EVERLASTING BLOSSOMS, ni-ki ✓

08. Forget-Me-Not

"Really?" I ask. "That's why the day Miyuki was here—"

"Seiko, you don't understand," he interrupts, and his voice is thin. Fragile. His hand is steady as ever as he continues to paint, but the tips of his fingers are white. "I'm going back to my birthplace. Okayama. It's been coming for a long time."

I freeze, feeling like someone's punched me in the gut. "What?" I manage, eyes wide. "You're leaving Tokyo?"

"Rinne's family and mine—we're all from Okayama," he tells me. "We planned to move back there at the end of the school year, but since Rinne's parents don't see a point in staying here until then..." he draws in a deep, shaky breath. "I don't understand why we have to go with them, but we are. I guess my parents want us to be there as, I don't know, emotional support to them. The point is, we're leaving tomorrow."

"Am I...am I ever going to see you again?" I ask quietly, feeling tears form. "Are you ever going to come back to Tokyo?"

"For university, I am," he answers, choosing a new color for the asters, a bright, more vivid red than the pictures. "Which is in a couple of years. But as for seeing you...I just don't know, Seiko. I'm not going to forget you, never, not when you've been such a good friend to me. I'll make sure to stop by here anytime I come here."

I wipe the tears from my eyes. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I don't know. At first it wouldn't have mattered to you, but then I guess it slipped my mind," he exhales. "The thing is, I'm so used to the fact we're moving that it just didn't register in my mind anymore. Just today, I packed up all my clothes except for a few. I realized that I need to tell you—I mean, I can't just disappear all of a sudden, right?"

"No, you can't," I agree, struggling to regulate my breathing. I don't want to accept this. I don't want to say good-bye to him. I don't want to be apart from him. "So you came all the way here to say so?"

"You're my only friend who doesn't treat me like I'm made of glass," he says. "I feel more relaxed around you these days, because you don't treat me any different from a normal person. You don't skirt around the subject of Rinne unlike others, who're afraid it'll set me off crying or something. You just...you're the only friend who's been really there for me, lately. So I wanted to spend the day with you. My last day."

"I'm not doing anything, Riki," I protest.

"No?" he doesn't look at me, but his voice is steady now. "Who gave me all the flowers, without me asking? Who doesn't tell me the usual crap they feed grieving people? True, you haven't done much physically. But you just being a good friend, treating me like a normal person, has helped me a hell lot more than anything else."

"Riki..." I swallow. "I don't know what to say."

"It's okay if you don't," he looks at me now, and his own eyes are glistening with tears. "All I want to say is thank you for everything. I don't want to leave you behind. I don't want to leave my whole life behind. But it's not as if I have a choice, so I'm just doing my best to appreciate what I have."

"You're welcome," I say, putting a hand on his free one. The touch makes me feel even worse, but better at the same time. "Let's get that painting done, yeah? I've got one last thing for you today before you go."

He smiles at me again, but it's sad and painful. I return it with one of my own and get up to get the flowers I want. This time, I'm not giving it to him for Rinne. It's a present from me to him and only him. Nobody else.

Wandering between the aisles, I wipe furiously at my tears. I shouldn't be crying over a boy I met a few weeks ago. But what can I do? I've discovered that I really care for him, and I've discovered that things like this—it can happen in the blink of an eye.