Flowers were something of a rarity at Duel Academia. Asuka imagined that it would be difficult for them to grow on such a remote island, what with an establishment like the academy in their way. Naturally, she was rather surprised to find an entire bed of them hidden behind the Blue dorm.
She tended to avoid acting girly. After all, to make it in a school where the ratio of male to female students was three to one, she knew she was going to have to stand out to make it to the top. She couldn't waste her time on things like what she would wear, or fixing her makeup, or love letters from boys. Or flowers. However partial to their beauty she had always been, she never showed it. But standing amidst so many as she was, it was difficult not to stare, at the very least.
She had to admit…they were breathtaking.
"If you look closely,
no two of them are the same."
She blinked, looking tentatively
over her shoulder at Jim. He smiled at her, shoving his hands into
his pockets.
"They're all different kinds, from all over the world," he explained. "I collect seeds on my travels, and whenever I have to bed down for a while, I plant a few. It's a silly thing I do."
Asuka looked at him and back at the flower bed. "They're pretty," she muttered.
"I like to see what kinds fare well in different places," he said. "Usually, I only get a dozen or so. I was lucky, this time. Nearly all of them sprouted here. A lively place." He finished with a misplaced English phrase, as was a habit of his.
Asuka cracked a smile, placing a hand on her hip. "You're an odd guy, Jim Crocodile Cook."
He laughed heartily. "So I've been told," he said, then knelt down at the edge of his flower bed, studied his options, and plucked a choice stem. He stood with a white, bell-shaped flower, streaked with brushstrokes of orange and red, which he aptly tucked behind her ear, smiling.
"For you, Tomorrow Girl," he said.
Asuka watched him walk away.