Kotaro stood just outside the school's gates, trying to seem cool and collected. Hina stood next to him, smiling brightly at the camera pointed at the pair of them.

He'd gotten into Sakuragaoka High. He'd gotten into the same school as Koyuki.

He wondered if Koyuki would remember him...

"Alright, you two! You should go find out what your classes are!" Natsuki chirped, making Kotaro jump a little. Had the pictures already been taken?

"Come on, Kotaro!" Hina said, grabbing on to his elbow and dragging him off into the school.

"Slow down, Hina!" he shouted, trying to yank his arm out of her grasp. Her only response was a loud laugh.

~

Despite Hina's encouragement, it took Kotaro about a month to gain the courage to seek out Koyuki.

Of course, he knew that the guy would be near the flowers - he remembered him being in the gardening club back in junior high.

So, one day, during break, Kotaro made his way to the nearest garden at the school. It was full of yellow and pink and white flowers...

And there Koyuki was, watering them all by himself.

Kotaro hesitated, standing in the shadows. Koyuki probably didn't remember him, he realized. Koyuki probably didn't care. Those times that he'd said 'hi' likely meant nothing to the upperclassman...

But then Koyuki happened to glance over, happened to see him... And his blue eyes lit up with recognition. "Enomoto-kun!" he said, putting his watering can down on the ground. He walked over to Kotaro with a bright smile.

Kotaro stared at him with widened eyes, unable to force out a greeting.

"You came to Sakuragaoka!" Koyuki said, as if the fact wasn't obvious. "It's nice to see you again!"

Kotaro averted his gaze, cheeks burning. "Ah... Yeah," he mumbled.

"Would you like to see the flowers?" Koyuki asked with an innocent tilt of his head. "You seemed like you were looking at them."

Kotaro's face darkened to an even more obvious red. "R-right," he said softly. "The flowers. Sure, I'd... Like to see them."

Koyuki reached out, fingers wrapping around Kotaro's right wrist. He gently led Kotaro over to the garden, already starting to explain each flower's species and type.

It mostly went in one ear and out the other, but Kotaro still enjoyed hearing Koyuki's voice.

"It's going to take a while before they can all bloom properly," Koyuki said at one point. "I just planted most of them on the first day of the school year." He beamed at Kotaro. "But when they all bloom, I'm sure they'll all be beautiful. You'll have to come look at them when they do, okay?"

Kotaro could only manage a nod at the offer.

One month had been wasted because of Kotaro's nerves. He should have known Koyuki would be this kind.

But he still had the rest of the year.