Chapter 2
Red, bright flower
Next morning was a horrible one. Today's Friday. It's been a long time since I've been this tired. I even went to bed early last night, so it really doesn't make any sense. I put my alarm on 7:00am just go get some extra time in the morning, considering I often shower right after I wake up. After rising from my grave I make my way out of my room. As I open the bedroom door I get greeted by the searing wrath of a thousand suns, blinding me as I cover my eyes. These goddamn hallway lights. My mother is always up at least an hour before the rest of the family and she always turns on the lights. I've told her to stop doing it maybe 20 times now, as I swear I'll turn blind when I hit 25 if this keeps up. She apparently doesn't care, as she just tells me I'm overreacting. Blindfolded I make my way across the hallway, as I try to reach for the bathroom doorknob. As I finally feel it in my hands I open the door. The lights in the bathroom should be out, so I should be fine. When I get in and close the door, I try to open my eyes, but to my surprise I'm still blinded. Are the lights on?
"W-w-wh-what ar-are…"
Oh. I recognize this trembling voice. I don't even need to open my eyes and confirm something I will regret later because I know for a fact that my little sister is here, right now, probably without her clothes on considering the embarrassed tone in her voice just now. I just kept covering my eyes. I try to respond with a casual tone, making sure everything is all right. I don't want to die this early in the morning.
"I'm truly sorry. I didn't know the bath was occupied. Don't worry, I haven't seen anything so I'll just make my way out of here right no-" KAPOOOOWWW!
Huh, it's been a while since I've felt this flying sensation. Am I in heaven? Probably not. If I guess right I'm probably flying out the bathroom door and I'm about to hit the hallway wall headfirst.
"F-FUCKING PERVERT!"
The next thing I remember is pain. Just honest, cruel waves of pain flowing through my body, making me notice every single active nerve cell, all begging me to make it stop. So this is what it feels like to die, huh. Or so I wish.
When I arrived at school I noticed Kyosuke, one of my friends, who was standing in the shoe locker room spacing out.
"Yo, Kyosuke. What's up?" He reacts to my voice and looks this way.
"Ah, good morning, Yuji-san. How are we feeling this particular morning?"
"Well, I won't lie if I say that I've had better days." I tell him, as I stretch my back and feel the ache from the impact earlier.
"And by the way, you can drop the honorific. We're friends, right? It just sounds awkward when you add "san" behind my name all the time.
"Ah, but of course. I apologize for causing you such inconvenience over the years, Yuji-san."
"There, you're doing it again."
Defining Kyosuke as weird would be an understatement. He's the son of a landlord whose family name is pretty famous in these parts. That explains his overly polite way of expressing himself. He's always been like that, at least for as long as I've known him. He was the first person I got to know when I started this high school, and he's probably the lamest one as well. He always uses polite words which I've never heard before. I swear my mental dictionary has expanded by 20% since I first met him.
"What lesson do we have today?" I ask. He would know.
"English, I believe. Have you completed the required homework assignments for today's lecture?"
"Yeah man. You?"
"Well of course."
"Obviously. Have you ever not done your homework?"
"I do not believe I ever have, if so, then I would not be aware of it due to me not being able to remember such an event where as myself would refrain from completing any of my daily duties as a honorable student and a human being."
"Right."
I feel dizzy for having to listening to that painfully long explanation, so I made a mental note to never ask him such questions again. Kyosuke is basically the best student simply because he works so goddamn hard. It's not like he has a choice. His family is super strict. We get to our class and find our seats. My seat is in the front, pretty much because I prefer to sit close to the teacher. That way I have no excuse to not pay attention in class. If I sit too far in the back I often end up spacing out and stuff, so one day I figured that if I sit in the front, id pay more attention. It's definitely been paying off, as my grades got slightly better without me really putting in any more effort outside school. English isn't really one of my worse subjects, but I can definitely become better at it, especially at talking English. Reading it isn't that hard. The teacher's phone suddenly stats vibrating on his desk, signaling that he just got a message or something, making a trembling sound. The teacher stops and reacts to it, then goes over to take a look. After reading what I figured would be a message, he looks over at us.
"Ah, right. I have some unusual and unexpected new for you guys, which I forgot to mention. We have a new transfer student coming in."
The class began whispering to each other instantly, probably because they think it's exciting. I can make out words like "so late?" and "maybe it's a girl" here and there, but for the most part I just pay attention to the teacher. A new student huh, this late into the semester? That is indeed unusual and unexpected. My class mainly consists of boys, and a few girls, so most of us are hoping it's a super cute girl, like any boy would. I personally don't mind too much, but of course it's exciting with a new student. The classroom door suddenly slides open, and everyone gasps in anticipation.
And in comes a boy.
The whole class goes "aaaw maaan" at the same time, with incredible coaction and timing. The poor new boy is taken aback by the lame and impolite disappointment chant that my class just made. He is rather short, and has a red-like color to his hair, and some freckles on his cheeks.
"Here, come in, Satoshi" Our teacher says gently, but firmly. Satoshi puffs up his chest, probably to encourage himself, and starts walking further in to the classroom. As he is standing in the middle of the classroom in front of the blackboard, he draws breath. Looks like he is finally preparing to say his name. Apparently the teacher just got mail reminding him that this boy would arrive today, maybe that's why he had his phone accessible during the lesson in the first place. That would make sense.
"Pleased to meet you! I'm… h-huh?"
He starts looking around for some reason, as if he lost something on the way in. He looks to the classroom entrance door.
"Hey, Aka-chan! Are you coming or not?"
And then the most unexpected thing happens. A girl pops her head in, from behind the entrance door. A small girl, just a bit smaller than what I'm assuming is her… brother? She has red hair, same as him, in a long ponytail, almost reaching down to her school uniform skirt. She has big, blue eyes and she seems pretty shy. The class goes "oooooh!" in another unholy welcoming chant. The poor girl is startled by the chant, enough to start tripping over to her brother in a hurry and slightly hiding behind his back. Oh my god she's shy, isn't she. I catch myself staring at her. Her cheeks go red as she notices my intense stare, and hides behind her brother some more. I just shake my head in embarrassment as she caught me staring at her. Why would I do such a thing? Then it hit me.
"L-like I said, pleased to meet you! My name is Satoshi, and this is my little sister Akahana. We just transferred here,
He looks down on her and mutters something like "go on". She takes small step forward and grabs her skirt for comfort.
I realized why I stared at her like that.
"U-umm…"
It's because she's stunningly beautiful.
"N-Nice to meet you. My name is Akahana. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
… And the class goes nuts.
"OOOH MY GOOOD THAT'S WAY TO CUTE MAN WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS GOING OOOOOON!"
I swear everyone just lost their shit. The teacher couldn't believe the sight and I blatantly just started laughing out loud. The scenario was seriously godlike. Everyone was screaming at each other. The poor faces of the two new students and the combination of the whole class's lunatic reaction was incredible. After I got a hold of myself I could see tears swelling up in Akahana's eyes, as she's looking down on the floor with a discouraged look. I got a hold of myself. She was frightened, and who could really blame her? People were basically on the edge of their seats after that short introduction of hers. Her voice had a mix of insecurity and tsundere. It can' really get any better than that. I stand up, and draw attention.
"Shut up!" I yell at them.
Everyone suddenly goes silent and now looks over at me, including the two new students.
"Have some respect, would you? It's not that easy introducing oneself to a whole new class, and it doesn't help with all of you going completely ape shit either."
I sit down again, and the silence just becomes awkward. What the hell did I just do? And why? I usually hate attention. Now everyone just gives me this nasty look, as I officially got the title "Glorious Moodbreaker". The first one to break the silence was our teacher.
"Well now, let's get you two to your seats. I take it you would like to sit with each other for now?"
"Well, it's not like tha-"
Akahana tugs at his sleeve, interrupting him while she just looks down with a red face. Satoshi then looks back at the teacher after a small sigh.
"S-sure, thank you very much" Satoshi says. Apparently Akahana wouldn't want to sit apart from her trusting brother. I guess that's reasonable.
"Then, you two can sit over there." The teacher points to two available seats, pretty far back in the classroom. They start walking towards it. The boys in complete awe of the cute new girl, but due to the fact that she has a brother, no one dares to make a move. Heh, she's out of our league anyway. Her ponytail flitting glamorously as she moves through the denes classroom air. She tries to look confident, pointing her face slightly upwards with her eyes closed. Her cheeks give it away though. Her face has freckles as well, making her red as a lady beetle. Her freckles aren't black, but you should get the metaphor. They both sit down. I cast another glance over at them, and they notice. Satoshi smiles radiantly and Akahana doesn't, but still looks this way as well. What are they smirking about? Do I have something on my face? I pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the selfie camera and start inspecting. I can hear laughter, and I look back at them. Satoshi waves his hand as if he's trying to say "there weren't anything on your face, silly" and Akuhana just giggles. I feel stupid. It's unusual for me to suddenly care so much about my appearance that I would actively check myself in the middle of the class. There weren't anything on my face either.
After class I decide to eat my lunch early. The other students mostly go out to get fresh air and stuff, but I'm a sucker for food. After all that happened in this English lecture it's no wonder that I'm hungry.
"Hey!"
I hear someone call out for me, and I look to my right to see Satoshi and his sister walking towards me.
"Uh…" He scratches the back of his head. "We just wanted to thank you for standing up for us back then. It was really nice of you, and we appreciate it!" He then does quick bow to show his gratitude. His sister just standing there, looking at me with a curious look. I just end up staring at her, completely ignoring Satoshi's polite ways. She's looking back at me. I quickly realize what I'm doing, and she does as well, as we both retreat our gazes and look away in embarrassment. What's with this girl? I'm completely under her beauty spell, so bad that I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes off her, and she notices it. This is bad. If this continues she will think that I'm a creep. I force my eyes up at Satoshi.
"Ahh, that. Don't mention it. They were rude as hell acting like that towards you two. They deserved to be put to place. I take it It's not easy to change class like that all of the sudden. And by the way, I'm Hamasaki Yuji."
I reach out my hand towards Satoshi, and he shakes it without hesitation.
"Nice to meet you, Hamasaki-san!" He says, with a shining smile on his face. They already introduced themselves once already to the class so I knew their names already.
"You can just call me Yuji." I say as I look over to Akahana. She's still looking over at me with that curious look. I just smile at her, and her face flushes slightly in embarrassment, as she looks away. I think I've fallen for her already.
"Okay, then Yuji-kun. Would you like to hang out after school? I and my sister here aren't really well oriented around this city just yet, considering we just moved here.
"Sure thing." I say as I start to take a bite of my lunch sandwich. "Ah, yeah, that reminds me, why did you two arrive this late in to the semester?" I ask as I look at them.
Yeah, no wonder you would ask that." He says, "It's due to our moving schedule getting postponed. The whole idea of us moving here came as a surprise without warning. Our parents work situation just became really complicated and we had to move here for it to work out. "
"I see. That makes sense. So you just had to leave your old friends behind, just like that?"
"Yeah, pretty much." He smiles, as if it's no big deal. Akahana on the other hand doesn't look to happy about that. She looks slightly crestfallen. Maybe she misses her old friends, or maybe she isn't very good at making friends, since she appears so shy.
"I see. Sorry to hear that. I'd happily be you first new friend." I say, trying to cheer them up.
"Thanks Yuji- Kun! We really appreciate it! Looking forward to getting to know you better.
"Likewise" I say as I return to my sandwich. The school bell chimes, signaling that the class is starting again. After class ends I thought we could exchange numbers. I ask for Akahana's number as well, but she just stammers, unable to answer. Her brother then tells me that she doesn't' have a phone, to my surprise. She kicks him in the leg after he says that, as I apparently wasn't supposed to find out. I just laugh it off with them, as I say that it's no big deal. Her brother says that they are practically together all the time, so if I want to reach out to her, I need only call his number. I find that a bit annoying, as I was planning to maybe talk to her without her brother doing the talking for her, but I don't really bother commenting on it, at least not this early in our newly fresh friendship. I return home right after school. We planned to meet up in two hours. I told them that I could give them a quick tour around the town if they would like. Satoshi thought it was a great idea, and thanked me for the kindness. It wasn't much, really. They both seemed like great people, and I was honestly getting a bit tired of everyone else. Since they both approached me after the English class ended, no one else has dared to approach the girl. They all stared at her though. I got some murderous glances from the other boys, as they were probably thinking I were stealing the new girl away from them. Idiots. I just returned them with a "She's mine" look, just to piss them off even more. I was joking, of course.
I start making my way towards our meeting spot, and when I arrive I see them siting on a bench outside the school grounds, close to the gate. They had changed out of their school uniforms and was wearing more casual clothes. Satoshi was wearing a light blue poloshirt with a black short and some lightweight shoes. Akahana was wearing a white t-shirt and a black skirt matching the designs on her shirt. She has her hair in a cute ponytail like earlier, and she was wearing brown leather boots with black leggings. Very casual, but cute outfit for a girl her size. She was a bit small. Satoshi was looking at his phone while Akahana was playing on something that looked like a psp. They weren't talking to each other. I called out to them and they both looked this way, Satoshi greeting me with his usual uplifting smile and Akahana not really paying it any mind as she just looked down on her psp screen again. I and Satoshi decided that I'd show them the most important places first, so we started walking towards the local grocery stores and clothing shops. I also showed them where to get the most convenient furniture for their new house, if they would need that. After that they asked me if there were any good anime and manga shops nearby. I told them that we do have one decent "otaku" shop, not too far from the school. They both seemed interested, but it was Akahana who asked for it. It made me happy that she asked me a question on her own, for some reason. I couldn't really explain it to myself at the moment, but I guess I'd gotten so used to her silence that I thought she was afraid of me. I hope that's not the case, though. I don't want to make a bad impression on her.
"So, anything else you would like to know? I still have some time before I should get home." I ask them, as I check the time. It's 7:30pm now. We've been touring around the city for about an hour. It's still light out, but it's starting to get a bit darker. I was planning on reading some English homework when I got home, so I don't want to be too late.
"No, I think we should be fine now. Thank you so much for your help, Yuji! We can't thank you enough." There he goes again, speaking on his sisters behalf. It's kind of annoying because it looks like me and Satoshi is having our own conversation while she just stands on the sideline. At first it looked like she was bored and that she didn't want to have this tour, but after a while she started enjoying herself more and more. She's been looking like she'd want to say something for a while now as well. I give her a quick glance before I look back up at Satoshi and answer him.
"No problem. I'm glad I could be of any assistance to you. Just let me know if there is anything else you would like to know. I live not too far from here, and you have my number if needed."
"Absolutely!" He says with a confident expression. "I'll be sure to contact you if we need anything!" he adds. I've noticed in the corner of my eye that Akahana has been looking at me for a while now, it looks like she's been building up courage, by the look of her face, as far as what I can make out without looking directly at her. I don't want to seem like a stalker either.
"Well, I guess I'll be on my way the-"
"H-hey, Yuji…" She interrupted me midsentence. I finally look down at her.
"Would you maybe want to hang out tomorrow as well?" she said, with a darker blush, but rather serious face.
"A-ahh… Yeah." Is all I could manage to muster out in the heat of the moment. She tugged a bit closer to her brother. I quickly corrected myself with a more precise response.
"I mean, yes of course. I'd love to hang out with you guys tomorrow. I thought you'd never ask" I said with a smile, trying to make it sound as reassuring as possible. Her face turned to a relieved expression, as maybe she was afraid I wouldn't want to. Satoshi clearly did not expect her to speak up like that, and was taken by surprise, in a positive way, for sure.
"Well, I'll see you tomorrow then." I say as I wave to them. They wave back and start walking towards their home. The atmosphere got kind of weird at the end there, but I'm glad she asked. I was thinking of asking them myself, but I wouldn't want to intrigue them after just one day. I'd probably seem desperate and Satoshi would push me away to protect his sister. I would probably do the same if I had a little sister like that. My little sister isn't even my sister, and she's far from cute, and more of the evil type. I catch myself smiling when I think about her, though.
When I get home I get greeted by my mother who is home, making some kind of afternoon snack. My father is out late this evening, on some work assignment. I go into the living room and sit down in the couch, for a change. I usually just go straight to my room.
"How was the tour, Yuji? Did they get to know our little town any better?" She asks, as she's working on her meal.
"It was fun. I showed them what they would need to know right now. I told them to let me know if there was anything else I could help with." I answer, as I lean back into the couch with my arms on the edges, looking at the ceiling.
"You're so kind" She replies.
"I guess" I answer with a cheeky tone. Then I notice someone the corner of my eye and I lean my head forwards to look. Ayame walked by. She had a wet towel hanging around her neck and she was dressed in her pajamas, chewing on a pocky stick. It seemed like she just got out of the shower by the looks of her hair.
"Yo" I call out to her when she enters the living room area. She notices me and doesn't reply. Not talking cause of the chocolate stick occupying her mouth right now, probably. She goes over to the dishes and gets a glass of water, then comes back here and sits in the chair to the left of the couch I was sitting in. She then drags a fashion magazine out from underneath the table and starts reading it, placing her one hand under her cheek for support as she leans over the magazine.
"How often do you actually wear that pajamas?" I say, mocking her slightly.
"Shut up, Aniki" She mumbles with her pocky stick still in her mouth. She doesn't bother looking this way, as she keeps reading the magazine. She moves some of her hair behind her ear while she looks down.
"So, where were you today?" She says.
"I was out showing the new transfer students around town. I didn't tell you?"
"Oh, right, you did. How was it?" she continues.
"It was fun. They are really nice, and his sister is really cute." I say, smirking to myself.
"Ah, is that so." She answers, not sounding very surprised. A bit annoyed, as a matter of fact.
"Does that bother you?" I say. She looks over here, with an annoyed look painted on her face. I apparently hit a trigger.
"No, not in the slightest. Why do you always assume that stuff like that bothers me? Just stop… It's seriously annoying."
She gets up and starts walking out the living room and up the stairs, probably to her room. I think I might have pissed her off with that. My mom looks over at me with a faint smile, as if she was telling me to go after her, or something. Why should I? I don't think I was being rude or anything. Why would she get mad over something that would concern my personal interests in girls? We're siblings, or well, not really blood related but still, we treat each other as siblings. It's true, back when we were really close we did stuff like holding hands, watching movies together late at night, and even sleeping in the same bed sometimes. This happened when we were 13 and 14 years old. I supposed we kind of forgot that we were supposed to be siblings, and therefore we started acting more and more like a couple. It all peaked one day though.
"Hey, Yuji…"
"What's up?" We were watching a movie in my room, I don't remember which movie it was, but the time was around 11:00pm. We were cuddled together against the bed with a blanked over us. You could say it was pretty romantic. I still can't remember having any romantic feelings towards her back then though, and I didn't think she did either.
"Do you like me?"
"Yeah, I do."
"…"
I didn't really pay much attention to her as I was watching the movie. I said yes as I thought she meant as a sister. Before I knew it she placed her hand behind my head and pushed me slightly towards her lips. I couldn't really react in time, as our lips locked in place for a short, but bittersweet kiss. I didn't retreat as soon as I realized what was happening either, because I didn't want to startle her, or I don't know. I just couldn't move. After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was like 5 seconds, we separated. Her face flushed all over in embarrassment as she stared me in the eyes. I remember feeling this heavy ache in my heart. This was wrong. I didn't wish for this, as I was afraid it might ruin our good relationship. It's true, id notice how she'd grow to like me more than just her brother back then.
"I-I… I don't… I'm sorry" She said, her voice halting. She looked away, still red of embarrassment. She clearly regretted doing that.
"It's fine." I said. I acted as if it were fine, but she noticed that I found it disturbing, or wrong. It's not like I didn't find her attractive, it's just my mentality as a big brother. I've always been very appreciative of my family for taking me in when I needed it. I've said to myself that I would promise to take good care of their only true child. Being her boyfriend would just do them wrong as my parents. Or so I felt. Believe me I've thought about dating her many times. She's beautiful. But one day I just came to terms with how I feel. I would treat her as my real sister, and not cross any limits with her. It would be for the best.
"What's wrong?" She said, as she leant on my shoulder. Her voice soothing to my ears.
"Nothing. Are you happy?" I asked.
"Yeah, I am. Are you?"
"Yup." I said, trying to sound confident.
"I know what you're thinking. That we can't be together like this because we're siblings and all that." She knew what I was thinking. I didn't expect that.
"You know that we're not blood related, right?" She continued. I can't really blame her, because she is right. It's just my mentality stopping me from following my heart. And I've decided that it's what I'm going to do. I didn't answer her, and she clearly understood what it meant. It was basically a nice way of rejecting her.
"I see." She says, silently to herself. I don't think she knew I heard it. She gets up and walks towards the door, then turns around to give me a faint smile.
"You're so kind, Aniki." She says, before leaving the room.
That's the last day we behaved like that. We never watched movies, or held hands ever again after that. There was suddenly created distance between us. You could say that it ruined our relationship. At first she was pretty much the same, but she didn't talk as much as she used to. After a few weeks and months she became worse. She started treating me like shit, like I was nobody. She acted straight out cold towards me. I started hating her, despising her and cursing her every time she gave me a mean glance or a mean reply. I wanted to go back to our past relationship, but I knew that I was my choice, and I wouldn't go back on it. I would still treat her as my precious little sister, despite how mean she was. I learned to be mean back, and turned it into a mutual disrespect. That way it became easier to cope with it.
"Oh well." I say out to myself as I get up from the couch. I give mom a glance before I exit the living room. I decided not to follow her, and instead I walked up stairs and entered my room. I didn't want to pry her if she wanted to be alone. I opened up my laptop to check my social media and the news. I sent her a message through a social bulletin board website we often use to chat with other gamers.
"R u okay?"
"Yep. Why?"
"No reason. "
"lol."
A short, but comforting conversation. I then close my laptop after reading the online news. Nothing new worth reading. I lay down on my bed and quickly fall asleep.
The next morning was a good one. I woke up an hour earlier than usual, took a shower, made breakfast and lunch even before Ayame came down to the living room. She came down in her pajamans when I was about to leave out the door. I figured I might as well leave earlier than usual, since I was feeling so awake. I looked over to her, with her cup of coffee in her hands and tired eyes looking at me in confusion.
"What are you doing?" She said, followed by a cute yawn.
"I'm out. Felt like going to school a bit earlier today. I'll catch you later!" I smile to her as I run off.
When I arrive to school I catch Akahana standing outside the school gate. I decided to run up to her and greet her.
"Good morning!" She notices me.
"Good morning." She gives me a warm smile. I don't see her brother anywhere.
"You're early. Where's your brother?"
"He's uh… He's coming, I think. I'm usually out the door earliest."
"I see, me too, actually." I say that even though this is the first time I'm actually out the door first. What she doesn't know can't hurt her, right?
"Yeah, my brother is terrible in the mornings even though he might not look like it." She says, with a discouraging look. "He's hopeless." I giggle a bit at that, the way she says that is really funny. She reacts to my laugh, as if she thought I was laughing at her.
"Sorry, that was just funny. I didn't take your brother for that kind of guy."
"See? That's my point." She says with a pouting face. Her brother is hopeless apparently. She waves her red colored ponytail with her hand elegantly out as she through the school gate for a second.
"Ah yeah, that reminds me… Why are you standing out here alone?"
She looks this way, and then down on the ground. She starts interwining her fingers in her hair, as if she's embarrassed.
"There's so many people I don't know there. And most of them are creepy guys who keep staring at me as I show myself." She shrugs at the thought. Of course she would notice all the stares. It's no secret. "So I walked out again, and was kind of waiting for my brother to arrive, or you."
"Who, me?" I say, with a surprised tone to my voice.
"You seem nice, Yuji. Even though you too give me stares, but not as much as the other boys…"
I fall down on the ground. God damnit, she noticed. I was seriously trying my hardest to not keep looking at her beautiful face, body and hair, but I failed.
"I seriously don't get it." She mumbles, playing with her hair once more, with her one arm crossed over her chest. She doesn't get what? Why people stare at her? How naïve can she be?
"Well, at least you don't take pride in it, as other girls would do." I say as I get up, scratching my head from the fall.
"What do you mean?" She says, looking at my face, as we get unexpected eye contact for a second. I can feel my face heat up as she looks at me, but I endure it. I have to be strong for her, despite how stupid that sounds.
"I mean, you do look great, you know. All the other boys think that as well. That's why they stare so much. I even help myself at times, too." I say, with a jokingly tone to my voice.
"R-really? Ehh, what the hell..." She covers her face in a blush. Oops, I think I embarrassed her. I'm so mean.
"Haha, I'm sorry. It wasn't meant as flattery… Should we go inside?" I ask her as I start walking slowly through the school gate. She starts tripping after me, but keep her safe distance behind me, figured she wouldn't want to get too close, since we barely know each other.
"Akahaha…" I think to myself. It's a really nice name.
"W-what?" She replies from behind me. Did I say that out loud?
"Oh, it's nothing. I just think you have a pretty name. It means red, bright flower, right?"
She doesn't reply and just keeps walking behind me, a bit closer now as we get close to the school entrance. Red, bright flower, huh. It does fit, doesn't it?
