Daisy Crazy [BunBun]

[Jiyong Kang]

Jiyong had a tendency to speak more loudly and with more enthusiasm when he was afraid that he was hard to understand, as though the loudness of his words would make them easier to understand. He wasn’t yelling at Kimi, per say, but he was probably speaking a bit louder than people normally would under these circumstances. He tilted his head at her ‘okay’, barely understanding. At least she could speak! Even if it was tiny tiny tiny. Jiyong’s eyes widened as she denied his compliment. “But you are!” he exclaimed. “How you not know?” Impossible! She was just being modest, certainly. He pouted when she turned down a rose, but looked around for one anyway. Jiyong found one that looked perfect – a soft pink color, with a couple of green leaves – and snipped it off with his shears. After quickly snapping off the thorns so she wouldn’t be poked, he offered it over. “I think you need rose,” he replied with a big smile. “Please take. I no want to go to waste.” It was possible he could find another girl to give it to if he had to, but he wanted to give it to this girl.

He kept smiling until Kimi went to take off her flower crown, whereupon Jiyong frowned sadly. “Why take off?” he asked, worried. “I say something wrong? Aigoo…. I am sorry!” But then she still thanked him, so now he was even more confused. “Yes,” he replied to confirm his name. “Annyeonghaseyo, Kimi!” Jiyong dipped his head a little. He was guessing she was younger than she, and hoped he was right, for respect’s sake. “Ah, right, sorry. I still not very good at English,” he apologized with a meek expression, rubbing the back of his neck. “I am sixteen! How old Kimi-shi?” He was still painfully unaware of the dirt smeared on his face.

[Kimi Tachibana]

The louder he got, the smaller and quieter Kimi became. She never dealt well with too much noise, she usually walked through Tokyo with her parents with earmuffs on so she didn't freeze from all the loudness around her - though she wasn't necessarily scared of Jiyong, she was nervous, and yeah... All his loud words didn't help. But she wouldn't tell him to quieten down. Wasn't in her nature. Her blush grew at his insistence, and her head dipped more, "I...." She shook her head, not sure what to say. The only other male who had told her she was pretty was her tosan, her daddy. She usually wasn't noticed enough for anyone else to compliment, or she disappeared too fast. Jiyong was lucky that she was too shy to disappear this time. It was an odd brain process, really. Too shy to stay or too shy to run?

As he prepared this rose, Kimi became quizzical. She just said... but... when it was offered, she was taken aback, but... but this was really sweet, she just wasn't used to it. At all. She swallowed gently, from nerves, and took the flower carefully, looking at Jiyong and then at the rose. She sniffed it quietly, and a small smile grew on her face. She didn't usually smile bigger than that. She had to accept the compliment eventually. "Sumimasen." She said softly, giving him a slight bow - all of this from force of habit - before straightening up and looking at the rose again. It was gorgeous...

Kimi shook her head slightly, holding both the daisy crown and the rose in the same hand, carefully, "It's okay, I..." ...felt silly wearing it. But that wasn't his fault. She appreciated the compliment. She bowed her head in return when he greeted her. She knew that much at least. She fiddled with the rose a little before speaking again, "I am not perfect too." She shrugged a little, "It's okay." She didn't mind too much about the dirt either. It was like how she had some pricks on her fingers from wiring jewellery. It happened. "I am sixteen also. My birthday was in May." It was still weird to think she was sixteen though. Either way, she wondered if Jiyong was older or younger. He seemed older... Kimi wasn't the best at making conversation, so she fell quiet again.

[Jiyong Kang]

Jiyong somehow didn’t realize the effect he was having on Kimi. He was too excited, too eager to get to know this girl that the fact that she might not like his energy and noise didn’t even cross his mind. And look, she was blushing~ That had to be good, right? “You… should agree!” he finished for her with a laugh. “I no just tell every girl pretty. I mean it.” It was true, Jiyong really only approached girls that he thought were cute (although there were a lot of cute girls here at Hammel).

He was glad when she took the flower, as was obvious from the giant grin on his face. His eyes crinkled when Kimi looked at him. “Smell good, yes?” he asked a little more quietly when she took a sniff. Aigoo, look at that smile… “Anibnida,” he responded back, also dipping his head. So cute… “Mm… Lots of pretty flowers in garden,” he commented, waving his hand around. “Kimi-shi like what flower best?” Hopefully he could find out what her favorite type was, so he could get that for her… Next time. Heee….

He still pouted a little at the fact that she took the crown off, but he figured there was nothing he could do about it. On a playful whim, he dipped his head down and nudged it against the crown so it would sit haphazardly on his own head once he straightened up. “I can be princess too!” he giggled. He was the manliest of manly men. Jiyong didn’t know why he just did that, but he wanted to see her smile again. “Oh, you from Japan?” he asked curiously. He thought as much from the beginning, but he didn’t want to pry. “How long you here?” He gingerly took the daisy crown off his head and handed it back, looking sheepish. “My birthday in April!” Jiyong exclaimed. So he was about a month older – he’d hoped he would be. When they both fell quiet for a moment, he averted his eyes down to a flower, where a bee was pollinating. “Oh, look,” he murmured, crouching down a little and pointing to it. “Kimi like bees?” He hoped she at least wasn’t afraid of them, like some people were.

[Kimi Tachibana]

People blushed from embarrassment sometimes... Kimi blushed from embarrassment a lot. She dipped her head somewhat submissively as Jiyong continued to push his opinion, though. She bit the inside of her lip, trying to think whether he was telling the truth or not... but people lied. He could be lying. Maybe his eyesight is poor today... She thought. That would explain it. "You are too kind." Too kind that it didn't make sense to her.

"Mhmm." Kimi hummed softly, with a couple small nods of the head. She had no idea what 'anibnida' meant but it didn't sound rude so she didn't question it. At the question, the tiny girl looked up and around at the flowers she could see, before looking at the rose again, spinning it slowly between her fingers, "All are beautiful, I think." She replied softly, "I have no favourite." She had never thought about it enough to choose one.

Kimi watched in somewhat nervous amusement as Jiyong nudged the flower crown onto his head like a puppy, and eventually she couldn't help letting out a twinkling, soft giggle, especially at that sentence. Out of some impulsive want, the small girl got on her tiptoes and fiddled with the crown on the boy's head, adjusting it and straightening out a few petals before standing down again and blushing profusely, looking at the ground. She nodded at the question, "Osaka. Been here about... two years." She was still looking around shyly when she spoke again, quietly, "And you are Korean?" He sounded like it. She had had one or two Korean friends back at Essai Gakko.

She nodded at the age distinction. He seemed excited about it... but yes, he was older, by a little bit. When he pointed out the buzzing insect, Kimi blinked, but nodded, "They are cute." She looked at the bee from where she was stood. There were some people who were scared of insects or annoyed by them, but Kimi didn't mind so much. She was a bit more relaxed, now that he was a little more quiet, but she wasn't sure how long that would last. Hmm... maybe she could make a bee necklace when she had more spare time. Only, how...

[Jiyong Kang]

Jiyong definitely wasn’t lying. She was the one that was blind, yup. Seriously, how could anyone not think that face was adorable? “I only tell truth,” he promised solemnly. And that was the end of that, if he could help it.

He still had a bad habit of switching between the two languages sometimes, especially since Jiyong didn’t have a great grasp on English yet. It was just easier for him to talk more quickly and accurately in Korean. At least there were a good amount of students here that spoke it too, although apparently Kimi wasn’t one of them. At her response, Jiyong considered what she said, then smiled brightly. “Kimi is right!” he determined. “There no ugly flowers.” He was partial to roses, though. And sunflowers. Maybe sometime he could pick her one of those. “Kimi have favorite color?” That could help, too.

Her laughter sounded like music to Jiyong, and his smile spread even wider until his eyes were nearly shut from crinkles. “Looks that good?” he teased, until she started fiddling with the crown. Jiyong wasn’t all that tall, but Kimi was very short, so he dipped his head down a little to help. “Kamsahamnida,” he thanked her, blushing too. Their faces had gotten so close, ah~ He continued to look and smile at her as she looked away and spoke. “Ooh wow, Kimi’s English good for two years,” he commented. “I here about a year. Still not good at English.” Mostly because he didn’t study all that well. He chuckled with embarrassment. Jiyong nodded at her question enthusiastically. “Ne! I from Mokpo.” Well, near Mokpo, at least. She didn’t have to know he’d grown up on a farm, girls weren’t impressed with that.

Oh good, she didn’t mind bees. That made Jiyong really happy, because they were one of his favorite things. “Yes, they are,” he agreed with a grin. He concentrated on his index finger, and managed to make a tiny drop of clover honey seep from the tip. Jiyong held it up to the bee, which seemed quite interested and began crawling on his finger. “Look!” he beamed. “Kimi want to try?”

[Kimi Tachibana]

“Okay.” Still, Kimi didn’t believe the boy. That was her fault, not his.

Kimi obviously had a better hold on English than Jiyong did, but she wasn’t about to judge him for it. She definitely still struggled from time to time, and she was certain her grammar would never be up to par. Japanese was just easier for her, but she understood that that was because the structures of the two languages varied so much, and most of the words were nowhere near the same. She nodded at the agreement. It would be hard for a flower to look unattractive – they were supposed to be pretty and colourful so that they could get pollinated. At the replacement question, Kimi blinked, “…I like yellow.” She hadn’t ever really chosen a favourite colour before, but yellow was really bright and nice.

“Looks silly.” She said, giggling a little still. Kimi wasn’t really sure why she was doing this, playing with the daisy crown, but she was doing it anyway. She nodded in response to the thanks (that was the extent of Korean she understood), still blushing. It would die down eventually. She smiled weakly at the compliment, “It is okay.” It could be a lot better if she had more time to focus on learning the language (and if she was more sociable), but at least she was able to understand lessons and hold conversations with the few people she spoke to. “You are okay too. English is difficult.” That was something both of them could relate to. She nodded as he expanded, and she would have been interested that he had lived on a farm, had be brought the subject up. Despite being born in the city, the hustle and bustle was sometimes a little too much for a small, timid girl like her. Maybe she would have liked to have lived somewhere more rural too…

People would expect her to squeal and run away from anything creepy-crawly, but it was irrational to do so, in Kimi’s opinion, and she only reacted in such a way if she was truly shocked by whatever it was, or if it was irregularly large. She watched curiously as this boy produced… what, was that sweat? Syrup? She couldn’t tell. Either way, the bee liked it. She blinked, looking at her own hands, “Um, I can’t do… that.” She said softly, innocently. But once she understood, she would hold her finger out quietly. This was odd. One moment making flower crowns, the next trying to hold a bee. What was this…