That's the end of this article

***

1.3 - Guishu - Go back to the time when I played with you

I don't know how I got back to my accommodation.

After getting on the train from Shinjuku Station, I saw Akari standing in the middle of the platform from behind the closed door.

I banged desperately on the tempered glass window in an attempt to get her attention, but I soon understood that it was nothing more than futile.

When I sat down in the carriage leaning on the armrest, I was already depressed and weeping.

…… Is it really just wishful thinking?

Standing in the doorway of my apartment, I finally regained some of my senses.

I smiled and walked up the stairs step by step, until I found a person sitting in front of the door.

"Guishu-kun, you're back!"

The girl raised her head and smiled brightly, like a bright light in the darkness, stabbing into my world.

I was surprised and delighted, but after the surprise there was a panic for no apparent reason.

"Flower seedlings...... Hello. ”

I froze in place, holding the key in one hand, at a loss.

"Open the door...... I waited at the door for a long time and froze to death. ”

Hua Miao stuck out her tongue mischievously and made a grimace, which was very different from her shyness at that time, and I didn't know how to deal with it for a while.

After mechanically unscrewing the door lock, I pushed the door open, and I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed when I thought of the flower seedlings behind me.

Letting Hanae sit down at the small, cluttered dining table, I opened the fridge and pulled out a box of yogurt from the freezer.

"There was nothing to entertain...... I didn't even have milk, so I had to leave it at once. ”

I smiled awkwardly, but Hanae giggled happily.

"In my memory...... I've never seen Guishu-kun's embarrassed expression. ”

She stood up and walked to the coffee machine by the stove, skillfully took a one-person coffee bean pellet and poured it into a glass flask, added water and lit the blowtorch, the turquoise flame burned, and the seemingly fragile transparent glass kept changing shapes.

After a few years of separation, Hua Miao gradually broke away from the form of a girl and evolved into a seductive royal sister.

I don't know why she chose to come to me suddenly today, but I feel uneasy when I think of her feelings for me when I was in Kagoshima.

I certainly know why she waits to go back with me every night.

At some point, her gaze fell on me, just as my heart always circled Akari.

"Is it okay to put half the sugar?"

“…… Well. ”

At this time, I suddenly wanted to escape from here and return to the rock boat on that night ten years ago.

I want to escape from here and go back to that huge cherry blossom tree outside Iwafune Station.

It's not where it all begins, but it's where it ends.

Flower seedlings and her love for me made me panic.

I still don't know where this fear came from, even though years have passed.

However...... Neither I was in Kagoshima nor I was at this time, I couldn't accept her feelings.

I couldn't bear to hurt her, and even more so because I couldn't forget Akari and accept another girl.

When Hanaea came over with coffee, the curling water vapor blocked between the two of us, and her eyes were a little blurry, as if I saw Akari's figure.

3.2 - Flower seedlings - to be with you too

After putting the coffee on the table, I felt his gaze look eager like never before.

"Yes...... Just came back from outside, don't you want a cup of coffee? ”

I tried my best to hide my ecstasy and pushed the cup forward, pretending to be complacent.

Suddenly...... He took my hand, stood up, and took me into his arms.

My heart was pounding, and I couldn't help but close my eyes and cling to his chest, but for some reason, his shoulders trembled slightly.

I looked up and saw that he was in tears.

…… What are you crying for?

Seeing Guishu's sad appearance, I quickly understood that this was by no means the joy of reunion. Does he still have only her place in his heart?

Since middle school, it was rumored that he had a girlfriend in Tokyo, and then he did come to Tokyo......

"Akari ......"

He hugged me tighter, and this affectionate call shattered my illusions completely.

…… Is that her name?

I don't feel happy even if I am embraced by you.

Like a rag doll, I unconsciously let him hold him in my arms, and when he finally calmed down, I watched him sincerely apologize to me.

When the three hands of the wall clock coincided, he was the noble tree in my memory again.

"Guishu-kun...... Has it been a person all these years? ”

He took a sip of his warmed coffee and nodded slightly.

"Yes...... Even if you're already in Tokyo, are you still alone? ”

His head hung lower, and though he didn't answer, I knew his answer.

It turned out that all these years, he had been obsessed with the girl named Akari.

――Just like I've always been obsessed with this man named Takaki Tono.

Guishu-kun really didn't disappoint me, even if he didn't have a place for me in his heart, he still fascinated me as much as he did many years ago.

I don't know whether to be relieved or sad, but I sat face to face with him, always looking at his lowered head.

It's like I was hanging my head behind him and couldn't say anything.

As if I saw myself back then, I stood up and walked around to him and gently took his hand.

"Kiki-kun, remember when we were in Kagoshima, we always went home together at night?"

He looked up, looked at me for a single moment, and then lowered his head again, his eyes full of fear and unease.

"I like you, Guishu-kun."

His head hung lower.

I grabbed him on the cheek and leaned over to kiss him.

2.3--Akari--will definitely fulfill the promise of that year

I went to Tokyo from home yesterday morning, but I didn't expect to miss a document. I wanted my parents to send me an urgent letter, but when I talked on the phone at night, I learned that my mother's asthma had flare-up again, and I couldn't help but worry, so I decided to go home again.

As soon as I left Tokyo, my mother called me to tell me that I was fine, and my mood suddenly relaxed.

When I got off the train at Iwafune Station, it was already half past ten in the afternoon.

The sun was warm and bright, bright to the point of being a little harsh.

I squinted my eyes slightly, trying not to look directly into the white sun.

I accidentally looked up and saw that the sky was intoxicatingly blue.

I walked down the path with my head down, and it wasn't until I passed the thick cherry blossom tree that I saw that there were still people under the tree.

A very handsome young man, dressed in a slim-fitting long trench coat, sat on the ground with his back against the trunk of the cherry blossom tree, his messy hair covering his closed eyes.

…… It's weird.

I turned my head and walked on, but after a dozen or so steps, I suddenly remembered the young man's sleeping face and his caution tucked into his trench coat.

The impression shook violently before my eyes, and I woke up in an instant.

It's Guishu-kun!

I turned and ran over to see a pile of empty bottles and a stack of loose envelopes at his feet, still leaning against the trunk of a tree, sleeping quietly and cautiously, like a shy flower.

Walking up to him, you could still smell the smell of wine coming from him or from an empty bottle, a breeze blowing, and the cherry blossom rain slowly falling from the trees, but the envelopes scattered among the petals on the ground were still unmoving.

Maybe there's something in there?

I leaned down to see a half-burned envelope, a little more than the letter inside, and the charred black marks seemed to have been cut off suddenly.

Next to the letter, lay a lighter.

Is Guishu-kun going to burn all of these?

When I picked up the half-burned envelope, the paper inside suddenly fell out and spread out on the floor.

I didn't want to peek at what Takaki-kun wrote, but when I saw that the beginning of the letter was inscribed "Akari", my heart beat violently, like a mallet beating against my chest.

- Akari: It's been almost half a month since I moved to Kagoshima, and there are no trains, just rolling concrete roads and roaring locomotives. I'm also studying because I'm going to need to ride a motorcycle to school in the future......

- Akari: I saw the weather forecast today that there is heavy snow in Kanto, but it seems that Kyushu is still stuck in late summer......

- Akari: Spring is here again, and the cherry blossoms in Kyushu come early, and a female classmate at school invites me to enjoy the cherry blossoms. However, the thought that I would no longer be able to enjoy the cherry blossoms with Akari made me depressed, and I wanted to go to the cherry blossoms, but I finally refused.

- Akari: I launched a spaceship in Kagoshima today, so I must have seen it on the news......

- Akari: I've received my admission to Tokyo University, and in two months, I'll have to go back to Tokyo. But I don't know if you're still in Iwafune, although I really want to go again, but ......

- Akari: The handwriting of this letter is sloppy because I wrote it on my lap. The night on Mt. Hakone was so quiet that I laid out the beer and chocolate at my feet and looked at the lights of Tokyo in the distance, wondering if you were in one of the buildings......

For some reason, looking at the letter written by Guishu, I always imagined the picture of him living alone in this world all these years.

Since the separation 10 years ago, I have gradually become accustomed to life without Guishu-kun, gradually accepted the world, and found my so-called "happiness".

But Guishu-kun...... It seems that I have been stuck in the train that night when I missed a serious time, and I can neither get off the train to come to my world nor return to Tokyo, so I can only wait alone in the snowstorm.

Thinking of this, my tears finally fell and fell, and I knelt in front of Guishu, and I reached out and grabbed the placket of his clothes, and the tears fell on his sleeves, and then quickly disappeared.

Just like that night ten years ago.

1.4 - Guishu - no longer separated

I slowly opened my eyes, and the white sunlight pierced my eyes.

(End of full text)

Acknowledgement: Deutsches Song

Acknowledgement: Makoto Shinkai; Haruki Murakami