Haruhiko was probably warning her because of Okubo’s bad-mouthing. But what were Okubo’s real intentions? If she had kept her feelings to herself out of consideration for Meguro, would she have distanced herself like this? The only reason I can think of is...

  “What if Okubo didn’t realize she was in love until you started going out with him?”

  “That’s possible,” said Kaori.

  “Do you think so? She wasn’t lying and stepping back for my sake, she simply didn’t realize her feelings until later?” Meguro murmured, furrowing her brow.

  “I think that could be it,” replied Kaori. “If that’s the case, it’s not your fault. It’s not Okubo’s fault either, of course. Isn’t that why she wanted to distance herself?”

  Meguro nodded with a bitter expression on her face. “Yeah... I’ve been with Okubo for a long time, and I believed that we’d always be together, but now that it’s come to this, maybe it’s time to move on,” she said as if trying to persuade herself. Then she looked at us and said, “Thanks, and sorry for the weird request. If Okubo wasn’t backing off for my sake, then I can feel a bit better. But thinking about her feelings still makes my heart ache...”

  We didn’t know what to say in response to her listless smile, nor did we have any idea that Okubo had been listening to our conversation outside the classroom.

  11

  It was the day before the Demachi Masugata shopping street festival.

  “Tomorrow’s the day, huh? Do your best,” Holmes said cheerfully from the other end of the phone.

  “Thanks. It was already a lot of work today, though.” I shrugged.

  “Oh, did you arrange the flowers today?”

  “Yes,” I said, impressed that he knew. Today, we had gone to the cafe to create the flower arrangements and set up the exhibit.

  “Can you show me what you made?” he asked. He wouldn’t be able to come to the event because of work.

  “I’ll show you the picture tomorrow. That’s when the exhibit is, after all.”

  “What?” he replied in a disappointed voice.

  I giggled. “Oh, right, I wanted to show you Okubo’s work. I’ll send it now.”

  “All right. But still...” He sighed. “I’m surprised that Akihito’s younger brother, Haruhiko, is Meguro’s boyfriend.”

  “Yeah. They say it’s a small world, but Kyoto is especially small.”

  “So what did Okubo make?”

  “I just sent it. When I saw her flowers and poem, I understood how she really felt.”

  Okubo’s piece was made up of light purple flowers called misebaya, or the October Daphne. They were connected by the stems, forming the shape of a necklace. The poem she had chosen was:

  “I wish to show you, for even the sleeves of the fishermen of Ojima, battered by the waves, do not change color.” — Inbumon’in no Taifu

  It was a sorrowful poem that meant, “I wish to show you my kimono sleeve, which has changed color from the bitter tears I shed thinking about you. Even the sleeves of the fishermen of Matsushima’s Ojima Island do not change color when wet by the waves.” The first part, “I wish to show you,” was read as “misebaya”—matching the flowers Okubo had used.

  “Okubo really is suffering from her love...” So much that her sleeve would change color from her tears. “Meguro went pale when she read the poem. It was hard for her to stomach.”

  I heaved a sigh, but Holmes said nothing.

  “Holmes?”

  “The poem doesn’t match the flowers.”

  “Huh?”

  “Aoi, it’s possible that...”

  His words made my eyes widen in disbelief.

  12

  The next day was the day of the event. We were to arrive early in the morning to get ready. As I entered the Demachi Masugata shopping street, I saw that it was decorated with colorful banners and triangular flags. This arcade was smaller than the one at Teramachi-Sanjo, so it had a more local feel to it. As usual, the large welcome signs and the chalkboards with cute drawings on them filled me with energy. Since it was a Setsubun festival, the street was lined with stalls and there were large oni masks.

  In our space, one corner was dedicated to benches covered with red cloth, displaying a vermilion umbrella and a dazzling furisode kimono from Miyashita Kimono Fabrics. Our flower arrangements were lined up on a long table along the wall covered in a black tablecloth. The flower-shaped desserts made by the Japanese sweets club had arrived, so we put a sign out front that said “Flower, Poetry, and Matcha Cafe” and opened up the shop. Our friends and acquaintances stopped by as well as shoppers visiting the arcade.

  “It’s so nice that you matched the arrangements to poems,” said one visitor.

  “They go perfectly with the poems,” said another.

  I was glad that the theme of the exhibit got them to look more closely at the works. One of the second-years, Osaki, had chosen a poem by Shikibu Izumi:

  “Lost in thought, I cannot but look at the sky, though my beloved shall not come falling from the heavens.”

  Osaki had said that she didn’t have a boyfriend, but there must’ve been someone she liked. Her arrangement used tall flowers that looked like they were reaching for the sky.

  The other second-year, Shibuya, who did have a boyfriend, had followed her plan of choosing a poem by Akiko Yosano:

  “I long for you when I sleep and when I wake, when I comb my raven hair, when I gaze at the handle of my writing brush.”

  It was a passionate love poem that you wouldn’t expect from a heartwarming couple. She had used flowers with deep colors such as red and purple to create an impactful arrangement. When her boyfriend came, he started out with a relaxed laugh, saying, “I don’t know much about flowers or poetry, but it’s pretty.” But as soon as he read the explanation of the archaic language and realized it meant “my thoughts are always filled with you,” he went bright red. It was so sweet that it made Kaori and me giggle.

  Meguro, the vice president, had chosen a poem by Takashina no Takako:

  “’Tis difficult for the words ‘I will never forget you’ to last ’til the distant future, thus do I wish my life would end today having heard them.”

  It was a poem about the uncertainty of love: “I’m very happy to hear you say that you will never forget me, but no one knows what will happen in the distant future, so I would rather die with this happiness.” Her arrangement consisted of ivy and a single rose. It expressed the passion of love and how the happiness of the present brings forth feelings of uncertainty about the future.

  Kaori and I were both startled when Haruhiko arrived. Meguro had a tense look on her face because she was conscious of Okubo’s feelings, but her boyfriend’s visit proceeded without issue. Okubo greeted him but said nothing else, and he didn’t say anything to her either.

  “It’s hard to look at Okubo,” Kaori murmured wistfully. “Unrequited love is painful, isn’t it?”

  I looked at Okubo, who was hanging her head, and nodded in agreement. It was cruel that she had to be in the same place as the person whose love had come true.

  “Aoi, Kaori,” a voice called out, startling us out of our listless mood.

  I blinked in surprise. “You came to visit, Manager?”

  “Yes, I wanted to see your flower arrangements,” he said gently before shifting his attention to my best friend. “Hello, Kaori.”

  “H-Hello, thank you very much for coming.” Her face was bright red and her eyes were spinning.

  She must be really surprised.

  Suddenly, she raised her head and pointed at her work. “U-Um, this one is mine.”

  The manager looked down at it with great interest. “This is...a poem by Ono no Komachi, I see.” He glanced at my poem and tilted his head. “Aoi’s seems to be Ono no Komachi too. Did you pick matching ones on purpose?”

  “Oh, no, it was just a coincidence,” answered Kaori.

  Kaori and I had happened to choose the same poet, but our poems were different. Hers was:

  “Yearning has exhausted me, so I wish to sleep a little. I may meet him in my dreams; if not, I may at least forget.”

  “It conveys a sad but endearing love,” remarked the manager. “And this arrangement fits the poem perfectly,” he added, looking at the green-based arrangement of snowdrops and globe thistles with a gentle smile. “It makes me think of a sigh of love. It’s very nice.”

  Kaori blushed to the point where her ears turned red, said a quiet “Thanks,” and lowered her head.

  The manager then looked at my piece and exclaimed, “Oh! Yours is lovely too, Aoi. Kiyotaka would be overjoyed if he saw it.”

  “He can’t come, so I was going to take a picture and send it to him. It’s kind of embarrassing, though.” It was an embodiment of my own feelings of love, after all.

  “Oh, don’t say that. You should send it since he’s working so hard in an unfamiliar place. That’s right, shall we pay Kotani Brewery a visit sometime?”

  “Okay.”

  After that, more guests came and enjoyed the tea and sweets, looked at the flowers and poetry, and left in a relaxed mood. The festival event at Demachi Masugata wasn’t a roaring success, but it was quite well received, so we were very satisfied as we began to clean up. Just as I picked up my flower arrangement, getting ready to leave—

  “Aoi,” came a nostalgic voice from behind me.

  I turned around in surprise and saw Holmes wearing a down jacket over his work clothes.

  “I slipped out during the evening break,” he explained as he walked up to me, sounding out of breath. “Is the exhibit over already?”

  “Whoa, isn’t Aoi’s boyfriend really cool?” remarked Osaki, her eyes wide open.

  “Yeah, what a surprise!” Shibuya agreed, equally shocked.

  Feeling embarrassed, I walked towards Holmes, meeting him halfway. “The cafe is closed, but I haven’t put away my work yet. Here it is,” I said, turning around and pointing at it.

  “This is yours...” He stood next to me and looked down at my display piece.

  The poem I had chosen was:

  “Perhaps he appeared in my dream because I fell asleep thinking of him. If I had known it was a dream, I would not have woken up.”

  I had created what was called a box flower arrangement, where the flowers were laid out in a box. I had used flowers that were light colors such as pink and white to give off the impression of a bed and dreams. I thought it was a perfect poem for me since Holmes had often been appearing in my dreams of late.

  He continued to stare at my flowers, not saying a word.

  “I think it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself,” I said, laughing to cover up my embarrassment.

  “This is unfair. It’s just too sweet,” he muttered. I looked up and saw that his face was bright red and he was covering his mouth with his hand.

  “Unfair?” My eyes widened.

  The club members, who had been watching us, all burst out into laughter and said:

  “It’s okay, you can hug her.”

  “Yeah, we’ll turn the other way.”

  “Really, you can do whatever you want.”

  “Thank you,” said Holmes. It didn’t seem like he had the slightest intention of holding back.

  I stiffened. “No, you can’t. Not in a place like this. We can hold hands at most.” I took his hand in mine and realized it was ice cold. I looked up at him in shock. “Your hand is freezing.”

  “Oh, I borrowed a scooter and rushed here from Fushimi. I was in such a hurry that I forgot to put on gloves.”

  “Thank you for going to that much effort. It really does feel like ice...” I wrapped my hands around his cold hand and rubbed it, trying to warm it up.

  “See, this is what I’m talking about. Could you stop doing these things?”

  He seemed genuinely bothered, so I immediately let go and apologized.

  “No, I didn’t mean I wanted you to stop now. Just...don’t do these things for any other guys, all right? You absolutely mustn’t.” He squeezed my hands again.

  “Sure...”

  “I should put my work away too,” Okubo spoke up. “Thanks so much, everyone. I can retire in peace now.”

  We bowed and thanked her back, but all of us had sad expressions on our faces.

  Meguro looked at Okubo’s work and winced in pain. “I’m sorry, Okubo. This is how you feel, isn’t it?”

  The club president shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize. If anything, it should be me. I was jealous and told Kajiwara that I couldn’t recommend you. I’m really sorry, and I wish you two happiness.” She offered a handshake.

  Meguro bit her lip and took her hand with tears in her eyes. Okubo was still smiling, but I could tell that she was holding back tears of her own. It was too painful to watch, so I looked away.

  “I see that Meguro still believes she and Okubo fell in love with the same person,” Holmes whispered.

  I nodded in silence. Meguro thought that Okubo liked Haruhiko too...but the flowers probably revealed the truth. I looked at the light purple misebaya flowers in Okubo’s arrangement and recalled what Holmes had said last night.

  “Aoi, this flower arrangement might hold another meaning.”

  “Huh?” I blinked.

  “Misebaya flowers have another name that means ‘string of jewels,’ referring to a necklace. Don’t you think that name fits this arrangement perfectly?”

  I looked at Okubo’s flowers again. They did look like a necklace, with the round flowers as jewels and the green stems connecting them as the string.

  There was a love poem that began with a string of jewels:

  “O string of jewels, if it shall end, then let it end. If it does not, I fear my endurance shall weaken.”

  The string of jewels was a metaphor for the thread of life, so the poem meant: “This life of mine, if it shall end, then let it end. If I continue to live any longer, I may not be able to keep hiding my love for you.” It was a poem about enduring love, written by Princess Shokushi, the daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa.

  A hidden love that must be kept secret no matter what...

  Okubo had decided to distance herself from Meguro because Meguro had a boyfriend. That much was certain. It was also a fact that she was upset and wanted to prevent them from dating, which had resulted in her saying bad things about Meguro to Haruhiko. But the person Okubo was in love with wasn’t Haruhiko.

  I subtly looked over at Okubo, who had her hand on Meguro’s shoulder. She smiled as if trying to comfort the girl.

  A secret love that could never be revealed—because doing so would put the person she loved in a tough spot and hurt her feelings. It could result in their precious memories of the past being denied...but still, she chanted her love, hiding it behind the misebaya flowers.

  “I can’t stay by your side any longer, because I won’t be able to keep hiding my love for you.” Those were her secret feelings towards Meguro that she could never say aloud.

  As I started to hang my head, Holmes tightened his grip on my hand.

  After leaving the cafe, I walked hand in hand with Holmes down the shopping street to see him off since he was going back to Fushimi.

  “Thank you so much for coming even though you were so busy,” I said, looking up at him.

  He shook his head and replied, “No, I came because I wanted to, and I’m glad I did. I was moved by your work.” He placed a hand on his chest.

  “Thank you. By the way, who did you borrow the scooter from?”

  “It’s Kota’s.”

  “Kota... That reminds me, I heard from Haruhiko that Kota had a painful love in the past.”

  “A painful love?”

  “Yes.”

  I recounted everything Haruhiko had told me about five years ago, when Kota had confessed that he’d fallen in love with someone he wasn’t allowed to.

  Holmes’s response was simply, “I see...”

  “I guess everyone’s suffering from love, not just Okubo.”

  “Indeed, to the point where people today can still relate to poems written in the Heian period. Love has been swaying people’s emotions in every direction since ancient times.”

  I gave a silent nod.

  “The Ono no Komachi poem you chose made me really happy. It was like receiving a love letter. I think I’ll be motivated to work harder for a while.”

  Hearing him bring the poem up again made me blush.

  “Oh, I should give you a response poem while I’m here.”

  “Huh?” I looked up at him.

  “There’s one that perfectly matches how I’m feeling right now.” He held an index finger up to his mouth and grinned mischievously.

  13

  After borrowing Kota’s scooter to rush to Demachiyanagi during the evening break, Kiyotaka quickly returned to Fushimi.

  “Thank you for lending me your scooter,” he said, dropping by the break room.

  Mizuki shook her head. “It’s okay.” She giggled. “You’re like a real-life prince, rushing over during your short break for your girlfriend’s sake.”

  “No, I didn’t rush over for her sake. It was for my own sake.”

  Mizuki gaped, as did the other workers who had been listening to them while eating.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “For instance, let’s say your favorite idol was holding an event in Demachiyanagi and you rushed there during the evening break because you thought you could make it in time. That would be for your sake, not the idol’s, right? I desperately wanted to see Aoi’s work, so I went there for me. Saying it was for her is like glorifying my actions, so it makes me feel bad.” He really did seem a bit guilty, which made the others burst out laughing.

  “You’re an unusual guy, Yagashira. So, did you bring her a bouquet of flowers?”

  “No, I didn’t have time for that. I could only give her a response poem.”

 

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