Cherry Blossoms & Bubble Gum

Try Hamada

Look, if you'd wanted to read some slightly cheesy, tragic, meaningful story about losing someone you truly loved then you would have picked up a John Green novel. But you didn't. You chose to read this instead.

Tadashi and I weren't in a relationship. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to be in one and I think he did too. But we weren't. We were cowards. We couldn't admit it to ourselves that we wanted to be more then friends.

Everybody cried when that building exploded. Everybody loved Tadashi. He was nice to everyone. Almost to the point where he couldn't help it. No, that's a lie. It was definitely to the point where he couldn't help it.

That was his thing. His personality. His downfall.

Now, I know that I'm going to sound like an awful person for saying this and I really do hate myself for it. But part of me, the dark and twisted side, blamed Hiro. If it weren't for his want to join SFT then Tadashi wouldn't have been here when that building exploded. Tadashi wouldn't have died.

Suddenly the soft drizzle of rain that had been hitting my face for the past hour stopped abruptly. Angrily I sat up, my back wet from lying in the damp grass of the quad, and glared daggers at Honey Lemon. In her left hand was a clear umbrella. Every time a drop of water hit it a burst of color would explode, only to fade out a minute later. Any other day I would probably be eager to learn how it worked. But today was certainly not any other day.

"Hey there, Leiko." Honey said softly. Always sympathetic and sweet. Just like Tadashi.

"What do you want, Honey Lemon?" I asked before lying back down again and folding my hands behind my head.

If she was miffed by my annoyed tone of voice she did well not to show it. Instead she handed me a bunch of crumbled up news paper. It was tied with a cheap looking yellow ribbon.

"Last night Cass gave this to me to give to you. You left so early from the memorial service. She said that Tadashi was planning on giving it to you after the . . . The fire." She gulped on the world and I realized then that Honey wasn't being her usual, slightly annoying, constantly preppy self. Or at least not to the usual extent.

Slowly I pulled off the ribbon, not looking up as Honey left. I wasn't eager to open this. If it was from Tadashi I wanted to savor it forever. But a larger part of my brain drove me to open it.

The newspaper was filled with comics that Tadashi and I used to read when we were kids and came off easily. Inside were two things.

The first was a small purple box, no smaller than my palm. The other was a cherry blossom. The flower had already begun wilting but I thought that it looked even better this way. Carefully, I picked it up and found a note attached.

Found it.

It was the cherry blossom myth. I smiled, probably looking like an idiot, and took in the scent of flower. After another
Moment my brain reminded me that there was another thing to be examined. I delicately put down the flower and picked up the box. It was slightly damp but still soft at the touch.

The box opened as I pushed my thumb up. The first thing I saw was a folded note. I took it out and found that it was torn and done with scratchy writing.

GoGo, I don't even know where to begin. This is my, what, fifth attempt and if I don't get this out now I'll be late for the show case. But it needs to be done tonight. I want you to know that there are thousands of things I love about you. But if I listed all of them this wouldn't be a note it would be a novel. However there's one thing it don't like about you. It's your last name. Tanaka? So boring. I can think of only one that would ever live up to your true amazingness. Try Hamada.

My face was red with blush as I stared at what remained in the box. In between creme satin cushions a small ring. Small and silver with a lilac jewel the size of a needle's eye in the center.

~~~ FYI this is not the end. Merely the beginning of a new experience. Aka more chappies to come. Stay sparkly -- SparkleWolf~~~