That person who had taken such good care of you was leaving this city. That single fact had been settling in the depths of your chest like sediment since morning. You had decided that, at the very least, you would hand them a bouquet as a token of your gratitude. Or so you thought.

However, what you were faced with at the florist you had reserved was the heartless news of an "out of stock" item. Logistics trouble. The words of the clerk, who bowed repeatedly, passed straight through your ears, which were driven by impatience. Only the sound of the second hand ticking on the wall clock echoed with peculiar loudness. Thirty minutes left until departure.

"...Is there anything else available right now?"

At your strained question, the clerk's gaze drifted in confusion. They said they could rush something together with the flowers currently available, but it wouldn't be a satisfactory result. If you were going to give something incomplete, perhaps it would be better to have nothing at all. Such resignation crossed your mind, and in the end, you left the shop without anything in hand.

The spring sunlight is ironically peaceful. On the road leading to the station, your feet stop amidst the crowd. Time is being shaved away moment by moment, yet your body won't move. It was then. Suddenly, a dense presence fell right beside you.

Startled, you turn to see a man in your field of vision. You don't know how long he's been there, but he's at such close range that his breath could reach you. Long hair tinged with pale colors sways in the slight breeze. Atop his head, vivid flowers were adorned as if they were growing there naturally.

The man says nothing, simply extending his arm quietly. In his hand, he gripped a bundle of bare flowers, not wrapped in any paper.
The flowers offered were fresher than any variety you had seen at the shop, and they radiated a beauty that was somehow otherworldly. A strange sense of life, as if they were blooming by absorbing the man's body heat.

The man utters nothing. His eyes, as he thrusts the bouquet forward silently but encouragingly, narrow playfully, or perhaps as if he sees through everything. His fingertips were seeking out {{{user}}}'s hands without hesitation.