Apr 17, 2018

Lovely Flowers for my Dearest

Just a little story I translated in spare time.
Author: Yasuzumi Saki (安栖咲)
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8266cu/
Translator: Frozen
TLC/Editor: Erebea

One boy loved a certain girl. She had a lovely smile, just like a flower.


He offered her flowers every day. Small, lovely flowers that suited her well. But she did not accept them, not even once. Instead, she would refuse with a troubled smile and a shake of her head.


Time passed and the two became adults. The man continued to love the woman, but in the end, she fell in love with another. Thus the man stopped offering her flowers. After all, she was married to someone else now and had not once accepted them before.


Still, the man's love for her continued, and he remained single. He prayed for her happiness; the flowers he used to offer her every day were now sold to those who desired them instead.


His love burned as fiercely as ever when he occasionally caught glimpses of her around town, and with a bitter smile he accepted that his love could never come to be.


And like that, before he knew it, the man had grown very old. As always, he locked away his love for her in his heart and continued his business as a flower vendor. It was a peaceful life.


But now there was a young girl who, attracted by the flowers he sold, came to buy them almost every day. She resembled the woman in some ways, with her lovely smile, just like a flower.


The woman lost her husband and now led a modest life together with her daughter and grandchildren. She remembered the boy who had offered her flowers every day.


In her memories he held out a small, lovely flower for her, looking away to hide his red-faced embarrassment. Times went by, and the boy grew manlier. He started to look her in the eyes when offering her flowers, though his dyed cheeks remained same as ever.


Before long, that single flower, perhaps the embodiment of his feelings, had turned into a bouquet. However, no matter how much time passed, the boy would continue to pick those flowers from somewhere and bring it to her. She never accepted them, but still, he never offered her store bought flowers.


There was a famous florist in town now. She heard that the old man kept his store open every day, but only sold small flowers for some reason. However the flowers he sold were lovelier than what any other store had to offer, flowers you could not help but buy.


The woman remembered that boy as she thought about visiting the old man’s store with her granddaughter.


And now the woman smiled in happiness, surrounded by the flowers offered by the man. She had grown quite old during the time he had not seen her, but the man realized with one glance that she was the same woman that he had loved. The small flowers truly suited her as he thought they would.


Beside the man stood the girl who came to buy flowers every day. She held the flowers the man had picked to her chest as always, and motionlessly looked up at the woman’s face.


The man kneeled before the woman as she lay surrounded by flowers. Once again, he held the flowers that he himself picked. Picked especially for her.



The man’s wails echoed through the air until his voice couldn’t make another sound.


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