Mukahi Gakuto, 158cm, the shortest boy in the third grade.

, 179.2cm, the tallest girl in the third grade.

A really unmatched couple, was it not?

Start Flowering!

    "Kuso kuso, !! Don't get near my seat!"

    "Dammit, Chibi!! It's not like I want to, MY SEAT IS NEXT TO YOU, so live with it!"

    "ARGH!! DON'T TOUCH MY BOOK! WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO TO IT?!"

    "Read it. Not like you'll ever touch it anyway."

    "Why you—"

    "Aah," Oshitari shook his head as he walked towards the two, putting down his bag on the desk in front of 's.

    "Yuushi! 's PICKING A FIGHT again!"

    "Oi, Kansai, don't listen to that SHORT boy! Chibi's the one starting it!"

    "Wha—" Gakuto's face reddened. "H—how dare you say that!"

    "Ha, can't say that back, can ya?"

    "Hai, hai, stop right there, the two of you," Oshitari put his hands on their shoulder before their minor argument turned into a quarrel. "Gakuto, lend your book. , stop calling Gakuto 'Chibi'."

    "Why should I? He is a Chibi."

    "HEY!"

    "Mukahi, Oshitari, , please do take your seats," their math teacher ordered. Oshitari nodded as Gakuto and mumbled a "hai" and sat down forcefully.

and Mukahi Gakuto had been classmates since their first year at Hyoutei. The first time they met, Gakuto's height was only 146cm while 's was already 168cm. Though Gakuto had grown 12cm taller in three years, it almost did not make any differences as she, too, had grown 11.2cm. Their 20 cm height difference made them look amusing when they stood to each other. It was probably for that reason their teachers has put them in the same class for three straight years and, not to mention, a seat next to each other.

---

    "She's SO annoying!!" Gakuto yelled helplessly as he flung his tennis bag across the clubroom. Shishido raised an eyebrow.

    "Who is?"

    " is..." Oshitari's lips sculpted his typical wolf-like smirk. "...right?"

    "Feh, who else?!" he glowered as he threw himself to the sofa. "I mean, hello? I know she's oh-so-tall but she has no right calling me 'Chibi'!" He turned his body to Ootori and pointed his forefinger to his face. "Choutarou's taller than her but he's never called me that!!"

    "Right... Now that you mention it..." Oshitari sat down beside the sleeping Jirou, leaving only Ootori standing up right at the center of the room. "Ootori's probably the only boy matched for her here, right?"

The Kansai-accented boy smiled in his mind as he saw Gakuto's eyes gazed at him sparkly in jealousy.

    "E—eh?! Oshitari-sempai?!" a slight blush crept over the sophomore's cheeks as all eyes in the room stared at him.

    "I mean—" Oshitari said with a twinkle. "If the two of you walk together, you wouldn't look weird 'coz you're taller than her."

    "Hmm. True indeed," Atobe nodded. "Ore-sama would never want a girl taller than ore-sama to be ore-sama's girlfriend."

Hiyoshi looked away and muttered, "Who would?"

    "Come to think of it..." Shishido looked up for a moment, then continued, "You're right. If my girlfriend's taller than me... It would somehow look... weird."

    "You think so too, ne, Kabaji?"

    "Usu."

    "Cho—" Gakuto frowned as he jumped off the sofa to where Ootori was. "Chotto!! Who on Earth made that ridiculous rule?!"

    "It's just how it is, Gakuto," Oshitari replied. "So, like I said earlier, I say the only one's good enough for here is you, Ootori. (Well, if you leave Kabaji out for a moment...)"

    "E-eeh?"

Gakuto did not say anything—or to be exact, was unable to. Instead of arguing with his doubles partner (whom he had never won against before), he quickly took his racket and bounced towards the door, but stopped before opening it. "That's nonsense, Yuushi."

    "Oh~?" Oshitari smirked, amused by the fact that he had successfully made Gakuto show his enviousness. "What if I take that as a hint of jealousy, Gakuto?"

The acrobatic player glared to Oshitari quickly. "Take that as anything you want. I'm going to the court."

Oshitari only smiled.

---

    "Why do you hate him so much?" asked her basketball teammate—as well as her classmate—when they were having a basketball practice.

    "He's short."

sweat dropped. "That's not even a reason."

    "Well, it is for me."

    "Ne, ," said as she dribbled the ball towards the ring. "I think it's you who's too tall." She passed the ball to .

frowned as she received the ball from . "Can't help it, can I? My mom was an international model, and she's 185 cm tall (though I really have no idea how she could gain such height). And you know that my dad's an American, and he's 191 cm tall. Now, it's not my fault being this tall, is it?" she shot a three-point shoot to the right. The ball got in the ring smoothly. "Score!"

took the ball from the floor. "Well, you have to thank your parents for having such heights. Yours is really helpful when you play basketball, isn't it?" she threw the ball to .

    "Well... Probably."

There was a sudden silence as the two passed the ball to each other.

    "Ne, ..." called.

    "Hm?"

    "You do know that—" she looked to her best friend's eyes. "—that with your height, it would be hard to get a boyfriend, right?"

raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? You know I have no interests in boys whatsoever."

sighed. It was true, had never once showed any clues of having a crush on anyone, not since the first time had met her. She had always thought was afraid of rejection (most of the guys she had asked said that they didn't want a taller girlfriend), but then she realized that just wasn't that type of girl. Maybe she really did not have any interests in boys. Who knew?

    "And oh, about Mukahi-kun..."

sneered. "Oh c'mon, . I don't want to hear his name now."

    "Aa—hai."

---

Mukahi Gakuto frowned when he saw a pile of papers in his hands.

    "I hate doing projects, especially with you."

    "Shaddup, I'm suffering too," 's lips, too, curved into a perfect frown as she sat down on the floor, right in front of Gakuto. They were at 's house—room, to be exact—to do their sociology project.

    "What should we do now?"

She looked at her notes. "Let's make a draft. Tomorrow we'll start surveying."

    "About what?"

She passed out a long sigh. "You really didn't pay any attention to Takahashi-sensei, did you?!"

    "Sh—shut up! His class is always boring!!"

    "His class is NOT boring, I ALWAYS have fun in his class. You're just lazy."

    "Just—stop talking about that! What should we be surveying about?"

Cursing her fate for having Gakuto as her partner, she said in a muted tone, "'The percentage of boys who don't mind having taller girlfriends and the percentage of girls who don't mind having shorter boyfriends'."

    "What?"

    "You heard me," she said as she passed her note to the boy. He frowned when he read it.

    "I've got a feeling that Yuushi's all behind this..."

---

    "I'm exhausted..."

tapped 's shoulder to show her sympathy. "Sociology project?"

    "Duh. I didn't know surveying people would be this exhausting..."

    "Maa, maa, just live with it for a little longer."

    "Well, you can say that!" frowned as the two of the started jogging around the court. "You got that easy question—what was it again?"

    "'The percentage of girls and boys who drink tea for breakfast'."

    "Yeah, that! I mean, do you know how embarrassing it is asking everyone 'Hey! Do you mind having a taller girlfriend?' or 'Do you want to have a shorter boyfriend?'?!"

    "Err..." sweat dropped.

    "And not to mention," both of them turned right at the corner of the court. "You're paired up with that Kansai boy—what's his name again?"

    "Oshitari-kun?"

    "Yeah, Oshitari. He's Takahashi-sensei's assistant, right? No wonder you got such an easy question!"

    "Err...have to say that's true..."

    "And Chibi's not helping at all!"

This time couldn't hide her surprise at 's last sentence. "Mukahi-kun...?"

    "Yes!"

That was weird. Everyone knew hated Mukahi Gakuto so much that she had never, ever wanted to even hear his name in 10 metre range. She had never talked about him unless mentioned him (which usually ended up by telling her not to ever say his name again). Then why this time—

    "We have to survey from 100 girls and 100 boys, right? Well, I've already got 34 girls and 29 boys these four days, but do you know how many he has got for now?" asked sharply. shook her head. "TWO. From that Kansai boy and Akuga-something from the class next door."

    "Akutagawa." corrected.

    "Yeah, him. And—" she went on and on, telling how annoying Gakuto was, and he had no respect to her, and... and...

raised an eyebrow. Her best friend has somehow... changed.

---

    "Oi! !"

sighed and turned her head. "What?"

    "Aren't you surveying now?"

    "I've been asking eighty seven people these five days. I deserve some good rest you know." she replied, preferably with no emphasis.

    "But—"

    "I only need 7 more boys and 6 more girls and I think I'll do it on Monday. Now get lost," said the girl firmly, trying to make her way to the exit door.

Gakuto made a face and indistinctly voiced, "Don't you think you can help me? We're paired, you know."

    "Hey," demanded indignantly as she glared at him. "You were the one suggested that we have to divide it into half, each of us do surveys for 50 girls and 50 boys, and we have accepted it. Now you're asking for help? Go away!"

Gakuto was silent, incapable to say anything else. Yes, everything said was the precise truth.

    "You're just lazy. AND short."

It was Gakuto's turn to be aggrieved. "Hey!! That did NOT have to be said! My height has no connection whatsoever with this!"

    "Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't..." said darkly. "Do you have the truth that it doesn't? 'Coz I'm a hundred percent sure that it does."

He expressed unpleasantly in a low voice, "I'll prove it to you."

    "Oh? A challenge?" said , rather amusedly. "Then see if you can get this survey done before I do."

    "You're on."

---

"Oi Gakuto, are you..." Oshitari sweat dropped as he saw his poor doubles partner almost collapsed on his own seat. It was the end of school and it seemed like the redhead had investigated the whole school for his project (which, when you remember this was Hyotei, was a really exhausting and almost-impossible thing to do) "...okay?"

    "Heck I'm not!" he rolled his eyes, like saying 'can't you see I'm suffering here?!'. "I've been surveying twenty seven boys and twenty two girls, how can I BE okay?! This is all because —"

    "Are those your last words, Chibi?" the girl Gakuto was about to talk about appeared with an amused-evil smile formed perfectly on her fine lips. "You know, you really should not have accepted a challenge if it's too hard for a short boy like you..."

Gakuto clenched a fist. "Why you..."

    "Ja, I'm leaving," she took her bag and waved a goodbye as she walked away from the two. "Better hurry up if you want to catch up with me, coz I only need a few more people."

    "Why you—YUUSHI!! LET GO OF ME!!" Gakuto screamed frantically when he felt Oshitari's arms were holding him from the back. "SHE NEEDS TO LEARN TO RESPECT OTHER PEOPLE—ESPECIALLY THE ONES SHORTER THAN HER!!"

    "Too bad the way you'll be teaching her only will make other problems..."

    "See? That Kansai's right, so listen to him. I'm leaving," said as she went away, swaying his bag back and forth.

    "Che!!" Gakuto frowned. Oshitari let go off him.

    "You know, you really should get along with her," the bespectacled boy advised in a fatherly way. "She's a really nice girl, you know."

    "Well, yes, TO YOU," Gakuto voiced with a stress on the last two words. "You're TALL. But I'm SHORT, so she treats me 180 degrees DIFFERENT from you. And I even have no idea why she hates short guys so much!!"

    "Because one of them has hurt her once," suddenly came into sight and said. Hyotei's doubles two turned their heads and asked in synchronization,

    "What?"

    "There was this guy who hurt her badly in her first year," replied as she took a seat in front of Gakuto. "I didn't know 'coz I haven't known her in the first grade. One of her classmates from the softball club told me that a boy has rejected her when she confessed to him. I was pretty interested since as far as I know, she didn't have any interests in boys," she halted for a moment to see the boys'—especially Gakuto's—reactions.

    "And then?" the acrobatic player asked impatiently.

    "Well—she had a crush on a sempai. He wasn't exactly short, but his height was somewhere near 160 cm. And so, when the sempai graduated, she confessed to him. But all she got back was only a cruel sentence."

The boys in front of stared at her curiously.

    "What? What did he say?"

    "He said: 'Do you want to embarrass me for having a taller girlfriend?'."

A quiet gasp escaped from Gakuto's mouth.

    "That's very cruel. I know how he felt but he shouldn't have said it that way." Oshitari commented in sympathy, replied by 's nod.

    "Exactly."

    "Come to think of it..." Gakuto spoke up. "We were fine in the first year. We almost never talk though we sit next to each other. She started calling me 'Chibi' from the second year, though..." He stopped in a split second, then stood up abruptly. He took his backpack and hurried up to the door.

    "Mukahi-kun, where are you going?"

He smirked. "Surveying, of course! I have to prove to her that not all guys are like that person!"

Oshitari smiled. "Gakuto's such a predictable boy..."

---

    "Really," said in a volubly firm voice to the boy beside her. "I congratulate you for making such progress in just two days, Chibi."

    "Why, thank you very much, ."

...

Wait...

Wait, wait, wait!! That wasn't right! He shouldn't have said that. He should have told her to stop calling him 'Chibi' and tried to tear her head off, not saying "Why, thank you very much" and just—sit!!

shook her head quickly. She should have been really exhausted for the past week. Heck, what was she thinking?! It did not matter, did it? Maybe he just gave up to her. Maybe he just wanted to make peace with her. Maybe...

    "How many have you got?"

Gakuto took a brief look at the papers in front of him and said, "Forty three boys and thirty seven girls."

    "Ha, I've got a total of ninety one persons so I guess I'm still winning," she said in definite confidence, yet there was a tone of uncertainty and upset in her voice.

    "Well," the boy only smiled. "The deadline is this afternoon. We'll see who the winner is by then."

frowned. She did not like the sound of that last sentence. No, not at all...

---

    "Ah! You! The boy with the blue cap!"

The boy—whom we all know was Shishido—turned his head. "Me?"

    "Yes. I'm from class 3-2, and I currently have a sociology project to survey and interview people in Hyoutei. If you please, I would like to ask you one thing."

? That name rang a bell in Shishido's mind...

    "Oh. So you're her."

    "Eh?"

The blue-capped boy shook his head quickly. "Nothing. But if you wanna ask me whether I mind having a taller girlfriend or not, Mukahi just asked me yesterday."

A mixture expression in unbelievable and surprise was shown on 's face. "...Chibi?"

    "And just in case you're searching for him, I saw him near our tennis clubhouse just a while ago."

---

"One more girl..." Gakuto sighed as he walked towards nowhere with a pen and a sheet of paper in his hand. "I think I've asked everyone, but there's one more girl I haven't asked..."

An image of suddenly appeared in his mind. He shook his head quickly.

    'I must not think about her now. Let's just search for someone else. She's not the only girl here...'

But the picture of her hair, her smile, and her face could not vanish from Gakuto's mind. He shook his head yet again.

    'Why did I suddenly think about her...?'

    "Chibi?"

Gakuto's heart almost jumped out from his throat. He gazed at the voice, surprised when he saw the girl he was thinking about. What made him even more surprised was the fact that she looked somewhat... beautiful.

    'Is it just me or does she really look that pretty? Kami-sama...'

    "I've only got one boy on the way," said quickly and looked away, as if she was trying her best not to look to the boy. "You?"

    "One girl."

Silence.

Silence.

Total silence.

Gakuto's eyes started scanning the girl in front of him. It was not his imagination after all. She did look somewhat... different. More mature in some ways. And not to mention her eyes...

    "What're you looking at?"

Gakuto blinked, feeling a flush coming down his cheeks. 'W—what's this feeling? Why do I feel nervous all of a sudden?'

    "—"

    "Chibi—"

They stared at each other, surprised that they had called one another at the exact second.

    "I haven't asked you for the survey yet," they stated in perfect unison, identical to a subtle harmony. They blinked their eyes a few times, shocked by the twice-talking-at-the-perfect-same-time thing.

sighed, more like a forced one, and uttered, "Since we're even for now, let's call this a tie."

    "Yes, a tie."

The couple fell awkwardly soundless, as the two tried their bests not to make any eye contacts with each other.

    "Oi ," Gakuto abruptly...too abrupt, perhaps, that almost jumped from the place she stood on. Call it 'breaking the sheepish silence'. "How about you? Do you..." he stopped, arranging the best sentence in his mind. "Do you... mind having a shorter boyfriend than you?"

looked aside. "Maybe this is a curse. I seem to be liking someone shorter than me, ever since I first had a crush on someone, actually," she answered slightly with an embarrassed face. Gakuto could have even sworn he saw a slight blush on her cheeks. "Be happy now, 'coz you're the only one I've ever told about this. I've never even told ," she added quickly. After a second of quietness, she asked, "...And you? Do you mind having a taller girlfriend?"

    "I haven't really thought about it, but...but I..." he looked down as he attempted to hide his blushing face to . "W—well, it seems like since yesterday, I'm beginning to like someone way, way taller than me." he took a deep breath, trying to gain all the courage he had, then looked at . "21.2cm taller, to be exact."

The girl felt butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She blinked, unable to believe her own ears.

    "...was that a confession?"

Gakuto frowned. "What do you think it was?"

    "If it really was, then..." she took a step towards him. "It was so not romantic..."

    "Well," his face reddened—either it was because he was angry or shy. "Yours was even worse."

    "Heh, just when did I confess to you?"

    "Just now!"

    "I SO did not!"

    "Yes, you did!"

    "Did not!"

    "Did too!"

    "Did not!

    "Did too!"

---

    "You know, you really are a good actress."

    "Hahahaha...who? Me?"

    "You really did your role superbly, ."

    "Well, thanks. It was your idea after all, Oshitari."

    "Hmm..."

    "What is it?"

    "What if I tell them that it was a set up?"

    "I don't know maybe they'll hate us. I'm pretty sure will."

    "Well, Gakuto won't. He should be thankful we made him realize about what really is in his eyes."

    "Sou ka? Maybe too, then..."

    "But I'm pretty sure they won't find out."

    "Yeah, I'm sure they wont."