Back and Forth

“Uehara Chiharu?” Sakurako suddenly spoke up in order to break the silence between them.

“Do I know you?”, he asked. Something about her felt familiar to him but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

“Uh…wait, is it the real you?”

“Huh?”

Sakurako slowly walked closer to him in a defensive stance. Chiharu was confused about what was going on. “Is this girl crazy?”, he thought to himself. Sakurako lightly tapped his shoulder and realized she could actually touch him.

“Oh!” She placed her hand on his shoulder and slowly slid it down his arm until her hand was holding his. Chiharu shook her hand away with an annoyed expression on his face.

“Who do you think you are? Touching me like you know me!”, he yelled out. He then noticed the look in her eyes. She didn’t look scared and she didn’t even try to argue back at him.

“I feel like I do know you.”, she thought to herself. She was feeling something she has never felt before. She suddenly wanted to ask him “how have you been? Are you doing well? We haven’t seen each other in a while.”, as if they were friends meeting up with each other after many years have passed. “Love at first sight maybe?”, she thought, but she rejected that idea because she doesn’t even know him. If anything, she doesn’t even know how he was standing in front of her.

“Hello? Are you okay?”, Chiharu asked.

“Yes-I mean, how are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“You’re supposed to be a ghost but I can see you and touch you. Does this mean I can see ghosts?”, she let out a loud gasp. “I have to go back home and pray with Grandma.”

Chiharu burst out laughing at the sound of what Sakurako was saying.

“What are you laughing about?”, she asked in an annoyed tone.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t laughed like this recently. The fire has been keeping me down lately. I don’t know you, but, thanks for the laugh.” He was still lightly chuckling.

“The fire?” Sakurako looked behind Chiharu and noticed that the village behind him looked slightly different. It didn’t look as deserted as she remembered. Half of the village was burned down but it looked like it was recent. Then she turned around to look at her village and it looked slightly different too. Many of the houses looked a bit older and some buildings were gone. “Where am I?”, she asked herself. “What is this place?”, she asked Chiharu.

“Huh? You came here not knowing where you are? Did you get lost or something? Some city girl got lost and ended up in a small village?”, he asked in a condescending tone.

“I’m from there!”, she pointed towards her village. “But it doesn’t look the same. Wait, what’s today?”

“March 15, 1967.”

“Ah!!!!”, she didn’t want to hear that answer but time travelling seemed like the most obvious explanation for this. “How? I don’t understand. It was 2017 a few minutes ago.”

“2017? Uh…how about I take you to the hospital?”, Chiharu made it sound as if Sakurako was crazy. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were missing a patient.”, he thought to himself. He grabbed Sakurako’s hand and led her down the hill to her village. Sakurako was muttering to herself trying to understand what was happening and how it happened; she didn’t notice what Chiharu was doing. They reached the North Village’s hospital and was about to enter until Sakurako realized where she was.

“I’m not crazy!”, she took her hand away from his and was annoyed that Chiharu could even think that. Although she could see how one would think she was crazy, a person from 1967 claiming they’re from the future would ring some alarms in a person.

“Let’s just get you checked out, maybe you hit your head or something!.” He grabbed her hand and they entered the hospital.

"Let go of me", Sakurako was struggling to break free from him.

“Uehara-san?”, a familiar voice said.

Chiharu turned and saw Rena who had a mournful expression on her face.

“Miyoshi-san.” Chiharu was taken aback by what he saw. They stared at each other silently for a few seconds. “Were you injured during the fire?”, he broke the silence.

“Not much. Who is this?”, Rena was asking about Sakurako in a depressing tone.

“Ah, just some girl I met on top of the hill. I never got your name!”, he suddenly realized.

“Sasaki Sakurako. Nice to meet you!.”, Sakurako bowed to Rena.

“Miyoshi Rena. Nice to meet you too.”, Rena gave a slight bow.

“Miyoshi Rena? Grandma?” Sakurako thought to herself. “Did she lie to me? She did know who Uehara Chiharu was. Why did she keep it a secret?” She was forming so many questions in her head now. “Do you guys know each other?”, she asked both of them.

“Isn’t it obvious?”, Chiharu answered.

“I see…I have to go!” Sakurako tried to rush out of the hospital entrance but Chiharu grabbed her hand before she could make it out.

“Wait, let the doctors check up on you first.”

“Let go!” Sakurako forcefully took her hand away from his grasp. She carefully backed towards the hospital entrance keeping eye contact with Chiharu in case he tried to stop her. Now she really looks like a crazy person. “And don’t follow me!”, she said before finally exiting the hospital.

“Is she okay?”, Rena asked.

“I don’t know. I hope she is.”

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Sakurako was running through the village to go to her house. She opened the door and yelled out, “Grandma!”, but she was greeted by a young couple. They just stared at her in bewilderment and Sakurako was turning red at the embarrassing moment in front of her.

“Excuse me?”, the young woman suddenly asked.

“Uh…I’m sorry! Wrong house! I’m not crazy!”, she tried to reassure them before closing the front door. The front of the house didn’t say “Miyoshi resident”, it was “Watanabe resident”.

“Damn it, I forgot I’m in the past.”, she thought to herself. It didn’t take her long before she came to the conclusion, “if I came back in time on that hill, then maybe I can go back home up there too. That tree must be like some time travel machine.”. She ran through the village again, attracting looks from the villagers, but she didn’t care, it’s not like she’ll ever see them again once she goes back home.

She finally reached the top of the hill and ran out of breath. She sat down under the tree to close her eyes and rest for a bit. It was like before she went back in time; the wind was blowing a soft breeze and she felt at peace once again. Once she opened her eyes, she looked around. The tree and the hill looked the same. She stood up to face the North village and realized that she was back home. She saw how much her village advanced within the 50 years. As she was walking back home, she was still wondering what happened. Was all of that a dream? It was probably a dream but it felt so real. If it was real, a part of her hoped it would never happen again, but a part of her wanted to understand the history of what happened during that time. Why did her grandma lie to her? Why was she so sad? Did the fire impact her in some way? She wanted to ask her grandma these questions but figured there must be a reason why she lied.

Sakurako finally reached home but before entering, she made sure to read the sign on the front and it indeed said “Miyoshi resident.” She opened the door and her grandma was there having tea right where she was before Sakurako left.

“Back already?”

“Uh, yeah!” She wanted to ask her grandma the questions that were in her mind, “Grandma! I need to ask you something!”

“Yes?”, her grandma looked at her with curious eyes.

“Uh…who…who…who owned this house before you?”, she avoided the actual question.

“Oh, uh, I think it was the Watanabe family. They sold me this house after they decided to retire elsewhere.”

“I see!”, Sakurako wasn’t actually interested. “I’ll go start on my homework!”, she dashed off to her room.

Rena was confused about her granddaughter’s question and thought she was acting weird. “Strange! But that’s why I love her.”, Rena chuckled to herself.

Sakurako thought that if her grandma looked so sad during that time, maybe asking about Uehara Chiharu would only make her sad and think of the fire and her time in the hospital. Could she have loved him?

“I’ll ask her one day...I just have to time it correctly.”, she thought to herself.