"Oh, what's going on over there?" Haruka asked as a man pulled a small wagon onto the garden grounds. Tokiya turned to Haruka, ready to answer with a sweet smile on his face when Otoya suddenly moved in between them, effectively cutting him off from his trail of thought, causing a vein to pop out of his head.
"Well, you see Nanami, we actually are still getting this year's shipment of flowers. Today we're getting the Tulips!" Otoya explained.
"Oh, wow, I love Tulips!" Haruka squealed, a large smile spreading over her cheeks.
"What's your favorite flower?" Otoya asked, scooting closer to her
"I don't have one- they're all so unique and pretty I just could never pick one." Haruka explained, an embarrassed blush covering her face. She turned to the ladies unpacking and began to walk to them. Otoya turned to Tokiya, ready to give him a winning smirk, but shuttered when his boss came into view. Now that they were out of eye shot of Haruka, Tokiya now had a dark aura burning around him, eyes dark with anger.
Otoya shook. Was it really that bad that he cut Tokiya off like that? Obviously it was in Tokiya's eyes. Tokiya's glare turned into a glint and his lip curled up in a menacing smirk. He spoke loudly, as if wanting all others to hear.
"You know Otoya, I've been thinking. Exercise is really good for a young man. Perhaps I should get you a personal trainer. You can train ten hours a day." Tokiya subjected, a dark aura spreading around his body as he smiled mercilessly. Otoya began to sweat profusely, shaking in fear of his cruel employer.
"Oh, that does sound good! Exercise is good for you!" Haruka chirped happily from a distance, completely oblivious to the threatening tone in his voice. The other ladies, however, sprung up and shook a bit, hurrying along with their heads down. Otoya flinched back, shaking his head lightly, begging for Haruka to stop talking.
'No, Nanami, you don't understand! He's evil and is trying to kill me!' Otoya thought is a shocked panic. 'And please don't encourage him!' He had hopped that this would get across to her, but sadly the dipsy pinkett was just too oblivious.
"Oh, you think so?" Tokiya asked with a more cheerful aura around him, turning to Haruka happily.
'Damn, he's such a faker! Don't fall for it Nanami, he's only that nice to you.' Otoya groaned in his head, muttering angrily under his breath. Otoya sighed and did his best to smile, turning around only to find that he was all alone. He looked around to find Haruka and Tokiya further down the path from her, slowly walking away from him over to the ladies unloading flowers.
Haruhi leaned down close to observe the last batch of flowers in the cart. Beautiful, pink tulips were carefully tucked away in small containers. Her smile blossomed and her eyes sparkled in adoration.
"What a pretty color." Haruka hummed happily. Tokiya smiled down at her, finding the pretty pink she adored exactly the same as her hair. He had a feeling that Masato subconsciously chose them for that reason. A lady came and picked the last batch up, struggling to hold them all. "May I help?" Haruka asked, starry eyed. The woman flinched back, shaking her head harshly.
"O-oh, no! W-we couldn't let a guest help with something like this- you would become dirty and- w-wait-!" Haruka forced a few of the flowers off of the lady, saying that she would help carry them, leaving the woman dumbfounded. The two boys watched as she happily carried the flowers and put them down where the others were piling them.
"Are you planting today as well?" Haruka asked, turning to one of the other ladies.
"W-why yes, we are. It's best for the plants to get into the soil as soon as possible." One lady answered.
"Yes, that's true. May I help?" Haruka asked, causing the other ladies to flinch back.
"W-well, we're not sure if that would be alright with the masters-" One lady began saying until Tokiya cut her off.
"I'm certainly alright with it, and I'm sure Masato would be as well." Tokiya said, a light smile on his face, though he seemed to be directing his comment more so towards Haruka than the ladies.
"Y-yes sir." One lady replied. Haruka smiled widely and began to work hard at digging nice, deep holes, measuring the depth using the shovels. The glint in Haruka's eyes never disappeared, still shining brightly in pure joy. Drawn by her bright glow, Tokiya found himself kneeling down beside her, beginning to dig as well.
"Oh, you're joining us now?" Haruka giggled, truly happy to be back in the dirt. Tokiya nodded, a gentle blush rolling over his cheeks. The two worked well together, the conversation of the gardeners beginning to pick up volume out of excitement.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen Master Tokiya want to help out around the garden before." One girl said, a gleeful te-hee in her voice.
"Yeah, it must be that girl." Another swooned, acting like a girl reading some lovey dovey romance story, giggling happily.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Just watching her makes me wanna work harder!" Another said, beginning to dig faster, happily humming away as he worked. Tokiya looked around at the women in the garden, seeing them all trying their hardest. Bright auras seemed to dance around them happily, fully enjoying the bright light of the day.
Tokiya turned back to Haruka, smiling at her face as she worked. Soon she caught onto his stare and turned to him. He had a pleasant look to his face and the sun seemed to land on his cheeks perfectly, lighting him up almost as if he were an angel or some heavenly being.
"Y-yes?" Haruka asked nervously, a small blush creeping up onto her cheeks as he stared at her lovingly.
"You know, you're an amazing woman, Nanami." Tokiya smiled, causing Haruka's blush to spread. She had no idea why her face was so red, but she knew for sure that she was completely embarrassed.
"W-what, I-I'm not that great! I just know my way around flowers it all!" Tokiya chuckled.
"That's not what I meant. You have an air around you- I'm not quite sure how to describe it, but when I'm with you, I feel empowered to help those around me."
"I-I don't think it's that impressive-"
"No, it is. I've never seen the gardeners to excited to be worked before. I think it's because of you, Nanami-san. You truly are all that I had thought you to be." Haruka stared back at him. It felt like the world had fallen away from them and all that Haruka could think was that his face was very handsome.