A sixteen year old man wearing a white shirt under a green colored apron with a logo of a sakura flower in the center labeled, "Hana-san" was extremely busy that day. He already served ten customers from his afternoon shift. Although it's a weekend, he cannot afford to miss a single penny for the rainy days. His parents could afford his schooling but it's his choice to work to secure himself a savings for his future. He believes that it's a necessity to prepare himself against unforseen circumstances where finances are a huge asset.

The other reason is not to be nagged if he wants to buy something. And there's another reason...

The teenage man assigned to the afternoon shift that day is named 'Mikagami Shin' or customers addressed him as 'Mikagami-san' or 'Shin-kun'.

The shop was bustling that day, even on a Saturday. It's already past 5:45 pm and he was entertaining his last customer before he'll call it a day. Shin smiled ear to ear as he talked with an older woman holding a bag full of groceries inside the shop stall adorned with different kinds of flowers and pots where he works part-time to, in his right hand, he's holding neatly arranged flowers in a brown square pot with intricate patterns as design.

"Yes, madam, these are our newly stocked flowers. We only got it in the morning. This is our best product as of the moment, " he raised the flowers for the customer to see. A flower arrangement with precisely cut peach, pink and yellow colored roses with their stem and leaves. It is arranged based on the most colorful to the lightest: pink first, then peach, and yellow. There's also white baby's breaths adorning the inbetween of each two roses.

The customer reached for the flowers to see and examine. The lady was awed by how beautiful the arrangement was. She believed that the young man knew art because of how he considered the color palette. The trim on the leaves is also clean as well as in terms of organization. It looked like it was carefully placed and not just to fill in the gaps. The woman was also mesmerized by the one selling her the flowers-the young man blends well with the product he's selling because he is as beautiful as those flowers.

The young man is quite tall for his age, approximately 5'7 to 5'8. His blonde undercut hair with wavy bangs adds to his overall charm, although his azure blue eyes is sharp that of a cat and with a strong jawline, it's a complete opposite when in terms of the vibes he's giving and how he treats people, none could judge the young man because of his reputation of being warm, kind, and a gentleman. That's one of the reasons why customers such as herself always comes back.

The young man caught her staring at him. He smiled, a smile so warm that she believes he's responsible for calling the sun to nurture the flowers even though it's already thirty minutes past sunset.

"Are there any problems, madam? Will you take these flowers or do you have any special requests? " Shin scratched his head while still smiling, he then clasped his both hands in a praying position, making the woman perceive he's a little shy or afraid that he kind of messed up.

But the truth is, Shin is starting to get impatient but of course he won't show it. The woman took quite some time to approach the flowers section because she was busy talking with another woman who recently ordered flowers for a funeral. He guesses she knows this lady because they're talking about children's achievements in school. Afterwards, it also took some time for this lady to choose what flowers she likes for a supposed lunch tomorrow with a friend from overseas that she just asked for his recommendations. And another thing is that she's been staring at him for too long, not realizing it's rude to do so.

He's already used to dealing with these kinds of people but sometimes he just feels impatient, especially if it's close to the end of his shift. He chose to fake enthusiasm than to be the most part-timer he knows, especially those who work in the food business-the voice and the endless sighs shows how tired and done that person is.

The woman shook her head and smiled. She looked satisfied at least, it made Shin mentally scream, "Finally, yes! ". He wants to go home a little early at least because he still needs to pass to a nearby grocery for his dinner. Afterall, he's alone since yesterday with his useless brother until Monday who knows nothing but to stick his nose on his computer and video games because their parents are up on a three days company trip on a nearby city.

"Yes, I'll take two please, one with exactly this one you showed me and one with colors of blue and violet, if it's possible and can you please deliver it at the usual address at 9am tomorrow? " Shin took a small notebook and a pen from the pocket of his apron and proceeded to write the woman's order.

Upon finishing, he looked at the woman and smiled, who returned him the same gesture. "Please proceed to the cashier, madam, " he politely gestured to the lady. He then went to place the flowers to the third stall together with the other flowers they're selling.

They're selling varieties of flowers on the first stall located near the door of the shop, there's individual flowers that the customers can individually choose from roses, tulips, asters, daisies, orchids, sunflowers, etc. In the second stall front the first stall is where their greenery lies such as myrtle, ivy and types or fern. The third stall near the cashier is where the already arranged flowers were from baskets, bouquet, jars or pots while the last stall in front of the third stall is just individual baskets, flower foams, pots, ribbons, and etc.

He went to the cashier and faced the woman. "Will you pay by card or cash, madam? " he asked, it didn't take so long when the woman opened her pink colored wallet and handed him her card.

He received the card, bowed, then swiped it. "868 kichō, madam, " he announced, then proceeded to print the recipe.

He handed the receipt to the woman and smiled. "Thank you for your continued patronage, madam. Come again. " He bowed to the woman as a sign of thanks, the woman bowed as well.

"Well, I'll get going. Thank you, Mikagami-san! " the woman bowed again as a sign of farewell. He bid his goodbye as well.

Upon hearing the bells on the shop's door ring, Shin heaved a sigh and fished his phone from his other pockets, he opened it and stared at the time, '6:10 pm'.

"Ah, Shit! " he muttered under his breath, closed his phone and put it in his cargo short's pocket. He hurriedly went to the staff room. Removing his apron, he hung it on the hanger.

"Last one... " he signed out his name for today. "Finally! " He reached for his backpack, grabbed the keys and closed the door.

He then shut the lights then closed the shop.

-

Shin couldn't contain his smile as he stepped out of his favorite grocery store, with two bags full of ingredients to make tonkatsu ramen, he got the meat on discount and got a buy 1 take one narutomaki. This is all he needs to make a satisfying meal after work.

Remembering something, his smile ceases. "I hope at least Shiro-baka made some rice or I'm gonna smash the rice cooker on his empty head". He gripped his hand, lips in an obvious frown. He hated his nii-san for being a good for nothing, piece of scum, in short a hikikomori that enjoys tormenting him.

He'll make the miso ramen extra spicy so when Shiro-baka will eat it-with his low tolerance on spice...maybe he'll be reawakened to be someone more useful.

Sighing, he went to get his bike in the small parking space of the grocery store. He hung his groceries on the bike's handle and rode. It's already dark and only the streetlights served as light to fend off the darkness. It's cold outside and he's only wearing his white shirt with sleeves and he's regretting not bringing his jacket.

"Alright! Let's go! I am already hungry, " he happily uttered. He stormed off with his bike and followed the bike lane. Although this part of the town is not that congested, he'd rather follow the law and avoid any unnecessary accidents.

Some problems can be avoided when you stop being stubborn. Law and order 'controls' one's freedom but it also teaches someone how to be responsible for their freedom.

When he arrived at their compound, he noticed one of their neighbors sitting outside the gate of their house. They are staring at the empty space as if they're thinking about what to do with their lives.

"Endo-san, " he called the man sitting near the gate. He didn't seem to hear him, so he called him again. "Endo-san, " he called him again this time, Endo-san noticed him and smiled.

Endo-san is a forty five year old man who's living with his 15 year old daughter, Reiko-san who is his classmate in school. Endo-san is working as a salaryman on a real estate company.

Shin went next to Endo-san and offered a hand. "You should enter the house, Endo-san. It's cold here, " he gently said. The man hesitantly accepted his hand and stood up.

Patting the man's shoulder, Shin spoke, "Don't try to do what you're thinking to do. It's a waste. " He saw the shocked expression of the man and he smiled at him. "Think about your daughter, " he added. Endo-san's face almost looked like it lost its colors.

The man blinked, still shocked. "What do you mean? " Endo-san tried to hide his expression and the truth Shin already knew.

The smile never faltered from Shin's face. "If everything ends, will it make everything better? Will Reiko-san smile again the way you want her to always do? If everything is gone... will the pain go away or it's just temporary? " Shin put his hand on the man's shoulder and gently squeezed it.

It was the last throw and all the walls the man built to hide his emotions crumbled. The man's eyes watered until tears ran down. "Reiko, my daughter. I'm sorry... I'm sorry... " the man broke down, face red due to tears. His hand shook as he gripped them hard.

Shin went to get his handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the man. "Don't give up, Endo-san. You're not alone. The only thing constant in this world is change so don't think that things will stay stagnant for you. " Upon saying those words, he turned his back on the man and smirked.

Moments later a dark shadow started to leave from the man, it moved swiftly until it came face to face with Shin. It's form is menacing. Dry green colored skin that looks disgusting. What's more disgusting is its angular face, big mouth, salivating with sharp black teeth. It has black few black long hairs that looks wet and huge eyes with red pupils.

Shin's expression never registered fear even when the creature opened its mouth and released a growl in front of him. This creature is a kubire-oni, a type of youkai who possesses humans to make them feel depressed and have the feelings of self-loathing. Eventually, they will drive the human to end their life, usually by hanging.

He knows that the youkai is possessing Endo-san the moment he sets his eyes on the man. There's an unusual shadow of depression looming over the man, almost like it is capable of whispering dark thoughts.

Normal humans cannot see them but they'll feed from them. "I... kill you... I kill... you, " the voice of the youkai sounded like a chant. Its face started to become uglier each passing second. It's eyes bulge and red veins started to appear, it bit its lips with its piercing fangs until a violet liquid burst from the wound.

Shin stared at it eye to eye which made the youkai halt. He raised his index finger and a small blue fire appeared from it.

"Get lost...Stay away from my turf, " he said, almost a whisper, his eyes now sharp, unforgiving. Gone the smiling Shin nor the warm expressions he usually shows. He also increased spiritual energy to beat the current energy the youkai has.

The expression of the creature turned to something amusing-fear. It started to back away as if it had seen a youkai or a yurei. Which is quite ironic.

He walked past the youkai and smirked. "Weak. " The moment he said the word, it disappeared.

Shin sighed and opened his house's gate. There's a lot of kubire-oni around. And that one is quite weaker than the other. It hadn't fed a lot of humans yet. Although a kubire-oni was created according to humans based from a legend, the truth is some youkai are born due to the intentions and emotions of humans. Due to a lot of pressure, negative emotions and pain a human has, kubire-onis are born.

But he still believes that there's still hope for humans. And things will change eventually, either a human will find a breakthrough or a support system is there. Entertainment can also help a human cope up especially now that there's a lot of new types of leisure popping around.

There's a lot more in life to just waste it.

Its importance will be evident when you feel it'll end. When you beg to stay breathing, you'll appreciate the moments where you're still fine.

Even a youkai such as him knows it.

Staring at the sky, he smiled. "I believe that humans can change but in the case of Shiro-baka... he's a worthless case." he laughed heartily, removed his shoes then entered his house.

"Tadaima!"

Vocabulary

Hana (花) - flower

San (さん) - The Japanese suffix -san is polite, but not excessively formal. It can be broadly used to: Refer to anyone you don't know, regardless of status or age. Address equals of the same age.

Kun (くん/) - The Japanese honorific -kun is common among friends and younger people. Kun is the more respectful of the two, but is still rather informal. It's used more commonly for men and boys than women and girls.

Kichō (貴重な) - lit. treasure. (The currency they use in this story).

Tonkatsu (豚カツ) - pork cutlet.

Narutomaki (蒲鉾) - A type of kamaboko (蒲鉾), a cured fish surimi product made in Japan. Prepared in loaves or rolls, then sliced and added to dishes as a garnish.

Baka (馬鹿 or ばか) - is a Japanese swear or curse word meaning idiot, jackass, dumbass, or unthinking fool.

Nii - san - "Nii-san" is the more formal term for brother, and is used when talking to someone of the same age as you or younger.

Miso ( みそ or 味噌) - is a traditional Japanese seasoning. It is a thick paste produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and kōji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae) and sometimes rice, barley, seaweed, or other ingredients.

Kubire oni (縊鬼) - Kubire-Oni, also known as Iki, Itsuki, Chōsatsuki, and Chōshiki, are ghosts of humans who committed suicide by hanging. They haunt people to coerce them to hang themselves.

Tadaima (ただ今, 只今) : hello; here I am; I'm home (said by a person coming back home, a stock phrase required by the Japanese etiquette).

Credits to the owner of the references I used.