Full Bloom (Katakuri X OC)

Chapter 15. Praise

"I don't think I've ever seen cherry blossoms until coming here."

Flore held a small blossom in his hand that had flown into the open store him and Katakuri had gone into, gazing down at it curiously. "I've heard of them before, but never knew how pretty they were."

"You really like flowers, don't you?" Katakuri asked next to him.

"Ha," Flore chuckled. "Yeah, alot actually. "Especially the pretty ones like these. Oh! Look at this thing!" He wandered off excitedly.

Katakuri followed after him patiently, not mentioning how off schedule they were about needing to find the shipping area. Flore looked to be having too much fun roaming around, and he didn't want to ruin that.

The mood between them was much lighter today, more friendly and less stuck with each other. While there had been a bit of awkward tension at first that morning, they had quickly gotten past it and were having fun now.

But he could notice something was different.

1 hour prior~~

"Ok this is definitely the last place we'll stop at," Flore walked up to a soba stand with Katakuri next to him, who opened the curtain above their heads for them to sit inside.

It was a somewhat large stand, serving seafood soba that looked particularly delicious on the signs out front advertising it. The two then took the only two open seats left, with Flore ordering quickly to the chef behind the counter.

Him and Katakuri talked while the food was prepared, ushering a few chuckles from Flore before his attention was caught by the person next to him tapping his shoulder.

"Excuse me."

"Hm?" Flore momentarily turned away from Katakuri, who went silent waiting for his talkative friend to return.

The person was a young looking man, around Flore's height with good looks and nice clothes. "I couldn't help but look over at you and notice those eyes of yours."

"Oh, green? Is that not common here?" Flore asked him.

"Here and there," the man grinned at Flore, scooting his seat a smidge closer. "But yours really do sparkle beautifully. And that laugh of yours is pretty cute."

Flore's expression turned from happy to more so hesitant now, seeing where this man was leading the conversation.

"Oh, well thank you," he smiled, but spoke dismissively before turning back to Katakuri. "And then this guy threw a sword at my face-"

"Oh come on~" the man's face was instantly on Flore's shoulder, with his other shoulder being wrapped in his arm. "Don't be so quick to turn me away. I'm thinking we take all this somewhere more private, cutie~."

"I'm sorry- I really am not interested," Flore tried to struggle from the man's grasp on him, but was in too strong of a hold.

"Please-? I'd love to get to know you-"

"I thought I heard him say no?"

Flore and the man looked up. Katakuri was looking directly at the stranger, giving him a dark and damning glare while towering over him. "I didn't hear him stutter."

The man, now terrified, recoiled back into his seat quietly, scooting and facing away from the two.

Flore's order was brought before him, only for Katakuri to stand before he could eat. "We're going."

"But the food-"

Katakuri then threw some coins on the counter as payment, then threw the curtains open for them to leave. "Now."

He left out, with Flore watching curiously, turning to the other customers before back at the tall man leaving out.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

~~

"This paper fan looks so nicely made," Flore said, showing Katakuri the small folded fan in his hands. Decorated onto the paper parts of it were cherry blossom designs to fit the theme of the store, and while Flore didn't need the fan he was still very interested in it.

"What a cool place, don't you think?" He looked up to Katakuri, putting the fan back away on a shelf. "It feels like I haven't relaxed or gone sightseeing in so long."

"You run a resort, right?" Katakuri asked down to him. "That probably keeps you very busy."

"It does," Flore sighed, looking around the store more. "Business only ever gets busier. There's no more seafaring or adventure anymore, just work. It sounds more miserable than it really is though."

"I get what you mean," Katakuri responded, walking outside the store alongside Flore. "It gets consuming."

"Then it's a good thing we understand each other," Flore grinned up at him, giving the man a soft smile. "We both needed some time to get away, even if our intentions aren't for just relaxing- It's still nice, coming here with someone  and living off-script for once."

/

👀

So

Well if you got this far- this was abandoned a good while ago haha... Yeah...

Thank you for reading though! I was pretty into this book at the time, and then tons of life changing events happened and are still happening- and I ended up finding better things to move onto along the way through all of that!

One Piece has been pretty insane lately though. Luffy in Gear 5, now the Egghead Arc coming up too- I was never someone who watched a lot of the series, just more so browsed the wiki of it for hours on end many times over and talked with a close friend about it. She's actually the one who introduced me to Katakuri's existence lol.

I'm not really sure how to end this (except go read Neon Nights on my account, it's the only thing I'm currently proud of here and there that might interest people) but thank you again for making it this far with my work! :) have a good day

- J

[Discontinued]