White Anemone Petals

Chapter 5

After a whole week, she still had no idea what was causing her petal-filled cough. That annoyed her because that meant she couldn't fix it. She began to believe she'd had a curse put on her. She laughed to herself.
"You're starting to sound like Oka." She laughed to herself, looking at her Monokuma bear on her bed. "I'm really starting to go insane." She muttered before picking up her schoolbag and left for school. Maybe she would ask Oka about botanical curses if it got any worse.

She decided to go to the occult club before class and ask Oka about botanical curses in private. She didn't want anyone else knowing. She reached the door, and found Supana and Shin sat in the club room along with Oka. She sighed, getting Oka's attention.
"Hey Cupa." She said as Supana and Shin turned to look at the smaller girl. She sighed, realising she would have to wait until later to privately speak to Oka. "What brings you here?" She asked.
"Oh, nothing much. Just wanted to say hi." She shrugged her shoulders casually. She didn't want Shin and Supana discovering her secret.
"Oh." Oka sighed. Cupa laughed a little awkwardly and walked away, clearly embarrassed.
"That was awkward." Shin said, making the females laugh. Cupa could still hear them, only making her more embarrassed that she couldn't ask Oka to speak with her in private.

The small girl walked through the busy corridors towards the courtyard. She knew Ayano sat out there sometimes, as did Taro/Taeko. She looked down at her hands before she felt her body collide with someone else.
"Again? Really?" She heard Osana snap. Cupa looked up, and saw Taro holding his hand out to Cupa to help her up from the floor. "You're always colliding into Cupa, Taro." She continued.
"I'm sorry, Cupa." Taro apologised, letting go of her hand. "I don't know why, but I only ever crash into you." He laughed, making Cupa laugh also. Osana didn't laugh, she looked more annoyed than anything.
"Maybe it's because I'm small." Cupa giggled. Taro shrugged his shoulders as Cupa began to cough more petals out of Osana and Taro's sight.
"Come on, Taro." Osana snapped, taking hold of the dark haired male's hair and dragging him away from Cupa. The smaller girl sighed, it seemed like she could only talk to Taro when Osana wasn't around. She walked towards her classroom when Ayano approached her.
"Meet me in the courtyard at lunch." She told her, before walking away again. She didn't give Cupa the chance to ask why. Maybe she could ask why later.

That lunch, Cupa met up with Ayano as planned in the courtyard. She could see Taro and Osana sat together by the fountain from where she and Ayano were sat.
"Are you feeling alright? You're cough is getting worse." Ayano said gently as her cousin coughed again for the 10th time in 10 minutes. Cupa nodded her head, throwing more petals into her bag out of anyone's sight.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me Ayano." Cupa said cheerfully, like she usually did. Ayano sighed and put her arm around her shoulder.
"I'm going to worry about you." Ayano told her firmly. "Your cough is getting progressively worse. You need to see a doctor at some point." She told Cupa. The small girl sighed a little, nodding her head. They continued eating their lunches mostly in silence, only really speaking to offer the other some of their lunch.

Cupa felt her eyes fall back on to Taro, a small blush covering her face. She had an undeniable crush on him, and it was so obvious to Ayano. She wanted to confess her love to him, but she was petrified of rejection. She didn't know how deadly a rejection would be for her.
"Cupa." Ayano hissed to her cousin, who completely ignored her. "Cupa." Ayano hissed a little louder. Cupa continued to ignore her. It was like she couldn't hear her. "Cupa!" Ayano quietly snapped, pulling a lock of her long, dark brown hair. Cupa turned around to look at her, frowning slightly, the blush still evident on her face. "You zoned out for a moment. That's not like you."
"I'm sorry." Cupa murmured, looking down at her hands. Ayano sighed as Cupa coughed again.
"Are you sure you're alright." Ayano asked. Cupa nodded her head quickly, hiding the petals in her hands.
"I'm fine, Ayano." She insisted, throwing the petals into her bag quickly. A moment later she coughed again out of Ayano's sight. This time felt different. The petals were usually dry, but this single petal was splattered with some kind of warm liquid. Cupa looked into her hand, shocked by what she saw.

Blood.

In her hand was a single bloody petal. She had the faint taste of blood in her mouth from the petal. She put it into her bag before turning back to Ayano.
"Please give me 5 minutes." She asked Ayano, getting up and walking away. Ayano watched her leave, before looking over at Taro for a moment. She idly placed her hand on to the bench, and felt a drop of something on her hand. She looked at it, and saw it was blood. She immediately became concerned for Cupa, and decided to go find her.

"Oka. I think I'm cursed." Cupa told her as she entered the club room. Oka was alone, which was a relief. She coughed again, and showed Oka the bloody petals in her hand.
"Was there anything about this in the book I leant you?" Oka asked. Cupa shook her head as Oka began to search the bookshelves for a book about curses.
"No, I haven't found anything." She sighed a little as she went further into the room, closing the door behind her. Oka continued searching the shelves, occasionally taking out a book and flicking through it. She put it back immediately afterwards when she couldn't find anything.
"These nothing here about coughing up flower petals. I'm sorry, I don't know what type of curse this is." Oka murmured gently as she put back the last book and turned to look at Cupa.
"That's because it's not a curse." Ayano's voice came from the doorway. Both the smaller girl's turned to look at her as she came further into the room, closing the door behind her. "Cupa, what you have is a severe form of Hanahaki Disease."