( 8 ) The Fairies

Hanako is his name, and he is either a toilet ghost or a flower girl. Neither, really - is what he is. If he was a ghost, he woud’ve haunted a different place other than a stinky smelly toilet. And he had enough fun being a flower girl before puberty hit him. Ah the joys of those days where his peers having a crush on him mistaking him for a girl. The shocked faces and existential crisis. Well… whatever existential crisis 8-10 year olds get. One thing that his parents did manage to predict when giving him the name he has, is that he ended up really into anything flowery-related.

Flowercrowns, flowerweving, flower baskets, flowers in hair, flowers bouquet - all simple interests he only did as a side hobby most of his life now utilized in the current job he has now. Did he envision working full time at a flowershop during his early adulthood? As an ambitious and shameless 11 year old, he expected he would be the one that people were going to flower shops for to get him flowers. Alas, some dreams arent meant to be realised.

With this in mind, walking in nature wasn’t so surprising for him to like doing. Walking in greens, in a comfortable hoodie, at the night of the festival, with no one except the voices of singers singing along to the song that played in his ears from the earbuds he wore. He walked in the city he had lived in most of his life, watching as the many fairy lights displayed all over the city gave the place some sort of odd magical feel about it. Like if he blinked, he would’ve missed something lurking between the twinkling lights.

He had heard of the rumours, and conspiracies at times. Claims that there were more in the star festival than the regular human eyes saw. It was a little silly that it might be suggested there was something mystical about the park. Woudln’t it be more cooler if it was in an abandoned shop, perhaps an old wing of the park where it had been shut down before, or some forest somewhere. A park? Really?

Hanako scoffed at the idea but as he entered the park, he stood for a moment to marvel at the palace once more. Every year was more or less a similar, and yet Hanakos love for pretty aesthetics and greenery couldn’t really stop him fully from aweing at the place once more as he moved in deeper through the familiar paths. And with the music softly playing in his ears, it only felt so… right to be here.

He walked a little further, occasionally brushing his hand against tree trunks or bushes mindlessly. Not thinking of anything in particular until a weird solid bump pushed against his fingertips among the bushes. Hanako frooze, a confused expression etched on his face as he backtracked his steps a little. Taking some steps back until he found what caused the bump in the bush. He picked up the solid item trapped between the bushes, twisting it between his fingers and inspecting the green star shaped item. Emerald, realy. Almost shiny under the dim lights of the fairylights.

W/c: 537