Spring Blooms 2

Arata got himself ready after school. Today was going to be his first day tending a garden with the gardening club. It could also be the last, seeing as the arrangement was more of an offer for help than a job they needed to take. Of course they'd accept because one of the girls in the club had a crush on him. For some reason, even though they'd probably accept anyway since they seemed to be passionate about gardening. He felt guilty because they mostly joined because someone liked him, and he was well aware of that fact.

However, it was also fun that he'd have some people his own age while working on the garden. While it was nice to chat with Hine, they didn't have all that much in common. She was just willing to listen to him about personal issues that plagued teenagehood.

While the boy was getting himself dressed and grabbing all his tools. There was a knock at the door. When he went to go check on who it was, there Matsu stood before him as the door opened up.

"Hello!" She greeted him in a cheerful mood. The girl had come by because she wanted to walk with him on the way to the old lady's house. Them having a common destination gave her a perfect excuse to come by his place and ask. It wasn't as if he was going to turn down her offer after she made the trip here. "We should go together."

"Sure." He accepted. Not that there was any choice in the matter, nor did he want to hurt her feelings…

That really had been the story of his life over the past year, hasn't it? As they walked, he wondered how things had progressed between the two of them. Somehow, she entered his life after being blackmailed by Erina. Though she had nothing to do with that, or even anything to do with Yogi's group of friends at all. How did she actually become a part of his life in the first place then?

Not that it mattered either way. The important thing was she was now one of his best friends, and not only that, but harbored feelings for him ever since their first meeting. Which just so happened to be when they were children and when he got sent to the hospital trying to protect her.

Personally, the boy felt she shouldn't have a crush on him just because of that. He was simply trying to do the right thing in that moment. Not only that, but his life took a massive shift after the incident and he'd consider himself to be a drastically different person from back then. Though knowing those facts didn't seem to make her budge at her in her love. Perhaps then, her feelings was true?

Though that was another problem for him. Arata was unsure of what was in his heart when her image popped in his head. Shouldn't he feel more nervous around her? They always say that when you like someone, you become a little more self-conscious. It seemed that she had those moment sometimes when with him. Usually because he also got a nice view of her underwear when they hung out. That was admittedly weird how often it occurred.

"So how'd you start realizing that you enjoyed gardening?" He asked, wanting to pass the time as they walked to Hine's home.

"I've always thought flowers were cute…" He waited for her to delve more into detail. However, that was just about it for her backstory. The girl never though heavily into the mechanics of gardening, or how some flowers were the way they were. She simply just grew up in life, thought they looked nice, and when offered to join a club she took the gardening club because of said reason. "What about you?"

"It's not like I enjoy gardening. I do it because I get paid." While her reasoning was shallow, his was just selfish. Since his parents didn't want him spending all their money on his hobby, the boy had to find ways to fund his addiction. So when given the chance to be paid weekly by an elderly woman, he took it without any hesitation. The same went with why he was also the neighborhood babysitter. "I guess to a lot of people, we're just posers."

"I don't know what that means, but does it really matter now?" She countered. What she said next was probably the deepest thing he ever heard her say. Which wasn't a high standard, so what she said in return wasn't all that meaningful either. "The two of us love doing it now, so who cares why we did it in the first place."

"I guess." He halfheartedly agreed. "Though like I said, it's not like I like doing it."

After some walking, they finally reached their destination. It seemed that they were the last ones to arrive as the others from the gardening club were waiting on them. Along with them was also Hine, who had made some tea for everyone as well as some baked treats.

"Yummy!" Matsu said as they dug into the wonderful food. She glowed brightly from the enjoyment of the treats that Hine had made for them. The old lady certainly brought about her years of experience when it came to making things taste as good as they did.

"It's really delicious." Arata was a lot more muted compared to the others when it came to reacting. This was mainly because he was used to enjoying these treats, but also because the boy didn't emote as much as other people. He always was more prim and proper compared to the others who were his age. "We're going to have a lot of people working here, so it should be pretty easy."

In fact, it'd be so easy, he was confident that most of what there were going to be doing was chatting among themselves. Arata was the one who took the lead. As supervisor, he directed each of them to take certain areas of focus to plants more seeds. Also, since he was the one who planted most of the seeds ahead of time, the boy also had to be the one to tell them what each was and what was the best methods to use.

"Wow, you really know what you're doing." Said Yumeho. It was rather impressive that someone like him, who was more or less self-taught, knew as much as he did.

"Yeah, have you ever considered joining the club?" Hanaka set out an open offer. All of the girls would've been glad if he took the offer. Matsu most of all. "Someone like you could definitely teach us a thing or two."

"I think I'll stick to being a part of the go home club." He knew what they were trying to do with this. Not that it matter either way since he was already part of the student council. There would be no time for him to be able to maintain all of his duties if he were to join the club, which would not be allowed for someone in his position.

"Wow, your garden is so wonderful." Matsu complimented the layout, design, and small stems beginning to grow out of the dirt to Hine.

"Oh, you should be singing your praises to Arata." The elderly lady laughed in her reply. "He's the one who's done all the work over the past couple of years." While he would downplay his efforts. The only thing that Hine had realistically done was provide him with some company while he worked, as well as advice whenever it was needed.

"Wow, you really are talented, aren't you?" She then turned her words towards him.

"Honestly, what I'm doing isn't all that special." Everyone always told him how good of a job he did with the garden. Arata never felt that there was any talent or born skills that he was using when it came to this. All the boy ever did was look up things on his phone or computer to find out what the best practices were according to all the gardening blogs that existed. "If anything, I should be thanking you girls for the help today."

"Bah, shy teens and their need to credit everyone but themselves." Hine poked fun at him. Even though the boy would never call himself shy. She certainly viewed him as more reserved than an average person. The way she looked at him, she would be glad to call him grandson if they were actually related. If he were to get married to Hifumi, that would be the case. However, as she always said, he should be the one deciding where his heart laid. And he should never do it for the sake of anyone but himself.

Which is why his indecisive nature was one she disagreed with when it came to love. In her mind, he was simply holding back because he didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Chances were, there was a girl in his heart that he truly loved. This was the reason why she gave him that ring, as the woman was confident that the one for him was already a part of the group of friends he had built up over the past year. Perhaps, the fortunately young girl was already with them in this moment.

"Looks like we're about done here." Said Arata as he peered over their work. The seeds were still in their early process of sprouting. So he wasn't going to need to show up to maintain it until next week. Until then, all that needed to be done was Hine watering the plants just a bit each day. Something that could be easily managed even at her current age. "So we'll be leaving soon."

"Aww…" It was disappointing for Matsu to hear. So far, they hadn't done all that much together yet. She was hoping for a moment with just him and her to get that finalized chance for her to get him to really fall for her. Fortunately, it seemed that Hine was prepared for this.

"Actually, there are some other things you can all do."

"Really? What would that be?"

"Well, I told my friends that you would be bringing along a group to help tend to my garden." The elderly trio seemed to love the idea so much, that they were going to be showing up at around this time when it seemed the teens were done with Hine's garden.

"Hey, it's nice to see you again young man!" Suddenly, as if on cue, an old man showed up behind Arata and gave the boy a big bear hug. Of course, this was Gouzaburou, who was still as strong as he was when the man was young.

"Hello, it's nice to see each other again." There was also Asasuzu who walked up in front of him. With her was another familiar sight.

"Hey." Monju, who sounded very unenthusiastic to see him again.

"It's…" Arata struggled to speak as he was being squeezed tightly by the old man. "It's… Nice to see you too."