Chapter 8: Zinnias and a Parade

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ᡕᠵ᠊ᡃ່࡚ࠢ࠘ ⸝່ࠡࠣ᠊߯᠆ࠣ࠘ᡁࠣ࠘᠊᠊ࠢ࠘𐡏 ♡

In the schools garden, Inumaki picked up a watering can, filled it with water, and lightly poured the liquid over the flowers. His classmate, Kaori, kneeled down nearby as she admired the blooms. A few different types of flowers grew in the section that the brunette watched over, one particularly catching her eye.

A yellow flower had broken off from the others, it's velvety petals dusted in mulch. She mumbled to herself as she broke the stem in half and carefully blew the dirt away. "A zinnia..." she whispered.

As she subconsciously stood up with the flower still in hand, she turned and walked over to her silver-haired classmate. "This... is a zinnia, right?"

The boy beside her glanced her way, leaning in to see the yellow flower more closely. He hummed, "salmon."

A smile formed on Kaori's pink lips. "Then it's also a forget-me-not."

The girl twisted the stem around in her fingers, having Inumaki stare at her action. He then asked, "Can I..." He shook his head before he could continue. "Tuna?!"

Kaori looked up, shocked at why he raised his voice. Her concerned eyes made Inumaki hold out his hand as a last way of asking what he wanted. "Tuna?" he said, softly this time.

The girls eyes closed as she laughed at herself. "You want this?" she asked, taunting the flower by twisting it more.

"Salmon!" he said, giggling at her action.

She placed the plant into his palm gently as to not damage the flower anymore, asking one last question before they left the garden. "Inumaki, is there any way you can use your real words with me around?"

His violet eyes stared at the flower before they darted up to meet hers. He knew he shouldn't risk cursing her, but if she wanted to know, then what is there to hide?

"Seaweed," he replied, pointing the flower at the water station.

She assumed he wanted to sit down first, so as he walked over to the concrete block with the watering can still in hand, she followed. They sat down as Inumaki placed the can back to where he found it. As he sat beside her, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He tapped his thumbs on the screen, and Kaori rested her chin in her palm as she watched the letters show up.

You could always just focus cursed energy around your ears

As if she should have thought of it before, Kaori gaped at this simple cure. "Ohhh!" she voiced, looking down again as she saw his fingers move.

Try it out

Without ever needing to focus cursed energy on her body for a technique, she had to think back to her early training days with her aunt. Thinking about her ears, placing her hands over them for double protection, a layer of her cursed energy coated onto her ears. She visibly was excited by this, urging Inumaki to speak to her next.

Inumaki inspected her ears before carefully testing her ability by saying, "stand up."

Instinctively, she stood up.

Her cursed energy remained around her ears as Inumaki blurted out, "I'm so- sorry!"

"Eh?" Kaori inquired, sitting back down as she kept her hands on her ears. "Why should you be sorry?"

"I-" he looked at her ears again, "I made you stand up." He fidgeted with his collar, his eyes dropping as he frowned underneath the green cloth.

Kaori laughed at herself again, reassuring him as she took her hands away from her head, "I did that on my own, sorry!" She laughed again, tossing her head down as she apologized once more.

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