sunflower daydream || b. ruggie

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟞

Like the breeze, she had swept away from the world without a single trace.

Nikki's mother was an inadequate but active woman. In the morningtide, she would cook the most scrumptious breakfast consisting of omelette rice and draw a distinctive character using ketchup from any manga her daughter would read the night before. On rare occasions, she would whip up some French toast and snip a small portion of the boiled egg above it for an eye-pleasing scenery in hopes to gain her daughter's liking. Nikki would stir up, rub her eyes and slip on her eminent green slippers that were alike of Tinker Bell's flats. 

The next thing the little girl knew, she would either be overwhelmed by a smothering hug or a sloppy kiss around her soft, round face. The woman was an emeritus magician, performing on various spotlights from around the world and meriting as much as she could. From the usual tricks to the intricate steps that required bulky equipment, she was able to amuse everyone on their street, the elderlies who retired much long ago and of course, bring a smile to her daughter when she was in a distressed condition.

Her father was a gifted painter. Every stroke he had given birth to with his brush were a blessing on the canvas; he earned much money from the art galleries around Japan. Of course, this meant that Nikki had lived a wealthy life if it weren't for the consequences in the future. She was only three; her mindset only focused on mastering new things that only seemed like a daydream so she could earn big in her lifetime. 

Shizuka, on the other hand, would be envious. Extremely envious. 

She could evoke being mistreated by her classmates in elementary school for wearing worn-out garments, some of them coming from the non-profit organisations that bestowed her with pity. Her parents were alive, of course, but her mother had long found someone else with a wealthier status and her father was drunk every single day working three jobs with little pay.

It was heartbreaking, yet Shizuka endured it.

Perhaps it was during middle school; she was able to manipulate the girls in her class to being her friends with her social butterfly-like façade. To her, friends were like stairs; the more she made the greater she was able to see the daylight that could one day glorify her with satisfaction. It gave her hope, however sombre and corrupt.

Money.

Maybe that was it.

Maybe she just lacked a lot of money.

Shizuka recalled when she had just gotten into high school. Naturally, she had finally gotten herself a few part-time jobs here and there — everything was exceptional. Her father, too, also gotten himself sustainable pay allowing them to eat much more than they could before. The students in her school were boring. Studying? Sports? She couldn't relate to any of them. For all she comprehended, she wasn't rapacious; as long as she could withstand in the ruthless universe without being too materialistic like those females with a suffocating number of scrunchies encompassing their wrists, smudging palm oil tinted in red on their lips and contemplate whether they preferred 0.7 or 0.5 mm lead for their flashy pacers — she would one day be jovial about her judgment.

That was probably until she had met eyes with Aikawa Nikki.

The attractive yet lone wolf of the category; impartial but unyielding. Perhaps Shizuka was interpreting too much of her, but she understood that as long as she had that girl beside her then she would be able to request everything she had wanted. First of all, she would try to get her to become her friend.

Friendship wasn't arduous at all.

—or so she considered.

Aikawa Nikki was as hard as a rock; a diamond. A sight for sore eyes but those who had erred would be stabbed with a stiletto of her toxic intelligence. No matter how many times Shizuka had approached her during lunch, after school, before school and even when at one point they had become deskmates — she was indeed the first unwavering person she had convened.