Leftover Roses
There were too many roses. An excessive amount. And Valentine's day had been several weeks ago. Due to yet another angel attack the delivery had been extremely late. And now no one at school wanted to buy the roses.
The horticulture students were desperate to get rid of the flowers since they had already paid for them. Plans were made and projects were discussed about the best way to efficiently sell the roses, but most of them fell flat. Students walking alone in the hallways were liable to find themselves ambushed by masses of overeager horticulture students wielding multicolored flowers. By the second day of this, most people ran the other way when they got even a whiff of a rose.
Unfortunately, they could not be completely avoided.
Shinji was on his way to the office to deliver a note. He was thinking about a quiz he had just taken and was completely unaware of his surroundings. Which was how he suddenly found himself surrounded by armfuls of flowers.
Several minutes later he had been separated from his lunch money and had gained four yellow roses. As the dejected Shinji walked slowly back to his classroom he thought about what he should do with the roses. He could keep them, but then everyone would want to know why he had them. It was better to give them away.
The first person to receive a rose was Asuka. Even though she accused him of giving in to those ridiculous horticulture students and telling him that he was a gigantic idiot for giving them his lunch money she still accepted the flower. The rest of the day she kept the yellow rose close by her side and would not let anyone touch it.
Rei was the next person to receive a flower. Shinji came across her when he was leaving school. She accepted the rose without comment as Shinji stuttered out that he just happened to have the flowers with him, but he wanted to give them to people, not that he meant anything by giving one to her, she was just his friend. Rei listened to him without comment until his stumbling explanation came to a halt. They gazed at each other for a moment, then Rei quietly thanked him and tucked the flower gently into her school bag. He was not sure, but he thought she had smiled as she put the rose into her bag. Shinji watched her walk away until she was out of sight, then continued on his way home.
Misato was the third person to receive a rose. Shinji found her in the living room looking over paperwork and trying to watch TV at the same time. Misato was delighted to receive her flower. She pulled Shinji close towards her and kissed him on the cheek. This embarrassed him so much that as soon as she let go of him he ran off to his room, with Misato's laughter following him.
Once he reached his room, he let his school bag slide slowly off his shoulder and onto the floor as he contemplated what to do with the final yellow rose. He put his things away and set the rose on his desk. After he had put everything away, he still did not know what to do with the rose. He picked it up and lightly touched the petals. Maybe he could keep this one for himself. No one had ever given him any flowers before. He found a tall glass in the kitchen and put the flower into the glass after he had filled it with water.
Maybe people like roses because roses are like people, Shinji thought to himself. Roses have prickly unpleasant parts, but they also have soft, gentle parts.