268 – Canary Flowers

Under the rising moonlight.

“Hmm.”

The lady folding paper to match the end of the workday waved her hand and greeted me cheerfully.

“Ricardo.”

“It’s Ricardo.”

“It’s okay.”

“I’m not okay with it.”

The lady lightly dismissed my objection and looked at me with sparkling eyes.

-Baam.

Specifically, she was looking at my hands clasped behind my back. I chuckled at her curious gaze and asked,

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

-Baam.

“…”

Rustle, as the sound came from the hands hidden behind my back, the lady’s eyes widened, and she smiled brightly.

“Uhihi…! Something to eat!”

“Lady. Are you happier to see food than me?”

I sighed lightly and showed her a paper bag filled with expired waste products, smiling faintly.

The lady, who is usually fed well, strangely prefers expired food.

“It’s free, free!”

The lady, with a sound sense of economy, cheered and took the paper bag. I felt a bit guilty for feeding her expired food, but since she liked it, I couldn’t stop her.

“Oooh!!! Ricardo! There’s tuna kimbap! And chocolate milk too!”

She was a lady who found happiness in the little things.

After about an hour of satisfying her hunger with convenience store food, the lady resumed her postponed paper folding.

“Hooo…”

The lady, focusing for the first time in a while, pressed the paper with her white fingers, wearing a pleasant smile.

“Lady.”

“Sure.”

“What are you folding?”

“It’s a secret.”

The lady pouted her lips, concentrating intensely as if she were an archaeologist about to make a groundbreaking discovery.

-Sniffle.

Of course, I wiped her runny nose for her. After focusing on origami for quite some time, the lady held out a tiny piece of paper in her palm and said to me,

“Ricardo.”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Take this.”

“Are you giving this to me?”

“Mhm. Ricardo, take it.”

I looked at the lady’s creation, which resembled a chewed-up piece of gum, and expressed my doubt.

“You’ve folded the crane nicely.”

Since she gave up folding paper cranes last year, it must be a crane. The only things the lady knew how to fold were people and paper cranes. Although it was a chimera wearing the guise of a crane, its essence was still a crane, so I could easily guess her creation.

“Your dexterity has improved a lot.”

With confidence in my voice, the lady shook her head firmly and replied,

“Mhm? No, it’s not.”

“Then what is it?”

The lady smiled brightly and gave a brief introduction to her masterpiece.

“A flower.”

“Oh…”

“It’s a flower.”

“This is, a flower?”

“Mhm. This is the petal, and this is the stem.”

Oh. I couldn’t tell at all.

If chewed-up gum is called a flower, then the weeds strewn along the roadside might as well be tulips. I had my doubts about the lady’s masterpiece, with a question mark floating above my head.

“Ah… So is this flower that famous one that smells like a corpse?”

“No, it’s not.”

As she took out a new piece of paper and started folding again, the lady looked at me innocently and shook her head, saying,

“It’s a rose.”

The more I think about it, the more incomprehensible the lady’s aesthetic sense seems to be. It appears to be beyond the understanding of a commoner’s mind.

‘Nobility is indeed profound.’

The lady, who had just folded a (self-proclaimed) rose, handed it to me with a pleased smile.

“Take it!”

“Are you giving me another one?”

“Yes. Use this for flower arranging later.”

“I think it will certainly surprise many people.”

“Hehehe…”

She was a lady who absolutely adored being praised.

The lady and I continued with our origami.

I was folding a thousand cranes, while the lady spent her time folding peculiar roses.

Having folded a rose in green this time, the lady casually started a conversation.

“Hey, Ricardo.”

“Yes?”

“Is your work. Not tiring?”

“No, it’s not tiring.”

“…”

The lady bit her lip and continued folding the paper. She felt embarrassed that she wanted to help but couldn’t be of any use because of her condition.

The lady silently folded paper, trying to soothe her melancholy.

“It’s alright, my lady.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“It’s all written on your face.”

“Eeeek…”

The lady clenched her fist in frustration and let out a sigh.

“If it’s tough, tell me.”

“Haha… Yes, I understand.”

“If someone bothers you, tell your father.”

“I will.”

“And…”

The young lady, who had been worrying for a while, exhaled once in the flowing silence and then asked me a question.

“What kind of flower do you like best, Ricardo?”

“Why do you suddenly ask about flowers?”

“Just curious.”

“What about you, miss? What’s your favorite flower?”

Caught off guard by the philosophical question, I chuckled and asked her in return. What flower did she like best?

It wasn’t a question often asked by the miss, who preferred fights over flowers, so I asked with interest.

“Hmm…”

The miss naturally brought her finger to her nostril as she spoke. Of course, I stopped her hand.

“It’s the daisy.”

“Ricardo, nobles aren’t dirty.”

“The head of the household picks his nose too, so there was a reason.”

“Eww… That’s dirty.”

“That’s a lie.”

At the hypocritical statement, I let out a hollow laugh.

“So, what is your favorite flower, miss? The visually pleasing rose? Or the cosmos that blooms brightly in autumn?”

“Hmm…”

The miss shook her head, giving a brief negative answer, and then cautiously opened her mouth.

“I like lilies.”

“Is that your preference?”

“Huh?”

“Perhaps women…”

“I like men.”

With a naive expression, the miss gave a clear answer, and I shook my head, chuckling.

“Still, it’s unlike you to be so romantic. I thought you’d like roses,”

“No, I do like roses, but I prefer lilies. They’re pretty to look at and smell nice. And…”

The miss said with a soft smile.

“The flower language is ‘purity.'”

“That’s the opposite of you.”

“Eeeek!!”

The young lady clenched the paper in her hand, visibly annoyed. As if she might throw it any moment, I waved my hand at her clenched fist and answered the question she spat out. Because I didn’t want to get hit, you see.

“I like canaries.”

“Huh? But they’re so ugly.”

“They’re not ugly. They have a modest beauty.”

“Plain.”

“Hahaha! Just… a quiet flower that doesn’t stand out is pretty, don’t you think? It’s common and can be found anytime.”

“Ricardo, you sound like a student with a middle school syndrome.”

“Do I? I thought I was being quite romantic, but I guess not.”

The young lady pouted her lips and then focused on folding the paper. ‘How do you fold a canary?’ she pondered.

Moved by the young lady’s passion, I smiled softly and called out to her cautiously.

“Excuse me, miss.”

“Hmm?”

“May I ask you a question?”

“Hmm. Don’t make it too hard. I’m dumb and bad at math.”

“I know.”

“Eeek!”

I gave a slight smile at her intense reaction and carefully posed my question.

“It’s about a friend of mine.”

“Ricardo has friends?”

“…Then it’s about someone I don’t know.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s… this friend.”

“Hmm. This friend?”

“Even if you don’t go all the way, what should you do if you have feelings that already have a predetermined answer?”

– Pause.

At the sensitive question, the young lady stopped what she was doing and looked at me.

I had tried to soften my words, but it seemed she had caught on to the content. Her own story. Or the story of someone with a similar experience.

I quickly mumbled and bowed my head. I had been careful, but I had upset her feelings. I apologized for my thoughtlessness.

“I’m sorry.”

“…”

“I must have misspoken.”

“No, it’s okay. That can happen.”

The lady, who had been staring at the paper for quite some time, opened her tightly shut lips and spoke in a low voice.

“Ricardo, you know.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what happens when a person loses their sight?”

“…”

“They can’t see ahead.”

“…”

“Everything turns pitch black, and they can’t see anything. No matter what anyone says, or even if they shout, they can’t hear, and even though they know it’s wrong, they keep going.”

“..”

“And then, when they crash…”

The lady said with a bitter expression.

“It all comes tumbling down.”

I spoke cautiously to the lady, who was wearing a serious expression.

“Miss.”

“Hmm…”

“Don’t take the chocolate out of my pocket.”

“Eeeek!”

Contrary to her words, the lady had sharp instincts.

***

The convenience store at the academy was open again today.

Shuen, hidden behind a pillar, was holding her breath and watching the man sitting at the counter.

“This is serious…”

Shuen was in a crisis.

Watching Ricardo was a big deal, but she was facing a problem that was directly related to her survival.

The time was 12:10 PM.

After the morning classes, during the lunchtime that all students love, Shuen was pacing alone in front of the convenience store.

Lunchtime was torture for Shuen.

For her, lunchtime was the most terrifying time, the time she wished would never come.

Eating alone in the restroom was lonely, after all.

“I left my lunchbox at the dorm…!”

Shuen swallowed her frustration with a growl from her stomach. Rolled omelet with rice, and even stir-fried Vienna sausages. Tears had welled up for leaving such a splendidly prepared lunchbox on her desk.

“Today, of all days, there were Vienna sausages… It’s so unfair!”

Shuen, who received a small allowance due to her father’s policy to instill proper financial values, was sweating coldly as she thought about the lunchbox she hadn’t brought, her hair done up in a bread roll style.

“If I don’t have my lunchbox… I’ll have to skip lunch…!”

Shuen, who had been eating in the restroom for two years, didn’t dare to go to the crowded cafeteria alone.

If she went by herself, surely.

– There she is, eating alone again.

– She says she doesn’t eat commoners’ food, but look at her now? All that pretense of being refined…

– Just leave her, she’s going to eat alone anyway.

Fearing another unpleasant incident, Shuen was desperately praying for the convenience store to empty out as she hid behind a pillar.

“Why are there so many people today…!”

Shuen was hungry.

And then.

‘Hmm.’

Ricardo was pondering.