12 Roses

27 | Underlined and Circled

You sighed as you walked into the infirmary, where Yuta was sitting on a gurney. "How are you planning on surviving overseas if you're in here all the time?" you questioned as you pulled on your lab coat.

"You just have to teach me how to heal burns — they're not the same, you know!"

"Yes, yes." You held out your hands and he placed his hands in yours, allowing you to assess the damage on his palms. "So what happened?"

"An accident on the latest mission... my sword was set on fire."

"I don't even want to know the story behind that." You moved to the back of the room and wrote a few things down on a form before returning to Yuta. "I'll have to take off that ring," you told him.

He frowned. "You do...?"

"I won't throw it away, I just need to take it off so I can see what I'm doing."

Yuta pressed his lips together, recoiling his hands from your grasp.

You sighed. "Or I'll work around it."

"Thank you..."

You looked up at the curse that seemed to sprout out from his back, glaring at you — or, it would be glaring at you if you had eyes. "I'm not trying to take your man, Rika," you assured.

Yuta had been in the infirmary enough times for you to talk to Rika at least a little casually. At first, she didn't like the idea of you touching him, but seeing you heal him, eventually she stopped trying to attack you or grab you and shake you aggressively.

"You better not," she said challengingly.

You hummed and looked Yuta in the eye. "This ring is pretty important to you, huh?"

"Well... yeah. It's my connection to Rika — the... not curse-related connection to Rika."

"Mm... It's good to be sentimental."

"What makes you say that?"

"Adding meaning to things has attached value to them since the beginning of time. Sometimes it's monetary, but the most value you can add to something is with love. That never changes over time."

Yuta smiled. "I hope I have a wise friend like you in all my lifetimes."

A shrill cry sounded through the infirmary and you chuckled. "Maybe don't say it like that."

•••

The flower shop was quiet, save for the sound of rain pattering against the window and the quiet shuffling of your footsteps as you maneuvered through the stands of flowers and plants.

Maki sat at the counter, hunched over a textbook, cutting severed stems and leaves so you could use it for fertilizer.

You had intended to introduce her to Tsumiki that day until the rain started.

The shop was technically open, the sign overturned so OPEN faced outwards through the glass door, but naturally no one was keen on leaving their home just to get some flowers.

"It's okay though," you had said to Maki. "The plants will like the rain."

You placed another small pile of severed stems in front of Maki and peered at the page of her textbook she had open. "Isn't that for next unit?"