ROADSIDE FLOWERS ( t. kageyama )

viii. ladybugs

▪♡
roadside flowers.
chapter 8: ladybugs

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❝Ladybug Ladybug, fly away home—❞

"tobio-kun, look!"

there's something in the dead log. it's creeping steadily over the hollow object, making its way into the parts covered with shade.

"a bug?" he asks with disinterest, pulling at the weeds in his backyard with his bare hands, tossing them into the pile he made.

"a ladybug," i correct, crawling toward the log.

"so?" he's disinterested. not that it matters. my eyes are pinned to the creature, with its short insect legs and red spots (which vaguely remind me of the freckles littering the skin of my nose and cheeks) that trail on its black body. it's strange how such a small, insignificant creature that you have to squint your eyes to see can spark so much joy within my eyes. it might just be, but those spots look to me like the most beautiful things i've seen all day.

"did you know you can make wishes on ladybugs?"

seconds pass and i still don't hear a reply from tobio-kun so i turn toward him and i find the reason for his silence. he's too immersed in pulling something from the soil. it's taller than a regular weed with minuscule branches sticking out. he's making such an effort to pull it and his progress is noted when i see some roots being removed from the loam. it's only then that i realize it.

"tobio-kun," i call for him, squelching the chuckles beginning to escape from my lips, but he doesn't seem to hear it. "that's a plant."

he fails to pull the plant and he stumbles, does a complete back tumbling and lands on his back, his shirt eased up to his chest.

i giggle a little before helping him up, seeing the boy who i trailed after in summertime, feeling warm when his palms met mine.

"that was a plant."

he blinks and averts his gaze from me with a grumpy face. "tch."

i leave him and head back to the dead log, searching for the ladybug and when it resurfaced, i closed my eyes.

"i wish rintaro gets to be a—"

"who's that?" tobio-kun asks and peers over my shoulder, the mortification from stumbling backwards earlier seemingly gone. some of his hair had gotten messier though, some strands sticking out like mushrooms in the grass-carpeted forest floor.

"i was asking you who rintaro is," he repeats.

"oh," i mutter, regaining my senses. "a member of the basketball club." i stare at the dead log, the ladybug gone. it probably crawled back inside. i peeked it at the holes. "rintaro is a member of the basketball club. it's"—i shake my head, remembering how i was so anxious over my inability to voice out how rintaro would help the team achieve certain victory— "nothing."

"doesn't look like it's nothing," he mutters and i catch a frown on his face with my peripheral vision.

my hands land on the weeds near the dead log and i grab onto them, squeezing at the stalks before i pull them from the ground.

"i... i have this idea that if they let rintaro play in the match, it'll give our team a higher chance of winning. i mean he's a good player and all. the others notice, but..." i trail off, unsure if i should continue this. my hands travel to the other weeds and i begin pulling. the sensation is similar to squeezing the hems of my clothing and it's comforting. it's tobio-kun, i think. i trust him. i know he'll understand. "i'm afraid if i tell yukari-senpai and taiyou-senpai that, maybe i'll end up wrong and it hampers the team."