Why did I decide to write this in two days? I can't remember. Me from two days ago, you are an idiot.

At least I got it done, right?

How does it start raining this hard this quickly? Yumi wondered. What had started as a light shower had turned into a minor monsoon in a matter of seconds. Rain splattered her face and clothing as she made a mad dash for the nearest shelter, the hallway in front of the Administration building. Yumi ducked inside.

She looked out onto the grounds and contemplated her next move. She could not stay here. Someone would surely come out of the building and ask why she was not in class. She would have to invent a story, which, as experience had told her, could lead to problems. The more stories invented, the more likely that she would be caught.

Of course, her other option would be to go back out into the rain. Yumi was not usually so unwilling to go out in a storm. But with the luck that she was having today, it would be all that she could do not to be hit by a freak lightning bolt or something.

Yumi glanced down at the flower still clutched loosely in her left hand. Could it really be from Ulrich? No, it’s not, she thought, suddenly sure of this. She had made herself clear a few months previously when she had informed him that she wanted them to only be friends. Yumi bit her lip, her insides twisting with guilt. She had wounded him deeply that day, she knew. But it was for his own good, she said to herself for the umpteenth time. I was tying him down.

She didn’t even believe this herself and wondered how she had convinced herself that this was true before.

Well, if it’s not him, then who was it? William, maybe? Yumi grimaced. Though it had been flattering at first, she now found the fact that William continued to chase her around a little annoying. Sure, he was hot… Really hot… But as in the brains department, she found the boy a bit lacking. She could not be sure that it was not him, but… No. He said he was going to be getting me something else, right? Yumi remembered. She felt a mixture of disappointment and relief.

So then if the two of them had been eliminated, then who could possibly be sending these? Johnny? … I could imagine that. Ew. In that case, Yumi would need to ask Hiroki to find out. This meant going outside. Great.

Steeling her resolve, Yumi took a deep breath and ran outside. She sprinted across the courtyard, slipping on patches of mud. Rain pelted at her, stinging her skin and eyes. She held her arms in front of her face, trying to shield herself as much as possible. She was almost there. “Come on,” she said to herself, speeding up.

Yes! Yumi was right in front of it. She placed her foot inside… And her foot slipped out from underneath her. Yumi fell backwards onto the pavement. Her head hit something hard and she knew no more.

Something warm brushed her cheek. Someone was touching her cheek lightly, pushing back the strands of hair in her face. Who? Yumi wanted to open her eyes to see, but they seemed so heavy, and by the time she could get them open, whoever it had been was long gone.

Yumi sat up in the infirmary and immediately lay back down. Her head was throbbing. What had happened? She’d been running and then… Now she could recall. She had slipped, her foot slick with rain and mud. Well, that at least explained the throbbing lump on the back of her head. How had she gotten here?

Luckily, Nurse Yolande entered the room at that very moment. Noticing that Yumi was awake, she gave her a pointed look. “You were very lucky not to get a concussion,” she told Yumi, disapproval evident. “What were you doing in the rain?”

“I got caught outside,” Yumi mumbled.

Yolande sighed. “Well, no use lecturing you about it now. Here.” She gave Yumi a couple of aspirins and a glass of water, which Yumi accepted gratefully.

“Nurse Yolande?” Yumi asked after she had taken them. “Who brought me here?”

Yolande blinked. “Ulrich Stern. He came in carrying you. The pair of you looked like a couple of drowned rats, you were so wet.”

Ulrich? Yumi felt a blush rising to her cheeks. Yolande was continuing, “He stayed with you for awhile, too, but left to go to lunch. He said to give you this.” Yolande picked up the tulip, which was now in a small vase. “Said you were holding it when he found you. You can keep the vase, if you want,” she added.

Yumi nodded. “Yeah. Thanks.” Something of Yolande’s last statement clicked into place. “Did you say that it was lunchtime?”

Yolande nodded. “You’ve been out for a few hours. It’s 12:15. And that reminds me, I need to go down to a staff meeting right now. Your backpack is on the chair.”

Yumi thanked her again and Yolande left the office. Yumi sat up and remained there for a little while, thinking. Ulrich had brought her here and stayed with her for awhile. Yumi reached up and put a hand to her cheek. Was that you who brushed my hair away from my face? she wondered. She looked down at the tulip. And was it this that made you leave?

No time for further contemplation now. Nurse Yolande said that it was 12:15. That meant that the next flower was in place. The highest point… Surely that meant the roof of the Science building. It was the highest place accessible to students. She said “accessible” it the sense that it was possible to get up there, and not that they were actually allowed to go up there. Going would be risky, but she was sure that she was right.

Yumi retrieved her bag from the chair and picked up the flower. Outside, the rain seemed to have let up, but the sky was now a dark, cloudy gray, seeming to be still toying with the possibility of letting loose more water on the earth below. Hoping that it would not choose to do so, Yumi walked briskly across the grounds to the science building. The doors were unlocked, luckily, and she stole inside. The halls seemed deserted. Yumi did not relax her guard, making her way to the door that led to the rooftop. It, too, opened at her touch. Perhaps her luck had changed after all.

Then again, perhaps not. The door at the top of the stair would not open. Yumi groaned, then gasped. Maybe she was just paranoid, but she was sure that she had heard someone moving around downstairs. Yumi tried the door again. The doorknob turned, but the door itself would not budge. Panic fluttered inside of her. She could not be caught up here. Students were under no circumstances allowed on the roof. She would be suspended for sure. The soft sounds of footsteps were getting closer. Yumi threw her shoulder against the door in desperation. With a shudder, the jammed door opened.

Yumi, unprepared for this, was sent sprawling to the ground. She hastily got up and shut the door behind her. Panting, she waited until her heartbeat slowed to a normal rate, then looked around.

She spotted it at once. A flower tied to a cable, flapping gently in the breeze, with a note around it. Yumi reached up, caught the cable, and untied the bloom. This flower was an iris, deep violet with a bold streak of yellow through the center. “Hm,” Yumi said, thinking of Odd.

She opened up the note and slid the ring into her palm. The one was harder to put on, and she spent a few minutes fumbling with it until it at last fit into place. She then turned her attention to the note.

Everyday

I want to tell you, but

I can’t find

The words.

And so today,

I give a gift.

The flower of

Noon.

At the

Front,

Look for me at dusk.

Yumi felt her heart constrict. Maybe… Maybe it really could be him. She looked up at the sun, now shining weakly through the clouds. “Is this you, Ulrich?” she whispered.

I'm going to be better about updating this. I only have two chapters left, anyway. And the next one is very important.

To anyone who is still interested in this fic, I am SO sorry for making you wait so long, and eternally grateful to you for reading this anyway. Please let me know who you are so that I can send you a virtual gift basket.

-Railynn