Violet Roses | Saiki K

Chapter 11

Akemi let out a long yawn as she stretched her arms, just having woken up. It was the weekend and Akemi was really to finally start setting up her garden.

Over the past week, Akemi had gone to the flower shops every day to get something. She had even gone there twice one day so she could make two trips. Ren had seemed to be starting to like Akemi and he was one of the only people she's met in this town that she actually wanted to be friends with.

Akemi got out of bed and changed before heading out to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Akemi," Taiyo greeted, a cup of coffee in his hand. He was standing near the kitchen counter and seemed to be extremely tense. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence though. Akemi's father was always weird in the mornings.

"Good morning," Akemi replied with a yawn.

"So..." Taiyo started hesitantly, "Are... Are you going to work on your garden this weekend? I noticed all the flowers and stuff piling up outside."

Akemi nodded, slightly surprised Taiyo had asked, "Yeah. There's one more thing I wanna get and then I'm gonna start."

"Right..."

A tense silence hung over them and Akemi shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like how her father was acting. She knew he must've taken what Akemi had said a while ago about him being distant, but this short conversation hadn't really helped.

"Ok," Akemi said suddenly, causing Taiyo to flinch, "I'm gonna head out. I'll be back in a bit."

"But it's only 9:30..." Taiyo muttered as Akemi disappeared into her room and grabbed her bag. Then she went to the front door and slipped her shoes on before leaving.

When Akemi arrived at the flower shop, she walked in and was greeted by a tired-looking Ren.

"Welcome and good morning," Ren greeted with a yawn. He was leaning on the counter and hadn't even looked in her direction. Then he did and perked up a bit, "Oh, hey Kumiko."

"Good morning," Akemi said walking further into the shop.

Ren stood up straight and looked slightly embarrassed, "Sorry, I just woke up less than an hour ago."

"It's alright. I did too." Akemi replied, wandering over to one of the store shelves.

"You just woke up and came here?" Ren questioned, earning a nod from Akemi. "Wow."

Akemi glanced around the shop. She had a vague idea of what she was looking for but didn't know for sure. That's when we're eyes landed in a small rose bush. It was big enough for her to have a hard time carrying it but small enough for it to be obvious it was nowhere near being fully grown.

"Hey, do you know how to plant a rose bush?" Akemi questioned, glancing at Ren.

He nodded, "I could probably come over and help. If you want of course. I'm not trying to force you to invite me over or something. Or being weird. I don't know if it comes off as me being weird, but it's not my goal."

"Would you be allowed to?" Akemi asked.

Once again, Ren nodded, "My mom isn't doing anything right now, I can let her know and she'll take over the shop."

"Ok," Akemi said. She crouched down to start to lift the rose bush, but Ren immediately stopped her.

"Woah, hold on," Ren said, rushing around the counter to her. "You don't have to carry it. I will. I have a cart we can put it on."

"A cart?" Akemi questioned, narrowing her eyes at Ren. "Why are you just now getting it out?"

Ren flinched, "Uh, I... Well, I didn't-... I mean I..." Ren shifted and looked away shamefully. "I forgot..."

"You forgot?" Akemi said, not believing him. Ren just nodded and Akemi let out a sigh. "Whatever. How much is this?"

"Oh, uh, I think 3500 yen," Ren said.

"You think?"

"If it's not that it's more. So don't worry about it." Ren said as Akemi got out her money and handed it to him. He walked over to the cash register and put the money away before saying, "I'll be right back "

Then he disappeared into the back, leaving Akemi alone in the shop.

Akemi let out a sigh and glanced at the rose bush. The roses on it went in full bloom, but Akemi could tell it had a soft, coral pink color. She had picked usually picked out the same color for each type of flower, or only two colors for the same flower. Her vague idea took a lot of inspiration from her mother's garden, with all the flowers of the same type and color bunched together. She didn't have a ton of space, but she liked the idea of more flowers being bunched into one area. She thought it would make the garden seem more full.

"Ok, sorry that took so long," Ren said coming in through the front door and pulling Akemi out of her thoughts. Akemi took a step back as he walked over to the rose bush and picked it up. Akemi then followed him out the door and watched as he set the roses in a utility cart. "Were you going to get anything else, or...?"

"No, this is the last thing I need right now," Akemi said.

Ren nodded and grabbed the handle of the cart before walking beside Akemi down the road.

When they made it to Akemi's house, Ren wheeled the cart to the garden before taking the rose bush out of it. "Where do you want me to put this?"

"Just in the middle there," Akemi answered, pointing to the middle of the garden. She had a plan to have the rose bush in the middle of the garden with a path around it. And on the other side of that path is where the other flowers would be.

"Wow, I forgot just how many flowers you bought..." Ren muttered, staring at the flowers lined against the wall.

Akemi shrugged, "I need a lot."

"I guess that's fair."

Akemi walked up to the porch and pulled the basket of gardening supplies she bought a few days ago forward. "Do you need anything?"

"Besides a shovel, no," Ren said, pulling some gardening gloves out of his hoodie pocket.

"Right," Akemi stood on the porch and grabbed the shovel that was leaning against the house. She stepped back down onto the grass and handed it to Ren.

"Thanks," Ren mumbled. Akemi hummed in response before going back to her basket to grab what she needed.

Akemi flinched when the sliding door suddenly opened and saw her father standing in the doorway, "Hey, Akemi, who's this?"

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Ren. Ren Fujiwara. Um, I run the flower shop not far from here." Ren explained nervously.

Taiyo narrowed his eyes at Ren before glancing at Akemi, who said, "He's helping me plant stuff."

"Oh... ok," Taiyo said. He glanced at Ren before looking back at Akemi, "Let me know if you need anything."

"Ok."

Taiyo shut the door and disappeared behind the glass. Akemi let out a sigh and turned back to Ren, "That's my dad."

"Yeah."

"Sorry if that was weird."

"It's fine."

Silence filled the air and Ren shifted nervously. Then Akemi let out a sigh and started to get out the things she needed from her basket.