|❤| An Unusual, Untraditional Set of Love Stories |❤|

Story 1: Flowers

I never really thought highly of flowers. What was the point in keeping them around? All they do is just wilt in a matter of days if you don’t feed them water and plant them in fresh, nutrient-rich soil.

Girls liked them. I knew that.

But what I don’t know is why they like them. I mean, they’re not so special...

I guess I was wrong though.

I liked Kajiko. Wait. No, I didn’t.

I was in love with her. She was the sun and the moon to me, utterly beautiful and bright. She... She believed in me when I had given up on myself. In my eyes, she was like my goddess and the fuel for me to keep living, breathing.

Smiling.

I loved Kajiko. And I wanted to see her smile too.

So I got her roses, 12 of them.

And yet, I failed in seeing her smile.

She was beautiful, though she wouldn’t believe it. And she had gotten too many flowers. Daisies, pansies, a crap load of flowers. From different boys. And one of them was a bunch of sakura branches from Shin, the other guy she likes. Also my competition... Why and how come I did not see that coming?

Next thing I knew, I had trashed the bouquet of flowers for Kajiko into the trash. All beautiful, red roses gone and into the trash.

“That’s a waste!” Shiori scolded. “You bought those flowers for Kajiko and you’re just going to throw them away just because she got flowers from other boys?”

“You don’t get it,” I argued. “One of them was from Shin.”

“Onii-chan, if you know you can do it, believe!” Ran exclaimed before chomping on Sukonbu.

“I’m sure she’ll like anything if it’s from you,” Spark added. “Die does.”

The very mention of that annoying demon’s name only soured my mood. But after reprocessing it, I realized that Spark was right. Never thought I’d admit that...

But even so, everything was a waste now. I had run out of time. Plus, that bouquet was expensive... $25.00 for that thing!

So I went back to that trash can to find that bouquet... Last time Ran’s older sister, Mitsuba, charges me that much for twelve roses... But when I looked inside, the bouquet was gone. I panicked.

But a small voice began to breath. I whirled around. Kajiko.

“Xavier...” she stammered. “You...”

“I...” I stated, only to cut myself off. What should I say? What do I tell her?

“Xavier, didn’t you know that twelve roses only signals the greatest declaration of love?”

“H-huh?”

“I saw these in the trash can... They were for me... The card says so.”

She picked a pale pink and white card in between her pale fingers. Yeah, it was addressed to her, all right.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, staring at the ground. Now what? Things just get more awkward in between us, don’t they?

“They’re withering,” she said.

“Sorry...”

“...”

“...”

“.....”

“.....”

“... Say something!”

“What do you want me to say?!” I demanded, finally shooting my head back up to look at her directly. I could feel irritation rising from my chest into my eyes. With something like that happening, it was bad. And I knew. I softened down a bit.

Yet she didn’t seem intimidated. “Say something like you... like me or something.”

That’s it? Peh, she deserves better. “No, I don’t... I really, really like you...”

She nodded, still seeming to be a bit unsatisfied.

Okay, then I guess I should tell her completely.

“I’ve... always loved you from the start,” I mumbled.

Again, she nodded. What? Did she want me to say something more?

I turned away and began to walk back to the Palace, also the meeting place of the Nobles. It was then she caught up to me and slipped her hand into mine.

I did not reject it, like other girls had done in the past to me. I held it back, taking her with me.

Maybe that was the start of my declaration of love to her.