Silver Rose

Chapter XXIII - May Flower

"I still can't believe you went through all that," Ingrid said as she and Lilly walked through Vale to do some shopping for new summer dresses.

"I can hardly believe any of it myself," Lilly said. "If it wasn't for Mizuki and her little girl, I would have thought it was all just a daydream."

"That and the fact that you were covered in blood and dirt."

"Yeah. None of that was my own, by the way."

"I figured as much. Hey, do you think Yuan would like this?"

Lilly stopped to look at the tie Ingrid was holding. "It's light green. His color. Yeah, I think he'd look good in it." She paused. "Do you think he'd look good with it on?"

Ingrid looked at her partner, who was grinning. She rolled her eyes. "Ugh. You're terrible."

"And you're hopeless! Hopelessly in—"

"Don't you dare say it, Lilly."

"—In love!"

"You traitor!"

Lilly giggled before hugging her partner.

"Ugh. You suck."

"You should totally get it for him! It'll go good with our uniforms, too, so he doesn't to wear that same red tie with his uniform every day."

"You think it'll get him in trouble if he wears the wrong colors, though?"

"Psh. Leon doesn't even wear the tie and no one ever says anything about it."

"I think the teachers all just gave up. They probably told him like a hundred times at the beginning of the school year and when he never complied, they just abandoned the issue."

She giggled. "So buy it already!"

"Okay, okay! Gosh, when did you get all pushy?"

* * * * *

"You should totally get that, dude," Leon said to Yuan, who was browsing for a pair of lapis lazuli earrings. "It'll go with the necklace you got her a while back."

Yuan didn't answer, admiring the intricate patterns in the stones. Some might call the patterns random, but random patterns made the rock unique.

"Oh, wait, you're not getting this for her birthday, are you?"

"I am, actually," Yuan said.

"Oh, shit, son. You remembered her birthday, huh?"

"It's the same as yours and Athena's, only the numbers are switched around."

"Yeah, that's how I remember her birthday, too, hah!"

"Are you really okay with this?"

"We talked about this already. It didn't work out between us. We figured out at Winter Formal that we loved each other as a family, not romantically. I mean, don't get me wrong, she's beautiful, but like I said, she's more family to me than anything."

"I don't know what to do, though. For her birthday, I mean."

"She really likes sushi, you know. I mean, you would know since you make it for her every fucking day, but she doesn't get tired of it."

"That's not what I mean. I don't wanna just take her out to dinner or something. I wanna go...do something with her."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your pony!"

"N-No! Not, not that!"

"Okay, good, cuz I was about to get all ghetto on yo ass just now."