The pitter-pattering raindrops poured from the skies in a rush, incessantly streaming down the boy’s face in the form of droplets as he stood there alone, seemingly in wait for somebody. Every now and then, the falling raindrops would glimmer like crystals as the shine from the oncoming buses’ strobe lights reflected on their surfaces. However, none of those buses were the ones the boy standing on the sidewalk, August, was waiting for. Only he knew exactly how long he had been waiting there, but it was as clear as the rain puddles around him that it had quite a long while for he was drenched from head to toe.

“How long do I have to keep waiting…”, August, now slouching down and touching his knees, thought out in frustration.

 But, as soon as he thought that, the downpour suddenly seemed to lessen. He was initially confused, but just as he closed his eyes with a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps his prayers had finally been heard and the rain was about to stop, a girl’s voice came from beside him.

“Just letting yourself be drenched like that? Are you blue?”

Caught by surprise, by the girl’s voice, he opened his eyes and blankly looked up to see, to his mild disappointment, that the rain showed no signs of stopping. Instead, he was simply being shielded from it by an umbrella, with black and white stripes, being held up over his head by a girl in the same grade as him. If he recalled correctly her name was April.

Straightening his posture back up he said, “No. Just didn’t bring my umbrella since the forecast today said it’ll be clear.”

She only nodded in reply. 

The two stood in awkward silence for a bit, until April finally spoke again, “Well, you should’ve brought one.”

“I didn’t think I’d need it much enough to keep it with me all the time. After all, it doesn’t rain much in August does it?”

“Huh? Don’t you know? It’s sure to rain whenever you’re blue regardless of the month.”

August, now a bit perplexed, opened his mouth and said, “Uh, I--”

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP--*

August banged his hand on the alarm clock beside him.

“*Yawning* …Crap, I dozed off again.”

August had been at this for the past 5 hours. Tapping away on his laptop and messing with his printer, dozing off every other half an hour, and then being jolted awake by the sounds of the violently loud alarm clock he would set up to prevent him from nodding off again. 

Though, regardless of how many times this pattern repeated, he still persistently kept working. However, it seemed like his effort finally bore fruit.

Reclining back to stretch himself, he took a deep breath and thought, “Finally, it's done”. 

 He clicked out an SD card from his laptop and put it back into his camera. Now finally compiling the best of the various things he had printed out in the past few hours, he said to himself with a big smile, “Ah, I can’t wait to finally show April the pictures I’ve taken this past year! I wonder if she’d be as excited as I am.”

Placing the photographs into the pockets of a blue coat lying near him, he finally stood up, after what had felt like an eternity, from where he sat and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. 

Turning on the TV in the background he poured himself, in a bowl, milk and cereal.

 “--Today we can expect mostly sunny skies with a light drizzle, so be sure to take out your significant other somewhere special on this beautiful day!--”

August picked up a spoonful of cereal and put it in his mouth. Almost instantly his face twisted into what almost could be read as that of clear disgust.

“April liked this brand of cereal so I tried them out, but…to be honest it tastes like crap. Definitely, not worth the money…”

However, despite his revulsion at the cereal’s taste, he still, begrudgingly, finished his whole meal. 

Placing the empty bowl into the kitchen sink, he glanced at the clock and then hurriedly went to get ready. After a bit of shuffling around, trying to find clothes appropriate for the occasion, in his otherwise too-casual wardrobe, he finally manages to find something that looks suitable and quickly puts it on, and then goes to the bathroom to set himself.

Tweaking his hair in the mirror, he lightly whispers, “I hope my appearance looks alright!”. 

After getting his hair to look how he wants, August puts on his coat and rushes out the door, shutting it close.

…Only to awkwardly walk back in a few seconds later.

“...Oops, forgot to put on my shoes. Oh, and I can’t forget this…!”

He picks up something with his right hand, and then he finally walks out the door again, closing it behind him.

Stepping outside, he notices that the weather is especially nice that day. He looks up, thinking about a certain memory, and gets lost in thought.

“You’re here again?”, August, stepping into a room devoid of much liveliness or chatter, asks.

“Yes, I hope it’s alright”, says April sitting on a stool in front of an aisle.

“No, I don’t mind. The club room is usually empty anyways…Well, aside from me.” 

“...I see. Ah, you see the weather outside today?”

“Huh?”, August turns to look outside the classroom window, “Oh yea, it’s quite nice out today.”

He looks out the window for a while, completely immersed in the scenery outside, and then takes out his phone to take a picture. April notices his action and faintly smiles.

Suddenly turning his head, “Oh by the way, what are you painting this time?”, August asked, catching April off guard.

“Just a vase with roses”, she answers

“Do you like them?”

“I guess so.”

“I see. That suits you”

“Huh?”, April turns and looks at August blankly

Smiling softly, “I mean, roses. I think they sui--”

August slapped his cheeks lightly to wake himself up from his daydreaming. 

He turned around to be on his way, but suddenly from the corner of his eye spotted a sign that made him take a detour.

*Ding Ding Ding*, the bell on the flower shop’s door rang as August opened it to step outside.

“Ah good day young lad! Tell me, what are you lookin’ for?”, a middle-aged woman with a brown apron, presumably the owner of the flower shop, greeted August with a bright smile as he entered.

“Good day to you too ma’am. I’m looking to buy a simple bouquet of roses”, August said with a stiff but gentle smile.

“I see, I see. It is for a lass?”

“Ah, how did you know”

“Nothin’, Nothin’~. Let me get one arranged, you wait here.”

As the shop owner went out to the back to arrange a bouquet August idly looked around the shop.

He recognized various flowers around the shop: gladiolus, sweet peas, poppies, and chrysanthemums. 

From what August could recall, some flowers, present in the shop, were out of their blooming season, but it seemed the shop owner had done a good job maintaining them as flowers like poppies still maintained their beauty well into April.

The shop owner, returning with the arranged flower bouquet in her hand, “Here ya go lad! The rose bouquet.”

“Ah, thank you!”

“Would ya like me to write for whom it is and from?”

“Yes, please. Can you write ‘From: August, To: April’.”

The shop owner swiftly writes down the words on a small card and attaches it to the side of the bouquet and then hands it to August.

August takes the bouquet in his left hand and stares at the card small card for a short while. He is about to leave the shop but notices something.

“Oh my, it seems like it’s started to rain suddenly”

“A sudden downpour? That’s odd, and it was such lovely weather today too - Will you be alright, lad?”

“I should be. Plus, I have this with me too.”

August holds up his right hand which had been holding a small foldable umbrella.

“Good good. Well then take care~”, the shop owner said with a polite smile.

Opening his umbrella, “You too”, August said as he left the shop.

In the heavy rain, August tried to hurry and make his way to his destination, his mind whirling with all sorts of anxious thoughts due to the bad weather.

“Am I going to be late? Maybe it would’ve been better had I not taken a detour to the flower shop. But no, it would be rude to not bring any flowers, but--”

Just then, his nervous train of thought is interrupted by a strong gust of wind, a gust so strong that it reverses the internal canopy of his umbrella. August looked upwards. Now, he should’ve seen a clear umbrella with its ribs straight up and a collapsed canopy, except, his entire view was blocked by the pitter-pattering raindrops that fell from the skies in a rush. Though, while he couldn’t see the exact condition of his umbrella, his drenched clothes made it more than obvious that it was in less than swell condition. And so he decided to throw it in a trash bin along the roadside. However, to make matters worse, now that he was drenched in rain, August also feared that all the photographs he printed for April would be ruined too. He slowly stopped in his tracks and looked at the ground, lost in muddy thoughts.

“Mommy, why is that man just letting himself be drenched like that in the rain?”, a young girl asked pointedly.

At her words, August turned his gaze from the ground, towards her.

“Hey, It’s not good to point! Sorry sir”, said the lady beside the girl, now scurrying away with her daughter.

As he saw them leaving, August turned and blankly looked at the bouquet of roses in his hands for a short while and then firmly moved his feet.

At last, he finally arrived at his destination. Had the weather been like the one that was reported that morning, he would’ve likely seen a lot of other people with flowers in their hands visiting their loved ones. But alas, due to the harsh downpour, it seemed barely anyone was there. However, despite that August made his way to April.

“Ah, I’m sorry I’m late. I tried to come earlier, but I stopped to buy some flowers because I thought they’d be appropriate. & Then there were also the photos…but I guess I can’t exactly take them out in the rain...Though I guess that’d just sound like excuses to most people, huh.”

August lightly bent down and placed the bouquet of roses on a grave with the engraving ‘April Lenchester’.

“You know, on the way, a little girl asked her mother why I was just standing around in the heavy rain. And I thought to myself, ‘That reminds me of what April said when we first met’. It’s funny, isn’t it? I almost always seem to be drenched whenever I meet you.”, August said to himself, chuckling bitterly.

“On that note, I guess you really were right after all. It seems it really is sure to rain when you are blue...”, August said with a sad smile across his face.