Running a hand through his freshly bleached hair, Kakeru busied himself with restocking the box next to the cash register with mini guide pamphlets about the basics of flower care. For a dollar a pamphlet, the little guides were bought with almost every flower purchase that his mother sold in her little hole-in-the-wall flower shop passed down by Kakeru's grandfather. They weren't the flashiest, most luxurious flower shop in Tokyo but the shop was nice and homey with a healthy stream of regular customers.
Speaking of regular customers, one of them was the raven-haired boy that just walked into the shop. Kakeru didn't know much about him but he came once in a while to buy flowers. Well, not really flowers, the raven-haired boy always bought the same thing every time by now it was routine for Kakeru's mother to immediately go fetch the Casablanca Lily the boy always came to buy. At one point, back in December, he came every day but now it wasn't as frequent...probably cause it wasn't a good financial decision for a high school boy, well Kakeru assumed he was in high school based on his appearance, to buy flowers so much.
"Yo, Katsu-kun, who's that?" Kakeru rolled his eyes at the nickname his friend had given him because of his love for katsu curry. His brown eyes shifted to look at his long-time friend, Mika, who was currently attempting to inconspicuously stare at the awkward teenager who entered the flower shop.
"His name's Okkotsu Yuta. He comes by once in a while to buy flowers" Kakeru replied.
"Man, that guy looks like he hasn't slept in ages. His eye bags are like MEGA dark!" Mika pointed out. Kakeru sweat-dropped but he couldn't help agreeing with his friend's statement. Though, compared to the first time Kakeru met the raven-haired boy, his eyebags were a lot lighter now. Back then, his eyebags were really dark and his shoulders sagged so much that Kakeru had thought the other male was shorter than him which Kakeru now realized was not true at all.
"He gives super duper socially awkward beanpole vibes." Mika commented. Kakeru raised an eyebrow in confusion.
'Beanpole vibes...?' Kakeru turned to look back at Yuta who was currently looking around the store nervously. 'I guess...he is kind of built like a stick. At least it's not as bad as before. He's gained some healthy weight now. Back then, he looked like he could be blown away by the wind...'
"Okkotsu-kun, back again?" Sugimoto Sayuri, Kakeru's mother, asked, already fetching the shiny dark blue wrapping paper she usually used to wrap Yuta's purchases - always a single Casablanca Lily. Sugimoto gestured for Kakeru to go fetch a lily and he was about to do so until...
"Oh..actually...I'd like a bouquet this time" Yuta said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. He flashed the mother-son duo a small, awkward smile. Sugimoto and Kakeru exchanged looks of surprise before a knowing smile tugged on the florist's lips.
"My~ Could it be you're finally making a move?" Yuta stiffened and a faint pink blush crept up his cheeks. Sugimoto chuckled. "Kidding, kidding, you're too easy to tease, Okkotsu-kun."
"What's she talking about?" Mika asked, nudging Kakeru with her elbow.
"Okkotsu usually comes to get a single white lily for this girl he's in love with."
"Like the funeral flower? Why would you give someone you like a funeral flower? Why not like a rose or something? Aren't those supposed to be romantic?" Kakeru shrugged. He also wondered that but apparently, they were this mysterious girl's favorite flower so whatever.
'Wonder what this girl even looks like'
"Any other flowers or just the lilies? We just got this beautiful batch of orchids" Sugimoto asked, wiping her hands on her green apron.
"No orchids, she doesn't like orchids." Yuta replied, shifting his weight between his two feet in a nervous fashion that made his head bob up and down.
"Why don't you follow me to the back and see if you wanna add any other flowers to this bouquet? Tell you what, I'll throw in some baby's breath with the lilies for free since you're such a loyal customer. "
"Oh, okay. Thank you!" Yuta said, bowing his head in gratitude.
"Kakeru, get the lilies ready." She called before gesturing for Yuta to follow her to the back of the store to look at other flowers. Kakeru nodded and went to fetch a couple of lilies from where they were kept. The lilies were usually kept near the register instead of the back with the regular flowers since they weren't as popular as the other flowers the shop sold. Sometimes they'd get a bulk order for a funeral but that was about it.
"Wonder what the girl looks like. Y'know, that Okkotsu guy kinda gives me puppy dog vibes."
"Puppy dog vibes...?" Kakeru repeated in confusion.
"Mhm, he's got those big sad puppy dog eyes. Other than that, he's pretty average. Not the type you notice right away y'know? Like one of those background or minor characters in a story" Mika explained. Kakeru shook his head over how blunt her friend was. He knew she never harbored any ill intent when she spoke about others but her wording made her sound like she was talking bad sometimes. "I don't have any attraction towards him but like maybe that's just cause I'm not into guys. Dunno"
"I'd give him a 4.5/10 on the Mika scale." Mika stated, nodding her head in agreement over her own decision.
"Where'd the 0.5 come from?" Kakeru asked, examining the lilies he chose. 'These should be good...'
"He gets 0.5 bonus points for getting the girl he likes flowers all the time. Dedication" Kakeru sweat-dropped while Mika leaned forwards and laid the upper half of her body against the cool counter.
"Why're you here again?" Kakeru asked, walking back to his place behind the register to wait for his mother.
"Here to spend time with you, of course" Mika replied with a thumbs up.
"If you're gonna stay here then at least do some wor—" The faint chiming of the bell that alerted whenever someone entered the shop rang and interrupted Kakeru's sentence. Both Mika and he looked up to see who the new customer was. His caramel eyes widened and he heard Mika's breath hitch beside him.
A girl with long, silky white hair and soft features, that resembled the white lilies he held in his hand, stood at the doorway. Her eyes, an enchanting shade of violet-blue that Kakeru didn't know a human's irises were capable of having, looked around the store like she was looking for something.
"Damn." Mika whispered in awe.
"Am I dead? Pinch me" Kakeru snapped out of his stupor and shot Mika a questioning look over her comment.
Mika shrugged. "What?"
"Her eyes and hair. They're such an unusual color. I thought I was hallucinating. I wonder if that's natural or just hair dye and colored contacts" Mika mumbled, low enough so the white-haired girl didn't hear. Kakeru couldn't help but agree.
"Yea, she seems like the type that attracts attention cause of her unique looks. " Kakeru added. Mika opened her mouth to say something but stopped when she heard Sugimoto and Yuta's chatter as they walked back to the front.
"Yuu!" The white-haired girl's eyes lit up immediately when she saw Yuta and her lips curved up in a soft, loving smile that was only reserved for him. She walked towards him with a happy bounce in her step.
"No way..." Mika whispered, voicing Kakeru's thoughts aloud. The two of them came to the same conclusion at the same exact time. This white-haired girl was the one that Yuta was madly in love with. She was the one he gifted all those lilies to.
"Hiyori?" Yuta said in surprise just as his girlfriend latched onto his arm. He wasn't expecting to see her here. She was supposed to be meeting Nanami at a café right now.
'Well...there goes my surprise...' He had originally planned to go buy her a bouquet of lilies before heading to the café she was meeting Nanami at to pick her up for their movie theater date at around 1:30. It was only 12:15 right now and Hiyori had somehow found him here.
"What are you doing here? What happened to your meeting with Nanami-san? How did you know I was here?" Yuta asked, while taking the cold drink Hiyori held out for him to try. He took a sip of it and his eyes widened at the surprisingly delicious combo of oolong tea mixed with peach.
"Nanami-oji got called on an emergency mission and the café we went to was across the street. I saw you come in here through the window" Hiyori explained. Yuta looked up through one of the windows in the shop and, sure enough, across the street was a café. He probably should've checked the location that Hiyori sent him of the café on his phone beforehand.
"Does it taste good?" Hiyori asked, watching Yuta take another sip of her drink. Yuta nodded enthusiastically to show how much he liked the drink and Hiyori giggled.
"Oh my! Who is this, Okkotsu-kun?" Sugimoto asked, staring at the white-haired girl who was quite affectionate with her customer. She didn't need an answer to know exactly who this girl was.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Tsukuyo Hiyori. I'm Yuta's girlfriend" Hiyori said politely, bowing her head in introduction. Yuta blushed when Hiyori said she was his girlfriend so straightforwardly and took a big sip of the fruity tea drink in his hand in an attempt to quell the heat creeping up his face.
"Oh, you must be the lucky girl that Okkotsu-kun buys all those lilies for." Hiyori smiled and nodded her head.
"Yea, I really am lucky" Hiyori replied, leaning her head against Yuta's shoulder. Yuta's face turned an even brighter shade of red. Kakeru was pretty sure the raven-haired boy had steam coming from his head or maybe that was just his imagination. Sugimoto turned to look at Yuta who was trying his best to not overheat because of how flustered he was over what Hiyori just said.
"Okkotsu-kun, I'm quite disappointed in you. This entire time you had me thinking you were still pinning after her but you two already started dating? My, you move quite fast. It feels like it was just yesterday when you came here, soaking wet, to get a flower for this girl you wanted to cheer up cause she was in a bad mood." Yuta flinched, face so red from embarrassment that it even put the pre-made bouquets of red roses on display to shame. Hiyori smiled at the fond memory of Yuta gifting her that first lily.
"S-Sorry..." Yuta replied apologetically.
"So how long have you two been together?" Sugimoto took the lilies that Kakeru handed her to arrange them in a bouquet with some baby's breath. In the end, Yuta didn't end up picking any other additional flowers for the bouquet even after carefully examining all the flowers she showed him that would go well with lilies.
"Two month and three days" Both Yuta and Hiyori answered at the same time, much to the amusement of Sugimoto as she wrapped the bouquet up. Kakeru and Mika exchanged looks of surprise over how specific the response was.
"Well, aren't you two adorable." Sugimoto cooed, handing Yuta the bouquet with a wink. "That'll be 20,000 yen. I'll give you a discount since you come here often and cause the two of you are just so darn cute."
"Thank you" Yuta said, handing the money for the bouquet to Kakeru before taking the bouquet of lilies from Sugimoto.
"No problem, just make sure to come here when you two need flowers for your wedding" Yuta's eyes widened and he was so flustered that he would've collapsed had Hiyori not been holding onto him.
'W-W-Wedding...M-Marriage..Marry Hiyori....Hiyori in a wedding dress. Hiyori in a wedding dress...' Yuta's head was getting dizzy just at the thought of marrying Hiyori. His mind filled with images of Hiyori walking down the aisle towards him in a wedding dress. Would they have a Western-style wedding or a traditional Japanese-style one? Hiyori in a shiromuku or a pretty white wedding dress like the ones in those magazines he saw at the grocery store. Maybe they could do both so he could get to see her in both styles...he hoped they could do both. He didn't want to miss out on seeing Hiyori in either.
Yuta snuck a glance at Hiyori to see what her reaction to what Sugimoto said was and his heart almost skipped a beat when he saw the dreamy smile on her face. His heart did skipped a beat when he heard her next words.
"Of course"