Omoi no Hanazono

First Flower. Daffodils

👉 Narcissus poeticus

Konnichiwa. Ichida Hanayuri desu. [Hi. I'm Hanayuri Ichida*.] 15 years of age and your average high school girl. I'm now second year high school at Aoyama National High School. I just transferred to this school for family reasons and so, this will be my new beginning.

*AUTHOR'S POV*

In her original Japanese dialogue, she used the traditional Eastern way of stating names: Surnames first before given names. So the main character's given name is Hanayuri and Ichida is her surname. The same is applied to other characters.

*Back to Hanayuri's POV*

My favorite hobby is collecting flowers and one of my favorite flowers is daffodil, especially the Poet's daffodil [Narcissus poeticus].

I really love its pure white color. So before the first day of school starts, I bought a notebook with a daffodil design and a daffodil-shaped hairclip.

On the day of my arrival to my new classmates...

"Uhmm... Minna e tenkousei wo shokaishimasu. [Everyone, I'll introduce to you a transfer student.]" My new adviser teacher announced.

"Ichida-san, hairo. [Come in, Ms. Ichida.]" My teacher told me.

After entering the classroom, I greeted everyone.

"Ohayou gozaimasu minna-san. Ichida Hanayuri to omoushimasu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu. [Good morning everyone. The name's Hanayuri Ichida. Please treat me well.]" I greeted.

"Ichida-san, you can take that vacant seat at the back." The teacher said to me.

"Wakarimashita. [Got it.]" I answered and headed towards the vacant chair.

When I was about to sit, someone greeted me.

"Yoroshiku. Setsumi desu. Setsumi Yuriko. [Nice to meet you. I'm Setsumi. Yuriko Setsumi.]"

"A-ah. Kochira koso yoroshiku. [A-ah. Nice to meet you too.]"

"Dewa, hoomuruumu wo hajimemashou. [Then, let's start our homeroom class.]" Our homeroom teacher announced.

After few hours, recess time has come. Setsumi-san approached me.

"Ichida-san, can I eat lunch with you?" She asked.

"Of course, why not." I answered.

"Yay! Arigatou! [Thank you!]"

"Douitashimashite. Soshite, Hana de ii yo. [You're welcome. And, you can call me Hana.]"

"Ja, atashi mo, Yuricchan de ii yo. [Well then, you call me Yuricchan too.]"

"Wakatta. [Got it.]" I replied.

"Ja, atashitachi wa tomodachi desu ne? [Then we're friends, right?]" Yuricchan asked.

"Hai! [Yes!]" I replied.

And thus, Yuriko became my first friend in my new school.

After eating our boxed lunches, Yuriko grabbed my hand.

"Kono gakkou wa sono hanazono de yumei dato shitteimashita ka? [Did you know, that this school is famous for its flower garden?]" She said while running and grabbing my hand.

"Eh!? Kono gakuen wa hanazono wo arimasu ka!? [Eh!? This school has a flower garden!?]" I asked in shock.

"Hai. Mireba shiru yo. [Yes. You'll know if you see it.]" She answered.

"Demo, jugyou wa? [But, how about our classes?]"

"Mada 10-bun aru yo. [We still have 10 minutes.]"

Then we headed straight to the flower garden Yuriko was talking about. When we were there, I was amazed to see a lot of daffodils.

"Sugoi! Takusan na secchuuka! [Wow! So many daffodils!]" I said in amazement.

"Deshou? [Isn't it?]"

While viewing all the daffodil flowers, I saw a signage at the middle of the daffodil garden. The signage says: "Tenkousei-tachi no Tame ni."

"Tenkousei-tachi no tame ni? [For transferees?]" I asked.

"Hai. [Yes.] Apparently, according to the headmaster, daffodils are the perfect flowers for transfer students like you."

"Gakuenchou mo hana ga suki desu ka!? [The headmaster also likes flowers!?]"

"Hai. Shinbun Bu ni yoreba, gakuenchou wa katsute hanaya deshita. [Yes. According to the Newspaper Club, the headmaster was once a florist.]"

"So iu koto ka. [I see.]"

"Demo, nande secchuuka? [But, why daffodils?]" Yuriko asked.

"Mmmm. Tashika, hana no kotoba ni, secchuuka no imi wa 'ATARASHII HAJIME' desu. [If I remember correctly, daffodils mean NEW BEGINNING, in the language of the flowers.]" I explained to her.

"Hohou." She said in amazement.

*Author's POV*

What Yuriko said ("Hohou") has no literal meaning or translation. But according to my Japanese dictionary app, it is 'an expression of surprise or admiration to something just heard.'

*Back to Hanayuri's POV*

After a few minutes, the bell began to ring.

"Yabai yo! Tsugi no jugyou wa hajimemasu! [This is bad! The next class starts!]" I said in a panicking voice.

"Hayaku hashire! [Run faster!]" I added.