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"Miyu-chan! I think I’ve found it!”
Two little girls were on their hands and knees, searching for the perfect flower in some grass fields one bright and cloudless day. It had been her friend Miyu's suggestion on what they were going to do that day, and since the field was close to their usual playground, Aoi didn't mind leaving the park with her. It would be a few more hours until her brother came to pick her up, anyways.
Aoi kept her eyes open for the one flower she thought would be the most prettiest of them all, and she knew she had found it the moment she set her sights on it. She took it into her hands: the daisy with the most perfectly symmetrical proportions she had ever seen.
“Look at my daisy!” she exclaimed to her friend, hurrying over to her. “The petals are so white and the center is so yellow! It’s pretty and looks like the sun in the sky!”
“That is pretty,” Miyu pouted at how perfect Aoi’s daisy looked. Then she began to giggle. “You may have a very pretty daisy,” she said. “But I have the most beautiful flower of all!” She reached behind her and brought out a sunflower, its long golden petals gleaming in the sunlight.
Aoi gasped. “Where did you find that?” The six-year-old child had never seen anything so wonderful and majestic. Its beauty was almost intimidating to her curious young mind.
“Over there!” her friend said as she pointed at where she had found it, which was not too far off from where they were picking the daisies. “I found it earlier. I was so lucky!”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Aoi asked. “I would have tried to look for one, too! It’s so pretty!”
“I know, right? This flower looks like the real sun!” Miyu exclaimed, and Aoi agreed.
After the two girls marveled over the sunflower for a little longer, Miyu handed it to Aoi. “I want you to have it,” she said.
Aoi looked confused as she held such a large flower in her small hand. “But why? Don’t you want to keep it?”
“I like it a lot, but I’m giving it to you, so you can always remember the time we found the sunflower!” Miyu said. “And in ten years when we are all grown up, we can look back at the fun we had together!”
Aoi was exhilarated at this. “Thank you, Miyu-chan! I will treasure it forever and ever. May it live as long as we are together.”
❀
She stood at the entrance to the Den City Hospital, a fresh flower bouquet cradled in one arm and a basket containing a variety of brightly-coloured fruits on the other. There was a crinkling sound as her fingers nervously fiddled with the bouquet’s wrapping paper. She had been firmly gripping onto the bouquet without her knowing for some time.
It’s been more than ten years, Aoi repeated to herself for the umpteenth time. What was she supposed to say once she saw her?
“I’m here to see Sugisaki Miyu,” she told the front reception.
“For Sugisaki-san?” the receptionist confirmed. “May I have your name, please?”
“Zaizen Aoi,” she replied in a small voice.
Recognition suddenly lit up in the receptionist's eyes. “You must be the younger sister of the honourable executive director of SOL, Zaizen Akira-sama!” she said.
Aoi gave her a sheepish nod. As a result of her brother getting promoted at his work, she had become embarrassed by her celebrity status regardless of where she went. Sometimes she would give out an alias instead of her real name, but when it came to Miyu, she refused to pretend that she was going to be someone else.
The receptionist handed Aoi the sign-in form for visitors. "Sugisaki-san will be expecting you in Room 372."
Aoi took the pen to her hand. The butterflies in her stomach continued to stay after she had filled out the paper and made her way towards the elevator.
❀
Unbeknownst to most, she had been rehearsing what she would be saying for the past few days. She had mindlessly paced to and fro in her living room, with her maid robot by her side listening to her repeat the same few phrases over and over again like a broken record. She tried imagining the robot was Miyu, but a robot remains a robot and could never be a substitute for her beloved friend.
She was still revising and re-rehearsing when her brother returned from work that evening, and then she had realized how much time had passed already. Akira attempted to reassure her that there was nothing to be afraid of and that every word she wanted to say would flow naturally as long as her feelings were genuine, but Aoi still wasn't convinced.
It wasn’t because she didn't trust her big brother, but because she wasn't confident that she would be able to say the right things.
And despite hours of preparation, she wasn't even ready at all. Would Miyu be angry at her for not even trying to keep in contact all these years? With the Internet at their disposal, it shouldn’t have been too hard for them to find each other. How would she even explain her negligence in her only childhood friendship? Should she be honest about how she had simply forgotten all about her after she moved away?
She looked down to see the sunflower heads of her bouquet cheerfully looking back at her. The more they smiled, the more anxious she became. She hoped Miyu hadn’t developed an allergy to pollen over the years, which immediately reminded her of how little she actually knew about about her friend. Did she even deserve to call Miyu her friend at this point?
Aoi was unsure about many things, and what questions Miyu might ask her that would catch her off guard. One thing that was for certain, however, was that she would not mention Aqua in any way. She wasn’t sure if Miyu knew about her existence before she was comatosed, but it was better for her to not know and for Aoi to accept that truth.
After all, Aqua was not coming back.
As she sat waiting until Miyu's nurse called on her, Aoi noticed another man, in around his mid-twenties, sitting several seats down the hall facing the next patient room. He was carrying a small bouquet of golden azaleas and a basket of persimmons himself. He looked vaguely familiar, perhaps she had seen him in one of the vendors in the city plaza? At that moment, she couldn’t quite put her finger on where she may have seen him before.
She wondered who he was here to visit. Was he anywhere as anxious as she was? Not likely.
"Please come in, Zaizen-san," came the nurse’s voice, and Aoi instantly forgot everything she had been wondering about that man.
❀
She stepped into Miyu's room, which was immaculate and very quiet. Aoi became even more self-conscious than she ever thought possible.
"Hello," came a meek voice from the bed Aoi was walking towards to. It sounded like her friend had just woken up so she was likely unaware of who just walked in yet.
"Hello," Aoi replied back as she carefully set the sunflowers she was carrying in the straw woven basket on the small table next to the bed. It looked handmade, and Aoi admired the intricate handiwork.
"Thank you for the gifts," Miyu said as she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. Aoi wanted to lend her a hand, but her body was unwilling to listen to her commands. She had somehow been frozen to the spot, and her throat was dry and tight. Everything she had been rehearsing for had promptly flown out the window.
“And you’re…?” she heard her friend whisper. Aoi looked up then and their eyes met and locked -- she watched as Miyu’s blue eyes widen in disbelief.
Then Miyu began to cry, sobs wracking her frail body and tears streaming down her face without a warning. This immediately startled Aoi and for a moment she wished she never made the decision to step foot into this room -- she hated seeing her friend cry like this.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” Aoi managed to utter as she felt tears well up in her own eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. “I think it may be better if I leave--”
“No!” Miyu cried out between sobs. "I don't want you to leave again." She tried wiping away her tears but they kept flowing out. "I've wanted to see you for more than ten years."
"I'm sorry," Aoi repeated. She didn't know what else to say.
Miyu shook her head. "It's only me who should be sorry, Aoi-chan. It was my weakness that caused us to separate. And now that you're finally here, I want to apologize for how much of a selfish coward I had been."
Aoi moved to sit on the bed, facing her friend. "You were not a coward, Miyu-chan. I understood how difficult that situation must have been for you, so please, don't blame yourself for anything." She grabbed some tissues from the bedside and helped Miyu dry her face, as if she had done it several times before in the past.
"Thank you, Aoi-chan," Miyu said. "I would have understood if you never wanted to see me again after that day, but I never forgot about you. There was never a day that I wasn't thinking about you."
Aoi felt like crying herself. She had never heard of more sincere words than what she was hearing now. Now she felt more guilty than ever; she did not deserve to be treated like this for the way she had forgotten about their friendship.
"I was trying to look for your social media profile one day, then somehow, I fell asleep and never woke up again until last week." Miyu giggled at this. "The doctors said I had a virus in my brain, but I don't even know how that happened. And they couldn't explain it to me, either." She looked at Aoi. "I know it's bizarre. It sounds like it came out of a fairy tale."
Aoi smiled sadly as her friend chatted on about other strange occurrences. But she didn’t mention the Lost Incident once, and at this, Aoi felt even worse.
Still, it was even more difficult to stay silent when she herself knew everything. "That is very strange," Aoi agreed and smiled. "I just hope it never happens again."
"I had a dream, Aoi-chan," Miyu confessed. "I was sleeping, and there was a tiny blue fairy on my bed, too. She looked just like you when you still had the pigtails."
Aoi knew exactly who she was referring to but she pretended that she didn't know anything about this fairy. "She sounds very cute. I wished I could have met her, too."
"I wish you had. She would have loved you, too. We could have so much fun together." Miyu sighed. "Unfortunately, these creatures only exist in our imaginations."
Aoi nodded without hesitation. "I'm so relieved you're okay; your health is always the most important."
“You’re so mature as always, Aoi-chan,” Miyu beamed. "By the way, I love the bobcut you have now. Your outfit is so modern, too." She reached out her hand. "You know, the vision I’ve always had of you was that brave little girl, but now you’re like a fearless warrior!”
“Stop it, Miyu-chan,” Aoi blushed. “I’m really nothing like that at all.” She then moved closer as she held onto her friend’s hand even tighter. "Once you get better, we’ll carry on from we left off,” she whispered. “From ten years ago.”
Miyu nodded, smiling as wide as humanly possible. As the sunlight lit up her face, Aoi couldn’t help but think she looked just like a sunflower.
Her brother was right. She needn't have been worried.