A Thousand Flowers [Ritsu Kasanoda]

03. Cherry Cheeks

Mori was a helpful giant and she was more than grateful that he was the one who took her to the nurse's office. Momoka was released from the infirmary and Mori helpfully guided her to the lunch room, making her realize most of her first day was almost over. She was happy to see what meals they had to offer, considering she had skipped breakfast that morning due to her nerves, until she realized she didn't have any of her things.

"Oh, Mori-senpai, I can't go in there," she said, stopping by the doors and he raised an eyebrow questioningly at her. "I'm still in my PE uniform! I don't have any of my things."

"I wouldn't be too worried about it," he told her, and although she was confused, she followed him inside the busy cafeteria.

He nodded to a table towards the center of the room and she noticed Sayuri and Eri talking animatedly at the table with a couple of other girls. But what caught her attention more was that her things were on the table next to Sayuri's!

"Wow, Mori-senpai, how did you know?" She asked in amazement and he just gave her that half smile of his. "Thank you for everything."

He studied the younger girl while she bowed to him before she hurried to the table to collect her things. He was vaguely aware of his name being called and when he turned around, he noticed a teary eyed boy standing in front of him.

"Takashi, where did you go for so long?"

"I'm sorry, Mitsukuni, I had to take care of something," he said quietly, and Honey nodded.

"It's okay, I had Usa-chan for company. Hey, I have an idea. Let's go take some cake to Usa-chan!" Honey grabbed his hand, eagerly guiding him to the line to go buy some cake.

--

Momoka felt her cheeks flushed as she realized how many people had been looking at her. She didn't blame them; she was standing in her PE uniform while everyone else had on their normal school uniform.

"Momoka! What happened?" Sayuri asked as she handed Momoka her things.

"I fainted. I was okay, though, I just had to nurse a nosebleed for a couple minutes," she explained to the table of girls and Sayuri shook her head.

"I got Hoshi good for hurting you," Sayuri assured her with a proud look on her face before her smile turned a little more sly. "And what happened after?"

Momoka felt her cheeks grow hot. "What do you mean?"

"Don't play coy with us; we saw Mori carry you away," Mayumi said with an equally sly smile and Momoka felt her cheeks turn even more red.

"He was just being kind. Anyway, I'll be back, I need to go change." Momoka quickly dismissed herself, hurrying to the bathroom to change her clothes. The last thing she needed was to draw even more attention to herself.

--

When Momoka walked out of the bathroom, after a couple minutes of frantic clothes swapping, washing her face and combing her hair, she went to go get something to eat. She didn't know what else a first day could consist of.

At their lunch tables, the girls were talking excitedly about what they were going to do after school while Momoka hurriedly ate her lunch. She might've been petite but she was starving!

"Hey Momoka, have you ever been to a host club before?" Eri asked her and she shook her head, swallowing.

"No, but Haruhi was telling me about it this morning. Apparently, Ouran has a reputation for it," Momoka said and the girls giggled.

"Ooh, you and Haruhi are friends too? He's so cute. We should all go to the host club after school," Eri suggested and the girls all eagerly agreed.