Peko could feel that something was off as she stalked through the halls that morning, and surprisingly it had nothing to do with her illness. In fact, she felt better than she had in days. No, the strange feeling seemed to radiate off of her fellow classmates who, for the most part, all seemed quite anxious and uncomfortable. Somehow, overnight, suspicion had descended upon the students of Hope's Peak and turned them on each other for reasons unknown to Peko. She caught people sending what they thought were sneaky glances at other students that passed them by. The hallways were the quietest they had ever been. It felt wrong.
As class began, Peko immediately noticed another thing that was wrong; the desk beside her was empty. She kept sending hurried looks toward the doorway, hoping that the perky brunette would come bursting through, but she never appeared. Peko had a permanent frown etched into her face, not that that was entirely uncommon, but another student in the class noticed.
Peko tried to bury herself in her book in an attempt to drown out her worries. Misa had never missed class before. She wouldn't just skip for no reason. She was too nice to do that. When Peko finally looked up from her book, a small piece of paper sat directly in front of her on her desk.
Same time and place as usual.
Don't be late.
The note didn't have a signature attached to it, but it really didn't need one. After all, Peko knew this handwriting better than she knew her own.
-
When Peko walked into the classroom she was not surprised to find Fuyuhiko sitting on top of Yukizome's desk facing the window.
"Young Ma- Fuyuhiko." she corrected herself under the young yakuza's glare. Fuyuhiko took a deep breath and turned to look at her directly.
"Spill it, Peko." he said as he gestured for her to sit atop one of the desks near him. Peko obeyed and silently made her way across the classroom.
"I am afraid I don't understand what you're asking of me."
Fuyuhiko leaned his head back and rolled his eyes.
"You're distracted Peko," he said, "I saw you today. I saw how you kept looking at the door like you were waiting for something."
Peko's heart nearly stopped beating in her chest. She had been afraid of this. That by forming a relationship with someone outside of the Kuzuryu clan, her focus would be pulled away from her work and she would be punished for it. She could feel her heart beginning to break as she spoke.
"I am sorry, Young Master," she couldn't help it as the title slipped out in her rush to apologize, "I didn't mean for my attention to drift away from my work. I assure you that it will never happen again. If it pleases you, I will cut off all ties with Misa so that I may refocus my attention solely on-"
"What? No, Peko, you're not doing that. The fuck is wrong with you? I'm not worried about you not focusing all of your attention on protecting me. You're allowed to have friends, Peko. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. It's not like you to get distracted. Ever."
Peko bowed her head in shame.
"I've just been... concerned," she admitted, "Misa was absent from class today and that is very strange for her. She has been acting odd lately as well. It worries me."
It was quiet for several minutes before Fuyuhiko broke the silence.
"What happened to those flowers that that girl used to give you? She stop doing that?"
"I did not receive one yesterday or today. I would have to assume that it has something to do with Misa's strange behaviour."
Fuyuhiko nodded his head and looked out the window again.
"Why does she give them to you anyways? Not that it's a bad thing, just asking."
"She told me that she does it to make me happy." Peko said. What she didn't say was how Misa said it made her incredibly happy to see Peko smile when she saw the new rose each day.
"I see."
-
The hallways were much louder as Peko walked back to her dorm. Apparently the teenage instinct to gossip had grown too strong and several groups of students had formed throughout the halls and were speaking in hushed whispers. Peko stopped at her locker and began to place some of her textbooks back on the top shelf. Her motions slowed as she heard the voices of Mikan, Hiyoko, and Mahiru drift through the hall.
"God, can't you just tell me who it is so I can stop looking at your hideous face?"
"Hiyoko!" Mahiru scolded.
"Oh, come on, Mahiru! You want to know who it is too!"
"Yes, but insulting someone for information isn't the way to do it."
Peko wasn't looking, but she could practically feel Hiyoko rolling her eyes.
"Look, pigshit," Hiyoko turned her attention back to Mikan, "we know that someone in school has that lame ass flower disease. Sonia saw the flowers in the bathroom. Just tell us who it is already!"
"I-I ca-can't! Tha-that's confidential information!" Mikan cried.
"Fine. We'll just figure it out ourselves. It shouldn't be too hard. We just have to watch and see which of our idiot classmates is lovesick."
Hiyoko pranced off leaving Mahiru to mumble a quiet apology to Mikan before following after her. Mikan left quickly to return to the infirmary. Peko remained frozen in place at her locker. Suddenly the odd behaviour from that morning made sense.
Her classmates knew that one of them had Hanahaki. Sure they didn't know who it was, but Hiyoko was right; they would figure it out. How could she have been so careless? She thought she had disposed of any petals she had coughed up in the bathroom but clearly she was wrong.
Suddenly feeling extremely lightheaded and shaky, Peko closed her locker and walked back to her dorm as calmly as she could. Her hands were balled up into fists at her sides to hide their incessant shaking. When she arrived safely to her dorm room, she locked the door quietly behind her. She stood in the centre of the room numbly. Peko looked at her nightstand and saw the small glass of water filled with several red roses. Her stomach clenched.
-
Fuyuhiko knocked harshly on Peko's door for the fifth time only to be met with silence.
"Fuck, Peko, I know you're in there!"
More silence.
"Look, I'm going to use the key that you gave me to enter your room and you can't get mad at me this time, okay?"
More silence.
Fuyuhiko stuck the key in and jiggled the handle until the door swung open. The lights were off but he could see a thin line of yellow light peeking out from underneath the door to the bathroom. He knocked loudly on the door.
"Peko? Let me in."
More silence.
"For fuck- Peko if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down! Do you want that?"
When there was no reply, Fuyuhiko growled and kicked the door open. He didn't know what he was expecting to find behind the door, but it certainly was not what he found.
Peko was curled up in the bathtub, seemingly asleep, and was surrounded by blood and flower petals. Her breaths came out in wheezes.
"Peko!" he shouted as he lurched forward and began to shake her by the shoulders. Peko's eyes fluttered open and confusion washed over her as she saw the scared looking boy leaning over her.
"Thank fuck! The hell happened, Peko?"
Peko glanced around and saw the blood and flowers surrounding her. Her eyes shut tightly as she realized she couldn't hide it anymore.
"I'm sick." she said simply.
"No shit! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I was selfish," she mumbled, "I couldn't risk the clan finding out and deeming me unfit for my role. I would have been replaced. Though, in hindsight, that probably would have been the best choice for your safety."
"Peko, you're like a sister to me. In what world would I let those bastards kick you out because you got sick? It happens. It's not a big fuckin' deal."
"But it is," Peko replied, "this isn't some illness where I can take some medication and be better next week. This disease will kill me eventually. I'll be replaced either way."
Fuyuhiko was quiet for a few moments as he got lost in his thoughts.
"The student with Hanahaki. It's you, isn't it?"
"I thought the flower petals would have given that away." Peko chuckled weakly. Fuyuhiko shook his head.
"I didn't know about the flowers. I just knew it was some weird love sickness that could kill people. So it is you, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so."
"How bad is it?"
"Mikan said I was still in the early stages a few days ago. I don't feel too much worse than then so I think I still have a while left."
It fell silent again.
"Do you know who it is?" he eventually found the courage to ask. Peko picked up one of the yellow flower petals and wordlessly placed it in his hand. He squinted down at it before his eyes grew wide in understanding. Fuyuhiko opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a knock on the front door. He told Peko to stay where she was before wandering over to the door and opening it wide enough to see the pink haired girl behind it.
"Oh. Hello, Fuyuhiko. Is Peko here?" Chiaki asked. Fuyuhiko glanced at the bathroom door.
"Yeah, uh, she can't come to the door right now. Did you need something?"
"I was wondering if she had seen Misa lately. She seemed really sick when I saw her last night and she wasn't in class today. I just wanted to see if she was feeling any better."
Fuyuhiko's mind was moving too fast for him to keep up.
"I'll make sure that we go check on her. Thanks."
And then he slammed the door in her face. He hadn't intended to be rude, he was just a bit preoccupied. Peko's face scrunched up as Fuyuhiko took her hands in his and helped to pull her to her feet.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Saving your ass," he replied as he dragged her out of her dorm room, "no way in hell am I going to let my sister get killed by a fuckin' flower."