Omoi no Hanazono

Seventh Flower. Red Tulips

👉Tulipa gesneriana

"What the! They have the world-class medicines only the richest people can buy!? Tachibana-senpai is really rich!" I thought to myself.

Then a woman appeared.

"You are?" She asked.

"Atashi wa Ichida desu. Ichida Hanayuri. Tachibana-senpai no tomodachi desu. [I'm Ichida. Hanayuri Ichida. Tachibana-senpai's friend.]"

"Kochi ni irinasai. [Come in here.]" The woman said.

"Tokoro de, atashi wa Yuzuru no haha da. Atashi no na wa Minori. [By the way, I'm Yuzuru's mother. My name's Minori.]" She added.

"Hajimemashite, Minori-san. [Nice to meet you, Mrs. Minori.]"

"Domo. [Same here.]" She said.

"Ichigo-san, prepare a juice and bread with jam for our guest." Minori told to one of the maids.

Few minutes later, the juice and bread arrived.

"Feel free to feel at home." Minori-san said.

Then I took a glass and poured some juice into the glass.

"Oh and before I forgot, how did you and my son became friends?" Minori-san asked.

"He was the one to give me a yellow rose and a note with his name."

"If I remembered it right, yellow rose means 'friendship.' Am I right?" She asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Then?" She asked.

"I accepted his friendship by giving him back a solid blue carnation."

After a few minutes...

"Oops. Gotta go! I need to do some shoppings! I'll be leaving now." I said.

"Wait, wait! Bring these with you! These are my present for you for taking care of Yu-chan while in school." Minori-san said while she handed the bouquet of sweet pea flowers to me.

"Those flowers are my way of expressing my gratitude." She added.

I accepted the flowers then left.

The next day...

Right before I enter the school gate, a car stopped right at me. Then someone came off the car, and it was ... Tachibana-senpai!?

I saw him holding a bouquet of sweet pea flowers as he approaches me.

Then...

"Here. Flowers for you." He said in a tsundere way.

*Author's POV*

Tsundere is an anime character stereotype in which the character may seem to be cold or harsh outside, but deep inside he/she has feelings for a girl/boy. An example for a tsundere boy is Inuyasha, and the queen of tsundere is Taiga Aisaka of ToraDora.

＊Hanayuri's POV＊

"Oh thanks. But your mom already gave me a bouquet of them." I said.

"I wanted to give you these flowers and to thank you personally."

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is."

"Oh okay."

And so, I accepted the flowers from him.

"Oh, and by the way, you can just call me Yuzuru." He said.

"Ryoukai, Yuzuru-senpai. [Got it, Yuzuru-senpai.]"

"You can drop the honorific." He said.

＊Author's POV＊

Honorifics are syllables or a couple of syllables that is added after the person's name as a sign of respect. Any person you just met, whom you are not close with, or someone who you need to respect are the people that need honorifics in their names.

San and kun are used for people with the same age as you. San is used for girls and kun is for boys.

Niisan is for your older brother or brothers (if you have many) and neesan is for your older sister.

Chan is the child version of '-san'. It is used for babies and for anyone who looks cute to you. In other words, this is an affectionate honorific.

Senpai is for students or people who are years more experienced than you are. If you are a second year student and you want to call someone who is a third year student, you have to use this honorific.

Sensei are for teachers and other professionals.

Sama is used by maids and butlers for their masters. It is also used when referring to God in Japanese, i.e., kamisama.

＊Hanayuri's POV＊

"B-b-but..." I uttered.

"I hate the feeling of being called 'senpai' when in fact, you're older than me. And besides, we're friends already, right?"

"O-okay."

After that, we went to our respective classrooms. But first, I went to my locker to keep this bouquet of flowers. When I opened the locker, I saw a red tulip with a note attached to it. The note says...

"From Ittoki Kojou."

"A red tulip? From Kojou-kun?"

Wait, what!? A red tulip!? If I remember it correctly, a red tulip means...

CONFESSION OF LOVE!

"So, does this mean Kojou-kun is going to confess to me!?" I uttered in shock.

I thought no one heard me but suddenly, Kojou-kun appeared out of nowhere with his right lower arm on the wall.

"Yes, I am. Is there any problem with that?" He said.

"Na-na-na-na-nandemonai! [N-n-n-n-nothing!]" I answered back.

"B-b-but..." I added.

"But?" He asked.

"What about our friendship?"

"At first, I thought I'm fine with just us being friends. But as time pass by, my feelings for you grew and being friends is not enough anymore." He answered.

For a few minutes, silence took over the scene. Then the bell rang.

"K-k-k-kangaesashite kudasai! [L-l-l-let me think!]," I said as if shouting, then I ran into the classroom.

＊Author's POV＊

Hanayuri's case is a rare case of being loved by the one she has a crush with. Even though reality doesn't always agree with the concept of recriprocated feelings when it comes to crushes, just bear with it, okay? Besides, this is just a story; and only in the stories will dreams and fantasies can come true.