Say it with Flowers

"Mezurashii jyan, Minami-buchou… so you really are going to go to the flower shop!?"

Smiling, Minami Kentarou replied his always-lucky-teammate calmly, "Yup! My mom is sick, so I think buying her flowers will cheer her up a bit."

"You're so kind, Minami-buchou," Sengoku chuckled. "How lucky your mom is!"

"Ah iya iya iya…" Minami replied shyly.

"Sasuga desu! Minami-buchou wa kakkoii desu!" the first-year-member of Yamabuki Tennis Club, Dan Taichi added.

"Arigatou, Dan-kun," Minami scratched his spiky head. "Well, I shall be going now. See you all tomorrow!"

"Minami," Higashikata smiled. "Would you like me to accompany you?"

"Ah, no problem, I can do it by myself. See you tomorrow," Minami replied kindly.

His teammates bade goodbye to him. Seeing they have faded from his sight, he turned his back and walked to his destination.

**********

"Hmm… let's see… Which one shall I choose?" Minami pondered as he burbled to himself. His eyes shifted their sight more than ten times. There were too many beautiful flowers that he couldn't pick just one. A jingling sound suddenly attracted his attention. Apparently, it came from the bell on the bracelet of the florist. Looking up, an idea struck Minami. "Umm, excuse me!" he called out. Yup, he was going to get a help from the florist.

The jingling sound continued to tap about on Minami's ear. "Yes? May I help you?"

"Uh… well, I'm searching for a flower… but I don't understand flower language… I'm afraid the one whom I give flower to will be offended in case she understands the language of flowers…"

"I see," the florist smiled warmly. "To whom are you going to give the flower to?"

"To my mom, she's sick currently, so I think… giving her flowers will make her cheer up a bit."

"Hee, you're so nice. Let's see… hinagiku?" she handed Minami the flower she meant. Yes, it was the daisy. "Hinagiku means devoted love, faith, or enlivenment."

Minami chuckled. "Devoted love… well, I'll always love my mom anyway. Okay then! Can you arrange these flowers into pleasant bouquet please?"

"Sure thing!"

In a short period of time, the bouquet was all set and very decent-looking.

"That's awesome, you did the bouquet in like… five minutes, and it ended up very impressive…" Minami stared at the gorgeous bouquet he held on his hand. He extracted his wallet from his pocket and handed the exact amount of money stated as the price.

"Hmm?" just noticing the tennis uniform that Minami wore, the girl reacted. "Isn't that… Yamabuki Tennis Club uniform?"

"Eh? You know?"

"Of course, I'm also schooled at Yamabuki."

"Sou ka."

"Then… who are you? The manager… or the main team member?"

Minami coughed lightly as he replied, "I'm the captain, Minami Kentarou."

"Are? So the captain isn't Sengoku-san?"

"…erm, yeah, I'm the captain."

"Hmm," seeing Minami's quite offended face, the girl quickly apologized, "I'm sorry!"

Letting out a bitter laugh, Minami shook his head. "It's okay. I'm used to it anyway. Oh yeah… what's your name?"

"I'm ," the girl beamed. "Sorry, but I didn't mean to offend you just then… it's just that, I thought Sengoku-san is…"

"No, it's okay. No problem, really!"

"Um… really?"

"Yeah."

"Umm… okay. Hmm, so your name is… Minami Kentarou ne? I thought I've heard that name somewhere…"

"Somewhere?"

"Ah! Sou sou… you're one of the Jimis, right?!"

Like being jolted by the enormous lightning, that sentence stabbed Minami through his heart. In a split second, his face turned pale. "…that's… right."

Realizing she had just offended Minami again, she gave him another apology, which was of course, was replied kindly by Minami.

"-san, you sure know tennis club quite a bit… do you like to watch tennis match?"

blinked. "Ah, yeah, I quite like tennis. Although I'm not really good at it… but I enjoy watching my cousin playing it."

"Oh, he's good at it?"

"I believe he has been on your tennis club, but now he has left. He easily gets bored."

"Wait… you mean, he has been in Yamabuki Tennis Club?"

"Yeah. Akutsu Jin. You sure know him, right?"

"A… Akutsu ka…" Minami blinked. "Too bad he left. He's a very good player—actually quite determined. He always hides his feelings, though."

"Jin is always like that… he hates to lose, too, hence he left the club, right?"

"Yeah, he was defeated by the freshman of Seigaku."

"Seigaku… I heard that their tennis club is very strong."

"Indeed. It has beaten Hyoutei too."

"Yeah, that's right! Did you see the match?"

"Yeah, I did. You did too?"

"Indirectly. a friend of mine at Hyoutei took a video record on every interesting tennis match so that I can see it. It was such an imperial match, ne?"

"Yeah, it was. Why should your friend take a video recording?"

"Because of this," she pointed at the flowers around her with her thumb. "Since I'm busy with school and this part-time job, I hardly can watch tennis match. But I enjoy working here with flowers, and my friend offered to give me a video recording of the tennis matches. So I agreed."

"Quite hard huh, memorizing the meaning of every flower?"

"Not really, so long as you like it, you'll memorize it in a speedy rate."

"Excuse me," seemingly another customer had come.

"I'll talk to you later ne, Minami-kun! I have to help the customer out," winked.

Blinking several times, Minami nearly didn't believe that has just winked to him. After a short pause, he quickly replied, "No problem, I'm going home now anyway. See you at school, -san."

"See you too!"

The door flung open and Minami left the memorable flower shop. It was the flower shop where Minami has decided to go to whenever he wanted to buy flowers.

**********

"I'm home," Minami after closing the front door, he strolled to his mom's room.

A dazzling bouquet of flowers peeked on the side of Minami's mom's door room. His mother stared at the bouquet, puzzled.

"Kaasan, get well soon, ne?" Minami slowly slid the door open and handed his mom the bouquet.

Being touched by what her first son did for her, a cheerful smile formed at her lips. "Thank you, Kentarou. I'm very pleased. It's lovely."

"My pleasure, Kaasan." Minami paused for a while, staring at his mother, and finally continued, "Ne, Kaasan! Do you understand flower's language?"

"No… do you?"

"Yes, but only this one," Minami pointed at the bouquet which was being held by his mother. "This means devoted love or enlivenment. I want you to cheer up a bit and to show my love to you."

"That's so sweet, Kentarou!" his mom messed Minami's head softly.

Minami replied with a gentle smile.

**********

"Minami-buchou, how's your mom?" Muromachi tilted his head.

Minami gave him a smile. "She's all fine. I think she's getting better now."

"Glad to hear that!"

"Thank you!" being engrossed with his happy feeling for someone did care about him; Minami didn't realize the other person who was trying to get his attention by tapping him on his back.

"Uh, Minami-buchou…" Muromachi pointed at his back.

"N?" Minami turned his back. "-san!?"

"Hello! I forgot to give you the change yesterday. Here you go," handed him an amount of money.

"Eh? But didn't I pay with the exact price…?" Minami blinked.

was rather amused with Minami's confusion. "You did pay the exact price for the normal price. But, I gave you a special discount. This is also a form of apology!"

"I did tell you that it's really okay, didn't I?"

"But your face didn't show that it's really okay, Minami-kun! Now now, just receive the money!" smiled.

Before Minami could reject the money, another voice emerged. "Oooh! Why is there a girl here? Ara... -chan!?" the lucky-star Sengoku grinned widely. "What are you doing with our captain? You paid an amount of money to him? What for?" after every question, Sengoku's grin grew wider which made Muromachi and Minami went all pale.

chuckled. "It's nothing like that, Sengoku-san. I only gave him the change."

"Change?" Sengoku flickered.

"Yeah, I bought a bouquet of flowers at her place, and she was giving me the change," Minami explained. "She gave me a special discount. Now, are you envious?"

"Eeh! you're such a lucky person, Minami-buchou!" Sengoku poked Minami playfully.

"Mou, that was supposed to be a secret! Oh well…" let out her trademark chuckle.

Minami took a glance at . She indeed has a cute smile and an unexpected person…

"Are? Our captain is staring at -chan, ka?" Sengoku plastered his grin back to his face again.

"I didn't!" Minami quickly strangled Sengoku to hide his blush.

chortled. "Okay then, I have to leave now. See you guys!"

Sengoku and Minami replied with a nod.

"So, Minami-buchou, tell me tell me, you have the feelings for -chan?" Sengoku gently nudged his buchou with his elbow.

"I do not!" Minami blushed even more. "Stop talking stupid, let's just start the practice!"

"Che. Minami-buchou sucks," Sengoku murmured.

Prickly eyes were aimed at him. "You said something?"

"No—nothing! I only said, let's practice!"

**********

Minami furrowed his eyebrows together. How can that Sengoku said that I like -san? That's not even funny even though it's a joke! I… don't even know if I do like her.

"Oi Minami! Concentrate on the ball!" Higashikata's voice abruptly broke Minami's contemplation.

"A—" the ball hopped in easily.

"15-0!" Dan Taichi called out as the referee. "Minami-buchou, don't lose your concentration!"

Minami blinked. "A… aa, sorry, Higashikata."

"Don't mind," Higashikata replied with a nod.

Minami just realized that he was having a single practice match with Higashikata.

"I'm sure Minami-buchou is thinking about -chan!" Sengoku pulled his leg again.

"-chan? Who is that, Minami?" Higashikata raised his eyebrow.

"Don't even think about it, Higashikata."

"But I want to know!"

"Come on, don't lose your concentration, let's continue the practice match between us," another flush covered Minami's cheeks. He couldn't do anything about it, so he decided to ignore it and serve the tennis ball. "Sore--"

**********

Minami gently wiped the sweat which rolled continuously from his head and body with his usual towel. "Good thing we have stopped playing, I guess the match would never end if we kept continue it, Higashikata."

"I agree. We always tie every time we do single match against each other."

Minami nodded as he took his water bottle.

"So, who is that -chan person? I'm getting more and more curious!"

"I don't know…" Minami rolled his eyes. He was too lazy to tell his doubles partner about the girl because he might get picked on again. "Sengoku kept teasing me about her although I only knew her yesterday at the flower shop…"

"Oh, so she is a florist?"

"Yeah, she helped me to pick the right flower for my mom."

"…and you like her?"

"Na—" that word has been ringing in his ears all day that day and kept making his face redden. People even thought he would explode anytime. "It's nothing like that…"

"I see, so it's something like that."

"It's not!"

"Well, I'm telling you the truth."

Minami bit his lips as he diverted his view to the clock nearby. "Okay everyone, today's practice has finished! You may go home now!" he said as he stood up. He didn't want to reply to Higashikata's statement nor continue the conversation about that. "Let's go home, Higashikata."

Higashikata reluctantly replied, "…aa."

**********

Higashikata glanced to Minami several times. He was waiting for Minami to tell him about that girl more. Not that he was attracted to that girl or something, but Minami usually would tell him if he had a problem and stuff. Weirdly, this time Minami said nothing and they were completely soundless during their walk back home.

"Minami," Higashikata patted Minami's back.

Minami let out an unusual reflex. "Ha—hai!?" apparently he was daydreaming thus he was really shocked when Higashikata patted his back gently.

That was definitely weird, Higashikata sighed. "Come on, Minami… tell me, what was in your mind. You're acting oddly today."

"Nothing, nothing really," Minami tried to convince him.

Higashikata was totally incredulous about that. "I don't believe you."

Every effort of Minami of dragging him onto another conversation, no result came out. He couldn't do anything other than telling Higashikata the truth.

Just like Seigaku's Golden Pair, Yamabuki's D1 also has their favorite place. So, they decided to change their destination to their favorite spot.

**********

"I myself still am unsure about this feeling. I just think she's cute and nice, that's all. But I kept thinking of her," Minami stated, flustered.

Higashikata took a glimpse at Minami. True, he could see Minami's anxiety on his face. "Well, everything starting yesterday was really unusual. It was all started from your visit to the flower shop…"

"Indeed. I don't know what to do now. I don't think I can talk to her well now. Just now when she came, I was still okay. Now that Sengoku kept mocking me, I am apparently influenced with that and became like this."

"Well, what did you talk about with her yesterday that you think she's kind and stuff? You can't judge books from their cover. What if she is not really nice?"

"…I think she is nice. She always smiles and helpful, also talks nicely to people. She never gets angry when people tease her."

"I see… but then, you are the buchou of Yamabuki Tennis Club, right? I'm sure you can do something with this matter. If you can't solve a simple matter like this, you won't be able to solve something more complex than this.

Minami took a deep breath and exhaled it. "…you're right. If I think calmly and carefully, I found a way to handle this situation. It's actually simple."

"See? You can do it if you are being your own self. Think carefully and calmly, and you'll find it. Remember our match with Seigaku's golden pair?"

"Un, what about it?"

"You are always calm and never been distracted with whatever your opponent says. Like that time Kikumaru spoke something about kuma daigorou, and I was easily lose my concentration, while you didn't mind about what they were saying and kept concentrating on the match, telling me not to think about it. That's the Minami I know."

Minami smiled. "Thanks, Higashikata. Good thing I finally gave in and told you about this matter."

"You know you can't solve a problem without telling me about it first."

"Hey hey... but you said that I can solve a problem if I think carefully and calmly..."

"You won't think carefully and calmly if you haven't told me anything."

"That's… right."

Higashikata grinned. "Now, do as the way that you've found."

"Of course!"

**********

"I'll buy this book. And this red ribbon, please."

"100 yen and this book will be yours. The red ribbon would be 40 yen."

"Here. Thank you."

**********

"Yaa, -san."

"Minami-kun, good afternoon!" Another beam flashed towards Minami.

Aikawarazu na… Minami formed a smile as he walked to a certain flower. He took a bunch of the certain kind of flower and coiled the stem with the red ribbon. "Here you go, -san. And this is the money."

"Eh!?" stared at the untidy bouquet of yellow roses that was handed to her.

"Yellow rose can mean friendship, and can also mean jealousy. But in this case, it means friendship. If it's possible, I want to be your friend."

"Umm… isn't this too much… like, we are friends already! So so…" started to blush. She had never received a bouquet of flowers from a guy but her father. So Minami was the second guy to give her a bouquet of flowers.

"Well, umm… I know, but I want to express it in the flower language…"

"How did you know about flower language?"

A tiny book dropped out from Minami's pocket. "A—"

laughed. "So you're learning with this book only for this? Minami-kun, you are too kind."

"Well," Minami formed a smirk. "I am nice to certain people only."

"Eh?" blushed even more. She let out a sentence to hide her nervousness, "we… well, I think we'll get along together just fine."

Minami scratched his head. "I guess so."

"I'll teach you more about flower language, I promise."

"Thank you," Minami chuckled. His sight suddenly switched to the pamphlet nearby the cashier. "…oh, you're searching for a part-time worker?"

"Yup, that way I can watch tennis match sometimes."

"I see. Then I'm applying."

"Eh?"

"Well, since we're friends, I'll help you out."

"I'm glad to hear that but…"

"But?"

"What if you have a tennis match?"

"Well I'll—"

"Actually… the tennis match I want to see is your tennis match."

"Eh? But you said you didn't even know me in the first place before…"

"That's true, but …after knowing you; I want to see your match with my own eyes. I want to cheer for you, so that people would know that you're not exactly jimi…"

This definitely brought about laughter from Minami. "Okay then. I'll help you to find another person to take care of the store when it's my tennis match."

"Really?"

"Sure! But really, why do you suddenly want to cheer me on and stuff although we just known each other since yesterday? You sound like my fan, you know."

"What's that… fine, I don't want to see your match anymore!"

"Come on, that's not what I mean," Minami laughed even more. "I mean like, your situation is actually pretty much the same with me, because… I… truthfully… uh…" he started to stutter.

chuckled. "Well I guess, since our situation are just the same, we'll just help… each other?"

"Eh… you mean, you're going to help me with flower language? And I help you in tennis?"

headpalmed. "Well… Yeah. That."

"Sou ka," Minami smiled. After processing her actions on his slow-in-love-things-brain, he asked again, "you really mean that?"

"Actually no…" giggled. "But I won't tell you."

"What?"

"I will tell you after you master all the flower languages."

"Eh, I'm getting curious…"

"Who cares," stuck out her tongue and grinned. Taking out a form from the drawer, she said, "Maa, fill up this form and..."

Minami cut her sentence. "Ne -san…"

"Yes?"

"I'll try to say something with flowers."

could only stare at that guy, approaching bunch of flowers, taking some and turned his back, facing her. Her eyes were widened in shock and she finally burst out laughing.

"Eh? What? This flower means success, right? I want to express that we have to be succeeded in this mission of learning the flower language…"

"Minami-kun, this is white poppy. The one which means success is yellow poppy! White poppy means sleep!" chuckled. "Anyway, I think this means you'll need a long time to know the continuation of my sentence earlier."

"Alright then, I shall memorize everything then as soon as possible!"

"Eh? What for?"

"To know the continuation of your sentence," Minami smiled firmly, to hide his nervousness.

Silence filled the empty store at that time while they stared at each other nervously.

"Oh, the tennis practice will start soon, I'll start working tomorrow, so see you tomorrow!" he quickly left the store. Clearly, he wanted to hide his embarrassment.

headed to the bunch of roses, and took one of the red roses. "Minami-kun, when the time comes, I will give you this." Putting it back to the place, smiled. "I'll wait until you can say it with flowers."

##########

August 15, 2007
Written by: Sakube Yamu
Edited by: Aoku