The judge with the red whistle on his chest raised the starter pistol, and over ten female competitors on the track took their positions in a standing-start stance.
"On your marks—get set—3! 2! 1!"
Hanabi... is a very useless person...
She has been disliked for a very long time.
Everyone says Hanabi looks weak in everything she does, isn’t talkative, and is very dull; standing next to her makes you greatly dislike her.
At any time, she is superfluous.
"Why are you squatting here?"
This was the first thing Sakura said to Hanabi after many days of seeing her.
The little girl, curled up in the corner holding a ball, lowered her head, neither responding nor looking at him.
She just shrank her tiny body tighter, a red scar on her forehead.
"It seems everyone doesn’t like you."
"Hmm, not very pretty indeed, a bit chubby, and the color of your eyes is quite strange."
Hearing his words, the little girl buried her head even deeper, using the ball to cover her face and eyes.
Children of the same age played in the garden not far away, with the slide being the most popular. As they slid down from the height along the smooth path and landed, it was filled with the joys and laughter of childhood.
Despite being naive, she knew she was not welcomed.
The injury on her forehead was caused just now by the boy standing highest on the slide, laughing the happiest, hitting her with a ball.
"I hate you! Go away!"
Rarely, she did not burst into tears as she used to.
Instead, she stood alone, bowing her head, watching the red ball rolling to a stop at her feet, sniffling silently.
She just wanted to find a friend to play with.
"Speaking of which, it’s been eleven days since you moved in next door, right?"
"I’m also curious; every time your mom brings you over to visit, you’re always holding a doll. Do you like sharks?"
After two consecutive inquiries, the little girl still didn’t respond, only covering her face in front of him.
Sakura stretched out his hand, wanting to touch her small shoulder.
"No! Don’t touch Hanabi!" The little girl constantly avoided his hand, pressing herself against the cold wall.
Finally, seeming to have shrunk into a space with no room left, she raised the ball in front of her.
Her voice was very fine, very small, and not pleasant for someone her age.
Sakura retracted his dodged hand and sat beside her.
"We’re neighbors. Do you know what a neighbor is?"
"It’s okay if you don’t know. Anyway, just know that when you step out of your new home and take two steps to the left, you’ll see a pot of White Lily there; that’s my home."
Sakura patiently waited for her response, but even after a long while, he heard nothing from her.
Just as he was about to continue speaking, that not-so-pleasant small voice emerged from behind the ball:
"What does a White Lily look like?"
Sakura couldn’t help but smile at her:
"What does it look like? It’s hard to describe. It’s very clean white, with occasionally some yellow in the stamens, and the leaves are green."
"If you want to grow a potted plant, it’s actually quite troublesome."
Seeing she was still reluctant to respond much, he continued talking at length.
From this flower’s purchase, planting, trimming the leaves accidentally cutting into the bloom, almost wilting... he talked until it quietly bloomed last night.
The little girl always hid behind the ball, listening to these impressive-sounding yet incomprehensible words.
"Anyway, you’ll see it when you go home."
The little girl stole a glance at him and, noticing his smile, quickly hid her less-than-pleasing face again.
"Sakura... Sakura-kun, don’t you dislike Hanabi?"
The little girl, with no confidence in her voice, only let out a short nasal sound:
She actually wanted to say that she could remember the name of each classmate.
Her mom told her that the most important thing in making friends is to remember the other person’s name.
But after memorizing the class register, no one was willing to approach her.
Whether it was Natsumi-chan, Tomonori-chan, Erina-chan, Risa-chan, Taito-kun, Toshiharu-kun, Chishin-kun, or Kenso-kun, it was all the same.
Curled up in the corner, the little girl hugged the ball tight in her arms and said dejectedly:
"Sakura, Sakura-kun should also stay away from Hanabi. Hanabi cries a lot, doesn’t sound nice, and doesn’t look good... staying with Hanabi will make everyone hate you too..."
Sakura smiled and put his index finger to his lips, "Though a bit clumsy, remember to come to my house to see the flower this afternoon."
"This is the first promise between little Hanabi and Sakura-kun, understand?"
His smile and his voice were something Hanabi had never encountered before.
She had exchanged only a few words with him, yet he gave her a comforting feeling.
Besides her mom and dad, it was the first time Hanabi felt warmth.
So, Hanabi... always wanted to change herself.
"Come on! Keep it up!"
"Hn-chan, hang in there!"
The hot wind roared past her ears, and everything in her vision twisted and deformed under the intense heatwave.
Shoots of encouragement and cheer for her constantly came from all around, but her extremely fatigued mind couldn’t comprehend a single word.
"Do you, do you think you can rest easy now?"
"So useless, always useless, what can you do? Can you only cook?"