Verano Kiyoshi

For the first time, she heard me say her name,
"Ro-Rossi...-san?"

She was tickled pink, but that didn't stop her from assessing the situation. Despite my dirtied and disgusting appearance, she wrapped my left arm around her shoulders so she could pick me up. Of course, she struggled, but she wasn't alone.

The rest of my weight was picked up on my right side. I turned and, to my shock, saw Mitoma-san wrap my arm around him. They picked my lifeless body up and started walking away from the courtyard.

"Where do we take him?" he asked.

"Do you want to go to the nurse?" Rossi-san asked me.

Struggling to part my lips, I muttered, "N-No... Th-The...garden."
My feet dragged against the grass as I looked around and locked eyes with some students.

The two carrying me paid no attention to the meaningless insults hurled my way as we left. The crowd began to dissipate, though their enjoyment levels were far exceeded. They'd stop their recordings and upload them to all kinds of social media platforms. At the garden, the two sat me down by the hedge.

"Oi!" shouted another person coming from the second entrance to the garden. "Yuri-chan! Atsui!"

I was sitting down between the butterfly weed shrubs, and looked up to see the person Rossi-san called "Hanamaru-chan." Rossi-san got up to meet her halfway and catch her up on the situation.

Rossi-san looked at me with doe eyes and asked, "Poet-kun, who did this to you?"

"'Poet-kun'?" repeated Mitoma-san, confused.

*Kiyoshi, don't tell them,* Swani told me. *You're not capable of handling this on your own. You'll listen to me now, right? Tell them it was no one, and that you deserved it. Then you can leave them again and start––*

Mitoma-san stopped my train of thought by saying, "Was it Ijime-kun and Konuke-kun again?"

Those two names brought many flashes through my mind. The weight of pain and exhaustion they carried were part of the burdens I sunk myself with in the river. When I replayed what he said, I became disoriented.

Wait... "Again"? How does he... I looked up at him with perplexed eyes.

Rossi-san said, "Poet-kun, Mitoma-kun's trying to help you. Are the boys he named the ones who did it?"

When I saw into her red rubies once more, hearing her familiar voice of stress, I figured that look of anxiety and worrisomeness must've been how she appeared all the time when she told me her problems. It was that face, accompanied by her natural aura, that knocked down the protective walls Swani spent a year building. She was stronger than his warnings...again.

*Kiyoshi... You're not thinking of––*

Swani, all this time, I've been unable to think of the burdens I've caused by tryin' to not cause them. She's made me see that I was lyin' to pretend everythin' was okay.

It was that moment where I registered how hung up on my past failures I was, and that prevented any growth. My fear of creating burdensomeness for people caused the biggest one of all to take over my life, and I would've never known it was like that, if it wasn't for her.

I was blind, both physical and in mind, and she, for both, wiped away the drips from my eyes to make me see again. I created a voice as a reminder of the past, thinking I needed it in my present. But, the truth was that I didn't need it, and had to move beyond to not be haunted any longer.

*Kiyo--!*

"Y-Yes," I responded to Mitoma-san, "those two were the ones that did it. How...did you know that?"

"In middle school, I was in the restroom when I heard the five of you guys argue'n about whose fault the whole thing was. Before that, I saw them dump the water on you."

"You didn't help him?" questioned Rossi-san.

"If you saw how he was back then, he'd want you to help by not help'n. He didn't seem like he ever wanted it, so I didn't. I'm sorry, I probably should've."

"N-No, it's my fault to begin with."
Fair... I thought. I guess I didn't understand how I affected those who didn't necessarily know me, but were aware of my presence, either.

Rossi-san stood up.
"Very well then, if we know who they are, then we'll need to make sure they take responsibility for it. Mitoma-kun, Hanamaru-chan, this is what I want you two to do."

That's the class representative alright. I should really say they don't have to put all this effort into helpin' me, and that I should take care of this problem myself, but they'd probably tell me somethin' like, "We're helping you by choice," so why should I neglect their efforts?

The two took off like a 100m dash to find the boys. Rossi-san returned to my side, and started rummaging her schoolbag for something. She pulled out a rose-knitted handkerchief and started cleaning my face – much to my protest.

"Are you my mom? Next thing I know, you'll tell me to take off my blazer because I'll catch a cold–– Hey, what are you doin'?"

Without requesting my assent, she pulled off my blazer. She folded it, and discovered that there was an object in one of the pockets. Pulling it out, she recognized her calendar.

"I-I'm sorry...that it got wet. I should've returned it to you yesterday, but I forgot."

"Hmm, did you also forget to take this bookmark out as well?"

My eyes widened.
Shoot, I did!
I reached over to snatch it away while the calendar was still closed, but her reflexes were much faster than mine were, especially since my body was still recovering.

She stood up and jogged away, all while giggling like a child. I repositioned myself to a straight posture, cracking my back a few times during the process. She crouched on her tiptoes, balancing her weight on her heels.

"Ooh! This is a good flower!" she exclaimed.
She had opened the calendar to the bookmarked page.
"'Secret love between two people'? Why did you mark this flower?"

I glanced at her and saw a smug smile. She knew what she was doing, and it was working. Averting from her eyes to stare at the grass, I rubbed the nape of my neck and slumped my shoulders.

Softly spoken, with tickled cheeks, I responded,
"W-Well it's not so much the meanin'...b-but the color of the flower... When I-I first saw it, I was reminded of...your hair. A-And, well, I thought 'What if your eyes were the same?' too."

"Eeh?!?!?!"
I couldn't tell if she was as embarrassed as I was, or if she felt happy. She didn't seem disgusted by my reasoning, which was the growing fear I had while explaining. That was all that mattered, I guess.

She dropped the calendar and used her hands as supports to lean towards my face, practically nose-to-nose.
"Is this your favorite flower then?!"
Like a cat greeting you in the morning, I felt like I heard a dulcet purr.

I instinctively backed away, due to the horrid smell coming from my clothes. I hit the back of my head against the hedge, and she giggled at my fumbled reaction.
Can I really tell her it's my favorite flower because it reminds me of her? Isn't that, like, creepy? M-Maybe I'll tell her another time...

After an awkward pause, the silence was broken with a ring from Rossi-san's phone.

"Hanamaru-chan?... You found them?!"
Her tone was relieved. A cheerful smile grew on her face.
"Wait, what do you mean you dragged them to the principal's office?... Oh, okay. We'll meet you there!"

"This should be a fun conversation."

Rossi-san helped me to my feet.
"Are you feeling better? Can you walk? Sh-Should I get Mitoma-kun to come back and help?"
Her flustered, panicked expressions only tranquilized my injuries.

No matter how worried she was, her aura of calmness always had an effect on me. I petted her head and told her I'd be fine to walk on my own. Nevertheless, she insisted that she carried my arm around her shoulders.

We entered the hallway from the east entrance and she said,
"So, you know my name, and now appearance. Would you say we made a connection? Or not, because I don't know your name?"

I hesitated to answer, by nature. I expected a mental intervention, but I heard nothing from Swani. I quickly realized that he was just my insecurities and proof that I failed to move on from the past.

With Yuri here, what's the point of him?
"That whole thing is just a stupid analogy on my part. I found that out when I noticed a connection between us long before I knew your appearance."

"So, when will I get to learn your name? Should I ask Mitoma-kun?"

I looked into her eyes that reminded me of the flower that I could relate her to: Red Gardenia.
"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Verano Kiyoshi."

She chuckled. What did she find funny?
"Verano-kun, hmm? Your family name is very fitting with those emerald gemstones you keep hidden under that sheet of warming beach sand."

What? Is she referrin' to my eyes and hair? I-I guess they could be classified like that, though I'd never think of an analogy like that to describe green and yellow.

She continued, "No wonder why you could say my name so flawlessly, despite it being foreign. Are you impressed I could say your name flawlessly?"
She lifted her chin in confidence, looking for praise.
"You know, you're kind of like them."

"Like what?" I asked.

We stopped and turned around to view the flower garden. I felt the both of us staring at the butterfly weeds; flowers that blossomed in the summer. I was like them, in more ways than one.

Verano, the Spanish word for summer.