in which minami kotori, a fashion student at otonokizaka university, develops a strange fondness for sonoda umi, the girl who sits in the row in front of hers.
[this book is based on a comic strip of kotoumi that inspired me to transform it into an...
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the alstroemeria: the flower of friendship.
— in which kotori talks to the girl who sits in the row in front of her for the first time.
~
the semester break was just around the corner. kotori taps her pencil absentmindedly against the surface of the long table, half glad that nobody sat along the same stretch as her; the class was almost empty now that most of the students had dropped out of the course. it was their last year in the university, so it was actually kind of expected. it was tough, and kotori herself had contemplated giving up, but honoka (who sat all the way in front as the lecturer wanted to keep an eye on her), her best friend, had yelled her ears off about never giving up on the things she was passionate in.
and kotori knew she was right. so she had stayed, and now that the first half of the semester was ending, it meant a greatly-appreciated two-month break from studying in general, and she was over the roof.
she was looking forward to the party being held at ayase eli's family bar (eli was known to host the best parties, though it was ironic, considering that the part-russian was the school president) on sunday; a chance to blow off some steam in preparation for the holidays the week after.
not that she wanted the alcohol — she had friends from other faculties who would be attending the party too, and it'd be the only opportunity she had to see all of them again. if not for them, she wouldn't have considered going at all.
head in hand, she slowly traces the outline of a pair of sneakers she had been designing with the tip of her pencil, and looks up at the lecturer pacing at the front of the lecture hall, her eagle gaze sweeping the room for students who were not paying attention.
kotori switches her attention to the girl who sat in front of her. the girl's long, lush, dark-blue hair moved with every little tilt of her head as she listens intently to the lesson and takes notes at the same time, a mesmerising sight. kotori was unaware of how long she had been staring, but she notes the deep-blue earring in her left earlobe that complimented her image, and for some reason, it captivated her even more; that angle — her head titled downwards, streams of slightly-wavy dark-blue hair cascading down her back, her sloping broad shoulders, and her exposed left ear with its earring — sparked inspiration in her.
flipping to another page of her notebook, she begins to sketch what she sees. as lines eventually take shape, she knocks her eraser off the edge of the table in her enthusiasm, and she freezes when she realised that the eraser had landed directly next to the blue-haired girl.
kotori wanted to punch herself so hard in the gut, her embarrassment pooling when the girl reaches her hand out to pick up the eraser. before the girl could turn around to see who it belonged to, kotori instantly flips back to the page she was sketching her sneakers on.
