PAPER FLOWERS ( k. bakugou )

chapter 24

‘ what friends are for ’

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"Thanks for staying with me, Kai," she says. "I really mean it. The orphanage is pretty far, so I don't see my friends anymore and I'm not excited to see the other kids. They all look pretty mean."

At least you didn't betray and psychologically damage them, she thinks grimly.

It's been exactly six days since Kaede's first visit, and sometimes, she tutors Honoka too since it's already half of the semester and the girl has to undergo some tests before being allowed into elementary. She's probably going to be in fifth or fourth grade from the looks of it.

"We could have visited the orphanage yesterday, you know," Kaede informs her, as she takes another swing in the dainty swing set set up in the yard, one two three, and the swing seat hinges.

Honoka shakes her head. "We made a promise. All three of us. Once we leave the orphanage, we'll never look back 'cause the next time we see each other, we've fulfilled our dreams."

"Doesn't it hurt you?" Kaede asks, still the same impassive voice. "To be apart from them?"

Honoka smiles that grim smile she may or may not have inherited from Kaede. "Does it, Kai?" she asks. "Does it hurt you?"

She gives the younger girl a pointed look, "Your evasive tactics suck."

Honoka pouts again, and the swing stops, prompting Kaede to pinch the girl's cheeks. She's never done it to someone before, and the action feels like the exact opposite of being imbued with smothering expectations of the universe. This, without the pretenses, the masks and other things weighing on her body, feels amazing. It feels like soap bubbles in the air, almost ethereal.

"Well," Honoka says, rubs her cheeks, still smiling and the little bubble of effervescence that would have shamed spring day birds. "It's true, isn't it? You look like someone who has problems with her friends."

"Kids are so tactless, aren't they?" Kaede asks, although she's not hostile, but merely stating a fact. She's always been like this anyway, and when people take it the wrong away, she won't apologize. Why would she adjust for them?

"Not all of them," Honoka answers almost immediately. "But I can assure you Kai, I have no filter!" Her response is so energetic, no less from the girl who announced her dramatic back story with a wide grin.

Honoka is strong, that much Kaede can tell. From the way the girl laughs to her honest view on the world. Despite the difficulties and the harsh downpour of reality on everything she treasures and figures who all feel like chains meant to dampen her mood, Honoka puts a smile through it all, finds a little beauty and manages to make what she could of that and becomes a big ball of positivity for everyone.

She doesn't deny the presence of darkness that thrives all around her, and she may not be as strong as it, but she tries. Even though it's not enough sometimes, Honoka manages, because that's her strength. To make good, to do good.

To be a star amidst the darkness.

Maybe that is what draws Kaede- a girl wrought of darkness to this girl with her light. She became everything that Kaede couldn't be. Everything that she gave up to her weaknesses. In the end, it was Kaede who gave up on herself, denied the hope that she could have found if only she stopped mulling over things that she couldn't have.

"Kai," Honoka calls, noticing that the swinging has been mild now, and Kaede beams another Yuko-esque grin, fails midway, looks down and she tries to swing the girl again, and Honoka cheers as she soars on air.