Summary
It's a typical day in class. The girls watch as the boys tally their votes for the Cutest Girl in Class, with the expectant winner being Mirei. She modestly reacts to this while Kumi is awarded the most votes for #1 Girl You Don't See as a Girl, and the boy who often teases her, Iketani, provokes her enough to chase after him.
Frustrated and tired of being unfairly compared to Mirei, Kumi gives up and sits alone outside. She is surprised when Mirei joins her to see if she's alright, and she suggests that the guys aren't worth worrying about. They only tease her for fun. Kumi agrees before casually observing Mirei. She takes notice of how cute she is, and how she could never pull off such a cute outfit, and how nice she smells. She can't imagine herself being cute.
After Mirei takes off, Kumi resumes sweeping the path until she notices a strange-looking flower; one that doesn't match any of the others. She leans down to get a closer look and compares it to Mirei. As she wishes she could be more like her, a strong gust of wind kicks up, surprising Kumi and the various students surrounding her. She is startled after something floats into her mouth, and she coughs. With no lingering concern she takes off.
The following day Kumi wakes up late and her mother warns her to hurry up to breakfast before the family inhales it. Kumi rushes to the table, but seeing that all hope is lost she retires to the restroom to brush her teeth. The chaos out there reminds her that this is why she turned out so un-feminine; but just then, she sees a sprout on the top of her head!
Try as she might to tug at it, the sprout won't budge, and in a panic she rushes to her mother for help. But for some reason, she sees nothing. She scolds Kumi for making so much noise, and Kumi attempts to explain herself but when her mother snaps at her, she hurriedly finishes getting ready and takes off for school.
Anxiously, Kumi shows up and begins to realize that nobody seems to be able to see the odd sprout. But unwilling to take chances she attempts to sneak into the classroom, only for Mirei to spot her and ask if she's alright. Kumi says nothing and bitterly watches as Iketani approaches to greet Mirei. But to her shock, he also greets her and asks if she feels alright. Kumi heads into class where several other boys kindly greet her, and she happens to see the nearby reflection to see the sprout has become a flower. As she notices how much it resembles the flower from the day before, Iketani approaches her again to compliment how nice she smells. Initially she doubts him and believes this is just a prank, but he gets flustered and claims that he isn't trying to be rude to a "cute girl". A few other boys agree as she recalls how wonderful the flower smelled- and it dons on her: they're attracted to its scent.
Over the course of the next few days Kumi begins to get showered with attention from various males; besides male classmates offering to help her, her male teacher also checks on her to make sure she's feeling okay, her brothers even offer her food. Delighted by such a drastic change, Kumi eagerly embraces the attention. She realizes that the flower must have bloomed from the pollen she swallowed that windy day.
Meanwhile, Mirei is shown to observe her with concern...
The following day Kumi decides to be more bold and wear something cute that normally wouldn't fit her. But as she heads to school she sees that the boys are all over Mirei like usual; although they are still greeting her. She feels unsatisfied by this and realizes that she can't be a naturally cute girl and class idol like Mirei; so she has to push herself even further. Unsure of how to do this, she doesn't notice the flower further grow and release its scent until noticing the boys begin to approach her, even shoving past Mirei to reach her.
Kumi enjoys their adoration as she looks towards the mirror again to find out the flower has become even larger! It's growing every time she wishes to be cuter!
But this isn't good enough.
Overwhelmed by her desire to surpass Mirei she wishes for it to bloom more and more. Until soon, it becomes very big and by now boys from all over the school approach her- even bowing at her very feet. As this is going on, Mirei expresses further uneasiness as two other girls from their class try to speak to Kumi, wondering what is going on. But the boys keep them away, saying they can't approach someone like her so casually. The girls try asking her, but her teasing leaves them stunned. She boldly stands before her boys, realizing that this flower has granted her Queen of the Class- but just then, she gets light-headed and falls to the floor.
Worriedly everyone approaches Kumi to make sure she's alright, and she quickly tries to compose herself. Upon getting home she is shocked to find out she's suddenly become very tired, and she looks very sickly. She looks to see her flower is starting to wilt, but she convinces herself not to worry about it.
She will be fine...
The following day, Kumi heads to school looking even worse. She is surprised to find two of her classmates waiting for her in the hall and notices how oddly they're behaving as they offer to take her bag to class. Recalling how they have been lately, Kumi finds herself uneasy as she rejects the offer. She begins to wonder if she should leave for home when they approach her, insisting that she owes them.
Confused, Kumi asks for a clarification- but realizing their intentions by the way they respond, she can only run away in fright. She runs into the nearest room for safety and wonders why they suddenly acted like this, but after noticing there are boys in the room surrounding her, she quickly escapes and heads up to the roof of the school. She turns with the demand that they stop; but by this point they have become so blinded by lust that they aren't willing to listen. They reach out for her flower, demanding more of its scent and she panics until spotting Mirei and the girls from class. She begs them for help; but the girls are fed up with her arrogance and mockingly brush her off when she screams, asking for help removing the flower.
As this is going on, Mirei observes the situation and prepares to leave. But as Kumi cries and desperately yanks at the flower, she turns around and makes her way back towards the school.
Despite how much she yanks and pulls, the flower won't come off. Kumi cries as she wonders how this happened when all she wanted was to be cute, like Mirei. Seeing the boys get closer, she attempts to back away when her hand slips off of the lining of the roof, causing her body to shift and send her over the railing...
Colliding with the ground, Kumi instantly dies from the trauma and blood loss. The boys slowly make their way to her body and remaining in their daze, they begin to admire the scent and lick at her spilled blood.
It's then Mirei arrives to offer them something even tastier, and instantly the boys are attracted to her again. She makes a remark on how Kumi was never good at taking care of flowers and happily holds hands with them as it is revealed she has her own flower; but unlike Kumi, she takes precious care of hers, and it remains small. She will make sure it lasts her a life time; once it rots, it's no longer useful.
Tropes:
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Kumi wanted more than anything to become more girly and cute. It ended with her dying after abusing the flower by continuously wishing for it to make her cuter.
- Berserk Button: Being called a "non-girl" is one for Kumi.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: This story is essentially a big metaphor for female puberty. After Kumi inhales the pollen a flower appears on her head. When it blooms, she's got all the attention she wanted from boys (including her own siblings and older men), but as the flower gets bigger and bigger the boys get more desperate for it's scent. The metaphor is hammered in at the end, when Mirei (who also has a flower) looks at her corpse and mocks her for trying to grow it so quickly instead of letting it bloom over time, then beckons the boys back to her.
- Downer Ending: In the form of a Hope Spot even. Kumi keeps yanking the flower in a desperate attempt to pull it off just as Mirei decides to turn around and check on her. Just for Kumi to slip and fall off of the roof to her death.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Like most other cases in the series, Kumi isn't shown colliding with the ground. But her bloodied corpse is shown in a few panels.
- This is also teased when one of the boys was about to lick her blood. He was shown inches away from it before a panel of a bee on a flower is provided- only for him and a few other males to be shown indulging the blood in the next panel.
- Kids Are Cruel: Teasing happens, sure, but if Kumi didn't feel so miserable about herself from it, she probably wouldn't have been so desperate and greedy.
- Lack of Empathy: Mirei after finding Kumi's corpse, with her wording implying she might be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. Or she just gave up on her when she got out of control.
- Single Tear: Kumi as she slips.
- Tomboy: Kumi blames her family for the reason she's One of the Boys, but she wants to be The Cutie.
- Tsundere: Iketani acts like this when he greets Kumi and calls her a cute girl. This, along with how much he teases her could mean he might have actually liked her.
