SUNFLOWER

The first time she saw her was in the city park. It was cold, the day was a bit cloudy and she had to walk carefully because the ground was slightly slippery due to a thin layer of ice. A typical mid-winter day. Honoka really liked days like this and the way the sky changed colors. She was fascinated by the way the trees and vegetation went into a state of rest, there were no Christmas decorations anymore, almost all of them used to disappear at the beginning of January.

And then Honoka saw her, a beautiful girl with a smile full of joy and energy. The unknown girl felt warm even from a distance. An out-of-season glow. Like a fully bloomed sunflower in the middle of winter, that feeling gave her and with that impression she stayed.

What was the girl doing? The Sunflower was trying to skate on the public ice rink and was failing in the most impressive, cute way possible. Honoka could hear the girl talking to herself even though she didn't hear her words well. The sunflower girl got up again, she fell once more, she stood up again but she didn't make it. She wanted to help her, Honoka knew how to skate and even ski, she was good at winter sports. In the end she didn't move, not because Honoka didn't want to, but because the sunflower girl left after giving up in a rather funny way. Honoka lamented that the girl in the end couldn't skate like she surely wanted to, but surely she could pull it off. The handsome girl overflowed with a lot of energy even in those moments where she would get frustrated and throw a tantrum after falling down again.

She's cute, Honoka thought after taking a deep breath. Such a scenario rarely occurred, Honoka yearning for an unknown girl that she would surely never see again.

But Honoka saw her again.

On her first day of her freshman year at Verone High School.

Chance, fate, probability, statistics and apparently even the universe played in her favor to see the sunflower girl again.

And despite that, Honoka didn't dare to approach the girl. So her name is Misumi Nagisa, that's a very appropriate name, Honoka thought after seeing her introduce herself to the group on the first day of school. Honoka introduced herself in a more neutral and simple manner. Also, Honoka admitted that she wasn't one to fill up with friends at the first opportunity, unlike the sunflower girl, who immediately made friends with the classmates who sat near her.

Another reason why Honoka decided not to get close to the sunflower girl, was because she knew herself. Honoka was aware of her own good and bad points and unfortunately even the good ones were often too much for the new people that came into her life. The same people who walked away from her after getting to know her a little better.

And other small, insignificant detail: she fell for Misumi Nagisa almost immediately. It was kind of silly, she didn't even know her! Honoka only saw her once and now she had the girl close to her and her silly heart decided to beat for her on its own. The best decision Honoka could make was to keep a healthy distance from the sunflower girl.

That was her foolproof plan not to sigh for a feeling that would never find its way.

And the plan failed miserably on the first test.

During the second day of classes, the math teacher decided to review the equations that the students should already know before entering the school program for the year. That wasn't the problem, the problem was that the teacher wrote the equation wrong on the board and Misumi Nagisa couldn't solve the problem. Honoka wasn't sure if the teacher did it on purpose or not, but things got worse when he started scolding Nagisa for not remembering something she had studied just a few months ago. That meant that he hadn't realized his own mistake.

Honoka couldn't keep quiet anymore.

"She won't be able to solve the equation because it's wrong," Honoka said after standing up. She spoke in a firm voice. After that, she herself pointed out where the mistake was, the correct answer, and the flustered teacher apologized and allowed Nagisa to sit down.

After class ended, the last thing Honoka expected was for Misumi Nagisa to catch up with her to thank her for her help.

"It was nothing, don't worry," was the only thing Honoka could answer before she ran away like the coward that she could be. Keep your distance, Yukishiro Honoka, she repeated to herself.