in which minami kotori, a fashion student at otonokizaka university, develops a strange fondness for sonoda umi, the girl who sits in the row in front of hers.
[this book is based on a comic strip of kotoumi that inspired me to transform it into an...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
the freesia: the flower of thoughtfulness and innocence.
— in which they become strangers once more.
~
umi blinks once, then twice. it all happened in a flash — she's pushed back when kotori shoves past her in her desperation to get away, and umi breathes in slowly, frantically trying to remain calm.
what was she expecting? that her only friend would accept her feelings? of course not — she shouldn't have been that naive. she really wasn't thinking.
she reaches out towards kotori's retreating figure, and clenches her fist. that's right. she was just being delusional. no way was there someone out there who would walk with her, by her side. no way.
~
she stops, gasping for breath, and leans against one of the many street lamps that lined the empty road. where was she, she didn't know — she had been running blindly for what seemed like ages, and she had never felt this far and detached from reality before.
it was like she was floating; but why? why was she this light-headed? her feet and hands were tingling, heart aching in her chest — but why?
she didn't feel the same, certainly, she was sure. she had never even considered the possibility that she'd ever like umi. they were just...friends. and it should stay that way.
but her heart just aches again, its stubborn pulse sending agony throughout her body. what was happening to her? she didn't know anymore. she didn't want to think anymore.
should she even be feeling this way?
"calm down." she whispers softly to herself, catching her breath, opening her clenched palm, and nestled comfortingly into her skin, was umi's heart, crying sapphire blue tears.
~
sonoda umi — just forget about it. 22:35
~
— the next day.
the days after that were a blur. kotori avoided umi as much as she could, her heart a jumbled mess. she couldn't bring herself to look into her eyes, couldn't look deep into those copper irises and say that she didn't like her.
she rushes along the corridor; the new semester had just began, but they were already bugged down with so many assignments — it was suffocating, but at least it gave kotori a distraction. she didn't want to picture the disappointed look on umi's features under the tinted light of exploding fireworks, which she already did enough of whenever she found herself drifting away in her thoughts.
feet hurrying along one after the other, running away from her heart. she passes the classroom, and the first thing she sees was dark-blue hair. she freezes as umi's copper eyes lift to meet hers, and they brighten with a childish hope. her right ear was naked without its accessory, and it made kotori's heart ache even more than it already was.
why?
she holds a hand up in respectful greeting, tone gentle and assuring, a small smile donning her thin lips. "hey..."
but kotori couldn't bear to hear the rest, and she darts off again, sprinting down the hallways, not caring when she bumps into other students, the ringing in her ears getting louder with every step.
why?
why was she haunting her every thought? why was she in every hallway she passed? why was she always, always, staring at her with such bewitching, broken eyes?
why?
she finally stops to catch her breath by a stairwell, and her heart feels like it'll reach its expiration date at any moment.
she lifts her hands up to her face, the lump in her throat begging to be released, an agonising scream that'd plague anyone who heard it.
why?
why was she crying?
~
a double update cause i was feeling emo while listening to alec benjamin oops
