Urgency

My spring break consisted of activities similar to that of the summer and winter breaks. She finished her drawing of a butterfly weed on a canvas, the hedge from our school acted as the background, and the two shrubs that were always beside us were the main points. Her artistic skill was outstanding to the level where I could believe the painting was a photo instead.

She left room on the bottom for where I would write the new poem. I wanted the poem to surpass the length of a Karuta-style poem, but that left me with more work; worth it.

The first semester of our second-year in high school began in early April. Me and my three friends had the luxury to share the same classroom together, though we sat quite a bit apart from each other. Nevertheless, it was shaping up to be the best semester yet.

We were walking to her house when she sprung an idea on me.
"Hey, Kiyoshi-kun."

"Hmm?"

"How about, for the poem, we add an instrumental behind it?"

I tilted my head.
"What kind of instrumental would work with a poem?"

"You know, like a piano. You know how to play a key or two, correct?"

"Little bit of an understatement, but I'm not goin' to say I'm a pro at it."

"That's okay, we only need a looping instrumental that will match the tone of the poem."

"And what's the tone?"

Yuri-chan pointed above us at the butterfly weed-colored sky. Mixed with a coreopsis of the sun, and a lilac of the night, I had a visualization about what the tone would be.

"Alrighty then, I can write the sheet music for it, but I don't really know where to start."

"That's okay, I actually have an idea for that too!"

We arrived at her house and she told me to wait outside, I patiently stood by a light pole. It took her a while, but she came out with three notebooks in hand. I hadn't seen them before, but she's apparently had them for as long as her calendar.

"What's this?" I asked.
I took the notebooks off her hands.

"The complete lyrics to my flower song! I wrote it down during the break."
She took the top notebook and flipped through the first few pages.

I was taken aback by how much detail there was on each page. She had a flower per page of her 365-flower song. The first few lines consisted of the actual lyrics to the song, with the rest including a drawing of the flower and their meanings.

"You've heard me sing the song before, though not completely, but the tempo remains the same throughout."

"Don't you need these for the creation of the new meanin'?"

"It's okay, I have the calendar. I've been updating it more recently."

Updatin' it? What's there to update on a calendar book?

I tucked away the notebooks in my schoolbag as I bid her farewell. On the walk to my apartment, I began thinking about the immediate future.

I should be focused on the flowers, especially since she wants me to create an entire instrumental now, but I can't stop thinkin' about how her birthday is in two weeks.

I have had plenty of time since I discovered her birthday to think of a present and, with the help of Mitoma-kun too, I narrowed my options down to a few ideas.

The first idea was a trip to the beach. We wouldn't actually go inside the water, but sit on the sand quite far from the sea, at most. My idea was to pick a spot in the country where we could see the sunset, and as it dipped below the water's horizon, I'd confess.

The next was a trip to a flower garden. There were none in Kyoto worth exploring, but I had done research and discovered a garden that was as flawless and appealing as she was. It was in Hamamatsu, but the trip would be worth it.

My final idea was more of a backup plan in case whichever of the first two I decided went wrong. I would buy her a flower necklace.

The first idea sounds good, but the flower park one has to do with what she likes too, and that would be the better option, right? But I want to just confess, not ask her out. Would it be better to confess at the beach, then ask her out at a later time at the park? But what if she rejects me on the trip? The journey back would be awkward!

Before I realized it, I arrived at my apartment.

I'll keep thinkin' about it later. For now, I should at least buy the necklace. No matter which option I go with, the necklace is a good plan B. I wonder if there's a store nearby that sells somethin' like that.

After setting down my schoolbag in my room, I knocked on Muku's door.

"What's up, Kiyo-brother~?"

"Can I borrow your laptop? I need to search for somethin' real quick."

➼ ➼ ➼

I waited until the end of the week to buy the necklace. It was late Saturday morning when I left my apartment to go to a florist shop near Kyoto Station. I didn't have spare money for a train ticket, but luckily I was somewhat nearby.

It took roughly a half hour to reach the station, which meant there was only a few more minutes until I reached the florist.

I crossed the intersection of the main street to reach Kyoto Tower and continued west.
Okay, from what I remember, I keep goin' down this sidewalk for the next three stop lights.

Once I got to the third stop light, I turned right into a less busy road. I soon arrived at a small, pink petal-painted shop nestled between a corporate building and condominium complex. The red sign on the side of the building read, "Hanafuku," in kanji.

"Alrighty then, let's see what they got," I said cheerfully to myself.

According to their website, the place was a small floral shop that sold a wide array of freshly cut flowers, along with merchandise and accessories. I browsed around the compact interior and saw that behind all the flower bouquets were necklaces and piercings. I perused the tags of each item to find the right pick for Yuri-chan.

"Dandelions? No. Orchids? Nah. Would they have it? They should have it somewhere…Ah! There it is!"

I picked up a white lily pendant necklace that appeared to be handmade with polymer clay. The pendant hung on an antique brass chain and had two small pearls on either side of it.

A voice came from behind me. "Hey customer, need any assistance–– Wait, Kirano?"

My skeleton nearly jumped from my body upon hearing the voice. I turned around and all worry faded when I saw a familiar face.
"Mitoma-kun?"

"Huh, whose 'Mitoma'? Did you forget my name already?"

"O-Oh, right. My bad, Akaki-kun.""
I did forget we gave each other nicknames. He combined my given and family name, while I combined the words for yellow and red together.
"Anyways, what're you doin' here?"

He was wearing a pink and white uniform.
"Ain't it obvious? I work here!" he said with an upbeat attitude.
There was a nametag with the name of the florist shop and white flower designs pinned to his uniform.

"Oh, nice. I never knew you had a job?"

"Started dur'n the break. With tournaments come'n up soon, I need t'pay for my own things."

"That's cool. I should start lookin' for an actual job soon. Anyways, I wanted to buy this, can you ring me up?"

"Sure, let's see what we got here…"
He examined the necklace as we walked to the cash register.
"White lily necklace, will that be all?"

"Yeah."

"Get'n this for Rossi, I presume?" I remember our discussions about birthday presents. Is this what you decided on?"
He gave a friendly smile as he passed the item through the scanner.

"For Yuri-chan, yeah. This isn't the overall present, I'm still stuck between two things. I think I'll have a clear winner soon."

"That's good, guess this necklace is the ice'n on the cake? Just remember, for the actual present, make sure you cater to her interests that'll have her think'n about it no matter where she is in the world."

"Always thinkin' it, huh?"

"No need to overthink it too much. I'm sure whatever you do for her, she'll love it."

"You think so?!"
I subconsciously lit up with a sunny smile.

My face was unwavering throughout the entire time I was watching him package the necklace in a box, and placed it into a small bag with a flower design on it.
"Want a receipt for that?"

"Sure, I can save it for a scrapbook or somethin'."

"I didn't know you did that."

"I don't, maybe I will."

He walked me to the entrance of the store where I would part from the shop. He bowed to me and wished me luck.

As I walked back to my apartment, I got an email from Yuri-chan.
Perfect timin', I thought, reading the message.

I'm sorry for intruding, but there's something crucially important I need to tell you. Can we meet up at the park today?

When I read her messages, her voice was in my head. That time, there was a sense of urgency in it. I decided to leave the bag in my room, but I hid the box with the necklace in my pocket. It wasn't her birthday yet, but maybe she'd need it sooner.