Hey there ^o^

I bet this work could be read as a person's nonsense. It may be that, or it might reach out to you.

The silent treatment had stopped, huh? Either way, you're entitled to your own opinion.

Lemme know what you think or what you wanna say. It's very welcome.

Chapter 3

The Simple complexities of forming friendships

Alice left the party in a huff and walked in circles around the maze-like forest until his temper cooled down and he blushed in embarrassment at his attitude. When he looked upwards from his palms that cooled his flaming cheeks, he saw that the sunflower was strangely silent as it looked straight upwards.

"Say, Alice. You saw Yamamoto, didn't you? I told him that he didn't need to be the march hare and he didn't need to give you that invitation.

But he was so enthusiastic, he set the whole thing up. The decor, the treats, and the itinerary. By simply bringing them in, for each of those items... a voice was added in. Then a squabble broke out and then factions broke out. Then, as a host, he had to be the mediator so that what you would enter into would be a tea party, not a fish market.

The mad hatter simply left the invites out, but left the hare to his own devices. Even if he didn't take it upon himself to organize the party, the roses would have arranged everything. But... the march hare wouldn't be a host in that party. At least that way, he'd have to be the voice of reason and the intermediary to get anything done.

I agree that the party that he hosted was more tasteful than the ones the roses hosted. I mean, even you blew a fuse when they took over, didn't you?"

He pointed his fists towards the sky and the clouds over there split and made way to let the brunette see what the flower wanted to show him. A huge clocktower was there, with the time showing clearly on its face.

"That's my sister there. She chose that role since she wanted to help me out to keep time and it's super handy if I forget or get lost while keeping those guys in line. I've got my hands full keeping an eye out for her, setting these guys straight and she's made her life around my new routine.

The daffodils have also taken up the responsibility to give the rest of them a guideline to schedule their routines under, and I'll support them all the way to help them take up that mantle. I'll be the lighthouse so they can fall back to or return to."

There was a conviction in the words uttered by Sasagawa. But, by becoming the pillar, the sunflower had made its roots in one place and became unable to move, unlike the daffodils that could reach sky high and unlike the towering sister whose identity itself changed to create this bond.

Alice felt sad at that thought and sat down by the flower and dug around it. The earth didn't hold the flower as its hostage any longer. It didn't hover, but its tall frame's weight lay right onto the boy's hands. It wilted slightly and asked,

"Alice, I thought that Yamamoto was a guy like me and we clicked because of that. That guy was like a water jug and water, juice, sake, tea, coffee, poison, acid, and other drinks got poured into him. He accepted it all, even though the resultant mixture couldn't be accepted by any person's throat or stomach. If it couldn't be drunk or drained out, it could only stagnate in the vessel. They reacted with each other and settled into equilibrium, but started eroding the vessel's walls. They wanted a new one or they wanted it to evolve and strike a balance.

I saw that and I told him to let go a bit to settle down a bit. The vassal needed to reach stability, not expand its territory. But he took my words as a request, as something he needed to accept.

I'm to handle time, I've made a promise with the clocktower. I can't help him spill the contents. They would have created a resistance against my meddling.

Before becoming a flower, the inhabitants paid close attention to the showy clocktower which was attention-grabbing. They wanted to lay their hands on it, after all- it had no importance if it just measured the time that couldn't be tamed. Time was unpredictable and hence random in nature, thereby it was useless and unreliable to those guys. I had to become the sunflower to protect my sister because my measures did not solve the underlying problem.

I could tell them to ignore her, or become her shield or even her sword to protect her. But I did not want her to be isolated or berated upon and she did not want her shield to rust(crack) or her sword to become blunt(break).

My true calling was that of a sunflower. But his wasn't that of a vase, but it does not fit that of the march hare. I wonder if my protests ended up creating cracks in his persona?

When I stepped out of my role to stop him from entering into his, it made him falter, but it made his supporters and sustenance lost and jittery. Did my interference make him force himself to stuff himself into a statue, even if it meant breaking his bones and bleed a river?"

The sunflower lamented his regrets to the person who held his silence now and even then. The brunette's slippers, so as to help the both of them forgive themselves, summoned a gentle breeze to envelop them. He lifted the sunflower to the skies to fulfill the boy's intentions.

Alice walked onwards.

On his path, there lay a dying cat. It was moaning in pain, but it flinched away in caution when the boy approached it. It lacked the means to escape his advances, but it didn't dare hiss at him- fearing retribution. It kept its eyes open, intending on seeing the world until its very last breath.

It was too late for any help and making it panic would only send it onwards to the heavens faster.

Alice looked sad at its plight. He did not have the ability to change its fate. When he crouched in front of it and slowly moved his hand to comfort it. He carefully observed the ruffling fur and avoided regions that seemed like it would hurt on touch. There was hope in the cat's eyes as it twinkled right at him.

The trees surrounding them whispered in disgust at the unsightly state of the creature. The grass that lay below the cat slightly moved away from its body, intending on avoiding it, so Tsuna very carefully, brought the cat onto its lap. But once he did that, its weight was quite astounding. His laps felt numb immediately and he winced at its weight. But he immediately straightened his expression out, not wanting to make it feel disheartened at his response.

It had a rusted collar that read 'Nagi' and it smelled strongly like medicinal herbs.

He shifted its body to his chest to carry it more firmly, but when he did that he felt that he had gotten a case of heartburn and he let out a groan. The cat immediately sunk its claws into his arms and he simply whispered compliments over and over again.

The whispers increased in intensity and become louder than his words as they drowned his voice out. He saw Nagi's red eyes that couldn't let its tears out and it seemed like his surroundings were too focused on the cat that they wouldn't lend him an ear. Their tone held worry, but it wasn't directed at the cat. It was as if they had already ordained her dead.

He felt his feet sink into the ground. It was as if they decided to bury the dead and pay their respects. The woods looked black like they were in mourning clothes. There was a clear bell ringing as the others became preoccupied with the ceremony and procedures instead of the person they were going to lose.

Nagi's collar dropped from its neck and disintegrated into the ground, and red spider lilies bloomed in its place.

Alice looked at the sheen fur in front of him. The being in his chest looked majestic. Its heterochromatic eyes stared at him in amusement. The cat simply hopped onto a branch of the now silent trees.

"You're certainly cruel, lad. Why would you feed a stray but not adopt it?

It might as well not know kindness if it has to survive in the streets." It mocked him gleefully.

The boy hunched down to look for the collar that fell down, but the cat shot down that idea immediately.

"You don't have to bother making a grave. That cat's dead and lost to the world.

Don't you know? We don't mix the dead and the living."

"But she's still here, isn't she? You've taken her into your custody."

"My, my. You need glasses, Alice. I doubt you'd ever see a cat as handsome as I."

"Even if that was true, she at least exists in your memory- enough for you to inherit her will."

"It's nothing that profound. She's like those clothes you've draped so wholly around yourself. You've rejected the vassal that you've been born with and have chosen to cover every inch and corner with clothes to distract yourself from that thought.

You've even taken up another name to take up a new identity. If not, I doubt we'd be engaging in this delightful conversation, is it not so?" he purred comfortably as he stretched, ignoring the flinch from the boy under him.

"Why are you so insistent on validating her existence, Alice? Your ardor makes me feel jealous."

"It's because it looked like we both were the same."

"That's true. She desperately went around trying to win their favor and become an integral part of their lives- for it all to be for naught.

She ended up as a burden in the end and she couldn't diminish her presence in their lives. It's a truly ironic way of getting your wish fulfilled.

Were you feeling empathetic to her plight? Or were you trying to give her a happy ending since it seemed like you both were traversing the same path?"

The cat let out a wide cheshire smile as it left the question hanging. He vanished from the site knowing that the brunette could give him no answers or even bring himself to give one even if he did know it.