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mochinomnoms · 6 months

Note

I love your idea for Hanahaki! Like you said, it's always so tragic and dramatic and angsty (and who am I kidding, I'll keep reading it), but your take on it is so refreshing!

For the event, can I request Ruggie with 15, Trey with 1, and Jade with 18? Romantic; fluff and/or suggestive, please?

And if I completely misunderstood how to request properly, I'm terribly sorry. 😬

So excited to see more of your work!

part 2: jade leech x gn!reader ruggie bucchi (15); trey clover (1) [separate] x gn!reader [tags] – fluff, suggestive [wc} – 2,500+ each prompt 15: “Sooo, are you gonna apologize for puking dahlias all over my breakfast?” prompt 1: “Why is your trash can full of flower petals? Are you secretly a botanist, or is there something you're not telling me?” note - both ruggie and trey got real long, so i will post jade's snippet separately later! a floral inconvenience

Dahlias – In pre-Colombian Mexico and Guatemala, wild-growing dahlias and their tubers were seen as a food source.

Ruggie has been absolutely miserable for the past week, as one would be when they have mysterious large, red flowers sprouting out from their mouth and head. It also didn’t help that all the other second-years, especially the twins, were giving him a hard time.

“Hey, hey Jade! You know plants.” Floyd was currently picking at the flower that Ruggie just spit out, undeterred by the spit on it.

“I bet we can figure out who Sharksucker likes if we figure out what flower he’s spittin’ out. What kind is it?

Jade leaned down to study the intense red, ray-like petals, poking at the central disk of yellow florets in the middle. Ruggie was NOT a fan of how interested Jade was, attempting to lean out of the twins’ grasp.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. I certainly haven’t seen it on any of my hiking expeditions or in the botanical gardens.”

Ruggie yelped as Jade plucked a flower from a particularly sensitive spot behind his right ear.

“Ow! Watch it man!”

Rubbing his ear, Ruggie glared at Jade, who was still looking curiously at the flower bringing his arm down for Azul who also seemed eager to identify the flower.

“I certainly don’t recognize it either, looking up similar flora, there aren’t any that are quite the same as this one.”

Ruggie could just make out under Azul’s breath, “Imagine all the money we could make if we say we discovered a new flower!”

He scoffed at Azul, rubbing his eyes from mental exhaustion. The twins and Azul weren’t the only ones interested in his hanahaki.

“It’s a really pretty flower, Jamil! Do you think we have any like it in the gardens back home?” Kalim eagerly asked, trying his best to lean in without disturbing Silver, who’d fallen asleep on his shoulder.

“Hmm, no I don’t think so.” Jamil looked mildly interested, holding a hand to his chin. “The Asim gardens have a variety of exotic and rare flora, so the fact that we don’t recognize this one is certainly interesting.”

Jade chuckled, “So, it would be easy to narrow down the person of Ruggie’s affections, yes.”

“Why are you all suddenly so interested in my love life?”

“Why, we’re being benevolent, of course!” Azul replied, a cheeky grin on his face.

“Yea Sharksucker, it must be reeeeal annoying to puke up flowers all the time. Besides—” Floyd gave a nasally laugh as Jade continued his sentence.

“—wouldn’t it be nice to have some assistance getting rid of his annoying sickness? After all, with your background, you’re not the most eligible bachelor around.”

“Okay, first of all fuck you—” Ruggie jabbed a fork in his direction.

“Not interested, but thank you.”

“Second of all—ew no, gross—second of all, you guys aren’t exactly the most pinned for guys, even with your family money.”

Riddle let out a laugh, nodding in agreement. “Certainly, no price in the world could make up for your personalities.”

“Aww, come on Goldfishie.” Floyd pouted. “You don’ wanna go out with me? Why? I don’t meet your mama’s standard?”

“Why you—”

“Hey guys!”

A chipper voice interrupted a reddening Riddle, who looked like he was ready to launch himself over the table to strangle Floyd. Ruggie perked up to look at you and Grim perched on your shoulder, carrying a lunch tray with some coffee, a bowl of oatmeal, and a singular powdered donut.

Adjusting the tray in your hands, you let Grim jump off onto the table as you sat. You grabbed the donut with your freed hand and reached your arm out to Ruggie.

“Hey, I got you a donut, powdered’s your favorite right?”

Oh. Oooooh powdered was indeed his favorite. So were you. By the Seven, he thinks that you’d be his favorite snack. You were so cute. Your lips looked soft, plush. He wondered if you took a bite out of the donut if the first thing he’d taste was you or the sugar.

Opening his mouth to reply, Ruggie found himself instead choking, a tickling sensation developing in the pit of his stomach and growing up his throat to his mouth. He gagged as various shades of bright red blooms fell out of his mouth and onto the table. Specifically, onto your tray as you sat directly across from him.

Ruggie could make out the stifling laughter of his peers . He internally groaned, looking at your tray, now covered in red flowers. Riddle tapped his shoulder, offering him a cup of warm tea.

“Here, it should help soothe your throat.”

Taking the cup, he started drinking what he thought was honey lemon tea, soothing his throat.

Across the table from him, you let out a soft cough, drawing his and the other’s attention.

“Sooo, are you gonna apologize for puking dahlias all over my breakfast?”

The tea went down the wrong pipe. Ruggie started choking, Kalim frantically reaching over to pat his back.

“Oh? Does the Little Shrimpy know this flower?” Floyd asked, he and his brother slithering over to sit on either side of you. Their eyes met briefly, then at Ruggie, both giving him a knowing grin.

“Dahlias? Yeah! They’re my favorite!” you answered, blissfully unaware of the predicament they’d just put him in.

Ruggie wished he could be just as carefree.

The other five slowly turned their heads to stare at Ruggie, each looking especially gleeful and teasing.

“You don’t say?” Jamil drawled, smirking at Ruggie, whose state of mind was rapidly deteriorating. “We’ve never heard of it.”

You looked at Jamil in surprise. “Wait really?”

“Yes, these, dahlias you called them? They’re not from Twisted Wonderland.” Riddle had a mischievous smile, tipping the end of Ruggie’s cup before he could interject, making him choke on the tea again.

“Aw really? That kinda sucks.” you pouted, twirling one of the loose flowers in your hand. “I love them, fun fact, did you know you can eat both the flower and the tuber?”

Ruggie would never admit it out loud, but your cute, excitable grin makes him feel all warm and giddy inside. He’d even give you his grandma’s homemade donuts if he got to see more of it.

By the Seven, he’d give you his donuts. He really had it bad.

“Really? How fascinating! Isn't it Ruggie?” Jade asked, giving a closed mouth smile. The tone of his voice made it clear though, he and the others figured out you were the root cause of his hanahaki.

Ruggle got up abruptly, snatching the donut from your hand (why miss out on free food?) and the breakfast sandwich he’d gotten for Leona.

“I gotta go take Leona’s breakfast to him, I’ll see you guys later—”

“Wait, Ruggie!” Kalim cries out, startling Silver awake. “But the Prefect knows the flowers—”

“WOW I GOTTA GO! BYE GUYS SEE YOU LATER!”

Ruggie rushed out of the cafeteria, red petals flying behind him as he ran. The remaining 8 at the table stared after him, you in particular looking confused.

“Is he okay?” You asked, looking confused and disappointed. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Ah, perhaps we went a bit too far…” Jamil muttered.

Riddle sighed as he nodded in agreement, “Yes. Don’t worry yourself about it Prefect, we were discussing something else, you didn’t say anything wrong.”

You hummed as you cleared off your tray of dahlias, taking small bites of your oatmeal.

“Why’s he puking flowers?”

The group stayed silent, sharing knowing looks with each other. The twins and Azul in particular were smirking, while Kalim perked up.

“Oh he has hanahaki, it’s like a love sickness.” Kalim blissfully replied, Jamil pinching his nose and sighing heavily.

“Love…sickness?”

Riddle placed a hand on Kalim’s shoulder, giving him a stern look. “We had our fun earlier, but it’s not our business to share his medical information with anyone.”

He turned his gaze to you, making you shrink in on yourself. “It would be best to ask him yourself, Prefect.”

Floyd tsked. “Aww, that’s no fun! Don’t you wanna help Sharksucker? You do, dontcha Shrimpy?”

The twins leaned into your ears, like an angel and devil on your shoulder if the angel was just a devil with a halo and wings taped on.

“Why, you care for Ruggie, don’t you dear Prefect?” Jade cooed, chucking at your pink cheeks.

“Hehehe, of course they too, look at their blush!” Floyd giggled, poking at your right cheek. “Little Shrimpy isn’t a shrimp for nothin’!”

“And after all, only you can help him!” Azul came up behind you, startling you as he placed his hands on your shoulder.

The trio chuckled, coercing you to listen to their honeyed words, feeding on your soft spot for the hyena beastman.

Riddle shared a look with Jamil before sighing and walking off. Jamil followed suit, grabbing Kalim by the arm to drag him away before he too, inevitably, got involved in their scheme. Silver, now that he was bright and alert, similarly left, nodding at you.

Here you were, alone amongst the “benevolent” Octavinelle trio, now regretting waking up early to get breakfast instead of just sleeping in.

Ruggie had been leaving trails of dahlias behind him all day, getting on the ghost janitors’ ire and lectured by Crewel specifically.

“Loose flowers in a lab is the perfect example of a hazard to lab safety! Have you not gone to the nurse to get this taken care of?!”

He hadn’t had a fit since seeing you this morning, luckily. He had noticed you in the hallways in between classes though. Everytime your eyes met his own, you’d flush and rush away.

“Ugh, one of the guys must’ve told them.” Ruggie groaned, slumped over as he walked over to the kitchens, feet aching from running around his shift at Sam’s and now Mostro Lounge.

Azul had asked him to collect some perishable items that he’d purchased from a supplier, having it delivered to the school’s walk-in fridge until he could have someone pick it up.

Jade and Floyd were supposed to be there, ready to help, but they were nowhere to be found. Ruggie shrugged, walking into the kitchen and heading to the fridge before he felt himself get yanked by his collar.

“Hahahehehe! Be sure to thank us later, Sharksucker!”

“Fuhuhu~ Indeed Ruggie, I’m sure you’ll appreciate it later.”

“Oof! Hey!” Ruggie stumbled into the pantry, landing on something soft. “What the-Jade, Floyd this isn’t funny—”

“Mmph!” The floor beneath him started wiggling and groaning, startling Ruggie. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark, his hyena genes serving him well as he yelped, looking down.

A white cloth was tied around your mouth while your hands and feet were bound by what looked like Floyd’s scarf. Ruggie’s ears and dahlias drooped down as he saw that your cheeks were covered in tear tracks.

"Mmmphie! Mmmphie! Mmmph mmph mmph!" came out from behind the tightly-bound cloth.

“W-what? FLOYD! JADE! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU TWO?!” He could hear the twins’ laughter from outside the door. Ruggie started pounding on the door with his fist, growling before freezing, hearing your muffled crying.

The hyena scrambled to turn on the light switch before returning back to your curled up form, gingerly untying the bound on your mouth.

“R-r-ruggie!!” You bawled out, fresh new tears spilling out of your eyes as he undid the knot on your hands, then feet.

“Hey, hey it’s alright Prefect, Y/N? I’m here—AH!” He yelped as you launched yourself in his arms, landing on his back, red petals flying . He stiffened as you shoved your head into the nook of his neck, hiccuping as you began babbling.

“I’m sorry Ruggie!!!” Softly glowing dahlias started popping up from between his ears and vines growing down his arms as he spat out petals.

“What’re you talking about? This isn’t your fault—”

“But it is! Azul and them said you were sick and that it was my faaaaault!” He froze, pulling you away to look at your teary eyes and snotty face.

Gods you looked terrible. Red-faced, puffy eyes, and pout made you look like an ugly crier, not doing you any justice. Ruggie couldn’t help the squeeze in his heart as you reached back out to clutch onto him again. You were the cutest ugly crier he’d ever seen.

“What? What do you mean—”

“They said that my crush on you’s been making you puke the flowers!” Ruggie’s ears perked up, and despite the growing blush and the resembling dahlias, he let you continue.

“Your crush?”

“My crush!!! It’s making you sick, a-and that I needed to confess to make it go away but-but-but-” You wailed, Ruggie allowing you to shove your head into his chest.

“I was embarrassed! Then Floyd got mad a-at me and he and Jade tied me up and threw me in here.”

Ruggie hummed in response. It made sense now why Azul specifically asked him to collect the produce from the kitchen, instead of letting him manage the floor like usual.

“They said I was ’ppose to be a present. I’m sorry Ruggie, I didn’t mean to drag you into this.”

He let out a heavy sigh, rubbing the back of your head affectionately.

“Nah, it’s not your fault entirely.” He tilted your chin to look up at him. “You are the reason I got the flowers, but not cause of your crush though.”

You made a questioning noise, blinking curiously at him. You looked like one of the kids back home after throwing a tantrum.

“Shyehehehe! They didn’t say what the flowers ‘re from?” Ruggie laughed as you pouted, pinching his cheek.”

“What do you mean? Is it still my fault? And I basically just confessed! I’m crying in a closet, just confessed and you’re laughing at me!”

Ruggie’s laughter died down as he grabbed your hand, moving it to cradle his cheek instead. His ears perked up as he heard your soft gasp, his eyes meeting yours, blown wide.

His tail wagged, despite himself. “It’s cause I like ya, Prefect. I like ya so much that it makes my stomach ache and flowers sprout from all over. I gotta hand it to ya, for a cute little herbivore, you sure got your teeth dug right into my heart.”

You scoffed, using your other arm to wipe your face clean.

“The dahlias make sense now…did you at least try eating them?”

He let out a barking laugh, followed by your giggling. “I thought about it! I spat out enough of them that I got sick of the taste, besides…”

Ruggie could hear the rustling of his tail under his clothes as he wrapped an arm around your waist, grinning wider at the gasp that left your mouth as he yanked you onto his lap.

He pressed you against him until your bodies were flushed against one another. Heat pooled in the pit of his stomach as he gazed up to your flustered face. Ruggie nuzzled his head into your chest, feeling your rapidly speeding heartbeat.

“Ruggie…” You tangled your hands through his hair, making him groan as you gently pulled his head back and rubbed the backs of his ears.

You leaned down to graze your lips over his, giving Ruggie a heady whine as he nibbled on your lower lip.

“Shyehehe~ You’re awfully clingy for a poor little hyena like me, you sure I meet your standards?”

Despite his attempt at humor, Ruggie was sure that you could hear the apprehensive tone in his voice, your eyes softening.

Instead of pointing his insecurity out, you answered his question with a deep, open-mouth kiss. He groaned into your mouth, returning your kiss with desperation, as if you’d disappear in his grasp.

Ruggie’s hands wandered along your sides, slipping underneath your shirt and tracing your spine, causing you to shiver in delight. You pulled away from his lips, causing him to let out a displeased growl before shifting into something closer to a purr as you left wet kisses along his neck.

Feeling your teeth softly dig themselves into the crook of his neck and chest, Ruggie rolled his hips into yours, delighting in the moan that left you.

Just as you started suckling, no doubt leaving a mark, his world turned upside down as he suddenly fell backwards onto the ground of the college kitchen.

“Ow, shit!” Ruggie winced as the back of his head smacked into the hard tile flooring, you splayed over his body.

“What is wrong with you two? When I said get them into a room together, I didn’t mean—oh my!” Azul squeaked, glasses skewed as he saw the two of you. Ruggie developing a dark red hickey and you with your shirt nearly half off.

“Aw, see it worked out!” Floyd chirped, delighted at the turn of events.

Jade chuckled, taking his phone out to quickly snap a photo.

“W-what, hey! Don’t go taking pictures!” Ruggie cried out as the both of you scrambled to get up and tidy yourselves.

Jade smiled innocently. “Oh? Don’t worry, I’ll only share it with the other second years, just to win a bet.”

Ruggie narrowed his eyes at Jade. “Alright but how much did ya bet? You’re gonna split it with me right—”

The four men winced at your shrill shriek.

“RUGGIE?! NO!”

Zinnia – A purple zinnia flower symbolizes spiritual exaltation and honoring the divine. It also symbolizes love on a soul mate level.

Pink cosmos – In the Victorian era, cosmos flowers symbolized joy in love and in life. Dark pinks ones should be given to a romantic interest.

The latest unbirthday planning was going well. Since spring had just arrived, it was tradition for the first spring unbirthday party to have the desserts be made with the seasonal harvest. Riddle was especially happy to hear that Trey would be making strawberry and apricot tarts for this party.

Trey was especially excited to try his hand at his mother’s sugared lavender cupcakes, a family recipe that she insisted on keeping out of his hands until he guaranteed her an in-law.

Luckily he’d managed to convince her by telling her that the cupcakes might help him dazzle a certain someone. She was quick to mail him the original copy with the promise of a visitor during the next break.

Now if only he could find the recipe card.

“Hmm, I thought I brought it down from my room…hey Cater?”

“Yeah Trey?” Cater answered in a sing-song voice.

“I can’t find my mom’s recipe card.” Trey groaned as he rubbed his face. “She’ll kill me if I lose it, can you go to my room to check if I left it on my desk?”

Cater winked and gave him a finger gun. “Sure thing Trey! Cay-Cay in on the case! Brb!”

Trey nodded as Cater left the kitchen, now focusing on preparing the jam and frosting for the strawberry-lemon cake, which was cooling on the counter. He was so focused on making the jam and whisking the cream cheese frosting, he failed to notice a certain someone sneaking up behind him.

“Boo!”

Trey hummed, looking over his shoulder to look down at you with your arms out and teeth bared. “Oh, hey Y/N, you’re here early.”

“Aw booooooo! You were supposed to get scared!” You pouted at the taller man, pulling at his arm as he laughed at your little tantrum.

“Haha, scared? Of you? Hardly.” Trey winced and held his arms up in defense, still laughing as you started to pound on his arms and back.

“Ow, ow! Okay I concede!” He grabbed your hands, holding them over your head as he leaned down towards your face, smirking.

Trey hovered his face over yours, enjoying your pouty blush. With a teasing lilt, he cooed, “Don’t be a brat, Y/N. Or else you won’t get a treat later~”

“Hmph, maybe I’ll just steal some later. What are you gonna do? Punish me?” You replied in an equally teasing tone, stepping on your tiptoes, making yourself just talk enough to brush your nose against his.

“Mmm, don’t tempt me, I just might—”

“Hey Trey I found your—whoa! What did I just walk into?”

The two of you rapidly distanced yourselves from each other, Trey nearly knocking over the bowl of jam and you tripping into the table chair.

Both of you answered Cater with a louder than needed, “Nothing!” as your faces turned the same shade as the strawberries he was baking with.

“Riiiiight, uh, Trey I got your mom’s recipe card!” The ginger looked between you two with an absolute ecstatic grin, making eye contact with Trey and wiggling his eyebrows.

“I can come back though, if you two need a moment—”

You interrupted, “No, it’s fine. I promised Ace and Deuce I’d help paint the roses.”

Trey looked at you wistfully as you tidied yourself, pulling out a bouquet of dark-pink cosmos from your bag.

“Here, you like these right? I thought you could use them to decorate the cake ‘n stuff.”

Trey smiled and accepted the bouquet of admittedly stunning cosmos, ignoring Cater’s open mouth smile and silent squealing.

“Thanks, I’m sure they’ll go great with the cake, I’ll see you later.”

His eyes wandered up and down your body as you left the kitchen, waving your fingers as you gave a playful “Bye~”

Trey replied with his own enamored “bye” as he waved after you, a lovesick grin on his face as he watched you leave.

Eyes still on the doorway you left through, it took a few moments and Cater waving his hand in front of his face to get his attention back.

“Helloooo? Wonderland to Trey~” Cater sang, snapping his fingers in Trey’s face. “You’re a lil out of it, got something juicy you wanna share with me? Come on! Give Cay-Cay the deets!”

Trey rolled his eyes, swiping the recipe card from his friend’s hands.

“There’s no ‘deets’ for Cay-Cay to know, not if he wants me to make him a spicy fruit cocktail for today.”

Cater hummed as he watched Trey resume building the strawberry-lemon cake, gesturing for him to grab stuff from the pantry.

“Now, help me grab the lavender from the pantry, and get some more flour, I’ll need it for the cupcakes.”

“Sure! Speaking of flowers…” Cater leaned over to whisper into Trey’s ear, “why’s your trash can full of flower petals? Are you secretly a botanist, or is there something you're not telling me?”

Cater let out an uncharacteristically giddy cackle as he watched Trey drop the clean bowl he’d grabbed, whipping around to stare at him with wide eyes.

“You saw those?”

“Yeah, zinnias right?” Cater called out as he collected the items Trey requested. “Little Y/N’s favorite~ You want to tell me where you got so many?”

“Uh, the botanical gardens, where else?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure, the gardens.” sneaking up from behind him, Cater plucked a light purple colored flower from the back of Trey’s neck, who hissed at the sudden prick.

“Not from hanahaki popping up on your body, tooootallyyy!”

Trey groaned out loud, attempting to look behind him for any other blooms. “Damn it, I thought I got rid of them. Are there more I can’t see?”

“Nah, you’re fine.” Cater waved him off, looking around the hard-to-reach places for his friend. “It was just the one.”

Trey sighed in relief, thanking Cater as he placed the bag of lavender petals in his hand, “Good, it was a pain to get them out of my hair, let alone my mouth. They’re really bitter you know?”

“O-M-G, Treeeeey!” Cater gasped, throwing himself against his friend. “That’s, like, a supes easy fix! Just confess, you already have the flowers to give!”

“Ha, I know, I plan to later.”

“Plus, with the way you two were allover each other earlier, there’s no way they won’t say yes—OMGWAITWHAT!”

Cater shook Trey by his shoulders, while the latter attempted to steady the bowl of dry ingredients in his hand, guarding it with a vigor akin to a knight and their liege.

“OMGNOWAYWHENHOWAREYOUGONNADOITINFRONTOFEVERYONEAREYOUGONNADOITINPRIVATECANIRECORDCANIPOSTITTREYTREYTREYTREYTREY—”

Trey smacked his free hand on Cater’s mouth, effectively silencing him minus a few muffled sounds. He breathed out a heavy and deep sigh before slowly replying to Cater.

“If I take my hand off your mouth, will you quiet down?”

Cater gave an enthusiastic nod, eyes twinkling. Trey could feel the grin against his hand, and reluctantly and slowly removed his hand.

“...So when did you find out? When did you decide to confess?!” The ginger asked giddily, watching as Trey resumed his task at hand, preparing the ingredients for the lavender cupcakes.

“A week ago, I overheard Ace and Deuce talking about the Prefect coughing up a bunch of pink cosmos, they were arguing over what tea would help with their symptoms.”

Cater made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth, pointing at the cosmos you’d given to Trey earlier, placed carefully on the counter.

“You mean—”

“Mm-hm, those are probably their hanahaki, grew up with those in my mom’s garden, she used them as garnishes on cakes, especially wedding ones.”

Trey smiled fondly as he reached to grab one of the small flowers, rubbing the soft petals between his fingers. “A bit after that I started to find zinnias in my bed, coughing them up and everything. I think the nurse probably put two and two together after I went to see her.”

He shrugged as he grabbed his mother’s recipe card, twirling it in his fingers.

“I figured, why wait? Mom always said that it was these cupcakes that snatched Dad up, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at them plus she wouldn’t pass down this recipe without a partner in the picture.”

“Oh, Trey!” Cater clasped his hands together as he squealed, “You want help? I get some of the froshies to finish up the tarts and cake, so you can focus on those! Like, don’t even worry about it boo!”

Cater winked gave Trey a half-arm hug. “I’ll make sure they follow instructions to a T! All I ask for in exchange is the exclusive right to snap the first pic of the brand-new school couple, capiche?”

True to his word, Cater was quick to round up a handful of freshmen who he’d found goofing off instead of painting roses. They were more than happy to take over Trey’s baking, after he gave them strict rules and a talking too on what to do, in order to not be snitched off to Riddle.

Thankfully, the cupcakes weren’t difficult to make, what with his experience in the kitchen. He’d cut the recipe down by half so that he’d only make four, medium sized cupcakes. In fact, the most difficult part was making sure that he ground up enough lavender to turn the glaze a soft purple, which complemented the zinnias he’d placed in the small basket. Using the plush flowers as a cushion, he placed the blooms of your cosmos in between the gaps, creating a beautiful, pink and purple presentation.

He was sure you’d love it, carefully hiding the wicker basket, covered by a white tablecloth, underneath the table.

Later, Trey smiled as he looked around at the dorm members enjoying the party. His cake was a big hit, and Riddle in particular was enjoying the flower themed desserts, specially the daisy-shaped fruit tarts.

“You’ve outdone yourself this time Trey!” Riddle praised him, “It seems that everyone has particularly enjoyed the sweets this time around. Well done, I’d expect nothing less!

Trey chuckled bashfully, rubbing the back of his head. “Thanks Riddle, be sure to praise the freshmen too, that group over there helped out a lot as well.”

Riddle nodded, his mood in high-spirits as he walked over to the group Trey gestured to. Trey raised his head to look over the crowd of red, white, and black for Cater, who was currently adjusting his slice of cake for the perfect angle.

Grim was also with him, hungrily waiting for Cater to give him the okay to make the sacrifice of scarfing down the sweet dessert. Perfect.

Trey briskly walked over to him, basket in hand, leaning down to whisper in his ear. Cater perked up and nodded before calling out.

“Hey Acey, Deucey! Com ‘ere real quick, Cay-Cay needs ya for a super-duper important task!”

The pair perked up mid-conversation with you, nodding at you and rushing over to Cater per his request. Trey walked over to you, though he could make out Cater asking the duo for assistance with a Magicam post.

“Hey, Y/N.” You smiled up at him as he approached, wiping the tart crumbs from the corner of your mouth. Trey had the impulsive to lean down and lick the mess off of you himself, though he shook it away.

“Hey, what’s up Trey!” You clasped your hands behind you, rocking back and forth on your heels, unaware of the petals. “You did great with the desserts, I noticed you didn’t use the flowers I gave you on the cake though…are they not edible?”

“About that…I actually wanted to show you something else I did with the flowers,” Trey held his hand out to you soft smile growing bigger as you laced your fingers through his.

Trey led you to an isolated corner of the rose maze, stiffening slightly as you wrapped your arm around his, relaxing as you leaned in. The small basket was being carefully guarded against his right side, being carefully cradled like a precious stone in a gold necklace.

The two of you remained in a comfortable silence, basking in each other’s presence like an old, aging married couple on a stroll. The image made him smile.

I wasn’t but a few minutes later that you’d arrived at a secluded white gazebo, roses and vines crawling up the sides. It was just far enough away that the sound of laughter and chatter from the party was but a faint white noise, giving Trey the perfect ambiance needed for his plan.

“Take a seat right there, I got something for you.” Trey gestured to the stone bench, a fitting heart-shaped backrest further setting the mood.

“Oh? Alright.” You took a seat, still looking up at him with a curious expression. “Is it something in the basket?”

He let out a soft chuckle, “Why don’t you close your eyes and let me surprise you?”

You squint your eyes in suspicion, scoffing as you obey.

“Fine, if I get another spoonful of vanilla extract though—”

Trey barked out a laugh. “I told you it was bitter! Now keep those eyes closed.”

“It smells sweet! It’s made of vanilla!” You huffed, flinching and then relaxing as you felt him place the basket on your lap. “That’s not the worst thing even, I’m still angry about the oyster sauce donuts!”

“Okay that one was your own fault, you saw me do the same thing with Ace and the chestnut tarts, remember? When we first met?”

You smiled fondly, as did Trey though you couldn’t see it. What Trey could see though were the cosmos blooming along your exposed nape. He let out a soft cough, spitting out a lilac zinnia.

“Hmm, yeah, I do.” He wiped his hands clean, gingerly placing the zinnia on the bench next to you, uncovering the basket and grabbing one of the still pristine cupcakes.

“Okay, here—” Trey took the sugared lavender stem and held it up to you mouth. “—open up and say ‘aah’~”

“Pfft—okay, aaaah~” Grinning, Trey placed the stem on your tongue and watched as you slowly chewed.

“Well? How’s that taste?”

You hummed. “It’s sweet, flowery…it tastes like the evening tea Riddle has before bed…soooo lavender?”

Trey hummed in affirmation. “That’s right, now take a bite of this.” He unfolded the wrapper off of the cupcake, holding it up as you took a small bite.

“Mmmh! Trey!” Your moan of delight caused a pleasurable shiver down his spine, less than pure thoughts filling his head. “It’s so good, it’s lavender too? Is it a cookie…no wait, a cupcake!”

“Heh, good guess, I have one last thing for you to taste, ‘kay?”

He watched as you eagerly nodded, mouth open for the next treat. Trey leaned down, hovering his lips over you own, noticing the light purple glaze still on your bottom lip.

Feeling his breath over your own, you stuttered out, “T-trey? What are you—mmph!”

Trey gently, but firmly pressed his lips to yours, licking the glaze and swiping his tongue along your lip as you opened up to let him in. Your hands reached to tug him by the lapel, returning his kiss with eagerness and tugging him closer and closer, gasps leaving both of your lips.

Still hands were now wandering, gliding up your thighs and along the curve of your back, deciding to settle on the backrest. Trey found himself leaning down to match your height, knee settled in between your thighs.

A beguiling groan rang from between your mouths, from who you didn’t know, then another as Trey’s tongue met your own. Then a gasp as you felt his hand hook underneath you as he lifted you to curl against his body, left hand still cradling and rubbing soothing circles at the small of your back.

Your back was so far arched, chest meeting chest, that you moved your hands from their steel grip on his lapels to instead wrap around his shoulder and neck as he dipped you further to feel your body press into his.

Trey licked your lower lip again, positive he could still taste the sweet lavender on your lip, causing you to whine as he instead took your lower lip between his teeth and tug. Breaking the kiss to observe your red face, gasping breaths, and half lidded eyes.

He has to say, of all the cakes, cookies, and pastries he’s made and tried over the years, you were by far the sweetest, and most divine treat he’s tasted. Trey decided that he needed another taste to confirm as he lips met yours for another passionate kiss.

#twst #twisted wonderland #ruggie bucchi #trey clover #ruggie bucci x reader #trey clover x reader #twst ruggie #mochi requests #a floral inconvenience #twst trey #twst x reader #twst ruggie x reader #twst trey x reader #twisted wonderland x reader

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rutilation · 8 months

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Composite Super-Weeds from Hell: An Analysis of Flower Language in Chainsaw Man

Once upon a time, I started noticing the flowers in Chainsaw Man. Then, I couldn’t stop noticing them. 1 trillion open tabs later, and here we are. I must share my sickness with the world. Is every last plant in this manga meaningful? Probably not. Are at least some of them meaningful? Absolutely. So, I'm throwing the entire pot of spaghetti at the wall, and seeing what sticks. A few things to note before we start:

Color is a crucial aspect of flower language, but can be rather ambiguous in Chainsaw Man. I’ve heard tell, for instance, that the coloring choices on the backs of volume covers, those in the anime, as well as the official colored re-release of Part 1, were not overseen by Fujimoto himself. Case in point: at the café where Reze works, there’s a decoration featuring dried stalks of grain which the colorists seemingly mistook for lavender and colored purple. As such, I’m going to ignore any color choices that I’m not 1,000% sure Fujimoto was responsible for, and will use only his colored illustrations and choice of screen-tones as a guide.

I’ll be primarily using hanakotoba, rather than Victorian floriography, as my guide for meaning. However, it’s worth noting that the vast majority of Japanese-language hanakotoba compendiums I’ve seen online will also list western interpretations of a given flower alongside Japanese ones, so those wouldn’t exactly be obscure information in Japan.

I wish I could add way more reference photos to this. Alas, tumblr has an image limit.

I’m going to be saying the following words a lot, so here’s a note on terminology: ray florets refer to the “petals” of Asteraceae flowers—each of which is actually its own flower, disk florets refer to the tightly clustered, bud-like flowers that make up the central disk of Asteraceae flowers, and ‘flower head’ referrers to the entire inflorescence of an Asteraceae.

This undertaking quickly became. huge. So, in the interest of not dumping an entire brick shithouse of text on my potential readers, I’m dividing this in half, and will only be analyzing the plants of Part 1 here. I’ll post about Part 2 at a later date.

With that, let me begin by talking about the flower which I believe represents the Hayakawa family.

Hydrangeas appear twice in Chainsaw Man. First, on the cover for chapter 15, as Power hangs off of Denji while they pose for the camera and, second, on the calendar in chapter 72, as Aki comes to the realization that he loves Denji and Power more than he desires revenge. They have a number of meanings in Japanese culture, many of which are actually rather negative. Unlike the camellias that will appear later in this analysis, or the ever-famous cherry blossoms, hydrangeas don’t lose their flowers in a poetic or melancholic fashion. Rather than falling or wilting, the flowers simply dehydrate, lose some of their color, and shrivel up on the stem, where they will remain until winter forces them to yield. As such, it’s apparently common practice to prune them before they can get to this point, so as to ensure a heavy bloom for the next season. Because of this tendency to overstay their welcome, and become unsightly as a result, they are associated with stubbornness, haughtiness, and callousness. You can also add ‘fickleness’ to that list of negative connotations, due to their coloration and blooming period. When and how much they bloom is contingent on the vicissitudes of annual rainfall, if there isn’t enough, you’ll have a lackluster season, if it comes early or late, so too will the blooms. Because the anthocyanins that provide its pigment are sensitive to acid, its color will also vary with whatever soil it’s planted in, and a shrub already in bloom will even shift color over the course of a season. To the groundskeepers and gardeners of Japan, it seems that the hydrangea is a stubborn, cantankerous asshole of a flower—not that we would ever use those adjectives to describe the leads of Part 1.

There are, however, a handful of positive meanings ascribed to hydrangeas in Japan, such as tolerance, ‘heartfelt gratitude,’ and ‘patient love.’ For our purposes though, the most crucial of these is that the tightly clustered arrangement of its flowers is seen as a symbol of harmony and family bonds. Taken together, these meanings paint a picture of a tight-knit family of prideful shitheads who are subject to the fickle whims of rainfall and soil fate, all wrapped up in a single flower. I don’t think I could have picked a better symbol for our doomed trio if I tried.

Something else worth noting are the other plants that accompany the hydrangeas in the chapter 15 color page. While I can't tell what the tree on the right is, the other two plants are pink tulips and a palm tree. In hanakotoba, pink tulips represent ‘budding love,’ affection, and ‘true love.’ This chapter comes soon after Denji’s disappointing boob-fondling, which was the first step on his journey towards realizing he isn’t attracted to Power, that it’s possible in the first place to relate to women in ways other than sexual or romantic attraction, and that he loves her as a friend. So, alongside the hydrangeas, the combined meaning of these flowers seems to be: “These two, (who are assholes btw,) are starting to love each other as a family.” Palm, meanwhile, means 'watching over you,' 'firm determination,' and success. If we're meant to also derive meaning from the tree as well as the flowers, it almost feels like foreshadowing of Power's role towards the end of Part 1, of how she protects Denji even in death, and is ultimately the one to tip the scales enough to allow him to prevail over Makima.

One last thing: as I alluded to earlier, hydrangeas are heavily associated with Japan’s rainy season, which spans early June to mid-July, and June is the month that the fantastical family photo from chapter 79’s color illustration is dated to. I dove into this in excruciating detail in one of my metas regarding the dates and calendars that appear in Chainsaw Man. Please, do give it a read if you get a chance. More people need to know of Fujimoto’s shenanigans. (Ignore my flower language analysis in that essay, though. I was young and green. I mistook ‘fickleness’ for ‘impermanence’ like a rookie, like a chump!)

With hydrangeas as our baseline, I’d like to talk about a more recent addition to the list of flowers. I know I said I’d only be looking at Part 1 flowers in this essay, but there’s a certain aspect of this flower’s portrayal that’s very important to keep in mind going forward regarding how Fujimoto uses flower language.

These flowers in the stained-glass are Platycodon, also known as kikyou, also known as balloon flowers, also known as Chinese bellflowers. Given the use of a medium screentone, they’re probably the standard purple variety, rather than white or pink. At least, they ought to be balloon flowers. From the downturned blooms, to the alternating arrangement of the lanceolate leaves on the stem, to the shape and curvature of the petals, and even the screentone, everything matches. However, the flowers on the door have six petals, whereas balloon flowers only ever have five. As a matter of fact, much of the symbolism associated with balloon flowers comes from their five petals. As far as I could dig up, only one member of Campanulaceae has six petals: the Canary Island bellflower. But, its leaves are a completely different shape than those in the illustration. In addition, it is a vine that doesn’t stand upright on its own, again, unlike those pictured here.

So, it’s definitely a balloon flower, and given how much their five petals play into their cultural significance, I highly doubt that the sixth petal is a result of mere oversight. My takeaway from this is that Fujimoto is willing to, at times, fudge botany for the sake of making some artistic point. Going forward, whenever we encounter a flower that doesn’t exist, isn’t blooming in its proper season, or has something otherwise off about it, we need to ask ourselves: what’s the rationale behind this? With regard to the balloon flowers specifically, my thoughts are as follows: in China and Japan both, the five petals of a balloon flower are taken to symbolize the five elements of Taoism, as well as the five senses. If you’ll recall chapter 84, Makima claims that humans used to have a sixth sense before Pochita ate its corresponding devil. Perhaps this sixth petal is a vestigial remnant of that bygone reality. That’s the best I can come up with for now, in any case. I doubt we’ve seen the last of it, and I feel our understanding of this mysterious six-petaled balloon flower will evolve with time.

Now, onto the more sentimental meanings of the flower: ‘undying love,’ sincerity, grace, and—get this—‘longing for a friend’s return.’ The fact that this flower adorns the door that ushers Denji both in and out of hell tells me that it’s reflecting his emotions. A few chapters earlier, Denji lobotomized himself in order to avoid thinking about Power and Aki, but then started rambling about French dogs, a street food specific to Hokkaido, which he probably ate with them on their trip. And, in this moment, Denji seemingly spirals into despair at the prospect of not getting laid, but promptly falls through a door which loudly proclaims ‘I love and miss my friends’ in flower language. Ouch.

Something else worth noting is that the balloon flower makes two other, subtler appearances. It can be seen on two panels of the stained glass on volume 14’s cover, as well as in the café where Yoshida brings Denji and Fami. However, neither of them are the traditional blueish-purple color. Those on volume 14’s cover are definitely white, while the graphic design in the café is simply screentone-less, and thus, could be either white or pink. White balloon flowers mean ‘neatness’ and ‘obedience,’ and pink balloon flowers symbolize misfortune. Given how Famine is manipulating several different factions, and the fact that the café is where Yoshida invites those difficult personages whom he is trying to bring to heel, I think it’s safe to say that they’re both white, and that white balloon flowers are being used as a symbol of social control. One color stands for the jackboot stomping down on our characters, while the other stands for the love that makes all the drudgery and indignity worth fighting through. I wonder if these two versions of the flower will be directly contrasted with each other in the future.

Another nonexistent flower appears in the very first chapter. It appears to be some sort of thistle… which is also a parasitic vine? After much googling, I’m pretty sure that no such plant exists. The closest I could find was the broomrape family, but their flowers look nothing like the one in the illustration, and as far as I can tell, they doesn’t predate on trees, only other herbs. The meaning of a parasitic vine is quite obvious in context—Denji is asking Pochita to live on through him—but the flower itself has something to say as well. Thistle mean independence, ‘don’t touch me,’ and retaliation in hanakotoba, alluding to both the harsh austerity of Denji and Pochita’s lives up to that point, as well as their scrappy determination to keep living.

Now that we’ve talked about some quasi-unreal flowers, let’s look at some examples of Fujimoto using flower language ironically, starting with Himeno, and the many flowers which adorn her stretch of the story. While the centerpiece is undoubtedly the chapter 25 cover page, we’ll first need to delve into some other flowers to fully appreciate it, starting with bouquets she left on the graves of her old partners.

To my eyes, these bouquets seem to contain white chrysanthemums and Easter lilies. I’m going to take an educated guess and say that the daisy-like flowers are calendulas, based on the size of the flower heads, as well as their distinctive cup-like shape. All three of these are very common as funeral or sympathy flowers, with the white of the first two representing a return to purity through death, and calendulas in general meaning grief, mourning, and ‘the sadness of parting ways.’ All in all, appropriate choices for a somber occasion.

The flowers on the Ghost Devil have between 5 and 12 pale petals. Said petals are sometimes thin and pointy, but at other times, broad and bluntly-tipped. The centers seem dark at a distance, but are more variegated in close ups. All of these characteristic remind me of the many species of wild anemone; in fact, there are patches of them growing near where I live that look almost exactly like these. Anemones are associated with death, sickness, and forsaken love; all quite appropriate for the Ghost Devil.

Keeping those in mind, let’s look at that chapter cover, starting with the more straightforward flowers to identify: those of the background. Upon first glance, I figured they were Easter lilies—which would fit; as I mentioned, they’re a common funerary flower. But, if you look closely, you'll note that the flowers are clustered together in little radiating bunches reminiscent of spider lilies. (Although the stamens aren’t nearly long enough for those to be a possible match.) Consider also how the petals are bent slightly further backwards than those of the typical lily. I believe these are actually Lycoris squamigera, known as surprise or resurrection lilies in English, and natsuzuisen in Japanese. In hanakotoba, they have the following meanings: ‘I would do anything for you,’ 'heartfelt fun,' 'sad memories,' and 'deep compassion'—all of which, in my mind, line up with Himeno’s feelings towards Aki, while also expressing that she’s about to sacrifice herself for him.

Now, onto the flowers in her bouquet. They have broad, flat central disks, large flower heads, and small, sparse, spatulate stem leaves with an alternating arrangement. After much waffling, I determined that they are most likely to be Leucanthemum, either oxeye or Shasta daisies, which have the following meanings:

Leucanthemum vulgare/oxeye daisy: patience, generosity, tolerance, sorrow, innocence

Leucanthemum × superbum/Shasta daisy: patience, endurance

It’s also worth noting that the broader, non-botanically-specific meaning of daisies in hanakotoba is ‘faith.’ I think that could work as well, considering that, in this scene, Himeno is taking it on faith that Aki will live on and mourn her. The meanings along the lines of patience, tolerance, and endurance could also allude to how Himeno has stuck with Public Safety, which she no longer wants anything to do with, which she knows will be the death of her sooner or later, for the sake of watching over Aki. ‘Sorrow,’ I believe, speaks for itself. But, I think the meatiest reading of this bouquet can be discerned by taking a step back, and considering it in the context of those other flowers I just talked about.

Leaving aside the specificity of flower language, daisies in general are regarded as fun, cheerful, innocent, and kind of juvenile—which is why they aren’t exactly mainstays of sympathy arrangements. I think the choice to give Himeno a funeral bouquet of daisies after making a recurring motif of more proper mourning flowers is meant to express an irreverence towards the supposed solemnity of death, especially as it relates to Public Safety grinding their foot soldiers into paste. The reality of their circumstances, of the system that is killing them, renders the sentiment of all those ‘mums, lilies, and calendulas hollow, inadequate, and trite. Thus, a blatantly inappropriate flower better conveys the tragicomedy of their lives. Much like how the puerile dick-kicking was Himeno’s requiem, a funeral arrangement of fun-loving, pink surprise lilies and blithely cheerful daisies is a middle-finger to the conveyor belt of death that all devil hunters are strapped to, one final testament to her flippancy and defiance.

Another instance of ironic flower language can be found in Reze and Denji’s flower. This one frustrated me for the longest time. At first glance, you look at it and think: oh, a daisy, and fill in the blanks with young love, and innocence, and so on, and so forth. That’s not a daisy, though. Daisies have between 15 and 30 ray florets. This one has twelve, at the most. I say ‘at the most’ because, not only do the flowers that Reze and Denji receive at the beginning and end of the arc have a different ray floret count from each other’s, the number of ray florets on the same flower shifts from panel to panel. In the panels where they’re clear enough to count, Denji’s has 12 is one panel, and 10 in another. Reze’s has 9 in one panel, and 7 in another. And to top it all off, Denji’s flower only has a screen tone in its second set of panels, not the first. Maddening. Amorphous color-changing daisy that exists to spite me. I spent about a week counting and recounting the ray florets, hoping they’d eventually make sense. But, it was only when I gave up, and decided to ignore Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Shifting Ray Florets, that I made any headway in identifying this mystery Asteraceae.

Observe Denji and Reze’s flowers, and compare them to those seen in the cover illustrations for chapters 25 and 49. While the latter have a multitude of skinny ray florets, the former have fewer, broader ray florets. This, I think, rules out daisies, asters, calendulas, and chrysanthemums—which narrows it down to cosmos and coreopsis, as well as the more sparsely arrayed wild variations of marigolds, zinnias, and dahlias. After much thought, I concluded that the most likely candidate is wild marigold—probably either Tagetes patula or Tagetes erecta. Note the bulbous growth just below the flower head; in botany, that’s called a receptacle. Of the plants I’ve mentioned here, marigolds and zinnias are the only ones with a similar shape to Denji and Reze’s flower, having a long, thick receptacle—which, unlike the ray florets, is drawn consistently in every panel featuring this flower. In the other plants I’ve mentioned, however, the receptacle is petite, stout, or both. If you look at the upper right of Himeno’s bouquet, you can see an example of that more typical shape. Anyway, between marigolds and zinnias, the former is most likely because the flower in the illustration lacks the zinnia’s distinctive, variegated disk florets.

Now that we’ve solved the mystery of its taxonomy, let’s move on to the subject of its meaning. In hanakotoba, marigolds represent despair, grief, and jealousy. I suppose it’s fitting that the group raising funds for orphaned children chose a flower associated with death and mourning? Beyond the diegetic explanation, I like the dissonance of using such an ominous flower as the emblem of Denji and Reze’s cute-but-doomed puppy love. It’s the irony of Himeno’s daisies, but from the opposite direction, with both, I think, displaying a similar devil-may-care attitude. We’re doomed, but we might as well make merry about it.

Given the use of a medium screentone, I also suspect that this is an orange marigold, rather than a yellow one. Orange marigolds in particular mean ‘prophecy’ in hanakotoba. If this additional meaning is intended, perhaps it relates to the fact that this story arc is a closed circle that begins and ends with the same flower. I also wonder if there’s significance to the fact that their flower is a wild marigold, rather than the more recognizable, heavily-bedecked, hybridized version. I take it as an allusion to the fact that Reze’s feelings for Denji were, ultimately, sincere and spontaneous, despite all the cold artifice that initially brought them together.

A third example of ironic hanakotoba can be found in chapter two, in the field of flowers where Denji finds the kidnapped girl. Judging by the size and conical shape of the flower heads, and their rotund central disks, I believe that these are asters from the Kalimeris family. While there are several native to Japan, yomena is the most well-known and ubiquitous. In hanakotoba, it means obedience and ‘hidden beauty,’ with the name itself meaning something along the lines of ‘bride’s greens.’ While the yomena’s name and meaning are surely intended as a paean to demure and submissive femininity, here those associations are cast in a definitively negative light: the girl is hidden because she’s been kidnapped, and obedient because her body has been made into a puppet. In my research, I actually found quite a few flowers that had meanings along these lines, and I must say that it’s very Fujimotocore of Fujimoto to either deftly avoid those flowers, or twist their meaning into something sinister, as with the yomena and white balloon flowers. Truly, this man loves mean, domineering women with his whole chest, and recoils from anything to the contrary.

Now that we’ve established that Fujimoto likes both irony, and making up flowers, let’s do hanakotoba in hard mode. We’re going straight to hell.

See this thing? This gave me the most trouble out of any flower here. It’s a basal clump of sword-shaped leaves, with one or more five-petaled flowers emerging from the ends of leafless stalks. Primrose? No. Hellebore? No. Anything Ranunculaceae? At all? Please! It looks so much like a buttercup! No. Is there perhaps a species of crocus that happens to look like buttercup? No. Pentas? No. Babiana stricta? No. Phlox? No. Dianthus? No. Nemophila? Also no. This went on for several weeks. If it were just some random flower drawn to take up space in one or two panels, I wouldn’t have tried so hard. But, the ground in hell is copiously littered with these things; they literally extend as far as the eye can see in any panel where the ground is visible. Rather than being drawn as an afterthought, it seemed instead that extra attention was being paid to the details of the plants throughout the hell excursion, so it galled me that I kept hitting a wall whenever I tried to identify this mysterious flower. It’s as if those hyper-detailed close-ups of dandelions in chapter 63 were a thrown gauntlet, daring me to identify the flowers that would appear soon thereafter. In the end, the closest real-world analogue I could find was the plantainleaf buttercup, a wildflower native to the mountainous regions of western North America. But, even aside from being pretty obscure in Japan, it still doesn’t perfectly fit, as the flower in the hell chapters has no stem leaves at all, whereas the PLB does.

About the time I started going crazy, about the time I started wondering to myself: “What if, down in hell, oleander is an herbaceous wildflower instead of a tree?” I was forced to admit that—much like the six-petaled balloon flower, much like the parasitic thistle-vine, this probably wasn’t strictly a real plant. After admitting defeat in that arena, I finally hit a breakthrough when I started thinking about the mystery flower in the context of the few other plants to be found in hell. There’s a dandelion, a rosette-shaped weed of some sort (probably broadleaf plantain,) along with what I believe to be several cosmoses (more on those later.) All three are hardy, fast-growing, weedy, and a common sight in poor-quality or otherwise disturbed soil, and I figured this mystery plant was likely to be in the same category. I started looking up common weeds in Japan, and found three that were very close to the mystery flowers in one aspect or another. The flowers in question are spring starflower (Ipheion uniflorum,) blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium rosulatum,) and creeping woodsorrel (Oxalis corniculata.) I’ve come to believe that the mystery flower is actually an amalgamation of woodsorrel and one of the two other plants. Its flower looks exactly like the woodsorrel’s: small, pale, and delicate, with five petals that have a blocky, rectangular character. The stalk it emerges from could belong to either of the other two I just mentioned, as I couldn’t completely rule either out. Both are basal clumps of sword-shaped leaves, with flowers emerging from the ends of upright, leafless stalks. Hell, it would seem, is a big empty lot full of composite super weeds. Two weeds for the price of one.

When you view this combo through a hanakotoba lens, it gets very interesting, especially if you assume that the base of the plant is spring starflower. That one means ‘a sad farewell,’ despicableness, ‘enduring love,’ and resentment. As for the woodsorrel, it means joy, ‘shining heart,’ and ‘a mother’s love.’ If you combine the two together, I interpret the resulting alchemy as ‘an awful betrayal at the hands of an idealized maternal figure, one you can’t help but love anyway.’ A sweet, cheerful flower lounging atop a base of trauma, ambivalence, and abuse. Is that not Part 1 in a nutshell?

It gets even juicier if we zero in on the meaning within just the context of this scene. While these starflower-sorrels extend as far as the eye can see from chapter 64 onwards, they’re actually barely present for our first glimpse of hell at the end of chapter 63. What’s more, they’re nowhere to be seen in hell during the Falling Devil arc. I posit that they emerged to reflect Tolka’s feelings of fresh betrayal and terror at the hand of his mother figure, and came to dominate the landscape as his doom approached, and the gravity of his situation set in.

As for blue-eyed grass, though: prosperity, ‘rich emotions,’ and ‘a lovely person.’ Kind of boring by comparison, not spicy, not juicy, not a metaphor of Part 1’s themes of abuse. Count me as a starflower-sorrel truther. I suppose I should also talk about the dandelion too. It's associated with the whole fortune-telling, make-a-wish thing, but it also means 'pure/sincere love' and separation. Maybe the hanakotoba is relevant, or maybe the dandelion is just there to set up the vibe of a weedy, vacant lot. If the former is true, then my read is that it--like the starflower-sorrel--is reflecting Tolka's emotions in the moment.

There’s another flower seen in hell which I’ve only briefly mentioned. Much like the character who’s named after it, it’s more significant than a first impression might have you believe.

Cosmos—Greek for orderly arrangement—is a flower that earned its name from its ray florets: always 8, and always uniform in size and length. Its use in Chainsaw Man draws upon its meanings in both hanakotoba and floriography. On the one hand, it means love, sincerity, purity, affection, and modesty, and on the other, the order, harmony, and beauty of the universe, and these dual meanings are embodied in the character of Cosmo. (Well, maybe not the modesty part.) But before I get ahead of myself, let’s set this flower’s fiendish mascot aside for a moment, and look at the panel where cosmoses actually show up.

Ignore Violence’s leg being on the wrong layer, and take a close look at the field of flowers. In the background, we can see what are most definitely cosmoses, with each concave flower head having 8 large, toothed, evenly-spread ray florets, with thin stems, and a small central disk. Looking at the foreground, though, things have gotten a little weird. The overall shape of the flower heads is the same, and they still have the distinctive silhouette of a cosmos, but there are only 5 or 6 ray florets on each flower. Finally, on the far right of the panel, in extreme close-up, are the five rectangular petals of creeping woodsorrel, and you can even see that its petals have a slight downward-curve, as opposed to the upward-curve of all the other flowers. After this panel, the cosmoses disappear, and there are no other plants to be seen in hell aside from starflower-sorrel. I believe that what this panel is depicting is the moment that the plants of hell transform to reflect Tolka’s fear and despair. The cosmos flower, then, is a representation of the neutral fabric of existence, which is acted upon by human emotion to create to a new, fantastical lifeform that defies of the laws of nature. In other words, these background plants are a synecdoche of Chainsaw Man’s main world-building conceit, representing both devils, and the human fear that brings them into existence.

Both here, and in Cosmo’s displays of fearsome power, do we see the cosmos flower’s association with order and harmony put in a menacing light, for the order and harmony that upholds Chainsaw Man’s universe is inscrutable, hostile, and unforgiving. But, there’s a silver lining to all this that is, again, exemplified in Cosmo herself. A while ago, I read a meta on Cosmo, which speculated as to the true nature of her character, and what the whole Halloween thing was actually getting at. You should totally give it a read, but to surmise, this person posits that Cosmo, having gained knowledge of all things, understands that the best remedy to the cruel farce of existence is to have fun, be yourself, embrace your spookiness and imperfection, and spend your finite time alive having gay sex being with your loved ones. I pretty much 100% agree with this person’s take. Why do you think she has big, heart-shaped pupils? It’s because she’s seen the truth at the center of the universe, and it is love. Love and sincerity—as codified by cosmos’s meaning in hanakotoba.

There are a couple of other possible connections regarding cosmoses that are more tenuous, but which I still wanted to make note of regardless. The flower’s most well-known characteristic is its 8 ray florets, and ‘8’ is a number that has shown up quite a few times in Chainsaw Man. When the cast is trapped by the Eternity Devil in Part 1, the clocks are stopped at 8:18, the Future Devil is housed in cell 108, and the number 108087 kept cropping up in the background Where’s Waldo-style earlier in Part 2. There’s also an ‘8’ on Yoru’s bread bag. Not sure what that last one’s about, but, bread aside, the numeral keeps getting used as a symbol of, I want to say… the mysteries of the universe? Probably because ‘8’ is the infinity symbol tilted 90°. The last thing I want to note is that it’s possible Cosmo isn’t the only one of Quanxi’s fiends to be named after a flower. ‘Hagi’ is Japanese for bush clover, which, like the cosmos, is a flower that blooms in autumn in Japan.

With that, we’ve gone over most of the big ones, but there’s still plenty more to talk about. Let’s start with Quanxi’s herb garden/tree nursery/vineyard. I’ve numbered the plants more or less in order of how sure I am in my identification, so let’s go down the list:

The lovely metalwork here on the fence helpfully clues us in that these are grape vines, rather than, say, ivy or morning glory, which can have similar looking leaves. Because of their association with wine, both the fruit and the vine mean ‘euphoria’ and ‘oblivion’ in hanakotoba. This is likely alluding to the fact that she’s having sex pretty much any time she isn’t working, as well as her philosophy of turning a blind eye towards any information which would make her unhappy.

At first, I thought these were pines, which would work, don’t get me wrong. Pines are associated with renewal, endurance, and longevity in Japanese culture—a fitting symbol for the character who’s implied to be the oldest hybrid. But, after some additional digging, I determined that the overall shape of the plant was much more in line with rosemary. In hanakotoba, rosemary means faithfulness and ‘unchanging love.’ I see this as a counterbalance to the unsentimental hedonism implied by the grapevine, which is probably why these two plants are the ones that most dominate the frame. Indeed, Quanxi loves two things: escapism, and her girlfriends. Or, maybe the presence of rosemary just means she eats a lot of potatoes, and needs two big bushes worth of rosemary to season them with.

I believe this is yucca, though I had also considered that it might be aloe or snake plant. However, we see aloe in Part 2, and care was taken to draw it with the little spines on its leaves, which this plant does not have. Snake plant usually has stripes or banding, and sparser, wavier leaves in a less orderly arrangement. So, I ruled that out too. In hanakotoba, yucca means ‘dashing’ and ‘brave.’ I think that speaks for itself; she’s quite the badass.

Much like the yucca next to it, I believe this is also a young tree. The shape and arrangement of the leaves look very much like plumeria to me. Plumeria means elegance, sunshine, ‘blessed person,’ passion, and ‘shy maiden.’ My interpretation is that this plant is an ode to her girlfriends.

Here we see dense clump of serrated, rhomboid leaves. I think this is mint, which means ‘efficacy’ and ‘virtue.’ Now, I don’t think Quanxi cares about virtue one way or another, but she sure is effective and efficient! Fujimoto told me she always keeps fresh mint on hand in case she or her girlfriends want mojitos.

I thiiiink this is bay laurel. This one has a dual meaning, as the plant in general means glory, victory, and honor, while the leaves on their own mean “I will not change ‘til the day I die.” That last one reminds me of how Kishibe describes his feelings for Quanxi in Buddy Stories. He loves her because she’ll never die on him, and because their relationship will never become close enough to beget the risk of true vulnerability. Also, she uses these for soup.

Overall, I find this array of plants to be curious, and quite different from others that have shown up before this point. Her setup has one decorative flower that isn’t blooming, a grape vine which hasn’t borne fruit, and three trees which are residing in flowerpots instead of the earth. I’m not sure what to make of it, but it feels like there’s a dissonance being implied here. Much to ponder… Anyway, speaking of vines:

The cover of volume 3 is full of five-lobed green leaves which are closely clustered together, making me think they are ivy. In hanakotoba, ivy means ‘eternal love,’ marriage, friendship, faithfulness, and immortality. I think their presence here is alluding to what Himeno wants, but can’t attain: a long life together with Aki, outside the clutches of public safety. The fact that the ivy is overlaid on top of her gives a dreamlike quality to the illustration, adding to the idea that the ivy is standing in for that which Himeno fantasizes about. Back to Reze:

Reze’s kimono here on the cover of chapter 49 tripped me up for the longest time, because I at first assumed that its design must be depicting the same flower she received from Denji; but as we’ve established, that can’t be the case. The colors don’t match, and neither do the size and shape of the ray florets. That was a marigold, and these are daisies. While I’ve already talked at length about daisy symbolism, there’s actually one more aspect to it that I haven’t brought up yet, one specific to Bellis perennis and Argyranthemum frutescens—the common daisy and the marguerite. The schoolyard game of plucking the flower to determine if your crush likes you has made its way into the hanakotoba of those two varieties, and they thus have meanings such as ‘oracle of love,’ ‘fortune-telling,’ and ‘secret love.’ I think this might be the most relevant interpretation to this illustration, as it alludes to the ambiguity of Reze’s true feelings towards Denji. She loves him, she loves him not…

On the cover of chapter 46, we have a medium-sized shrub with dark leaves and large, white flowers. There are a number of plants which could fit that description: gardenias, magnolias, roses, camellias, etc. At first, I was having trouble ruling anything out. But then, I remembered that in this moment, Reze is beheading herself. Duh, of course those are camellias. Later, I noticed a leafy stem sticking out on the far left of the bush that confirmed my assumption.

The leaves of a rose do not grow directly off of the branch which sprouts the flower, but from small, offshoot stems, unlike the plant pictured here. Gardenias, meanwhile, have a whorled leaf arrangement, with three or more leaves radiating in different directions from a single point—again, unlike those pictured here. Magnolias have a similar leaf arrangement to camellias, but they don’t have the large volume of petals that the flowers in the illustration do. So, these must be camellias.

Camellia japonica is associated with samurai, Edo period nobility, and honorable death. This is on account of the life cycle of their flowers. They fall off whole, and in the peak of their bloom, rather than gradually wilting as most others do. White camellias have an additional meaning of ‘waiting,’ which fits when you consider that this image depicts the tense standoff that precedes Reze’s massacre. But, beyond that, I also interpret the use of white camellias, rather than the more-iconic (and decidedly romantic) red ones, as a sign that Reze and Denji’s romance isn’t meant to pan-out.

Real quick, let’s talk about this tree seen briefly in Reze’s cafe. The braided bark and downturned leaves are a dead ringer for Ficus benjamina, a common houseplant that can mean eternal love, trust, friendship, and marriage in hanakotoba. Leaving aside the marriage bit, I think this tree could be expressing the strong infatuation Denji feels for Reze in this moment, as she has just asked him out on a date.

With that, we’ve arrived at the final flowers we’ll be looking at today: the bouquet that Denji was never able to give Reze. Here are my guesses as to the flowers that were clear enough to identify.

Very large flower heads, pale central disks, clearly Asteraceae, but they only have 8 and 10 ray florets respectively. I think these two are single-flowered dahlias, which mean ‘gorgeous,’ elegance, and gracefulness, but also: capriciousness, and betrayal—which is probably what Denji was feeling in the moment.

Spotted lilies, probably Lilium auratum or some hybridization thereupon: ‘love and beauty that is unadorned and down-to-earth.’ That sentiment feels very country mouse to me.

Pale, unspotted lilies: purity and dignity if white, vanity if pink, and if yellow: cheerfulness, deceit, anxiety.

This one has 8 broad, frilly ray florets—so, probably coreopsis: ‘love at first sight,’ and ‘always cheerful.’

Looks to me like tsuwabuki: ‘perseverance through adversity,’ and humility.

Some filler, likely baby’s breath, meaning: happiness, gratitude, and ‘pure of heart.’

Beyond the symbolism of the individual flowers, there’s something else noteworthy about this arrangement. When you think of a romantic bouquet, what usually comes to mind? I think of roses, tulips, lilies, and carnations, with maybe some baby’s breath as filler. Here, though, only two of those flowers make an appearance. When he went shopping for a bouquet, I think Denji went out of his way to pick one that consisted primarily of flowers that looked like the one he had given Reze, which is why most of them are Asteraceae. Rather than going with a more traditional bouquet, he chose one that he could connect to a happy memory with her.

And, that’s the last of them! To whoever's reached the end of this, thank you so much for reading. If you have your own thoughts as the identity/meaning of any plants, please feel free to chime in. I knew approximately 3 things about botany before I started all this, so I still have much to learn. I’ve also skipped over a few plants in this essay—mostly just things that were too indistinct for me to identify, but I’m also leaving Makima’s houseplants for my next essay, because I tentatively suspect that they may be related to some plants that show up in Part 2. See you then, hopefully I'll finish it soon.

#chainsaw man

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