Truth and Lies

A loud boom filled the night sky and bright colors painted the darkness. The scene was nothing like Kaori ever experienced. Her eyes were stuck to the sky as she watched in awe. The park was crowded as families attended the fireworks festival. Throughout the festival, the sounds of “oohs” and “ahs” were heard every time new colors painted the sky along with the occasional laughter of children. To Chiharu, everything seemed silent as he watched Kaori being amazed with the fireworks.

He chuckled a bit, “Amazing isn’t it, Sakurai-san?” Kaori looked at Chiharu and blushed at the question.

“Sorry, Uehara-san, it’s just that I’ve never-”

“It’s okay. Don’t apologize. It’s good to see you so happy.”

Kaori gave him a big smile when she heard that. “I’ll always smile like this when I’m around you!” Her attention turned back to the fireworks. Chiharu couldn’t take his eyes off of her. To him, she was more amazing than the firework show that was going on. “I hope that smile never goes away.”, he thought to himself.

“Ah, next year, can you bring me here again?”, Kaori asked with a big smile.

Chiharu chuckled, “We can come here every year if it makes you happy.” Upon hearing that, Kaori’s eyes were filled with excitement.

“Promise me?” she held out her pinkie like a child wanting a pinkie promise.

Chiharu found it cute and wrapped his pinkie around hers. “I promise I’ll always make you happy.”

With another loud boom, Sakurako opened her eyes. She lied in her bed wondering about the dream she just had. This dream didn’t feel like a normal dream, it felt more like a memory someone had. “Why am I dreaming of him? And who’s Sakurai-san?”, she asked herself. Her door opened and her grandma entered.

“Are you awake Sakurako?”

“I’ll be out in a bit.”

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

“Ah Rena-san, good morning!” Tanimoto Akira came inside Rena’s house to drop off a crate of vegetables.

“Akira, if I need vegetables, I will go by your market. There’s no need to keep giving me free things.” 

“It’s fine, anything for long-time friends.” Rena and Akira kept in touch after high school ever since the fire that happened and after Chiharu’s death. They felt that they shouldn’t have to forget each other just because their friends are gone. Throughout the years they grieved and mourned together, and they ended up getting closer over time.

Sakurako entered the room.

“Ah, good morning Sakurako!”, Akira greeted with a bright expression.

“Mr. Tanimoto.”, she yawned while saying his name.

“Did you sleep well?”, Rena asked. She was sitting on the ground near a table drinking tea.

“Well…I had a dream that’s kind of bothering me.”

“Tell me what it was about.”, Rena was curious.

Sakurako thought this was the perfect time to ask about Uehara Chiharu. She was going to bring him up anyways so why not take the chance to learn the truth from her grandmother.

“Well.” Sakurako noticed Akira was still standing there so she looked at her grandmother hoping she could read her expression that she wanted Akira gone,

“Akira, don’t you have to tend to your market?”

Akira could read the room and knew that that was Rena’s polite way of saying, “Get out.”

“Ah, you’re right. Well then, I’ll see you next week!.”, and he was gone in an instant.

Sakurako went to sit down across from her grandmother. She had a serious look on her face as she explained her dream. “I don’t really understand it but I saw fireworks in the sky. It looked like a festival was going on. The weird thing is that I wasn’t in it. It was as if I was watching an event that was happening to other people. There were two people in it: a boy named Uehara-san and a girl named Sakurai-san. They were talking about a promise. Some promise to make each other happy or something. Then I woke up.” Rena’s cup spilled all over the table. She was staring at Sakurako with a serious expression. Her eyes were sparkling as it filled with tears. “Grandma? Are you okay?” Rena couldn’t say anything; in her mind, the memories of Kaori were coming back which was causing her pain.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”

“Who’s Sasaki and who’s Uehara?”

Rena was quiet because she didn’t want to answer the question.

“Grandma, I know you know who Uehara Chiharu is, the boy who died under the sakura tree. What happened? Do you know him? Please tell me-”

Rena suddenly spoke, “I do.”

Sakurako stopped talking. She knew it, her grandma was keeping the real truth from her.

“Me, Uehara, Kaori, and Akira were all friends in high school.

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

Class 1-A of Minamigawa High School

“Hi, I’m Uehara Chiharu. I'm a transfer student and I'm in Class 1-C.”, he took out his hand for her to shake,

Kaori stood there with confusion. “Who is this guy?”, she thought, but despite her confusion, she felt that she had to know him. “I’m Sakurai Kaori.”, she took his hand and lightly shook it.

“And I’m Rena.”, Rena crept up behind Kaori which startled her. She looked as if she was analyzing Chiharu in case he was a suspicious person. “Kaori-chan, who is this guy?”

“Uehara-san. He’s from class 1-C.”

“I see, do you like her or something?”

“What?” Kaori and Chiharu exclaimed in unison.

“Hey, don’t jump to conclusions. I just wanted to meet her, that’s all.”

“If you want to be her friend, then you’re gonna have to accept me too. No one can be closer to her than me.”, Rena was acting like a little kid.

Kaori had an embarrassed expression on her face while Chiharu was feeling embarrassed for Kaori.

“I’m sorry, she’s been overprotective of me since we met in elementary school”, Kaori explained to Chiharu.

Chiharu smirked, “If it means getting to know you, then I’ll accept her too. I’ll try my best to be closer to you than she can ever be.”, he teased Rena. Rena heard this and gave him an annoyed expression.

“Hey, Chiharu-san, class is starting soon!”, Akira called out from the doorway of class 1-A.

“Ah, okay!”, Chiharu replied. He turned to Kaori, “I plan on coming here more often, so don’t get surprised if you always see me here.” Kaori just stared at him in awe. She couldn’t seem to understand this feeling she had; the feeling of also wanting to know him too.

"Uh...uh", she couldn't think of anything to say.

“Hey! Look at what you’re doing to her! Now she won’t be able to focus in class!.” Rena scolded Chiharu. He just gave both of them a smile and left the classroom but stopped at the doorway.

He turned around, “See you!”, he smiled at Kaori and immediately left as the bell signaled the start of class.

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

Present time

“They grew closer within a month of meeting and I was a bit jealous because it took me years to get that close to Kaori-chan. Over the months, I could tell Chiharu truly cared for Kaori and Kaori had never looked happier. Knowing this, I prepared myself for what seemed inevitable. I decided to trust in him more as long as he kept Kaori happy, because that was all that mattered to me. Me and Akira knew what would happen between those two eventually so we agreed to support them no matter what. Sadly…fate had another thing planned for both of them.”

Sakurako listened attentively as her grandmother was telling her the story.

“That day ruined everything.”, tears started rolling out of Rena’s eyes. “I don’t really know what happened to Chiharu after. I would always go to his house but he was never there. I assumed he just shut himself off from the world and didn’t want to see anyone anymore. Sometimes, I wish I could’ve been there for him more so I didn’t have to lose two important people in my life.” At this point, Rena was sobbing while trying to get through her story. This was the first time Sakurako ever witnessed her grandmother crying. “I wish I was a better friend during that time.”

“I think you did the best that you could. I think they were grateful to have met you before they left.”, Sakurako tried to cheer up her grandmother. Rena cried even harder at the sound of her granddaughter’s words. “It’s okay Grandma. You did well.”