The Lion's Fang and the White Flower: A Secret Love of Missed Confessions
The summer before their second year of high school. Botan, a member of the literature club, is called out by her classmate, Raiga Shishio, who she secretly has feelings for. With a serious face, Raiga says, "There's something I've always wanted to tell you." Botan's heart races.
But his shocking confession is: "I have a crush on your best friend, Suzume. I need your help." Hiding her heartbreak, Botan forces a smile and agrees. Thus begins a week-long slapstick romantic comedy filled with tangl
The Lion's Fang and the White Flower: A Secret Love of Missed Confessions - A Dawn-lit Resolve and a Love Letter from the Wings
From orange to blue.
Botan had never seen the moment the sky changed color—not after staying up all night—until now.
Beyond the window glass, the world slowly brightened. Clouds were edged in gold, then that gold faded, dissolving into pale blue.
It's beautiful, she thought.
But that beauty couldn't even seep into the tangled mess lodged in the center of her chest.
The classroom was silent.
Last night's carnage felt like a lie. The overturned desks remained as they were. The morning sun crept slowly across the printouts scattered on the floor.
The air was bitterly cold, stinging the inside of her nose.
Botan sat at her own desk, unable to move.
Her eyelids, swollen from crying, felt heavy. Her throat was bone-dry, and trying to speak sent a raw, stinging pain through it.
(*Can I even speak?*)
Maybe it didn't matter if she couldn't, she thought.
Perhaps she no longer needed a voice forced into a smile.
Suzume was slumped over her desk at the very back of the room.
Her fluffy bobbed hair was disheveled, and her blue hairpin was gone—lost somewhere, no longer in place. She sat curled into a small ball, hugging her own shoulders with both hands.
Raiga stood by the window, staring outside the entire time. His back looked so much smaller than usual.
Reiji leaned against the wall near the door, eyes closed. It was impossible to tell if he was asleep or just keeping silent.
None of the four had gone home.
They couldn't go home.
Carrying this mess inside them, they couldn't just say "goodnight" and part ways.
From somewhere in the distance, sounds began to drift in.
At first, she thought it was the wind.
But it wasn't.
The clang, clang of a hammer.
"Hold it over there!"
"The sign—more to the left!"
From beyond the hallway, from the direction of the schoolyard, the voices of students echoed.
—Preparations for the culture festival.
Today was Saturday.
The day of the Kasumi Festival.
Sounds that would normally have sparkled with excitement now felt like events from some distant world. As if they alone had been left behind by the flow of time.
How long had they been like that?
"...I..."
Suzume's voice broke the silence.
Still facing down, it was a voice on the verge of vanishing.
"I... I can't go out there."
Raiga's back twitched.
"Like this... with everything such a mess... I can't stand in front of everyone. I can't face them."
Suzume's shoulders trembled faintly.
Raiga slowly turned around. His face was more exhausted than Botan had ever seen it.
"...Honestly, I don't know either."
Raiga spoke while staring at his own hands.
"What's right, what I should do... I don't understand anything anymore."
Botan clenched her fingers tightly on her lap.
(*I don't understand.*)
Those words pierced her chest.
She was the same.
She didn't understand anything.
What should she have done?
Where had she gone wrong?
She didn't even know that much.
"You're the one who chooses."
It was a quiet voice.
Reiji still leaned against the wall, eyes closed. But that voice didn't belong to someone asleep.
"But don't let it end like this. You hate that kind of thing more than anyone, right?"
Those words were directed solely at Botan.
Botan raised her head.
Her eyes met Reiji's.
Those deep, blue-tinged gray eyes were looking straight at her.
—*You hate that kind of thing more than anyone, right.*
Deep in Botan's chest, something stirred, small and faint.
(*That's right.*)
She—hated it.
She absolutely hated an ending like this.
The mess could stay a mess.
The pain, the exhaustion—all of it was who she was right now.
But.
—*Running away and ending it there... I hate that.*
Botan forced strength into her trembling legs and stood up.
Her chair made a small clatter.
Raiga and Suzume looked up.
"...Let's do it."
Her voice was hoarse.
But the forced brightness she'd worn until this morning was gone now.
"I think... even if we run, even if we hide, we'll just end up back in the same place."
Botan gazed at her own hands.
The small cuts from the scissors last night still remained.
Tiny red dots.
"I... all this time, I've been trying to be the good girl. Thinking only about keeping things smooth so no one would hate me."
Suzume caught her breath.
"But I realized... I can't do that anymore. Even if it's messy, uncool, and pathetic... if that's who I am, then I have no choice but to go with it."
Botan raised her head and looked straight at the three of them.
"There's definitely something we can do *because* of who we are right now."
A single tear traced down her cheek.
But it wasn't a tear of despair.
It was a tiny, tiny resolve that had finally welled up after laying everything bare and becoming empty.
Suzume, still looking down, wiped her tears.
"...You're strong, Botan."
"I'm not strong at all."
Botan shook her head slightly.
"I'm really scared. Even now, my legs are shaking. But... even so, I feel like I have to do this."
"Alright."
Raiga let out a deep breath and nodded.
"...I'll do what I can."
Suzume, her face still a mess from crying, gave a small nod too.
"I'll... go out there too."
Without a word, Reiji pushed himself off the wall.
The corner of his mouth seemed to relax, just a little.
A clamor filled the school.
The smell of yakisoba from the food stalls. The sound of the brass band tuning up. The footsteps and laughter of students running through the hallways.
The culture festival had begun, without mercy.
Their stage performance in the gymnasium was scheduled for the first slot in the afternoon.
There was still time until then.
"I'm going to stop by the clubroom for a bit. It's still a mess."
When Botan said that, Reiji stepped forward.
"I'll help."
"It's okay. I kind of feel like tidying up alone right now."
When Botan quietly declined, Reiji didn't press further, just gave a small nod.
"Got it. I'll head to the gym first."
As if unrelated to the festival's clamor, Botan climbed the quiet stairs.
The literature club room was in a corner on the third floor.
When she opened the door, a stuffy air flowed out.
It was exactly as they'd left it last night.
Origami flower petals were scattered on the floor, and the half-written script was spread out on the desk. The blue hairpin Suzume had dropped when she broke down crying still glinted in a corner of the floor.
Botan opened the window.
A lukewarm breeze stirred the curtains.
In the distance, she could see the Aoba River glittering. The same scenery as Monday. And yet, everything looked different.
Botan crouched down and picked up a single petal from the floor.
Pink origami paper. Something Suzume had folded proudly, saying, "Isn't it pretty!"
(*What have I been doing all this time?*)
Wearing the mask of a good girl.
Deflecting with a smile.
Constantly keeping a lid on her own feelings.
And this was the result.
She'd hurt everyone, and hurt herself.
It was a complete mess.
But—.
(*Strangely, it didn't feel bad.*)
Her chest still ached deep inside.
She thought it probably always would.
But compared to when she wore that mask and smiled, saying "I'm fine," she felt this was far better.
The her right now was pathetic, weak, and uncool.
But—that was her.
"Oh my."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind, and Botan jumped.
Turning around, she saw a middle-aged man standing in the doorway, holding a white paper bag.
A light-colored shirt, a navy apron. His slightly graying hair was casually tied back.
"K-Kamoshida-san!"
It was the master of Café Canaria, Kamoshida-san.
"Sorry to come by so early. It seemed like things were rather difficult yesterday, so I was a bit concerned. A little something for you."
Kamoshida-san spoke in a quiet voice, without a hint of a smile. Then, he held out the paper bag in his hand to Botan.
When she took it, it was pleasantly cold.
Inside were four takeout cups filled with green cream soda.
"These... the ice cream hasn't melted."
"Of course not. I packed them with plenty of ice and brought them in a cooler bag."
Saying that, Kamoshida-san looked around the messy clubroom.
"...Ah, youth."
Tears spilled from Botan's eyes.
This time, they weren't tears of resolve.
She just felt warmth.
Thinking that an adult was surely watching over their mess with that kind of gaze—it somehow made her cry.
"...Thank you very much."
"Do your best out there. I'm looking forward to your performance."
With just those words, Kamoshida-san walked back down the hallway, as quietly as he had come.
Botan lined up the four cream sodas on the desk.
Cold droplets of water ran down the cups, forming small puddles on the desk.
(*Alright, then.*)
To psych herself up, Botan slapped both her cheeks with a *smack*.
Then, she took out her phone and sent a message to the three of them.
*'Meet up at the gym first. I'll be right there.'*
Now, time to clean up.
This messy room, and the final preparations for their still-tangled selves.
The wings of the gymnasium stage were wrapped in the unique tension that comes just before a performance.
The thick curtain partitioned them from the audience seating. From beyond it, the low murmur of the crowd's chatter and the creaking of folding chairs resonated dully.
The audience was starting to gather.
"...I'm nervous."
Suzume murmured quietly.
She had combed her disheveled hair and put in a new hairpin.
"...Yeah."
Raiga, clutching the script, stared up at the stage.
Reiji leaned against the wall, his eyes firmly closed.
When Botan rushed over, the three of them turned their gazes toward her.
"Did you wait long?"
"No."
Reiji slowly opened his eyes.
—That was when it happened.
Suzume walked straight up to stand before Reiji.
Not in front of Raiga, not in front of Botan.
Before Reiji.
"Senpai."
Suzume's voice trembled, but there was no hesitation in it.
"I've... ever since that day in the library, I've liked you."
Reiji's eyebrows moved just slightly.
"When I was having trouble reaching a book on a high shelf, you took it down for me without a word. That one small thing... became everything to me."
Tears overflowed from Suzume's eyes.
"But, I'm going to stop now. Not because you're looking at Botan... but because I want to learn to like myself."
Her voice shook.
Even so, Suzume smiled through her tears.
"All this time, I thought I was dirty. That I was the worst kind of person for using Raiga. But... hating myself forever won't change anything."
Silence.
Only the murmur beyond the curtain seemed unnaturally loud.
"...I see."
Reiji quietly spoke.
"You've been watching me since way back then, huh."
Reiji placed his large hand gently on top of Suzume's head with a soft *pat*.
Suzume's shoulders flinched.
"You've got a good look on your face now."
For the first time—Reiji smiled, gently.
Not his usual blank expression, nor a teasing smirk.
It was a smile that seemed to acknowledge something from the bottom of his heart.
"The you right now is much better."
"...Okay."
Suzume nodded over and over, like a child.
"Botan."
This time, Raiga called her.
Raiga pointed to a corner of the wings and tilted his head slightly, gesturing for her to come over.
Heart pounding, Botan walked over to him.
Once they were alone, Raiga looked up at the gymnasium ceiling with a nostalgic expression.
"I've been thinking about what you said back then, all this time."
—*I've liked you since the day of the sports festival.*
The words Botan had screamed last night, as if carving out her very soul.
"On the day of the sports festival, I did help you out. But that... was something I would have done for anyone. It wasn't a big deal. And yet, you..."
Raiga furrowed his brow and stared intently at Botan.
"Why did you keep treasuring such an ordinary thing for so long?"
Botan tightly intertwined her fingers in front of her chest.
(*It wasn't ordinary.*)
To Raiga, it might have been just a casual kindness.
But.
"...Because to me, it wasn't ordinary."
Her voice
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