Shades of Petals

Left Alone With Just My Thoughts

They weren't going away.

The petals had been persistent in appearing and had even multiplied in occurrences and quantity. It was worrying but she tried to tell herself it was just stupid flower petals. Maybe it was like Pushkin's virus (except not deadly), and needed her to find the owner of the ability to make it stop?

That would be such a pain though, she griped. She didn't know who they were and they probably didn't even know they had an ability. Or even if they did, they might not have known they'd accidentally triggered it at the time Atsushi had come around (whether for the absolute first time or spontaneously just happened to either use it or accidentally use it —either way was horrible luck).

She tried not to let it happen around people and was mostly successful; for some reason it happened more around Francis, but she attributed that to the fact that she was around the man so much that it couldn't be helped. It seemed he was always around her.

Deciding enough was enough, Atsushi finally conceded to going to Yosano and asking for help in figuring it out. Approaching the older female cautiously, she looked around warily and then went to her to ask.

"Yosano-san, could I...could you help me?" she asked hesitantly, hoping no one was noticing.

Yosano raised her eyebrows. "Of course. What do you need, Atsushi-chan?"

Trying not to give into fidgeting, Atsushi continued on. "I, um, need a checkup," she whispered, not wanting the others to butt in or learn what was happening.

Yosano gave her a knowing look then. "I see. Female issues?" she lowered her voice and Atsushi blushed heavily.

"S-something like that," she gave Yosano a pained smile.

Yosano stood up and ushered her out of the main office to hers, locking the infirmary for added privacy.

"Okay, tell Big Sister all about it," Yosano said, giving her all of her attention.

Atsushi grimaced. "I've been coughing up flower petals for a little over a month now," she complained. "I can't get them to go away and I don't know what to do. It was painful in the beginning, but went away soon enough. Now it hurts worse and the petals come more often —and they're becoming way too many!"

"Flower...petals?" Yosano asked uncertainly, clearly having not expected that.

Atsushi gave her a miserable look. "I think some stupid user might have triggered their ability when I was around on accident, maybe even for their first time. Either way, I'm stuck coughing up petals."

Yosano hmmed, eyebrows furrowed as she looked lost in thought. "I need to take x-rays in any case. See if it'll show where those flower petals are coming from, if they are coming from somewhere inside you or are just appearing out of thin air. And if they're harmful to you."

She began feeling alarmed. Neither of that had crossed her mind. "Harmful? And I hadn't even thought of those things appearing inside of me!" Which was stupid, considering she was coughing those things up and practically vomiting them.

"That's why I need those x-rays," Yosano said grimly. "I...I heard of something like this," she started hesitantly. "But it's just folklore. Legend."

Atsushi was confused and probably looked it. Yosano sighed and came closer to her, smiling gently but tentatively, which put her on guard and wondering what was wrong now.

"Is there someone you like, Atsushi?" she asked, voice too solemn for the topic.

Atsushi looked at her mortified. "What? N-no! There's never been anyone," her face flushed red. Yeah, she's found others attractive or even pretty as a thought, but she's never crushed on anyone. She just never had anyone she was interested in like that.