12 Roses

5 | The Art of Not Knowing

You dropped your arms as you and Tsumiki exhausted every story you could possibly tell to each other about your day, from your crazy home room teacher to the fly that wouldn't stop buzzing around her ear in second period.

Now that you thought about it, you didn't know why you were being so dramatic about going to a different school. It was just a couple of hours apart.

"So, thankfully you found a group that you could communicate with quickly," Tsumiki said, grinning.

"Admit it, you're jealous."

"Yes, endlessly."

You laughed and turned to her from your seat on the bench. She smiled at you and sighed. "Crazy that this is the first time we aren't in the same school."

You nodded and glanced at the street, where familiar cars drove by, stopping at stop signs that had been there since before you were born and had begun to grow plants at their base that had gotten used to their presence.

The people walking through the street, knowing full well that the two girls seated at the bench under the second tree to the right of tree third tea shop had known each other since they were five, that they were inseparable, that there was not one misunderstood word shared between you.

Being at that school, where people would never glance in your direction, where your closest friend could make or break you, where you knew no one, it was all new.

New...

It was not a place where they "always did." Perhaps people were always sitting at the same table or wearing the same uniform, but they didn't always come into school at exactly 7:30 in the morning, nor did the scent of the lunch food drift into the hallways do so at exactly 11:30.

It was strange.

Strange to not look out the window and know exactly whose care was whose. Strange to not know exactly what someone was going to say when they approached. Strange to not pass the same people as you left.

But at the same time... it wasn't all that bad.

•••

You sat at the counter of the flower shop, watching people go by through the window until you spotted your teacher walking towards the store, except he didn't quite look like your teacher. He had to be at least ten years younger and wearing a uniform very similar to yours.

You, without even a thought, picked up your hearing aid that sat on the counter and placed it in your ear.

He walked through the door and you furrowed your brow confused as he walked towards the counter rather than perusing the flowers. He slammed 100 000 yen on the table and asked, "How do you passively aggressively say, 'I killed your dad' in flower?"

•••

You woke up to the sound of your alarm and you scratched your head. That was weird.

It wasn't like you knew what Gojo looked like when he was younger, but it was definitely him - the round glasses, the white hair, and even though he was certainly shorter, you could tell he'd grow to the obnoxiously tall man he was.

You tried to block out the last thing he said, but it kept repeating in your head. It made no sense but it wouldn't cease.

Why would you even get flowers with such a message anyway?

You rubbed your eyes and began getting ready for school, remembering that you would be seeing that exact teacher that day. Now that you thought about it, though, he did seem like the type to ask for such an outlandish bouquet.