Yuri Rossi

The first time I heard her name was during the school's entrance ceremony. Those typical spring feelings about love and discovery were flowing through the air, but I welcomed none of it. I couldn't afford to.

"And for the last segment today, I'd like to introduce you to the first-year class representative: Rossi Yuri-san!" said the principal.
His voice could barely reach my ears.

A great applause echoed. I wish I could've seen her as she walked to the stage, but I wasn't even present. Instead, I was outside in a narrow passage between the two gym buildings, and on the ground.

"Pick him up," commanded a voice I wish I wasn't familiar with.

Two hands of another student grabbed the collar of my already battered uniform. He slammed me against the gym wall and I slid back down. I found it hard to believe that years ago, I considered these two my friends.

The class representative began talking, but I couldn't hear anything on that side of the wall. I winced repeatedly as my body pulsated in pain. My heavy breathing clouded my hearing.

My head hung to the right towards the commanding student. He was covered by my scruffy, blond curtain of hair – maybe for the better. Without having to look, I could tell he was forming a scornful smile.

"Thought you could ruin everything and run off to another school to start over?"
His anger penetrated the clouds.

No... I thought. I don't want to start over. I-I never want to start again.
I formed a fist with my red, fingerless glove right hand, though I wouldn't use it on them.

A voice in my thoughts said, *This is our punishment. This is why we can't be friends with people anymore.*

"How 'bout we start over, eh? We can be good friends again."

"I hate to break it to ya," said the student who gripped my collar, "but I don't think making friends is really this guy's forte. Ruining friendships is more accurate."

"You're right! We better tell everyone else to save them from being burdened by this runt."

They wanted a response from me. They probably wished to see me cry, or beg, or show that I was weak compared to them, but I didn't give them any reaction. I didn't feel inferior to them, just didn't care enough to deal with them.

They seemed to notice how I wouldn't budge, and walked off without saying another word towards me; his friend followed suit. A frostbite aura must've surrounded them, because once they left me alone, I felt the warmth of spring through my clothes tending my wounds.

In all honesty, as long as it didn't hurt, I wouldn't mind the rumors they'd start in order to get people to not approach me. I'd appreciate that. I wanted to get through high school with zero friends, because having friends only led to burdens being placed on our shoulders.

The ceremony was probably at its end.

Looking to my left, I saw a narrow wall of green, but the sunlight that illuminated it was too strong for my eyes to handle at the moment. I eased my breathing as I returned my vision to the concrete wall before me. I sat in silence, even my mind wasn't talking to me anymore. That was when the class representative's voice pierced through the wall for the first time.

"The biggest trees can grow from the smallest seeds," she said. "Even if that seed is buried beneath the concrete, it will break through with sheer determination. On the tree, that will grow so elegantly in an unnatural manner, the most beautiful buds will blossom."

The voice in my head reappeared.
*Life doesn't always work like that, does it? Sometimes it's better to never sprout past the concrete, or else you'll bloom in a world of pain. You think so too.*

Those two voices flowed through my mind, but only one stayed. I forced myself to remember why I didn't want to sprout anymore.

The ceremony ended. I didn't go to the nurse. We were dismissed into homeroom, and after that was our first three class periods before lunch.

I was seated last because of my family name. This meant I had a great view of all my classmates, except I stared at my desk desperately trying to avoid all contact. My ears picked up the muttering voices of classmates in front and next to me. They talked about the class representative.

"Rossi-san? I went to middle school with her. She placed first for like, ninety percent of all exams. She was so humble about it too."

"She also helped students study for exams even if it meant she had less time for herself. I couldn't have passed the entrance exams if not for her."

"She's crazy rich. Why she even tries so hard in school when she can just take over the family business is beyond me. She's a prodigy without flaw."

I didn't know if they're complimenting or complaining, but either way, I didn't think too much of it. She sounded like the exact opposite of me, in more ways than one. Though, it seemed like a pain to have all these people talk about you all the time, but maybe she was okay with it. Nothing special happened in those classes.

When it was time for lunch, I assumed people would be going around making friends. So I simply took a nap at my desk, because no one would approach the kid who's sleeping. It worked. Of course, I wouldn't be doing this every time, so I figured I'd need to find a place of solitude to spend my free time.

The remaining three class periods after lunch ended just as mundanely – perfect.

School was over and I wanted to look around for my solitary sanctuary. It didn't have to be extravagant, I just needed somewhere I could avoid all my noisy classmates during lunch. I planned to come to school just as homeroom began, and leave after my final class ended. I didn't want to spend more time here than I needed to.

This school had many sports fields that were used by students in clubs for practice, so those were off the list. The bleachers that overlooked the fields had other students spectating the clubs, so I strayed away from them too. I made it towards the gym buildings, and returned to the narrow passage from this morning.

I came back because I saw something that piqued my interest before. Between the gray structures was a natural green wall still shining from the sunlight. On the east corner, isolated from the rest of the school, was my solitary sanctuary.

Look at that, I thought in awe.

Before me was a small flower garden. A thin hedge in the shape of a semicircle acted as the perimeter wall. It was evidently well kept seeing how lusciously green the freshly cut leaves were. The top of it appeared to be up to my chin, and I was the average height for a boy my age.

I approached the garden. The smell of different types of nature hit me at once. It wasn't anything bad, and more like I entered a reality that was peaceful. The soft grass cushioned my feet with every step; I'd like to walk through without my shoes.

There was an opening in the semicircle that allowed me inside. I saw four sakura trees budding their cherry blossoms in the center; they were surrounded by flower shrubs.

The hedge's outline had this continuous checkered pattern of grass and dirt. Flower shrubs were also planted in the dirt - some bloomed, some not. I didn't know any species besides the basic sunflowers and roses; neither of which I could see.

Looking around again, I noticed an object on the grass that wasn't natural, it appeared to be a book of some kind.

I approached the book while scanning my surroundings again in case anyone else was here; there wasn't. As I got closer, my body ached due to this morning, so I took the opportunity to sit down beside the book. With my back to the hedge and schoolbag to my side, I picked up the book and inspected the front cover.

The cover was primarily some kind of white flower, and the title had bold letters: Flower of the Day Calendar. It didn't seem like the typical calendar a person would on the wall. It was a small paperback that could fit inside my front trouser pocket.

Could this be a library book? I thought.

Curiosity easily took over my thinking. I decided to open the calendar and skim through the pages. As the title suggested, there was a page for every day of the year. On each page, there was an image of a flower along with a description of what it symbolized. I flipped to the last day of the year – which wasn't the last page of the book – where I saw a receipt tucked between the pages.

Oh? Could this be a calendar purchased from a bookstore? I suspected.
Then I made the mistake of reading the contents of the receipt.

Southern Higashiyama Pharmacy
Xanapril: 1x qty
Benadryl: 2x qty

I thought, Prescribed drugs?
My eyes returned to the page next to the last day of the year. It was no longer pictures of flowers and meanings, but lines for writing; there was handwriting already on it.

The voice in my head told me, *We shouldn't read it.*

I listened. This was obviously personal to someone, and I didn't want to know why they had this calendar or the receipt inside. I placed the receipt back into the page and closed it, but another mistake was made. Subconsciously, as I was closing the calendar, my eyes got a glimpse of a several words:

My secret[...]anxiety and stress[...]Burdens

*What should we do? This is someone's book and they might come looking for it.*

I responded in my thoughts, It's okay. I'll just return this to the 'Lost & Found' in the school library and act like nothin' happened. Since we knowin' about this person, this info doesn't matter to us.

That was the plan, but it never got put to motion, because as I was ready to get up, my right ear twitched.

"You found my book!" exclaimed a feminine voice behind me.

My heart nearly bursted out onto the calendar as the words of another person struck my eardrums like taiko drumsticks. I sharply turned around, nearly straining my neck, and looked up to see the person who spoke. The hedge's leaves rustled.

There was no one there. The feminine voice spoke again.

"Wah! Did I scare you? You scared me!"
She was rather chipper about nearly scaring someone to death.

I stared directly at the hedge, because that's where her voice came from.
"H-Hello?" I said with minimal volume. "Y-You own this calendar?"

"Mhm! It says my name on the inside cover," she affirmed. "I thought I lost it in the morning and searched everywhere for it."

I realized I never bothered to check for a name. Perhaps it was a good thing, but I didn't think that at the time. I made my third mistake when I reopened the book to search for the name.

*Don't!* said the voice, but it was already too late.

My eyes found a name. It wasn't written using Japanese characters but instead used the Latin alphabet. Luckily, or not, I already knew some languages that used the alphabet, so I was able to read her name.

Yuri
Rossi

I turned around with widened eyes.
She's the first-year class representative.
This was the girl who gave a speech in front of the whole school, always placed first and helped others study, and appeared to be excited and chipper; a prodigy without flaw. This was the moment I knew, for a reason I probably didn't *want to* understand well, she had prescribed drugs for her anxiety and stress.

"So, Random Student-kun... Who are youuu?" she asked, I assume with a smile on her face.

I was ready to make my fourth mistake: Answer her question.