The Flower Shiro Found Under the Moonlight

Shiro and Hana's Meeting

You did everything you can do, but in the end, you still failed. Nothing you can do about it, it's inevitable. Just like the leaves that were once on a tree, they'll eventually fall.

A year ago, I confessed to a girl I really liked. I was of course, rejected. Now, it's happening again.

"I think I love you."

"Thank you, but, you know, you deserve a better girl."

Then runs off.

Of course I know she's just being polite and tried to minimize the damage of her rejection. I let out a sigh and sat down on my chair. It's 5pm and the classroom is empty. Everyone already went home.

The door opens and a girl entered the room. I guess there's still people in the school, huh.

"You okay there? That's a harsh rejection you just had."

She walked towards me and looked at my eyes.

"Oh, you're fine. You're not even tearing up."

"I've had much worse."

"Oh? Acting tough, are we?"

"Shut up, Kitagawa Hana."

She laughs, went to get her bag and walks towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Akihito Shiro."

She then left the room.

To be honest, I'm quite surprised she did that. I didn't even pay attention to her during classes, she's just your normal school girl. In fact, she's so quiet you'll probably miss her if the teacher doesn't call her name for attendance.

But at that moment, I noticed everything about her. Her hazelnut eyes, her smooth jet black hair, her small red lips, her figure, not fat but not thin as well, perfectly in the middle, the way she tilted her head when she was close to me just to check if I was crying, everything.

I put my face down on my desk.

"Ugh, am I actually falling again? This is just stupid, I just got rejected and then there's that feeling again." I thought to myself.

After complaining about it for a little longer, I gave up.

"I don't even care anymore, I'll just go with the flow."

I'm not really a good looking guy, I'm just an average student. Standing around 5' 6", black hair long enough for a short ponytail, I'm thin and I have bad posture. I'm not really handsome, not at all, and most of all, I'm a shut in. If I'm not in school, I'm at my room playing video games. I rarely go out.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened on my way home, the shopping district is lively, the park is filled with high school couples who are at their after school dates. That's fine, they're enjoying their youths. While me on the other hand, just got rejected.

Well, enough about feeling sad and gloomy because of that inevitable rejection.

I open the small gate to my house and walked towards the door. I can already smell the food that's being cooked by my Mom.

"I guess I'll eat with the family today." I said to myself as I open the door.

The smell of the food grew stronger, it's fish. I removed my shoes and stepped inside the house. Our house is not really that big. Two floors, 4 bedrooms upstairs, living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs, and we also have 2 restrooms one downstairs and one upstairs and the floors are varnished wood.

I'm greeted by a short woman, she's as tall as my shoulder, and black hair stretching up to her waist. She's my Mom.

"Welcome back, Shiro. How's school?"

"Come on, Mom. I'm already High School and it's still the same old 'How's school?'"

She just laughed it off and went back to cooking. I went to my room, put my bag down, changed to my home attire, and went back to the living room. My Dad is already in the dining table when I got down so I joined him.

"Oh? You're eating with us today?" He asked while eagerly waiting for the food my Mother is cooking.

"Yeah."

I can't blame them being surprised. I basically ask them to deliver my meals in front of my door. So of course they'd be surprised when I suddenly tell them I'm eating with them. Mom put the food in the table and we started to dig in.

"Shiro, did something happen?" Mom looked at me with worry in her eyes.

She's my Mom, she'd know if there's something up with me. It's pointless to lie.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I'm fine. Just a little down."

"Whatever it is, don't be shy to talk to us."

"I will. Oh by the way, where's Riko?"

Riko is my older sister who's rarely at home, she has shoulder length brown dyed hair, brown eyes, a little bit taller than my mom and a fit body. She's always bragging about exercise and her diet but she gets mad if she gains weight and gets called fat. She'll basically crush your skull when you tell her she's fat.

"Oh, she's at her friend's house." Mom replied.

After of what seemed like an hour of eating and talking about things that showed up in the television, we heard a knock at the door.

"I'll go."

Dad went to see who's at the door.

"Uhh, Shiro. There's a girl waiting for you outside."

"Huh?"

Surprised at what he just said, I rushed towards the door and found Hana standing there wearing long sleeved shirt and denim pants, talk about out of style.

"Hello~" She waves at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her, surprised.

"Wow, is that what you'd say to a girl visiting you around this time?"

I looked at Dad and did a quick 'I'll be back' gesture then grabbed Hana's hand.

"Hmm? You're pretty straightforward, huh."

"Shut up."

"Where are we going?"

I said no more and lead her to a nearby park.

"We can talk here."

I let go of her hand.

"So, what are you really doing here?" I asked once more, trying to get answers. It's impossible to go here just to meet me. She must have another motive.

"You know, you should stop thinking like that." She looked at my eyes.

"Thinking like what?" I averted my eyes from hers.

"Thinking like everyone must have a motive far deeper than what they really meant." She walks closer to me.

I sat down a nearby bench.

"So, you're telling me you just wanted to see me and nothing more?"

"That's what I've been telling you from the start."

She sits beside me.

"But why?"

She stays quiet. As if the strong wind blew away my question. She looked at me and smiled, a smile that you'd never see in a million years. The moon only came second to her bright expression, and it soothed my heart, even just for a bit.

"It's getting late. I need to go now." She stood up and faced towards the road.

"It's dark, let me at least accompany you until you get to the main street." Of course I'll be concerned about her, she's a girl and it's already dark. Something might happen to her.

"Sure!" She smiled and grabbed my hand.