Time goes by like a flash of light - Open

[koemi]

Summer vacation, known for being the time for kids to be free for once, wasn't anything special. Having friends meant spending more time with them and getting into trouble, but if one didn't have friends, the days went by slower than ever. It hurt to see so many kids hanging around the food court with their giggles and happy grins- what were they so happy about? The heat outside was unbearable and the crowds in the mall were hard to get through. The sun beat down onto the sidewalks, like a large flaming orb sprinkling down the heat to torture the walking figures even more. How could anyone stand such humid weather? Summer, in his opinion, could possibly be the worst season to exist. Why couldn't it be winter already? The fluffy white snow on the ground, gray sky, and sitting in front of a fire place with a cup of warm hot chocolate.... the idea beat pushing through a crowd checking out a booth of wonderful tasting organic smoothies. What difference was there between normal and organic anyway? The boy felt too irritated by the heat to give a care in the world.

Going to the second floor, Roka found there to be a little less people. Thank goodness. He never did like people that much, so to see them all in one place made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. The only reason why he came to the mall was to buy some supplies for his mother's jewelry kit. She wrote him a list of different wires, gems, and all that good stuff that a guy didn't really know about. Unfolding the yellow slip, Roka sat down on a bench right next to a shoe store. His long, lanky figure stood out from the crowd- which he hated. For a boy his age, he was more skinny and long than average. The teenagers got a kick out of making fun of the new kid at school... back in his home town, the schools barely had anyone attending and the classes were pretty small. Unlike the serene little village next to the bay area, this place had a high school booming with teens ready to hang out with their friends and wait for the day to end. Roka hated it, he didn't even want here to begin with. Three long months of being here and people already knew him as the quiet kid who didn't bother talking to anyone. It could be expected when you're not a social person... but it all happened so fast, that and his parents thinking about divorcing was too much for the kid to handle.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Roka stood up and shoved the piece of paper back inside of his black sweatshirt. The craft store seemed to be a few stores down and the walk wouldn't be too bad. Most of the citizens were down at the smoothie booth, though he couldn't blame them really, but either way it worked out for someone who needed their space when walking. His pale eyes narrowed upon the ground, the sun shining down from the glass roof up above him. The sun tended to irritate his eyes, so most of the time he had to keep his head low. Roka trusted he wouldn't bump into anyone anyway, so there wasn't anything to worry about. Plus, he was getting closer to the craft shop.

[okami]

Weren't malls supposed to be air conditioned? Summer could be a great time for kids on break. Beach, rivers, pools, goofing off with friends. It was a great time of year! For people who didn't have to work, that is. Not much changed for them. And it was just flat out tiring for people who had to work outside. Like for deliveries. Most people don't get that they're pretty affected by weather. Just like construction workers and gardeners and the like, people who just make deliveries have to deal with the weather, too. THis was especially crucial for flower deliveries. If the flowers wilted, then the package is ruined and the person making the delivery had to go back to the store and try to make better time when they go back out.

Today, the one making flower deliveries was Kaoru, since she had nothing to do during the summer and had done everything that needed doing around the shop. After running around town on her bike with flowers to lug around, she was about ready to take a nap or even just a cold drink. Too many girls had birthdays in summer. . .why not fall? There were plenty of interesting flowers in fall. But no. Kaoru kept most of her thoughts to herself about the matter, mostly because she was just tired and hot and a little peeved that she couldn't do anything today.

Kaoru pulled up to the mall and parked her bike, smiling a little at the relief of the air conditioning. She trotted through the building and just got more and more confused. All the people tended to knock her off track and she took the long way around to a lot of places to avoid the flowers getting crushed. Finally, she located the escalators and held the bouquet of flowers high above the heads of the people and waited patiently. The second floor was less crowded, making her job easier. Now that there weren't so many people, she was feeling a little more confident and found a boy in a black sweatshirt. She jogged up to him and tapped his shoulder, figuring that he wasn't going to just blow her off. "Ah...uh...c-can you tell me where the craft shop is? S-see, I need to m-make a delivery." she stammered. Asking directions wasn't her favourite thing to do, but she had to. Especially in something like a mall, but she couldn't take anymore time to stumble around.