Flowers of Summer Garden

Worthless

Chapter 25: Worthless

~~~

The next day, Aichi woke up early in the guest room of the Tatsunagis. He looked at the window and saw the pouring rain.

Aichi stood from the bed and went out of the room. The house was quiet, and he could only hear his own footsteps as he walked around the hallways.

He saw an open door leading to a balcony, he decided to come and he saw Nome staring at the rain.

"G-good morning..." Aichi greeted.

Nome glanced at Aichi and he smiled, "Good morning, Aichi Sendou. Did you have a good night's sleep?"

"Y-yes," Aichi replied.

"I am still shocked that Kourin has a secret lover, I expected that she would defy the rules, but I would never think of anything like this." Nome stated and crossed his arms, he kept his smile on. "How secretive, yet suspicious."

Aichi somehow felt like Nome knows about him and Kourin, he just kept himself quiet yet he feels nervous.

"Anyways, I have heard that you are a florist. What kind of flowers do you sell?" Nome asked.

"W-well, a lot of them. It varies through season, and since it's summer, I would sell flowers that would bloom at this season." Aichi explained.

"Oh, I would like to buy them. Where do you take your flowers?"

"At my own garden, sir. I take care of them."

"Impressive, I can see why Kourin took a liking to you." Nome smirked, "Flowers... they're beautiful if you take care of them, yet they would wilt if you don't. Nonetheless, every flowers are beautiful."

Aichi smiled a little, his worry went down for a bit. Nome turned to face Aichi, he looked mysterious, and Aichi couldn't help but to feel uneasy.

"Aichi Sendou, if you really want to be with Kourin Tatsunagi... then you have to prove that. If you're just using her, or if she's the one using you. Then going to Tokyo is worthless, trying to stop what we had planned for her is worthless."

Aichi looked back with seriousness written on his face, "It is not, and I will prove that I came here because I really want to be with Kourin-san. So I must do what I can to stop the wedding."

"Excellent answer," Nome replied. "Then we shall see at the meeting this evening." He walked away, leaving Aichi on the balcony.

Aichi's hands turned into fists and he looked back at the rain, "Why does it rain in the middle of summer?" He muttered and went back inside the house.

-

"Aichi. Aichi!"

He opened his eyes and glanced at his side, he saw Kourin and he realized he was trying to wake him up. Her hand was holding his shoulder.

Aichi remembered that he fell asleep at the couch on the living room, because it was too early when he woke up and he was talking with the head of the Tatsunagi family.

"What are you doing here, sleeping?" Kourin asked and sat beside Aichi.

Aichi rubbed his eyes and yawned before he replied, "I was waiting for everyone to wake up when I came here earlier. But I was sleepy so I took a nap."

"I see, you seem to look distressed though. Did something happened?"

Aichi blinked, he looked at Kourin and he touched her hand. "Nome-san told me that if I can't prove myself to everyone that I want to be with you, then everything that I did is worthless. So... I will prove that it's not worthless, and everything I do for you is not worthless."

"It's not. And you're right, what you're trying to do is not worthless. You're doing something that will mean anything for me, and also for you. That's why I believe you can prove yourself, Aichi. You're the strongest person I have ever known." Kourin told him and she puts her hands on Aichi's face, caressing him.

"Thank you, Kourin-san." Aichi smiled back.

"It's no problem, Aichi."

-

Aichi decided to go out for a while after the rain stopped. He took a little trip around the town and he noticed how different it is from his hometown to this city. This place is crowded, he thought. The cars are around, there was a busy street, vendors and stores around the place.

Aichi found a flower shop and he went there, and he found a teenage girl with green hair arranging some flowers on display. She might be helping out or she's the daughter of the owner of the shop.

Aichi looked around the flowers and he saw a sunflower, full bloomed and beautifully arranged.

"Are you interested in taking that, sir?" He heard someone speak and he glanced, it was the teenage girl.

Aichi saw the name tag read as Tokoha, he smiled to himself.

"No, I'm just wandering around." Aichi replied, "The flowers here are beautiful."

"Thank you, me and my family grows them in our own garden." Tokoha replied.

"I see! So that's why they all looked beautiful, you take care a lot of these, I presume?" Aichi stated.

"Yes I do, sir!" Tokoha smiled back. Then, she kind of got curious of the blunette. "Um, may I ask? Are you also taking care of flowers?"

"Y-yes, ever since I was little." Aichi replied.

"Oh, but you don't look like it." Tokoha stated, then she covers her mouth because of what she just said. "I-I mean! I don't mean it the wrong way! It's just... sir, you seem more like a soldier."

Aichi then gave a chuckle, "Well, I wanted to be one though. It's just that I liked taking care of flowers more."

"I see."

"Anyways, I changed my mind from earlier. Can I buy this sunflower?"

"Of course!"

As Aichi bought the sunflower, he glanced at the other flowers on the shop and he smiled. It reminds them of his own shop.

"Tokoha! Let's go! Shion's waiting outside for us!" A teenager with red swirly hair came inside the shop. Tokoha gave a nod.

"I'm coming, Chrono. Just wait!"

Aichi then went out of the shop, he found another teenager with blonde hair standing at the other side. He then walked away and gave a smile.

As Aichi was walking back to Kourin's place, he took a breath as he looked at the afternoon sky.

"Tonight, I'll make sure that not everything I do is worthless. I'll prove that what I do worth something." He muttered to himself.

=

END OF CHAPTER 25

A/N: That random appearance though, haha... I think it's okay? .-.