Himitsu no Hanazono (NozoEli)

Yuri no meiro

The beautiful blonde girl walked towards the empty seat in front of the violet haired girl. Laughter and oohs erupted the classroom. The girl next to the empty seat burst into laughter.

"Haha! you don't want to sit there! It's in front of the loner,you don't deserve to sit there!" She smirked. The blonde sat down anyways, ignoring the cruel girl.

"I don't care if she's a loner cause she probably isn't and I don't even know we and stop being mean,"

The blonde countered.

Nozomi felt her heart skip a beat. No one's ever defended Nozomi before, her cheeks flushed red so she once again buried her face in her book, occasionally takin glances at the girl in front of her.

"Hey why don't you introduce yourself? Your not use to Japanese customs are you? Make some friends to help show the way okay?" Said the teacher politely.

She stood straight up and cleared her voice.

"I'm Ayase Eri, nice to meet you all..."

Nozomi felt her heart leap into her throat and thought her ears were playing tricks on her...

"Eri.. Ayase Eri... Exactly the same as the one in my dream..." She muttered. " It was my fate to meet her.. Even the cards said that something extraordinary was going to happen! Oh and I love her voice as well-"Her thoughts were interrupted when the teacher screamed,

"Toujou-san, focus on the lesson! Not the back of Eri's head!" Laughter once again jumped into the classroom.

"Guys, stop. It's mean to laugh at other students. Would you like it if everyone laughed at you?" Eri said and the whole class was silenced. Eri turned around and smiled sweetly at the poor Nozomi and Nozomi blushed madly.

"T-thanks Eri..." Nozomi muttered.

(Weeks later)

Nozomi felt closer to everyone in the class because of Eri defending her and she became closer to Eri than anyone else but weren't quite friends... More like acquaintances.

At the end of the lesson, Eri was the first to walk out, because everyone let her out first as if she was the queen, and Nozomi expectedly was last. Eri always had loads of invites to hang out, invites to eat together at lunch but she rejected everyone. Eri walked down the stairs in solitude in contrast to everyone (as they were with their friends) except for one.

"Wait Eri..." A voice called

Eri spun round not knowing who and sighed. "Not another lunch request is it?" She moaned.

"No, no Eri... Ericchi... please can you hear me out?" Nozomi whispered.

"Umm okay... I'll listen to anything you need to say..." Eri said, not knowing what she said really touched Nozomi.

"T-thanks for standing up for m' earlier... How should I make up for it?" Nozomi said, flustered.

"Umm... you don't have to, I did it from my own will... I wanted to protect you so you don't have to owe me... ummmm... I gotta go...

And Ericchi? That reminds me of the girl in my dream. You remind me of her... She called me Ericchi..."

Nozomi smiled and whispered.

"Yeah... I made the nickname for you and you remind me of the girl in my dream,"

"Ah... Okay... Harasho... Well see you Nozomi..."

Eri turned around to face the bottom of the stairs again but warm fingers gripped her wrist.

"Ericchi... Can we be friends, I mean... we don't have to... you've been rejecting everyone and no one likes me... So Ericchi would probably reject me.. Er-" Eri broke her words with a finger to her lips.