Red and White

March 14, 1967

Class 2-D of Minamigawa High School

“Kaori-chan, I like you”

The whole class turned silent as they watched Uehara Chiharu confess to Sakurai Kaori. Kaori stood there in disbelief and everyone could see her white cheeks become red with embarrassment.

“Hey, Uehara, don’t you think it’s a bit too early to confess your love right before class starts? And why did you do it in this classroom instead of somewhere more romantic. At this rate, you’ll never get a girlfriend if you can’t do basic romantic things.”, Miyoshi Rena exclaimed. Her face expressed annoyance towards Uehara who seemed to think his confession was okay.

“Oh, that reminds me”, Ciharu reached into his backpack and grabbed a box with a letter tied to it in a bow. “These are also for you,” he handed Kaori the box. Kaori was still in disbelief about what happened minutes before.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about. I guess you’re not half as bad as I thought. Kaori-chan-”

“Uh, I don’t know what to say,” Kaori suddenly spoke up. She took the box from his hand and placed it on her desk. “Chiharu-kun, I-”

“It’s okay, I don’t need an answer now. Meet me at the sakura tree on the hill after school. Give me your answer then.” He said with a wide smile on his face.

“But I have a track meet after school-”

“It’s fine.” He grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to him. “No matter how long it takes, I will be there waiting for you.”

“Ah, so romantic” a student yelled out

“I wish someone would treat me like that!”

“Kaori-chan, you’re so lucky!”

Many of the female students’ hearts skipped a beat upon hearing Chiharu’s charming words.

“When did this turn into a school drama?” Kaori said to herself.

The school bell rang to signal the start of class.

“Remember, meet me under the sakura tree.” Chiharu left the room as Kaori was left speechless.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay that’s the end of class, I will see everyone tomorrow.”

“Thank you sensei.” The class said not quite in unison.

As the teacher left, Rena went to Kaori’s desk. Kaori was deep into her notes, trying to study as much as she could whenever she had the time. She was the opposite of Rena in many ways, one of them being how much they studied. Rena couldn’t help but be a bit confused about Kaori at this moment. She expected her to be deep in thought about what happened this morning but it seems like Kaori just brushed it off.

“So…have you thought about what you will say to Uehara?” Rena tilted her head as if she was a curious child asking an adult a question.

“Uh, no, not really. Hey, do you think I could borrow your notes? I couldn’t make out what Takahashi-sensei was saying in some parts.” Kaori noticed the look on Rena’s face as if she just saw a ghost. “Uh, Rena-chan, are you okay? Do you need to go to the school infirmary?”

“Y-y-YOU ARE ASKING ME FOR NOTES? SAKURAI KAORI IS ASKING ME FOR NOTES? THIS IS A FIRST-wait, what was on your mind that you couldn’t pay attention well in class?” Rena had a mischievous smile on her face while Kaori looked flustered because of her interrogation.

“Why are you looking at me like that? There’s just a lot on my mind!”

“A lot of Uehara Chiharu maybe?”

“Rena-chan!!”

“Ah, just tell me, you were thinking of him weren’t you?”

Kaori hesitated a bit but answered her friend. “Fine, I was.” Kaori’s expression changed into a sentimental one. “Rena-chan, do you believe in soulmates?”

“Do I believe in soulmates? OF COURSE I DO!!!” That was another thing that differed between both of them. Rena is the type to believe in soulmates and compatibility tests and whatever else that helps determine whether someone is meant to be with someone. Kaori believed that love was something you develop over time and nothing can really determine if someone was meant to be with another. At this moment though, her mindset was starting to change. “Do you believe you and Uehara are soulmates? Are you guys tied together by the red string of fate? Were you guys meant to be together? Maybe that’s why he entered your life. If that’s the case, I’ll start treating him better, for you Kaori.” Rena had this look on her face as if he just gave an inspirational speech to an audience.

Kaori embarrassingly smiled, “no, no, that’s okay.” Her expression changed back to the sentimental look she had before. “It’s just that, when I first met him, it seemed like I knew him already.” She let out a small chuckle. “Being with him makes me feel something I can’t feel with other people. I think I’m meant to be with him. I think he came into my life so we could spend it together.”

Now that Rena thought about it, she realized that whenever Kaori and Chiharu are together, both of them emit an aura that only soulmates could emit. Rena noticed that ever since Chiharu entered Kaori’s life, Kaori has been much brighter than ever and she wants her friend to continue feeling this way. “Then make sure you tell him how you feel today! You want to spend your life feeling this way forever don’t you?”

Kaori looked up and saw Rena looking quite serious in her expression. “You go to him after school and don’t ruin your chance at happiness.” Rena looked like she was in the moment giving another speech about love.

“But…can I borrow your notes please?” Kaori helped Rena snap back into reality.

“Oh, yeah.” Rena ran to her desk to grab her notebook and came back to hand it to Kaori.

“Thank you.”

“Anything for a friend.” Rena said with a cheeky smile.

“Uh…Rena?”

“Yeah?”

“...you didn’t write anything down during this class.”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Class 2-B

“Ah, Haru-kun, what did you say to Kaori?” Tanimoto Akira asked his friend Chiharu.

“I was just straightforward and told her I like her.”

‘What?? In front of everyone in class? Where’s the romance in that?”

“It’s fine, I gave her a gift and told her to meet me under the sakura tree after school. Geez, you’re starting to sound like Miyoshi Rena.”

Akira sighed at his friend’s disappointing way of confessing. “That’s something I guess.”

“What about you? Confessed to anyone yet today?”

Akira was quiet for a bit and immediately turned around with tears flowing out and snot dripping from his nose. “SHE ALREADY REJECTED ME!!”

“Already? It’s not even noon yet.”

“I confessed to her this morning before school started on the rooftop. I told her to give me her answer later, but she said no without thinking twice. TALK ABOUT A BAD WAY TO START THE DAY!!!” Akira sobbed through his story.

Chiharu couldn’t decide whether to feel embarrassment or sympathy towards his friend’s experience. “It’s okay, there’s always next year. Also, maybe confess on the ground next time…no one wants to walk 3 flights of stairs at 7 in the morning.” Chiharu tried to cheer up his friend.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4:30PM

“Ah, I hope her track meet ends soon, I’m sweating bullets over here.” Chiharu exclaimed as he sat under the sakura tree. It was an unusually hot day, the air was dry and the ground felt like he was sitting on fire. The only good thing was the fully blossomed tree shading him.

He stared at the blue sky as he daydreamed what it could be like if Kaori accepted his confession. Suddenly, he saw a dark cloud in the sky.

“Finally some rain, it’s too hot these days.” he said to himself. He realized, though, that this cloud wasn’t a typical one. It was dark and looked like it was rising from the ground and dissipating into the air. Then, he heard screaming from below. He stood up and saw his high school on fire. The high school was at the farthest edge of the village with the forest behind it. The trees around the school caught on fire due to the extreme heat and a wildfire started. A burning bough from the tree fell onto the ground causing the ground surrounding the school to catch the flames which spread to the school itself.

Many people were running onto the hill towards the other village to escape the flames but Chiharu froze where he was standing, not knowing what to do. He soon realized that Kaori might be there so he tried to make a run for it but was stopped. He felt someone grab his shoulders and pushed him back.

“You’re going the wrong way kid.” A man’s voice said. It was one of the firemen from the village next over. “Stay and don’t try to be a hero.”

Chiharu wanted to go but he also felt hopeful that maybe Kaori could be saved from the fire.

“I’ll wait for you Kaori, no matter how long it takes, I will wait for you.” he thought to himself.