For cherry-cheescake

Hachi was in bliss, surrounded by rows of flowers as far as the eye could see. The intoxicating scent wisped around her and she could feel her eyelids start to flutter shut. She was already in her own head, trying to come up with a beautiful combination of flowers to weave into a crown for her friend.

Haruto was also delighted, though not in the same way. Thrill was bubbling up inside him to the point where it was overwhelming. He repeatedly clenched his fists, looking forward to picking pretty blossoms. He may not know their names, but he did have an eye for beauty— he needed one, in his line of work. "Hachi! Flower crowns!" he cheered, rocking on his heels.

"Flowers," she sighed dreamily. She pulled out her shears and started to walk through the immaculately organized garden.

Nobody was ever quite sure how Hachi Endo could gather so many flowers so quickly, especially given that everything else in her life tended to be slow-paced and mellow. Bisque had always assumed that it was specifically his problem; he figured that he'd always just zoned out for longer than he thought when watching her. It took a day of Nari being forced to watch over both of them for Bisque to discover that she was simply... indescribably swift in this very specific area. Granted, it was specifically her area of expertise, but jeebers. Today, he was testing it out. Every few moments, he'd look away from his own gathering to check on his friend, and she'd be a significant distance from where she had just been, more blossoms in her basket.

Part of him wanted to just climb right into the bushes and stay there for a while, but he knew they would scratch him up if he were to do so. It just reminded him of being a child and slinking into rows of hung-up clothes at stores. He went as far as to stick his foot in before promptly freaking himself out and detracting.

In the meantime, Hachi's entire world was currently just this place. She hardly even registered Haruto's presence, her goal, or any concept outside of a two-mile radius. Somewhere in the back of her head she knew that she was going to use these to make flower crowns later, but for now, she was delighting in the dahlias, ageratum, and sunflowers. The world was hers.

It took an anxious (and mildly agitated) phone call from Azumi for either of them to realize how late it was growing. Upon said epiphany, Bisque could suddenly feel a chill on his arms, and he looked to the sky to notice that the cause was the setting sun. The evening light bathed the land in warm hues.

Haruto looked to Hachi and quickly discovered an uncomfortable truth: he was the most aware and responsible person here. He shuddered before checking his phone for bus stops nearby. Good, there was one less than a mile away and the bus would come in forty-five minutes. They could make it if they were quick enough. Wait, what was that street's name? He took off his glasses to clean them, and the tape connecting them fell off, too old to be of much use anymore. He yelped with surprise and mild fear. "Ah! Hachi! Come here, we need to go and I can barely see!" No response. "HAAAAACHIIIIII!" he bellowed, trying to get her attention.

She snapped out of her euphoric stupor. "What time is it?"

"Six! I need you! My glasses broke again and I'm blind as a bat! We need to get to the bus stop and I'm gonna have a problem reading street signs!"

"That's the only way?"

"None of our friends are old enough to drive and our parents live far from the program building, Hachi. It's the only way."

She made her way over to him, thinking deeply. "If only we had a flying bison. Yip yip! Y'know, why are fictional animals so much cooler than animals in the real world? Pretty much the coolest real creature I can think of is an axolotl. But like, fiction has dragons and phoenixes and sasquatches!"

"Hachi, pleeeeease help me! You're gonna have to be the one paying attention to street signs, cause I won't be able to read them until we're within like, fewer than ten feet of them!" Haruto begged. He reached out to hold her hand, and she briefly glared before letting it happen; she hated most physical contact, but understood the severity of the situation.

Forty minutes later, Bisque was getting incredibly nervous. What he'd expected to take thirty minutes at most had become an endeavor. Hachi had tried her very best to maintain concentration, but getting wrapped up in one too many trains of thought now left the pair running to retrace their steps and get back on track in time to catch the bus. He was now thanking every spiritual being he could possibly think of for the fact that he'd been in track for a good portion of his life. Hachi, on the other hand, was still a petite, easily winded girl, and he knew he couldn't get on the bus without her. He turned his head briefly to see her quickly falling behind.

If cooler heads had prevailed, he may have thought to just... reach the bus first and ask them to wait for her. But common sense was not Haruto's strong suit, especially not when under stress. Now, improvisation? Still not his greatest strength, but significantly better. "U-Um! Hachi!" he called. Praying that this would work, he threw his basket of flowers as far as he could. She gasped, offended, but when he blinked, she was suddenly in front of him.

Hachi, now incredibly miffed, was running faster partially just to spite him. Despite being in a very intense situation, her mind wandered and allowed her to imagine worlds in which she had participated in school sports. What would she have chosen? Maybe gymnastics? Before she knew it, Bisque was grabbing her briefly by the waist to stop her from running. Oh. They were where they needed to be, which was good, because there came the bus. She briefly swatted his hands away, grateful for him stopping her but annoyed that this was his chosen method. They both finally stopped to breathe, panting and sweaty, but with flowers still in good condition due to Hachi's devotion. They paid for the bus fare— thank GOD they had brought their wallets— and sat down beside one another.

Even so, she was back to her normal relaxed mood within minutes. "Now we can make the flower crowns for Cherry."

"Yeah! U-Um, can you tell me which flowers I picked will look the best together?"

"We can share... I have many more choices. But I have dibs on sunflowers, dahlias, and ageratums."

"Okay! I don't even know what ageratums look like, but if it means getting advice, I won't touch anything I'm not supposed to!"

She happily chose out some larkspur, craspedia, and baby's breaths for him, and handed him some floral wire. Contentedly, she demonstrated how to make a flower crown, but she wasn't really all that aware that she was teaching Haruto at all. She was just off in her own blissful cloud, and he was doing his best to absorb information.

Hers was perfect when it came to technique. She was an old veteran of these; she could make them in her sleep. Bisque's was a hair sloppy, but the enthusiasm was obvious a mile away, and he was just pleasantly surprised that he could do it on his first try.

Luckily for them, Bisque noticed their stop before they missed it, and then made the brisk walk back to their building in pleasant conversation.

Waiting for them was Azumi, who was half out of her mind from worry, and Cherry, who was just as excited to see them as they were to see her. They lavished her with compliments and flower crowns galore, and the laughter of the three of them was warm enough to keep them all cozy even in the middle of the night.