Hanahaki - fields of hydrangeas

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"Sykkuno we've gotta talk." Rae was chasing up to him on the crosswalk, "You can't just let it happen like this."

"There's nothing I can do about it." Sykkuno sped up.

"You know exactly how simple it is to stop this."

He stopped and turned around, which made Rae bounce straight into his chest.

"Watch out... I know how, but it is complicated. Girls, and boys, aren't into me that way."

"How the hell do you know before you even tell them?!"

"Because that person told me that they only want to be friends!" Sykkuno raised his voice out of the odds. 

...

Rae's water bottle slipped out of her hands and fell onto the concrete road, making a raspy sound of collision. She stood there, appalled, as Sykkuno walked away with his head down. She didn't follow.

The cap bounced off into a corner and water splashed onto her bare legs. The iciness soon started to penetrate into the muscles and bones, until when they started to tingle.
The metallic sound still echoed, bouncing from building to building until a loud honk interrupted.
The water still continued to pour until the bottle was drained, then ran into her shoes until she lost her feelings on her toes. 

She wondered who had ever stated it to his face before.

Cause she hoped that whatever the person said was only a mistake. Or misunderstanding. Or his misconception. 

*

Sykkuno felt a sudden relief after posting the tweet

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Sykkuno felt a sudden relief after posting the tweet. Maybe it wasn't Hinahaki at all, just some weird illusions out of fatigue. That's what he hoped.

Thousands of DMs rushed into his inbox, he ignored them and clicked on Rae's profile picture.

Sykkuno

Rae?Sorry for what happened in the morning
10:40 AM

Unread. Understandable, as she was already streaming by then. 

But then why is a faint sense of choking becoming more and more apparent? 

Sykkuno tried to put himself back to sleep by breathing through his mouth. 

*

This time it was a vast field of those hydrangeas. When the breeze occasionally blew, the gentle fragrant flowed into his lungs.

Great. He could finally enjoy breathing without blockage after, well, almost a year now. What a year. 2020.

Cheered by the fact that he had recovered, he almost skipped his way to the nearest branch. Different from his dreams, this one is fully bloomed. It was perfectly grown. He was glad that he didn't have to be dispirited by the falling petals anymore. 

He held the smooth sphere-shaped flower between his palms, tenderly, without breaking the stem. It was as if a small fetus, except all it brought was peace and calmness. The warmth the sunlight carried to his skin, the coolness of the surface of the petals, that was all he needed. For the first time in a decade, he smiled without his covering his face.

This was intruded by a rumble from the distance. In a blink of the eye, the muffled flow of the field become covered by a gloomy, greyish shade. 

The wind roared like a howl of a wolf, blowing the flowers to the side. Petals started to soar in the sky like wasps. The plumpy spheres gradually bleached into pale shades of bare branches, dangling helplessly from their stems. More and more petals were swept away, firstly from the distance and now coming to his direction. 

He bent and clung to a few neighbouring branches. The dull gale was blowing into his face and made his eyes sting, but despite his effort, the petals were one-by-one twisted and torn away from him.

Until there was only one flower standing in the midst of the bleakness. The one he initially held on to.

He used his whole body to protect the one, begging, desperate. 

He failed.

*

He was suffocated by the petals when he woke up. 

His bed was already stained with blood. But he couldn't force the petals through. 

Oxygen. He needed the oxygen. 

The burst of laughter from the other side of the house was so close, yet he couldn't get any sound out of his throat. 

Oxygen.

He extended his arm for the phone. Shivering.

Oxygen.

Address Book. Recently called. 

Toast. Valkyrae.

His index finger hovered over the two names.

Oxygen.

He clicked on Toast.

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