Violet Roses | Saiki K

Chapter 9

It was the last day of the trip and Akemi found herself sitting next to Yumehara in a small dessert shop. When her and the other girls of her group meet up with Nendo and Kaido, they had walked past this dessert shop. It had caught Akemi's attention and Teruhashi immediately offered to buy her something from the place. Obviously, Akemi wasn't going to object free sweets, so she led the way inside and they were now just waiting on their food and Saiki, who had disappeared off somewhere.

"Oh, Saiki. There you are." Teruhashi said, causing Akemi to look up from her glass of water to where Saiki was standing at the door.

"We've been looking for you, buddy," Nendo added.

Akemi watched as Saiki asked about the coffee-favorited anmitsu only to be told that his classmates had ordered all of the five servings. Since there had only been five servings, Yumehara and Teruhashi agreed to share a bowl. Akemi was just going to get something else, but Teruhashi had insisted that she get one for herself.

Saiki sat down, seeming to be disappointed that he hadn't been able to get the anmitsu himself. Akemi had figured he had a sweet tooth. After their encounter a while ago at the grocery store, it had been sort of obvious.

"Hey, do you want some?" Nendo asked Saiki, before waving for one of the waiters, "Can you get my buddy a bowl?"

Saiki was given a bowl and everyone started putting spoonfuls of their servings into his bowl.

"Kumiko, aren't you going to share?" Teruhashi questioned, sounding slightly annoyed Akemi wasn't giving anything to Saiki.

Akemi just shrugged and took a bite of the dessert in front of her.

"Come on, Kumiko, even Mera gave some," Yumehara argued.

"He already has more than everyone else," Akemi retorted, waving her spoon in Saiki's direction. "Besides, it's really good."

"You're so selfish," Teruhashi huffed, earning an eye roll from Akemi as she took a few more bites.

"It's fine," Saiki said before Teruhashi had the chance to force Akemi to give up some of her dessert. Then everyone watched as Saiki took a bite of the sweet with a smile Akemi had never seen on his face.

Wow, he must really have a thing for sweets if his mood gets ten times better when he has them. Akemi thought, taking a bite of her dessert.

They ended up spending the next hour at the little dessert shop and when they left, Akemi had a smile on her face. The sweets had a similar effect on Saiki, as he also was just now losing his smile.

"It's crazy how both you and Saiki like sweets so much," Yumehara told Akemi as they started to make their way back to where the rest of their class would be waiting for them.

"Who doesn't like sweets?" Akemi questioned like it shouldn't even be a question. "They're delicious and there's a ton of different ones. You'd have to be taste blind to not like at least one type of dessert."

"Coffee jelly is the best," Saiki interjected, falling back a bit so he was walking next to Akemi.

Akemi hummed, "It's good, that's for sure. But personally, it's not my favorite. "

Saiki narrowed his eyes at her, "Then what is your favorite?"

"It's probably the chocolate cake my dad makes," Akemi answered almost immediately. "He makes it all from scratch, even the chocolate bars he uses. It has strawberries on it too. It's really good."

"Maybe we should all come over and try it," Teruhashi suggested, suddenly making herself a part of the conversation.

Akemi's mood suddenly shifted and she frowned, "I don't know... It's... It's been a while since he's baked anything. I... It probably wouldn't be a good idea..."

The cake Akemi was talking about used to be something her dad made with her mom. Baking was something they loved to do together. Taiyo had hardily even touched much more than the microwave since Hanaka's death. Asking him to make that cake might seem like something simple, but things are never simple with Akemi or her father. It would probably take him a lot of mental preparation and strength to not let the memories of Hanaka surface and break him.

"Oh, ok," Teruhashi said, noticing the mood shift. Then she changed the subject, "I can't believe it's our last day here. The past two days went by so fast."

* * *

The rest of the last day of their trip went by without anything strange happening. The flight home was fine and there were no disappearing typhoons or weird turbulence. When Akemi had finally got home, her dad wasn't there. It was strange with the house being quiet. Even though it wasn't her old home, it brought back terrible memories from the immediate months following Hanaka's death.

Akemi unpacked all her stuff before going into the living room. She stood there for a minute before deciding to head out to the backyard. She opened the door and stepped outside, sitting on the small porch. The yard at her house now was smaller than the one at her old house, but still pretty nice. The sliding doors that lead out to it were connected to the living room and it was a nice little area of grass.

Maybe I should start a garden here.

"Oh, Akemi, you're home," Akemi looked up at her dad, who was standing in the doorframe of the sliding doors. "I just got home from work. How was your trip?"

"It was fun," Akemi answered as her dad sat down next to her. He seemed a little hesitant and Akemi could guess why. "Some weird stuff happened, but I still enjoyed it."

"What do you mean by 'weird stuff'?" Taiyo questioned.

Akemi let out a sigh and leaned back on her arms, "Just weird stuff. Like, first, there was a typhoon that was going to cancel our trip, then it disappeared. Then the plane had some weird turbulence. And then... some really strange stuff happened at our hotel on the first night."

Taiyo narrowed his eyes at her, clearly confused, "What happened?"

"Well..." Akemi started hesitantly. "It sounds really crazy. And it should've been impossible, but when I looked out the window, there was the ocean. Then I blinked and the city was there again. And after that..." Akemi shook her head. "I think it all could've just been my eyes playing tricks on me. Or a really weird dream... It doesn't matter, though. It's over now."

"Oh, ok."

An awkward silence stretched between the two for a few minutes before Taiyo spoke up again, "Did you already unpack?" Akemi nodded and Taiyo continued, "What are you doing out here?"

Akemi shifted and pulled her knees into her chest. She thought over what she wanted to say for a minute before letting out a sigh, "I want to start a garden back here."

"What?"

"I think it'll help. With how plain it looks here. And I really want to start one." Akemi explained, not looking at her father. She was really worried about his reaction. He could either be totally for this new garden or against it. Akemi had no idea.

After a few minutes, Taiyo finally spoke, "Ok."

"Really?"

"Why would I be against it?"

"Well, I just..." Akemi hesitated, but continued, "You've been weird since we moved here."

Taiyo gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

"You've been really cheery and stuff," Akemi noticed her father's frown and began to regret saying anything, but continued anyway, "but also really... distant. I don't know... I just... feel like I don't know you."

Silence rang over the two again as Taiyo processed her words. After a few minutes, he stood up and muttered, "You just got back, maybe we should talk about this later."

Akemi opened her mouth to argue with him but stopped. Her father slid the door shut behind him, leaving Akemi alone outside.