopped down on his couch. The couch, like everything else in the one bedroom apartment, was in much better condition than the one he'd had in West Block. His apartment in No.5 wasn't high-tech like Shion's old house in Kronos, but it was still a charming place to live nonetheless. All of Nezumi's books, or at least the ones he could salvage from his old place, had a place on the many shelves of the living room. He had his piano, reading table, couch and a new tea table and rug in the living room. In the kitchen/dining room he had a small dining table for two (even though it was usually just him using it) and some fairly new appliances in the kitchen. His bedroom was much barer with only a small bed and a side table with a wardrobe off to one side. The bathroom was fairly small, but still better than that of West Block.
Nezumi liked it, but it always seemed to be missing something—or someone.
"Shion…" Nezumi whispered almost inaudibly. He closed his eyes, his mind recreating the gentle, beautiful face of the only person who could make Nezumi's heart ache so much.
Nezumi reached out toward the flowers, his fingertips brushing the petals. They felt soft and fragile just like Shion.
Nezumi would have liked to close his eyes again and imagine the flowers were Shion, but there was a fundamental difference.
The flowers felt cool against Nezumi's skin. But Shion was warm. He was full of warmth and therefore life.
Nezumi smiled a little wryly to himself, Look at me. I'm so pathetic. I'm trying to pretend a bunch of inanimate flowers are Shion.
Nezumi now laughed a little, but stopped as he felt small padded feet run up his arm.
He turned his head slightly to see that Cravat and Tsukiyo on his right shoulder.
He gently nudged Cravat's nose, "You guys wouldn't have had names without him," he said aloud.
They twitched their noses in agreement.
Nezumi laughed softly, "You guys look strange without Hamlet."
Cravat squeaked, reading the undertones behind Nezumi's simple statement.
They looked strange without Nezumi's third mouse, Hamlet, because they weren't with Hamlet. Hamlet had stayed, with Shion.
Regrettably, the mice—and Nezumi—weren't with Shion. They hadn't been with him for three years.
Nezumi sometimes thought Hamlet was smarter than him. He'd made the more intelligent decision after all.
Nezumi leaned his head back on the couch and covered his eyes with his forearm.
"I'm an idiot," Nezumi said softly.
He shouldn't have left. He shouldn't have ever left Shion.
Tsukiyo squeaked, as if saying 'you can still go back.'
Nezumi looked at the little robotic mouse, "Yeah, maybe I can. But…Shion…he's probably moved on…"
Tsukiyo squeaked again.
Nezumi laughed, "Alright, alright, how about this."
He sat up straight, "If I somehow get a sign within the next six minutes that I should go back, I'll go back."
Hearing himself saying it out loud, Nezumi felt really stupid.
What am I trying to even do here? Of course I'm not going to get some stupid 'sign' to return to Shion, much less in the next six minutes.
But he still waited.
Like the idiot he was, he waited.
The mice waited with him, their small eyes trained on him, not making a sound.
After five minutes, he finally broke and started to laugh.
"This is ridiculous! What am I even doing?" Nezumi asked himself.
Still laughing dryly to himself, Nezumi put his head back on the couch and closed his eyes.
After a moment Nezumi felt little feet crawl up his arm and on his shoulder, climbing across his collarbone from one shoulder to the other.
"Cravat, Tsukiyo, whoever you are, that tickles," Nezumi mumbled.
He lazily opened an eye to be met with two small black eyes. However, much to Nezumi's surprise, the fur of this mouse was not light brown like Cravat's or almost-black like Tsukiyo's—it was white like Hamlet's.
Nezumi picked Hamlet up from his shoulder and sat up straight. On closer inspection of the mouse, he saw that Hamlet carried a piece of paper fold in half in his mouth.
With a racing heart Nezumi removed it from the mouse's mouth and unfolded it.
He felt his breath catch in his throat.
It was a picture of Shion.
Nezumi looked at the three mice.
For the first time in three years Nezumi smiled a true smile.
"So I'm guessing this is supposed to be my sign, right?"
The three mice squeaked in unison.
Nezumi chuckled, "Well I guess it's decided."
He got up and took a good look around the apartment. He didn't have many things so packing wouldn't be a problem. He just had to call a few people, cancel a few things, and quit his job at the Theater.
Nezumi realized that he had never actually settled down in No. 5. He'd probably already subconsciously known he'd move soon enough.
Nezumi turned toward his mice.
"It's time to go home."