Ch. 7: A Guy in the Setting Sun (SUN)
Flowers that held the memories of when Ritz's grandfather would give them to his grandmother…
In order to find that rare flower, we searched all over the field.
OO: "…we haven't found any. I'm going to look further in."
Ritz: "Yeah…"
OO: "…?"
Ritz: "…nothin'."
Ritz looked at me and shook his head, then smiled in embarrassment.
Ritz: "Thanks a lot, for looking so hard for my grandma… I'll look hard too, so we'll definitely find it!"
OO: "…right! Let's make your grandmother smile."
…
……
In that way we searched until it was evening, until at last we found where the flowers bloomed.
Ritz: "Here it is!!"
The flowers were yellow with small petals, and they swayed gently in the wind.
OO: "I'm glad we found them."
Ritz: "…"
Ritz looked at the flowers, unusually quiet.
Ritz…?
Ritz quietly squatted down and picked a single flower.
Then…
OO: "!"
He stood up and gently placed the flower in my hair.
OO: "Ritz…?"
The evening sun shone down on Ritz, and his expression was somehow very intense. It made my heart start to pound.
Ritz: "…when she was young, my grandma was like me. She had tons of lovers."
OO: "Eh…?"
Ritz opened up, and his expression became kinder.
Ritz: "But then she met my grandpa…she says it was destiny that she met someone she could really love. Forever…even now, after he'd died, she says her memories of him still make her heart race."
He affectionately stroked my hair, then drew his hand back.
OO: "That sounds wonderful…"
Ritz: "I never really understood that but…-"
He broke off his sentence there…
Ritz: "When you're around…I think I kinda get it."
He spoke so quietly it was almost like a whisper.
OO: "…"
I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there starring at him…
Ritz: "Agh! What am I saying!?"
He scratched his head as if trying to gloss over what he'd said.
Ritz: "Come on, let's hurry! It's gonna get dark soon."
OO: "R-right…"
And so we started picking flowers, but…
My chest…
I felt the start of a new, sweet feeling blossoming in my heart, but I couldn't yet give it a name.