They weren't going away.
The petals had been persistent in appearing and had even multiplied in occurrences and quantity. It was worrying but she tried to tell herself it was just stupid flower petals. Maybe it was like Pushkin's virus (except not deadly), and needed her to find the owner of the ability to make it stop?
That would be such a pain though, she griped. She didn't know who they were and they probably didn't even know they had an ability. Or even if they did, they might not have known they'd accidentally triggered it at the time Atsushi had come around (whether for the absolute first time or spontaneously just happened to either use it or accidentally use it —either way was horrible luck).
She tried not to let it happen around people and was mostly successful; for some reason it happened more around Francis, but she attributed that to the fact that she was around the man so much that it couldn't be helped. It seemed he was always around her.
Deciding enough was enough, Atsushi finally conceded to going to Yosano and asking for help in figuring it out. Approaching the older female cautiously, she looked around warily and then went to her to ask.
"Yosano-san, could I...could you help me?" she asked hesitantly, hoping no one was noticing.
Yosano raised her eyebrows. "Of course. What do you need, Atsushi-chan?"
Trying not to give into fidgeting, Atsushi continued on. "I, um, need a checkup," she whispered, not wanting the others to butt in or learn what was happening.
Yosano gave her a knowing look then. "I see. Female issues?" she lowered her voice and Atsushi blushed heavily.
"S-something like that," she gave Yosano a pained smile.
Yosano stood up and ushered her out of the main office to hers, locking the infirmary for added privacy.
"Okay, tell Big Sister all about it," Yosano said, giving her all of her attention.
Atsushi grimaced. "I've been coughing up flower petals for a little over a month now," she complained. "I can't get them to go away and I don't know what to do. It was painful in the beginning, but went away soon enough. Now it hurts worse and the petals come more often —and they're becoming way too many!"
"Flower...petals?" Yosano asked uncertainly, clearly having not expected that.
Atsushi gave her a miserable look. "I think some stupid user might have triggered their ability when I was around on accident, maybe even for their first time. Either way, I'm stuck coughing up petals."
Yosano hmmed, eyebrows furrowed as she looked lost in thought. "I need to take x-rays in any case. See if it'll show where those flower petals are coming from, if they are coming from somewhere inside you or are just appearing out of thin air. And if they're harmful to you."
She began feeling alarmed. Neither of that had crossed her mind. "Harmful? And I hadn't even thought of those things appearing inside of me!" Which was stupid, considering she was coughing those things up and practically vomiting them.
"That's why I need those x-rays," Yosano said grimly. "I...I heard of something like this," she started hesitantly. "But it's just folklore. Legend."
Atsushi was confused and probably looked it. Yosano sighed and came closer to her, smiling gently but tentatively, which put her on guard and wondering what was wrong now.
"Is there someone you like, Atsushi?" she asked, voice too solemn for the topic.
Atsushi looked at her mortified. "What? N-no! There's never been anyone," her face flushed red. Yeah, she's found others attractive or even pretty as a thought, but she's never crushed on anyone. She just never had anyone she was interested in like that.
"Are you sure about that?" Yosano pushed. "No one that makes you feel strange? Someone you're oddly really happy around and enjoy being with? Who gives you funny feelings in your stomach or makes your heart act out?"
Atsushi felt tense, hands curling into fists and her mind trying not to think about what she said. "N-no," she denied again, but a flash of a smug face, a soft smile that made her want to smile, clear blue eyes she looked into for too long, and soft golden hair she liked touching when she could...
She swallowed and closed her eyes, shaking her head in denial. "No."
As if to prove her wrong or the universe was mocking her, despite the door being locked, Francis opened the door and entered eagerly.
"Don't break doors and barge in like you own the place, Fitzgerald-san," Yosano huffed, but Atsushi went stock still and silent, looking at Francis blankly while the familiar pressure of pain in her chest, along with her heart going out of control, began and made her entire being fill with dread.
A fullness from her chest was crawling up her, up through her throat and until she was again coughing up petals.
"Ah, geez. Still with the petals, Atsushi?" she dimly heard Francis asked.
They were different this time —a striped pattern that was pretty, mostly white and tinged with red, almost like the white petals had been tainted with blood...
She laughed weakly and looked to an amused, sympathetic Francis watching her with his pretty blue eyes and firmly shut her mind and feelings down, filling herself with complete denial.
Atsushi focused on him, refusing to see Yosano glance between them and gain a sorrowful expression colored with resignation, even though from the corner of her eye she'd seen and knew what the other was thinking and had put together.
Because it wasn't true.
She was not in love with a man so desperately grieving and missing his estranged, unhappy wife and deceased daughter.
༻❁༺
Atsushi watched her legs swinging back and forth, waiting for Francis to come back with the takoyaki he'd been so eager to try. Fascinated by the strangeness of Japanese cuisine, he'd run across the snack somehow and had wanted to try it immediately, heading to the Agency to drag her with him.
"I'm back," Francis said, holding up the containers. "It smells good? I hope it'll taste good too," he said dubiously.
She smiled at that, though it was tired and probably not as normal as she'd wish it'd be. "It's fine. I don't think your delicate stomach will mind."
"My stomach isn't delicate!" he protested, but he laughed after and handed her a container before sitting next to her. "Mind you, I might actually have an iron stomach —I think I can eat anything."
"If you say so," she said doubtfully, trying to ignore the dull ache in her chest while trying to keep on smiling at him.
"Is there somewhere else you want to go?" he asked her, already forking one of the takoyaki balls. She filched one of her own with chopsticks and put it into her mouth, chewing in thought.
"No, nothing comes to mind," she said after swallowing her bite of food down. "What about you?" she asked, deciding to humor him a little longer.
Francis glanced at her. "We could walk by the docks."
She blinked, having not expected that. She opened her mouth, only to cough for a few seconds, petals escaping from her and she blushed, irritated with herself. She glanced at him but he was waiting patiently, even though he was smiling in amusement.
Irritatedly throwing the petals she'd caught to the side, she pondered his suggestion.
"Port Mafia might be skulking about there," she said with a frown, not wanting to deal with them, especially if Akutagawa was there.
"I'll handle them," he told her cockily and it just made her laugh. He wasn't wrong though. He could very easily handle them himself, even Akutagawa.
"Okay, let's go," she agreed, not sure why he wanted to go there. Still, it was a pretty spot and good scenery was good scenery. Maybe he was just craving a walk through the area...
Finishing off their food, Francis took her hand and led the way on foot, making her blink and get surprised by the action. She almost blurted out that she could walk fine on her own, but she didn't want to draw attention to the act or blow it out of proportion.
It wasn't a big deal. He was just leading the way and making sure she kept up.
When they finally reached the waters, the sunset was already in place and coloring the waters a beautiful golden-orange hue, red at the fringes and glittering from the light that reflected against it. It was a romantic, beautiful picture and she idly mused it was practically cued in as a romantic interlude in what would normally be framed as a 'date'.
"Ah, we made it in time to see the sunset," she said, continuing to appreciate the view.
"You know, if I wanted to see the sunset, I could just look into your eyes whenever I wanted," he said out of nowhere and her head whipped towards him in shock, eyes immediately widening as she felt all sorts of various feelings erupt in her. Why would he say that? Was he flirting? Was he just teasing? Was she making a big deal out of something that was nothing?
"Haha, you smooth charmer," she made herself laugh it off, even though her tone was weak and she inwardly was unsure of herself.
He laughed too. "Maybe, but it's true," he said with a large grin that made her stomach flip flop. "Everyone knows your eyes are the colors of the sunset."
Blushing heavily, she cleared her throat and looked away in embarrassment.
"Look there," Francis pointed to a spot near the waters, rocky terrain that barely had any flat areas. "After I fell from the Moby Dick, that's where I drifted from the ocean to and dragged myself onto land."
Not expecting him to have shared that bit of what happened in the past, she made herself wait patiently for what he wanted to say.
"When I fell off of the airship, I thought I was going to die," he mused aloud, staring off into the ocean and where the Moby Dick had once been hovering over. "I was helpless and dropping through the air. My wedding ring fizzled out of existence and somehow it saved me and kept me from dying. I once thought and used to say my wife had saved me."
There was this tight grip inside her chest again and it felt like her lungs were on fire.
Francis hummed in thought, eyes dark as he continued to gaze off into the distance.
"But maybe I just wasn't ready to die yet," he murmured, making her distracted from her pain enough to be confused and out of sorts.
He took her hand again and, not rushing at all, began the walk away from there to who knows where he was leading to next.
Thankfully, the pain in her chest lightened just a bit and she could breathe a little easier.
༻❁༺
After a meandering walk that she'd eventually figured out had had no destination, eventually he'd brought her back to her apartment and waited for her.
"I guess thanks for the walk?" she rolled her eyes, though she grinned fondly at him, poking his forehead once more and couldn't help herself when she brushed his hair back again.
"You're welcome," he said, blushing lightly as she did that. He cleared his throat before he gave her an even fonder smile. "Thank you for putting up with me and being a good friend, darling. I've...not really had one of those before."
Awkward about it, she just clumsily shrugged and tried not to blush too hard about it. But then he leaned down and she felt the press of his lips against her forehead, a more intimate mirror to her finger poke from before.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he said after he pulled away. "Good night, Atsushi."
She stayed frozen in her spot, whispering "Good night" long after he'd gone.
When she slipped into her apartment, she sunk to the ground and went into a horrid, painful coughing fit that she couldn't stop, couldn't control at all. She hacked out petal after petal, heaving out the striped floral leaves violently until the ground around her was covered in them.
White petals with crimson-tinged edges, mimicking blood splatters that put dread and fright into her.