Ichika is sitting at a table in a bar, watching the patrons. The place isn't as full as it normally is which allowed him to catch sight of a girl. She's sitting at the bar and Ichika can't help but feel she's out of place. She's wearing a flowery top with bare shoulders and a short pair of shorts. The modesty of her legs protected only by cotton leggings that hugged them tight as a man would be tempted to do so. By far she wasn't sexy, but there was that sense of innocence that would spice any desire. But even with all that, she looks out of place to Ichika because she seemed a few years younger than he, a minor. Ichika thinks that this place is somewhere people go to to vent their problems or, in most cases, to get an easy lay. She was certainly dressed for the latter, but her expression was approaching the former.
He goes up to her and buys a round of drinks for the both of them. The girl asks him scathingly if he's trying to pick her up. Ichika shakes his head no and tells her to go home after taking that drink. This bar wasn't a place to hang around for children like her. She informs him that she's only a few days short of reaching 18 and Ichika states his surprise saying that he's 18 as well. He congratulates her and buys another drink, this time something more celebratory than hard-hitting. It's the girl who shakes her head this time, twin tails shaking along with the motions as she downed the scotch from before in one gulp.
Ichika states his surprise and tells her to slow down before she hurts herself. The girl rants that in her current state, no liquor could possibly shut her down. Ichika realizes that angry doesn't even begin to describe this girl. He dared to ask why she was here. She refuses at first but decides to talk when Ichika got annoying. She explained that she'd just broken up and was busy barricading herself in a pillow fortress of solitude with a tub of ice cream and a computer installed with some First Person Shooters, but her friend had decided enough was enough and dragged her out to see other guys. Ichika took a look around and the girl pointed out a red-head girl chatting it up with a man a few tables away. Ichika smiled in sympathy. The girl shot out that she didn't like that look and Ichika apologized. They got to talking and things got rolling from there.
Out of a mix of curiosity, boredom and, probably, revenge, she asked Ichika why he was there. Ichika went silent and didn't speak up even after he slowly nursed his drinks. Thinkiing it was probably something really serious because Ichika had a far-away look, she asked if he was single. He seemed to snap back into his current situation and asked what she had said last. The girl pouted and sassed him a bit before repeat asking if he was single. Ichika laughed but the laugh was hollow. It slowly died down and the girl was glad because it was giving her chills.
He looked at her and said she asked him why he was at the bar. She confirmed and he nodded. Ichika called over for another round of drinks. Two came and he grabbed them both, immediately gulping them down. The girl grumbled that one was hers. Ichika smart mouths that he though she didn't like strange men buying her drinks. She pouts and he explains that he'd probably want to be drunk if he was to talk about his reasons. Ichika sighs and starts:
He was at the bar because he needed a bit of courage, to face something from his past. The girl asked what that was. Ichika answered it was a girl he met in that very bar. They had met and parted ways almost too quickly. He'd searched for a way to meet her again for two years and now he had the chance, he was getting cold feet. The girl stared at him and told him he was an idiot, asking why he was getting cold feet. Ichika spluttered what if scenarios of what if the girl hated him? What if she didn't remember? Didn't want to remember? The twin-tailed girl wondered why any girl would hate him. And even if she did hate him for some reason, why would he want to meet up with her so badly? Was she that great of a woman?
Ichika summed it all up when he answered, "I want to see my son. He's two years old."
The girl's image of him completely cracked and shattered. She wanted to hit him, scream at him, something. But she couldn't. All she felt was disbelief. She asked if he'd knocked her up and Ichika nodded yes. Two years ago, then Ichika should have been 16 then. She shot him a scathing look and snapped that he had the gall to talk to her like he did when they first met. Ichika nodded glumly and just said because he knew that kind of stuff happens, and he didn't want her to go through the same. He said that it didn't take long to find out that the girl was pregnant. The parents of the girl were really angry when they found out. Thankfully no legal actions were taken, reasonable or not. Though Ichika admits he was almost killed.
The twin-tailed girl asks for her own satisfaction if it was the girl or her parents. Ichika responds that it was his sister. (He'd told her before that he was living with only his sister)
The girl feels dissappointed but says that if she were knocked up by some guy, she'd probably never want to see his face again.
Ichika remains silent and pulls out a small velvet box. The girl peeks over and her jaw drops open at the beautiful ring inside. Ichika stares at the ring and he looks lost. He begins to recount the details of how he met the girl who mothered his child. He was 16 and he was dragged by his friends to that bar. They partied and he drunk a few drinks but his friends spiked his chasers thinking it would be a hoot and a half. The result was the first time drinker became zombie drunk. Ichika explains that he was barely aware of his surroundings. Half aware only of a girl, a dark space and the touch of skin. There was no time for them to talk about the morning after. She left and the next time Ichika heard of the matter it was talking to the girl's family lawyer. It was there he learned she was pregnant with his child and he had no idea what to do. At first he denied having anything to do with it, but he realized that the child would be without a father, like him. He decided to do everything in his power to be there for the child but he was also denied of that. He was to receive a sum of money and keep quiet about it.
The girl at the bar frowned at the story, she found it really weird and asked who the girl was. Ichika shakily smiled and said, "Sarashiki Tatenashi"(the Tatenashis are big name financial firm in this verse
) She gaped at his answer and said that this morning's paper was talking about how the "princess of the business world" was about get engaged. Ichika replied it was one of the reasons he wanted to ask her to marry him then. So no one else could, but he got cold feet and was thinking if he had a chance.
The girl went silent and thought to herself what had been said in the past few hours. This person in front of her was certainly not a perfect man, but he was kind. He isn't plunging headfirst into things for the person he loves but he was trying. She asked him what Tatenashi meant to him.
Ichika blushed and thought about it. Saying things like she was pretty, smart, talented but the girl cut him off, asking what he thought of her as, not describe her. Ichika honestly said that if he had to think of one quickly, Tatenashi was like a rose in his hand. Beautiful, delicate, tantalizing, dangerous. But he didn't have a vase to place it in and to nourish with. He admitted that he didn't have anything to give her.
The girl at the bar smiled. She got up and told him to meet with Tatenashi and that it didn't matter if he had a vase. He would certainly find a place to let the rose grow. She took his free hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze before leaving.
Ichika looked down in his hand and realized the girl's name and number was written on it. There was also a short message.
If you can't handle a rose, why not try a daisy?-Rin
So there Ichika sat. The ring for Tatenashi in his right hand, the note from Rin in his left.