Day 4: Hanahaki
It was a usual day in New Domino Duel Academy. A red-haired girl named Aki was walking down the corridor to get to her class. She was not taking a detour to pass by class 12a, she was clearly walking straight to her own classroom. She just mistook the floor she was on, so now she had to pass by class 12a to get to a stairway that would bring her a floor down. She was also not walking by class 12a extremely slowly. It's just that her ankle started to hurt just when she was next to class 12a. A mere coincidence. She was also not starring at the beautiful blonde student that was sitting in the last row surrounded by too many annoy- uh… too many classmates. She only wanted to know if her friends were all in the class, a normal thought and a normal reason to take a look into the class that she wasn't part of. It was at that moment one of those classmates gently touched the blonde's right shoulder with one of her hands, while the other one was placed on the blonde's chin to lift it up slightly. And it was at that exact moment Aki had to cough. A cough that disturbed the scene in front of Aki. A cough so unusual that everyone looked at her strangely. And at first Aki thought it was because all of them noticed her standing there. She had no time to get an embarrassed blush on her cheeks though, as she had to cough again. She noticed something fell onto her hand that she had used to cough into, it was a flower? Aki couldn't think much about it, as she slowly lost her consciousness. She swore she heard the beautiful blonde woman exclaim her name in worry, but that surely must be a dream, right?
She woke up in the infirmary that was relatively close by the school. She had an infusion that slowly dropped down, probably to hydrate her. She heard voices from outside the room, one of the voices was her father's. She didn't grasp their conversation though, but her father seemed to be angry about something. "I'll know soon enough," she thought, as she turned her attention to the window. The sun was slowly setting, a beautiful scenery. A beautiful scenery that would be more beautiful if she could enjoy it with the blonde student from class 12a. A cough interrupted her train of thought. A small flower landed in her hand again. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew that it was becoming more difficult to breathe.
The doctor entered the room, apparently she heard Aki's cough. Aki turned her attention to the young doctor, who explained her that she has little to no options in order to survive. "It's the hanahaki disease," the doctor explained as if everyone knew the illness. Aki didn't know about it, so she wanted further information. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. Either die, get surgery to forget the feelings she has for the tall blonde girl, or get the tall blonde girl to love her back. Of course her parents wanted her to get surgery, after all, dating in school is not what they expect from Aki. She should focus on her studies not on romance. But Aki can't forget about the tall girl. She wanted to be close to that student from class 12a. A tear escaped one of Aki's eyes. What decision should she take now? "Can I decide tomorrow?", she asked weakly. Her father was furious, but the young doctor nodded. "Just don't take too much time," she said, before she lead her parents out of the room to give Aki some time alone to think. Aki turned her attention back to the window. The sky was even redder now. She sighed. She didn't want to think about the tall blonde from class 12a again. Otherwise she might have to cough. She decided to close her eyes, after all, tomorrow would be a difficult day for her.
To her surprise, she woke up to see a good friend of hers standing in front of her bed. He was typing something on his laptop, so he hadn't noticed her waking up. "Yusei what are you doing here?", she asked, which caused him to look up from his laptop. "Oh, good morning Aki," he said as he closed his laptop. "You know I've been there when you fell unconscious," he explained. "Ah… I didn't realize that," Aki murmured and Yusei laughed at her comment. She looked questioningly at him. "Of course not, you only have eyes for Sherry," he said and she blushed. And coughed. A small amaryllis was lying in her hand. "Sorry," Yusei murmured lowly, handing her a glass of water. "You see… You always wander around our class only to see her." Another cough, another flower, this time a yellow camellia. "Did you met her before, or is it just because she's pretty?", Yusei asked confusedly. "Of course it's not just because she's pretty," Aki started, but had to stop because of a cough, a dahlia fell onto her hand this time. "That's just a bonus," she added. She sighed and Yusei still had that confused look on his face. "You want to know how I fell for her?", she asked and coughed yet again, this time it was a forget-me-not. "If you manage to explain it, then yes," Yusei said, worry written on his face. Aki sighed again. "It was a year ago…," she began.
The redhead was on a trip together with her parents. Her father was an important senator of the city, so he usually had business trips. This time, it was extremely important that the whole family would attend a house party in Osaka, before the actual business trip would begin the next day. Aki didn't want to come at first, her relation to her father wasn't the best ever since he was neglecting her quite a lot during her early childhood. Eventually she agreed, mainly to stop having an argument with him. The house party was boring though and Aki found herself at the huge buffet that was filled with food she couldn't pronounce. She couldn't have anything to drink besides some sort of juice. She figured orange juice would at least work with that overly fancy topped baguettes. Of course some sort of guy her age had to talk to her which annoyed her even more. Luckily she was rescued by a tall blonde woman. "These canapés are fantastic, n'est-ce pas?" she said and it took a while until Aki understood the blonde foreigner's intentions. "Oui, c'est vrai," was all she remembered from a basic level French course, but it came in handy as the tall foreigner continued saying something in French. The poor boy that talked to Aki couldn't understand a word – neither could Aki. But apparently her saying variants of "oui, c'est vrai" convinced the boy enough that Aki must be a foreigner too, so he slowly but surely walked away, giving Aki room to breathe. "Thanks a lot," Aki said to the tall foreigner. "No problem," the blonde said, munching happily on her canapé. "I'm Aki," Aki introduced herself, quite informally. But she learned that in Europe you always say your given name first. "I'm Sherry," the blonde said. "So what brings you to Japan, Sherry?", Aki asked. Not adding san or chan seemed weird to her, but in Europe they don't add things like that. She learned that in her French course. "My parents start a subsidiary here," Sherry answered and Aki could practically hear a sigh in her words. She didn't seem too happy about that fact. "I assume you don't like that?", Aki commented and Sherry just nodded. "They want me to stay here in Japan for a while so that I can later on be the CEO of the company," she said gloomy.
The two of them talked for hours until they figured out that both of them will have to spend time in Osaka for at least five more days. Of course they spend all those five days together. Both of them could easily explain that to their respective parents too. The time they spend together was just perfect, as they had the chance to get to know each other. They figured that they had quite some points in common, for example they both liked the same music, the same way too romantic movies and dramas, they also were both really into card games. Everything seemed so perfect that Aki didn't want to go home to New Domino City. But she had to. She knew that Sherry would be in Osaka for a while. Knowing that she herself wouldn't go to Osaka that often left her with a weird feeling in her chest. Of course they still had contact via Line. That way Sherry could tell her that she would come to join the Duel Academy in New Domino City. And Aki couldn't be more happy about that.
"Ah, so that's how you got to know her," Yusei commented but he was still quite worried about his friend who was now covered in different flowers. "So what will you do now?", Yusei asked and Aki sighed yet again. "I don't know," she began. "The doctor said either I get surgery, but then I forget about my feelings for Sherry, or I die," Aki murmured. She didn't mention the third option, that is Sherry to fall in love with Aki. She wouldn't fall for Aki, especially not after what she had seen yesterday, so why mention it to Yusei. Just thinking about the tall girl caused Aki to cough. A yellow rose. "Maybe… you should get the surgery then," Yusei murmured. Aki looked at him. "I mean… is it worth dying for love?", Yusei questioned and Aki honestly did not have an answer to his question. Was it worth dying for love? If you had asked Aki that question a week ago in her Japanese course, she would have said yes. But now that she's the one that will die if she doesn't let go of her love, she doesn't know how to answer. However all those thoughts never escaped her lips. "I don't want to forget about Sherry," was the sentence she said instead and a small tear escaped one of her eyes before she had to cough again. A violet. She sighed yet again. "I'm tired, Yusei. Would you mind leaving?", she asked and he did what he was told to. He had to go to school anyways.
Apparently she had slept all day. The time she woke up she saw the exact same red sky outside of the window as she did yesterday. "Such a beautiful scene." She swore she heard the voice of Sherry say, but it must be a dream. She wouldn't be here with her, in her room, in the infirmary. "Such a beautiful scene," she whispered, a cough escaping her lips and a small red rose appeared. "I'd prefer it if you bought those flowers, you know?" The comment made Aki laugh a bit and she even turned her attention away from the window. She flinched a bit when she realised Sherry was standing in front of her bed. "Hm?", was all that escaped her lips as she felt her heart rate increase. A small smile appeared on the blonde's lips. "You know… Yusei told me that you weren't feeling well," the blonde began. "Actually, I could have figured that out myself after you lost your consciousness yesterday," she added lowly. "Ah," was all Aki could say to that. "I… also kind of eavesdropped your father having a conversation with the doctor just now," the blonde said. A quick apology followed, with a slight bow of hers. "Why are you bowing?", Aki asked, which caused the blonde to stop bowing. "It's rude to eavesdrop on someone's conversation," she explained. "Anyways," the blonde started, scratching the temple of her head. "You see- um," she continued, a small blush visible on her cheeks – such an exquisite look. Such an exquisite look Aki had never seen before. Such an exquisite look that made Aki babble out "I love you, Sherry." She was shocked at her sudden confidence. And before she could even cough, the blonde who now smiled brightly at the red-head said the magical words that she needed to hear. "I love you too, Aki," she said sweetly.
Aki could breathe normally again. At least until her father would realise that his daughter will not only focus on studying but also on love. But for now, she could breathe normally again. And she returned the smile and asked Sherry to stay a bit by her side in the infirmary, which she did.
A/N: I really enjoyed writing about this topic. The flowers that I used here do portray different meanings (and yes, my research about these meanings only consist of looking up the Hanakotoba article on Wikipedia). And according to this article, these are the meanings of each flower that appear with name:
Amaryllis: Shy
Camellia (yellow): Longing
Dahlia: Good Taste
Forget-me-not: True Love
Rose (yellow): Jealousy
Violet: Honesty
Rose (red): Love
