Black and White

March 14, 2017

Rooftop of Kitagawa High School

“Sakurako-chan, I like you.” Takemura Daiki bowed down as he held out a gift box for Sakurako to take. The next few seconds were filled with silence. “Uh…Sakurako?” He asked embarrassingly.

“Why do you like me?” She asked suddenly.

“Eh?”

“You heard me. Don’t make me repeat myself.”, she said in an annoyed tone.

“I…I liked you ever since I saw you for the first time. I believe it was love at first-”

“Love at first sight, I heard that one before. Love at first sight doesn’t exist. If anything, it just means you like me for my looks. Do you know anything about me?” This suddenly turned into an interrogation. Daiki was trying to find the words to say but couldn’t. He never expected her to ask him these questions.

“Damn it Daiki, think…think.” He thought to himself. “I know!” He suddenly yelled out. “I like that you…you…you’re a good person.”

At that point Sakurako had heard enough. She started to walk away from him towards the school. “Talk to me when you find a real reason to like me.” Daiki stood there speechless and embarrassed.

“But…but-”, but Sakurako was already gone.

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

Class 2-D

Sakurako was sitting in class staring out the window, her hands holding her head up.

“I heard someone confessed and got rejected today.”, a student said.

“I bet it was Sakurako who rejected them.”, another one replied. There was a group of three students who were, not doing a good job, whispering to each other. Sakurako didn’t care much about it. She knew people talked behind her back ever since she moved to the village a few months ago.

“Maybe they went to confess near the sakura tree.”

“Everyone here knows it’s cursed, no one is stupid enough to do that.”

“Maybe the tree gave birth to her so she can spread its curse around and ruin relationships.” Sakurako has had a history of rejecting every guy who’s ever confessed to her. She would call them out and make them feel embarrassed for liking her. She’s never believed in their confession because they barely know her, how could they have fallen for her? Rumors also spread around saying that if Sakurako rejects you, no other girl in the school will ever want you.

“Makes sense why her name is Sakurako.”

Cold, rude, ice princess, and now a curse. Sakurako’s heard it all but this was probably the most ridiculous thing she’s ever been called. Although, the idea of being a curse might make all those guys stop chasing after her. “I’ve never heard anything about a curse.”, she thought to herself. The only thing that makes this place interesting to her was the fire that happened 50 years ago. History is Sakurako’s real interest but other than that, she doesn’t care much for anything.

“Sa-Sa-chan!”, a voice called out. Nagano Yumi walked into the room and went over to Sakurako’s desk. “I haven’t seen you this morning.” Yumi is one of the only people who is “brave” enough to actually talk to Sakurako.

“It’s Sakurako. I was-”

“SAKURAKO!!!!”, a boy’s voice screamed from the entrance of the classroom. It was Takemura Daiki.

“Daiki-san?” Yumi was confused about what was happening.

“Have you finally found what you want to say?” Sakurako was still staring out the window, not really interested in what Daiki had to say.

“I asked you to help me with my confession. THAT WASN’T HELPING!!! NO OTHER GIRL BESIDES YOU WOULD QUESTION A GUY ON HIS CONFESSION!!!!” Daiki was making a scene in the classroom and Yumi couldn’t help but be embarrassed by her friends.

“You never know what a girl will think if you confess to her. Maybe she’ll think you’re weird, I mean…look who I’m talking to.”, she said nonchalantly. “Maybe don’t take her to the rooftop either, don’t make her tired, your confession was already exhausting.”

“Guys, maybe you can talk about this later.” Yumi was trying to do damage control so Daiki wouldn’t overreact. She knew that Sakurako’s calmness and aloof nature only makes Daiki overreact even more.

“No, no, it was perfect. I see what you’re doing, you’re trying to make me more nervous than I am.” Daiki sounded like he was going crazy trying to see through Sakurako’s actions. This only made her roll her eyes and detract from the topic.

“What do you guys know about a curse?”

Daiki and Yumi’s expressions changed into a surprised one.

“The sakura tree curse?”, Daiki asked, but Sakurako didn’t give a reply so they assumed that’s what she meant. Yumi and Daiki looked at each other as if they were going to spill some big secret.

“Uh…well. 50 years ago during the day of the Southern village’s fire, there was a boy named Uehara Chiharu who went to the tree to confess to his crush. Sadly his crush was killed during the fire so he was never able to confess to her.”, Yumi explained.

“Legend says, the shock killed him and now his ghost wanders around that hill. Anyone who tries to confess under that sakura tree will ultimately be rejected and suffer loneliness like Chiharu did!” Daiki made it seem like he was telling a horror story.

“Hm, even this village’s legends are boring.” Sakurako seemed unamused by the story.

“Now if you’re talking about the Sakurako curse-AUGH!!” Daiki started but Yumi stopped him by elbowing his stomach.

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

Miyoshi Resident

“Grandma?”

“Ah! Sakurako!” Rena yelled out to her granddaughter. She was in the shrine room praying. Rena was a very spiritual person, always praying for good luck, good fortune, but most importantly, to keep all of her loved ones safe. Sakurako went to the entrance of the shrine room and her grandma gestured for her to come in. “Come, come. Pray with me.”

Sakurako didn’t really believe in anything spiritual like her grandma but she still tried to pray because it makes her grandma happy. She’s always felt close to her grandma which is the reason why she chose to move here from Kyoto instead of moving abroad to America with her parents. The room was silent as her grandma was silently praying while Sakurako was just waiting for it to be over.

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

Both Sakurako and Rena were in the kitchen as Rena was pouring tea in a cup for her. This was one of the things she enjoyed doing with her grandma, tea and talking.

“Grandma, what do you know about a curse?”, she suddenly asked which surprised Rena.

“A curse? What do you mean? Did somebody curse you? We have to get you to the shrine-”

“No no, I’m not cursed. I just heard that there’s a curse about some sakura tree. They said a boy died there?”

Rena knew who it was but she couldn’t let herself be brought back to the past. She decided to just brush it off because she couldn’t risk going through painful memories again.

“A boy did die there but I didn’t know him well.” She felt guilty about lying to Sakurako and lying to herself. “I’m sorry Chiharu.”, she thought to herself that this isn’t the proper way to talk about him and he should be remembered. She didn’t even like the idea of him being a wandering ghost being spread around.

“I see, do you know how he died?” Sakurako was curious about the details.

“I don’t really know. The fire was what was on my mind during that time.” This was half true.

“Ah…Grandma, I have to go!”

“So suddenly! Where are you going?”

“I have to meet up with a friend.”

“A friend? Are you finally opening up to those two that you said were bothering you? Oh, that’s great Sakurako, you’re finally opening up.” Rena looked extremely happy as she knew her granddaughter was not the easiest to be friends with.

“Yes. Okay I got to go.” Sakurako rushed out the door and grabbed her backpack to not cause any suspicion from her Grandma. She shut the door once she was outside and told herself, “let’s go check out the ghost.”

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

Sakurako had just made her way up the hill that had the sakura tree in the middle of it, separating the north and south village. She’s never been up here before and what she saw in front of her surprised her; it was the ruins of the south village after the fire. Her love for history made her want to go explore it.

“One thing at a time.”, she told herself to resist wandering off. She turned and looked up at the fully blossomed tree that was swaying in the wind. She closed her eyes to feel the breeze. It was a moment where she felt at peace. She took a deep breath and suddenly heard footsteps. She opened her eyes and looked around but no one was coming up. She turned around and saw a boy walking up from the southern village side. He had an expression on his face as if he was mourning the loss of someone. He looked up and they made eye contact.

“Is this Uehara Chiharu? Is this his ghost?”, she thought to herself. The only thing is that instead of feeling scared, she felt as if she knew him and he felt the same way. For both of them, there was a look of familiarity in their eyes.