JSWGAS Chapter 46

This is a very beautiful bunch of flowers.

Eustomas, baby’s breath, orchids, roses, and unknown budding flowers, their petals radiating a warm orange color, peeking out from the leaves with hints of fallen red. Considering that they were to be given to a patient, the fragrance of the bouquet was very light, only discernible by burying one’s head into it.

The grandmother’s craftsmanship was excellent; she skillfully arranged different varieties of flowers together, with tiny, scattered blossoms adorning the edges of the unfolded petals, interwoven and contrasting each other, yet without appearing messy or disordered.

The distance to the University Hospital was neither far nor near. Kokonoe Taka stopped as he passed a bus stop, glanced at the crowded carriage, and gave up on the idea of taking the bus. He walked forward along the sidewalk, somewhat worried that the wind would mess up his grandmother’s flowers. Perhaps the wind heard his concerns, only sending gentle breezes to brush past the corners of his clothes.

There was an overpass on the way to the hospital, and before he even stepped onto the stairs, Kokonoe Taka was stopped by no fewer than five people. There were two couples, a professional woman, and an old man leading a poodle.

He apologized to the couples, telling them that it was a gift and not for sale; he politely declined the professional woman’s request to take a photo; finally, the old gentleman walked with him for a street, separating before the overpass. He said his deceased wife also loved flowers, and knew the varieties of flowers he held as if they were her own family.

A young man holding flowers in the afternoon sun – where was he going, who was he going to give the flowers to? What kind of story was there?

Along the way, people he met couldn’t help but have such thoughts. Many people watched him subtly, inwardly guessing at various possibilities, so rich that they could compile a romance novel.

Such gazes only disappeared when he entered the hospital doors. Kokonoe Taka went to the front desk and told the nurse on duty that he was looking for a Mrs. Akashi Shiori. The enthusiastic nurse peeked at the flowers in his arms and smiled as she made a phone call. Kokonoe Taka patiently waited for her to exchange a few words with the person on the other end of the line. “Who asked you to deliver the flowers?” she asked.

“Kokonoe from the Gitanjali Flower Shop.” Kokonoe Taka paused, “I’m her grandson.”

The nurse nodded, listened to a few more words on the other end, and hung up the phone: “Mrs. Akashi’s ward is on the fifth floor,” she told him, and then smiled at the flowers, praising, “It’s really beautiful, someone must have put a lot of thought into making this.”

“Thank you.”

After giving his thanks, Kokonoe Taka took the elevator. He stared at the constantly jumping numbers, a little nervous, letting his facial muscles relax – the smooth elevator walls reflected his face, the sharp, undulating brow softened, and his eyes also slightly curved up.

When the elevator doors opened, a man in a black suit was looking over as if he had sensed something. “Are you Mr. Kokonoe?” he asked politely. After Kokonoe Taka nodded, the man in the suit bowed slightly, his attitude humble, “Madam is waiting for you in the ward.”

Kokonoe Taka followed him down the corridor. It was very quiet here. The man in the suit explained as if he guessed his thoughts: “Madam needs to recuperate, so the master booked the entire floor for madam to recover.”

As he spoke, they had already arrived at the door of a half-open ward. The man in the suit pushed the door open, stepped aside, and gestured for Kokonoe Taka to enter.

Mrs. Akashi was leaning against the bed, looking at him with a smile. Beside her bed, a boy who looked similar to her turned his head vigilantly when he heard the sound and also saw him.

Akashi Shiori was a beauty, even in illness, this beauty flowed from her bones from the inside out. Her facial contours were soft, and her features were like a pool of blue lotus ruffled by the wind, gentle, yet vaguely carrying fortitude; reddish hair strands hung over her shoulders, and the wrist placed on the blanket looked fragile and pale.

Not only that, but Akashi Shiori’s words and actions were also elegant, calm, and approachable. After he explained his intention, she took the bouquet full of sunshine, held it in her arms, and looked down at it.

“I told Mrs. Kokonoe that I wanted to make a bouquet myself,” she said softly, a faint sigh hidden in the syllables of her words, “I didn’t expect she still remembered…”

Akashi Shiori didn’t have much time left, and she herself believed that she was aware of this. Kokonoe Taka remained silent; at this moment, any comfort seemed pale and weak. Akashi Shiori cherished and touched the petals, “So beautiful.”

The sense of fragility about her was particularly noticeable, with a part that made him feel vaguely familiar. Before he could think about it further, Akashi Shiori raised her head and gently said, “Thank you for making the trip, please say thank you to Mrs. Kokonoe for me when you go back.”

“It’s good that you like them, Grandma will be very happy,” he replied.

Akashi Shiori smiled, her eyes curving. She looked at the child who had been quietly staying by her side, and introduced him: “This is my child, Seijūrō.”

Kokonoe Taka crashed into a sea of red.

Akashi Seijūrō stared at him for a while, not very friendly. Like Mrs. Shiori, he had a head of red hair, but it was more vibrant than his mother’s. “Hello,” he said politely, and quickly withdrew his gaze as if he had lost interest.

Akashi Shiori helplessly touched his head: “Don’t always keep a straight face.”

Akashi Seijūrō raised his head and showed his mother a small smile.

Kokonoe Taka didn’t continue to intrude on the warm moment between mother and son. He clearly saw the faint unwelcome in Akashi Seijūrō’s eyes and tactfully offered to leave. This matter didn’t leave any trace in his life either.

On Monday, Yamanouchi pulled him aside sneakily.

“You look like a thief.”

“Nonsense! I have serious business!” Yamanouchi Ryohei defended himself. He took out his phone from his pocket, looked around nervously, “I found this!”

His nervousness was genuine, as if there was really something earth-shattering to say, making Kokonoe Taka also subconsciously become nervous. But this nervousness turned into speechlessness when he saw what was on his phone screen.

“What’s this?”

“A picture!”

“…I mean, is this worth pulling me out for?”

Yamanouchi Ryohei glared at him, hating that he wasn’t more perceptive, “Look more closely.”

What was on Yamanouchi Ryohei’s phone was a blurry photo; the person in the photo only had a side profile. Kokonoe Taka squinted his eyes and took another look, suddenly realizing that the person in the photo was also holding a bouquet of flowers. He immediately remembered what happened on the weekend a day ago.

“Where did you get this?”

“It’s circulating online,” Yamanouchi answered, “That’s you, right? I swear on a week’s worth of pork floss bread that it’s definitely you.”

Kokonoe Taka flatly denied: “It’s not me.”

Yamanouchi was dubious: “It’s not? But I think this person’s profile looks a lot like yours…”

“Eat more carrots,” Kokonoe Taka said affectionately, “It’s good for your eyes.”

“…Damn it! I can hear you mocking my bad eyesight!”

Listening to his friend’s firm tone, Yamanouchi himself began to doubt: could it really be that he recognized the wrong person?

In the end, this photo became more and more popular online and was even featured on the trending topics: it was said that the blogger who took this photo was a very famous photographer, who was originally going to photograph the sunset that day. But when he passed an overpass, he saw a young man holding flowers, and was immediately struck by his beauty, and quickly snapped this photo.

In the end, this photographer also said that the young man walked too fast, and he couldn’t get his contact information, and regretted not being able to invite the other party to be his model – as soon as this was said, the comment area, in addition to people simping, was full of people recommending their own idols. This one said that Tsuruga Ren was the most handsome, that one said that Saijo Takato was better, and in the end, they all started arguing, creating a bloody mess.

Kokonoe Taka was completely unaware of these disputes, and continued to be his extra in the basketball club’s third string.

He was frantically absorbing the knowledge he could access, but it was a pity that the third string did not have official matches, and he could only practice through freely combined 3v3 games. In addition, he also doubled the training program. Often, when Hayakawa and the others had stopped to rest, he was still continuing to train.

“He’s really working hard,” Aida glanced at the person still practicing shooting three-pointers outside the three-point line, his tone a little sour, “If this goes on, he’ll be able to be promoted to the first string after the test in a week, right?”

Hayakawa pushed him, “Hey, isn’t that to be expected? It’s not like you don’t know that Kokonoe’s training volume is twice as much as ours.”

“But at the beginning, he couldn’t even make a shot,” Aida said dejectedly, taking a towel to wipe his sweat, “Now his shooting percentage is even higher than ours.”

Hayakawa glanced at him, and said fiercely: “You think you’re inferior to him before you’ve even competed? I’m telling you, I’ll definitely be able to go to the first string in this test. At that time, you’ll be alone in the third string.”

“I’m just complaining…”

“Complaining is useless. Get up and keep practicing,” Hayakawa said, “Or are you just planning to give up like this?”

Aida raised his hand to indicate surrender. He stood up and walked to the court with Hayakawa.

A week later, Kokonoe Taka successfully passed the test, and Hayakawa and Aida were promoted to the first string with him.

On the first day that Kokonoe Taka entered the gymnasium of the first string, he keenly noticed the strangeness of the atmosphere. The team members were gathered together in twos and threes, with clear boundaries, carrying a sense of tension that foretold a storm.

This feeling reached its peak when the door of the gymnasium was pushed open.

The coach frowned, looking at the person who interrupted the training: “Yabunoki, you’re late.”

Kokonoe Taka stood in the team and looked over there: Yabunoki Suzu looked pale, and rushed in a hurry, even wearing his school uniform. He looked coldly at the few people at the front of the team, and said in a low voice to the coach, “Sorry.”

The coach tapped the record book impatiently, “It’s okay to be late, but why did you come over without even changing your clothes?”

Yabunoki Suzu was still staring at those few people, “Someone opened my locker and hid my clothes.”

Before the coach could speak, the person standing at the front of the team, with dyed blond hair, shouted, “Who would be so bored? Being late is being late, you have to find a decent excuse, right?”

Hayakawa, who was standing next to Kokonoe Taka, said to him in a low voice, “That’s Maki.”

The conversation continued: “I also want to know who would be so bored,” Yabunoki retorted, but before he could continue, the coach interrupted him with a frown, “Alright! So many people are still waiting for training.” He paused, rubbed his forehead, and sighed, “We’ll talk about the clothes later, borrow someone else’s for now.”

The coach looked at the team as if asking for help. But before him, Maki turned his head fiercely and glared at everyone, his eyes threatening.

As expected, no one made a sound, and the atmosphere was momentarily frozen to the extreme. Maki looked at Yabunoki’s expression of gritting his teeth as if he had won a victory, but the next second, a voice broke the silence.

“I have a spare one that you can borrow.”

Maki’s expression suddenly turned ugly.

All eyes turned to this person who seemed not to have noticed the tension in the air. Hayakawa sighed beside him, and Aida had an “I knew it” expression on his face.

The coach breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand, and gestured for Yabunoki to follow Kokonoe first.

Kokonoe Taka calmly glanced at Maki, who was glaring at him, narrowed his eyes slightly, and walked out of the team.