EVERLASTING BLOSSOMS, ni-ki ✓

06. Lilac

When I said see you soon to Riki, I didn't think he'd come to me at school two days later. My friends are never going to let me live this down.

I'm bent over some homework I forgot to finish yesterday when I feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up and my eyes widen when I see Nishimura Riki, in his school uniform—and his hair back to black color.

"Riki?" I ask, putting my pen down. My friends freeze and whisper to each other, but I ignore them. "What happened to your hair again?"

"My parents didn't mind, but the teachers gave me a whole lecture on how bleached hair is not allowed on school grounds," he grumbles. "So I had to dye it back to black."

"Somehow, I think you should have thought of that," I say, grinning. "So, what do you want? More flowers?"

"Not quite," he says. "Ri..." he stops when he sees my friends staring, "...her parents do. They heard about you and want to buy flowers from your place for her. I told them yeah, I'd take them, but just thought I'd give you a heads-up."

"Well, thank you, I suppose," I say, my heartbeat already quickening. "How'd they hear about me, though?"

"I told them," he admits. "You know, about how you help me find the flowers and are really nice about it. It's easier to tell them stuff like that these days, since, um, they don't really mind if I love her anymore."

"They didn't like it before?" I ask, aware that my ears are red. My best friend, Harumi, notices this straightaway and bursts into giggles, which both Riki and I ignore.

"More like they didn't know what to do," he says. "Anyway, we'll be there around the time your shift ends."

"Yeah, sure," I say. "See you then. Thanks for the heads-up."

"No problem," he flashes me that smile, the one I have come to like so much, and then he disappears into the crowd of his friends. My own are on me in an instant, demanding to know who Riki is, and if I like him.

I answer them absently, knowing they won't judge me. I don't tell them about Rinne—that's not my business, nor is it my place to tell. I do tell them that he's looking for flowers to give to the girl he loves. Admittedly, the story sounds a little sketchy, but to my relief, they take it and don't question it.

"He's really cute, you know," Harumi wiggles her eyebrows.

"Congratulations, genius, you're the last person to realize," I roll my eyes at her. She sticks her tongue out at me immaturely.

"You do like him," Sayaka notes. "And you're not denying it. At all."

"I'm not, because you all can see right through me," I shrug. "But seriously, guys, you can't expect me to try to get him. He's really, crazy in love. He will be for a long time, and chances are this crush of mine won't last for long."

They don't argue with that. We're all mature enough to know that it's the truth, plain and simple. Crushes are merely infatuations, and infatuations don't usually last longer than a couple of months, maybe a year or two. Chances are very high that I'll get over Riki soon enough.

But a voice inside me is nagging: if you spend so much time with him, in the flower shop, then who's to say your crush won't evolve into something more?

***

"Hello," I say brightly, standing up as the door opens and Riki walks in. "The parents are with you?"

"Yep," he says. "Um, don't be surprised if they, uh, start crying or something."

"It's alright," I reassure him. "I may not be the greatest at comforting but grieving parents aren't new to me around here."