Here we are with the next oneshot in this countdown stream. I'm sure you're all already tired of reading this over and over again, but we're only on day four, so…
A special thank you, once again, goes to Reiriniverse from Tumblr for making and providing the amazing cover image of today's oneshot.
Disclaimer's the same as the other three times and will not be changing in the foreseeable future: I do not own BanG Dream!
It was a bright and sunny day, the kind of bright and sunny day where you don't want to do anything more than to run out of the house and spend the entire day outside. Whether you could spend it with your friends, family, or just on your own, it was a day that nobody was about to let go to waste.
And nobody was living with this mindset more than the younger sister of Afterglow's drummer: Udagawa Ako.
Ako was much unlike her older sister Tomoe, being much shorter than Tomoe was and having bright purple-colored hair instead of a shade of deep red. Even so, Ako was blessed knowing that her relationship with her sister couldn't be better.
Humming cheerfully to herself as she skipped along the streets, Ako was thinking to herself silently to try and think what she could be doing today. As cheerful as she was, there was one thing that was holding her back today: she couldn't spend any time with any of her fellow bandmates of Roselia.
'Lisa-nee managed to convince everybody to at least take a couple of days off…' Ako thought to herself and ultimately reminded herself of the fact that she was all alone for the day. Tomoe already made an appointment to hang out with the members of her band, Yukina and Sayo absolutely refused to leave their respective homes for their own unique reasons, Lisa was off to try and get another part-time job, and Rinko?
"Ako could never get Rinrin to come to a place like this," Ako chuckled darkly to herself, looking around her to note just how many people there were, making the young drummer feel somewhat claustrophobic. And Ako knew that if she was already uncomfortable, Rinrin would be infinitely more so.
With a soft sight and running out of ideas as to what she could be doing, Ako decided that she could be making something to try and cheer all of her friends up. Quickly deciding that she really liked this idea, Ako was about to rake her brain for an idea when her eyes landed on a certain shop not too far from her.
"That's perfect!" Ako exclaimed suddenly, visibly startling passersby around her. Giving all of them an apologetic look, Ako hurried over to where the shop was located.
It didn't take Ako very long to reach it, despite all the people that she had to dodge to get there; for once, Ako was thankful for her diminutive height. Once inside, Ako was met with the familiar blast of fragrances that she had grown used to smelling when visiting one of her sister's bandmates and childhood friends.
Ako was in a floristry, one that she could only assume had only recently been opened as she didn't recall one being in this part of the city. Ako may have dived into the world of flowers a bit after gaining interest in it, she knew that she still had a long way to go.
Even so, Ako was smiling happily as she found herself in somewhat familiar territory once again. Ako was about to start wandering around to try and see what this floristry had in store for her when a familiar voice caught Ako's attention.
"Welcome to—Ako-chan, is that you?"
Ako whirled around on her heel, trying to find who had called her. When Ako finally identified who did, she was surprised to find Matsubara Kanon standing behind her.
What caught Ako's attention the most was how Kanon was wearing the floristry's uniform.
"Kanon! Are you working here?" Ako blurted out before she could help herself, quickly covering her mouth when she realized what she had said. Thankfully for Ako, Kanon was very understanding in Ako's slip-up and simply nodded with a smile on her face in response.
"It's actually Misaki-chan who works here, but Misaki-chan was not feeling well today and asked me to cover for her," Kanon explained, looking somewhat distraught at the thought of a sick Misaki alone at her home. For the sake of covering for her sick junior, however, Kanon shook her head to try and get herself back to reality and help out her customer, "Anyway, Ako-chan, how may I help you? Is there anything in particular that you like?"
"Ako doesn't know what exactly Ako is looking for yet…" Ako admitted after a short period of silence between the two of them had come and gone. As the words left her mouth, Ako tried to scan the shop to see if she could find anything to help her, but this instead had the opposite effect: it was only now that Ako realized just how many different flowers there were.
And how ignorant she was of all the different varieties of flowers.
This did not go unnoticed by Kanon, who took it upon herself to try and help Ako, "Well… who does Ako-chan want to give flowers to and why do you want to give them flowers? Do you at least know that, Ako-chan?"
"Yes, Ako thinks so…" Ako muttered softly and absent-mindedly, but thankfully Kanon still managed to hear what Ako had just said. Taking a moment to choose her words well, Ako finally nodded to herself before adding, "Ako's bandmates of Roselia and Ako's Onee-chan. Ako wants to show them how much they mean to Ako and how much Ako respects them."
"I see…" Kanon trailed off as she tried to remember what Misaki had told her about the variety of flowers here.
And then it hit her.
"In that case, why not try some roses?" Kanon suggested suddenly, her voice seemingly catching Ako off-guard as the vertically-challenged girl nearly slipped in place. After receiving reassurance that Ako was all right, Kanon added, "Yellow and pink roses may be what Ako-chan is looking for."
"Why yellow and pink roses?" Ako asked curiously, sounding very shocked but not against the suggestion at all. Turning to Kanon to see and hear the response that she would get, Ako was surprised to see that Kanon was actually motioning for Ako to follow her.
The two of them ended up walking through all the assortment of flowers in the shop, giving Ako the opportunity to see more flowers and to appreciate them all. Much too soon for Ako's tastes, who found herself enjoying the walk a lot more than she thought she would, the two of them had reached the other side of the shop where all the roses were kept.
Ako had to physically restrain herself from running over to the flowers and gushing all over them.
"Ako-chan asked me why I recommended yellow and pink roses, right?" Kanon asked, suppressing a smile when she saw Ako's reaction before continuing after Ako nodded in confirmation, "Yellow roses are symbolic of friendship and caring, so these flowers will tell Ako-chan's bandmates that you care for them and relish the bond that you have with them. Pink roses mean that you admire and are grateful for them."
"So that is what it was… Kanon sure knows a lot about these!" Ako exclaimed proudly but turned away to look at the flowers before seeing Kanon's flustered reaction at the compliment. Murmuring to herself on the possible things that she could be doing, Ako suddenly looked up as if she was shocked and remained looking dazed for some time.
"U-Um… Ako-chan? Are you all right?" Kanon asked carefully, growing increasingly worried and anxious until Ako suddenly turned to her with a determined look on her face.
"Kanon! How many of these do you think Ako should need if Ako wants to make—" Ako abruptly stopped herself from finishing that sentence, seemingly embarrassed to say out loud. So instead, Ako stood on her toes to whisper what she wanted to do in Kanon's ear.
"That's a great idea of you, Ako-chan! And you wanted five of those, right? One for each of five people, right?" Kanon added for confirmation to which Ako nodded meekly. With a smile, Kanon started to pick the roses that she would give to the customer, eventually ending up with a solid armful of them, "This should be enough… can you please wait at the register, I will be right there with you, Ako-chan."
Ako nodded in understanding and walked off to wait for Kanon to bring the flowers to her. Little did she know that that was not Kanon's true intention of asking Ako to wait there. Kanon's true intention was because—
"Aaaaaah!"
The dull sound of somebody falling on the dirt floor reverberated through the shop, followed soon after by the distinct sound of a pair of footsteps rushing over.
"Matsubara-san! Are you all right?" a worried voice asked as soon as one of Kanon's colleagues had reached where Kanon was lying on the ground. Much to the newcomer's surprise, however, Kanon was meekly motioning that she was all right.
"I-I'm fine, I just tripped…" Kanon muttered as she accepted the hand that was offered to her, allowing herself to be pulled back up to her feet. As Kanon tried to sheepishly dust her clothes off, she waved to the pile of roses that she had dropped and, much to Kanon's relief, were not damaged, "Could you please help me get them all, Kazari-chan?"
"So that's what happened?" the colleague asked with a sigh of relief, bending down to start picking up the roses until Kanon joined her soon after. With the two of them working together, they had gathered all the flowers in very little time. As Kanon was picking up the last of them, the other girl turned to her and asked, "Where to?"
"To the register, please, and thank you again for all your help," Kanon said with a grateful smile, fully aware that she wouldn't have been able to gather the flowers in time had she been on her own.
Walking through the shop carefully so as to not drop the flowers for a second time, Kanon followed her colleague to the register where a somewhat impatient but seemingly nervous Ako was waiting for them.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ako-chan," Kanon quickly apologized as soon as she knew that she was within hearing distance of Ako. As Kanon's colleague was making sure all the roses were carefully packed, Kanon handled the register and gave Ako her change, "Here you go, Ako-chan! Good luck, and I am sure that your friends and Onee-chan will like it!"
"Thank you for everything!" Ako said with a grateful bow as she accepted the heavy bag of roses from Kanon's colleague. Quickly saying her goodbyes, Ako was already out of the flower shop before either of the part-time workers realized where she had disappeared off to.
"Let's see…" Ako muttered to herself as soon as she was met with the bright sunlight outside. Mapping out the city in her mind to remind herself where everything was, Ako nodded to herself in determination and set off.
Three hours had passed since Ako had left Kanon in the flower shop in favor of getting the things she thought she would need, and it was only now that an exhausted Ako finally arrived home. Her arms were tired, her eyelids felt heavy, and her feet were killing her, but Ako knew that this was only the start of things. She still had a lot to do.
"Right!" Ako said to herself after placing the bags on the ground and slapping both of her cheeks lightly to get herself back to reality. She was sure that she had all the items that she needed for what she wanted to do, and now all that was left was for her to make it.
With a soft groan, Ako took all the bags in her arms again and dragged all of her stuff to her room. Surprising herself that she still had the strength to do this, Ako began taking all of her stuff from the bags and arranging them on her desk.
It wasn't long until Ako had a pile of yellow and pink roses on her left, a small bundle of floral wire and green florist's tape on her right, and several differently-colored ribbons on the floor for later.
Smiling to herself proudly that she managed to gather everything so quickly, Ako stood up to get her laptop where she knew she had the instructions on and placed her laptop in front of her. She was ready.
"All right, let's make these flower crowns!" Ako cheered energetically before falling in a focused and serious mood as she started to work.
Ako was sure that this gift would surprise the five who she would be giving these gifts to.
And that will wrap up this oneshot for the day. I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review telling me what you thought, and until tomorrow for the next oneshot!
Countdown currently on: six!