Out and About

Sakurako and Yumi were both standing on top of the hill waiting for Daiki to show up. The two of them arrived first but they weren't surprised and expected Daiki to show up later. Sakurako was deep in thought; she was nervous as she thought the time-travelling could take effect any minute. If it happens, will everyone be taken back with her or will she just disappear into thin air? What if people think she was lost and suddenly, there’s a whole search for her? Or maybe, she was just overthinking it. Right now, since it was only Yumi with her, she thought maybe she’d confide in her about her secret.

“Gosh, he’s taking so long.”, Yumi kept looking out into the distance to see if Daiki was on his way.

“Yumi, I have to tell you something.”

Yumi turned around, “What? Are you okay?”

“I am. It’s just…I have to tell you something that you cannot tell anyone.” Yumi was listening attentively with a serious expression. “I'm not crazy but, I can go back in time.”

Yumi’s serious expression turned into one that expressed disbelief. “What?”, she said in an unimpressed tone.

“I can go back in time.”, Sakurako repeated herself. “I know it sounds crazy but I went back in time before. Twice!”

“Uhhh, have Daiki been showing you his manga collection or something?”, Yumi felt embarrassed for her friend.

“No, no. Look. Chiharu! Uehara Chiharu!! Chiharu, come on answer me!!”, Sakurako was looking crazy.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I won’t tell anyone..."

“No, but-”

“I believe you. You can travel back in time and you’re friends with ghosts. I believe you.”, Yumi was patting Sakurako’s head as if she was a child.

“Hey, guys!”, Daiki yelled out. He came uphill with a few other students.

“Huh? I thought it was just us.”, Sakurako was confused.

“I just decided to invite a few more people.”, Daiki said nervously.

“How many is a few?”, Sakurako looked like she was ready to hit Daiki.

“Uhh…” Suddenly, more students came up to the hill along with Sakurai-sensei. “The whole class…”, he hid behind Yumi in case Sakurako unleashed her wrath onto him.

“Did you know about this?”, her attention changed to Yumi who also looked guilty.

“Sakurako, it’s good to see you out with the class.”, Sakurai-sensei went up to her, Daiki, and Yumi. “You can thank Daiki for planning this. He managed to convince me to allow extra points to anyone who decided to come on this trip this weekend. But don’t tell anyone from other classes; this was a special exception.”

“Oh, I didn’t know anything about this. Maybe I’ll just head home.”

“No, she won’t. She’s going to stay.”, Yumi butted in.

“We’ll make sure she stays.”, Daiki added.

Sakurai-sensei looked content that Daiki and Yumi were pushing Sakurako to try and enjoy being out with the class.

“Okay everyone, be careful, the ghosts are ready to take young souls.”, Sakurai-sensei yelled out as he was leading the class downhill which resulted in multiple groans over his joke.

Sakurako looked at Daiki and Yumi with a “disappointed mother” look.

“I’m sorry Sa-sa-chan. We knew that you would try to get out of it if you knew the whole class was coming. It’s been months since you came to this school and no one really knows you well. Take this chance to try and get to know some of them. You might make new friends!” Yumi was trying to make this sound like it could be a positive experience for Sakurako.

“It’s Sakurako.”, Sakurako started walking downhill with the same disappointing look on her face.

“I told you she wouldn’t like it.” Yumi blamed Daiki

“She just needs to open herself up. People need to understand her.” Daiki tried to justify his actions.

Sakurako heard what Daiki said and stopped in her tracks. She was remembering what Chiharu had said to her; to not judge him before she could understand him. She turned around, “Are you guys coming or not?”, she yelled out to Daiki and Yumi.

They instantly looked happy as they knew this was Sakurako’s way of forgiving them.

“I knew she couldn’t stay mad at us forever!”, Daiki happily said.

“No, I’m just less mad at Yumi.” Sakurako added.

“Oh…”

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

Down in the village, the class was deeply interested in looking around the remains; wondering what each building was before it burned down or was deserted. Sakurai-sensei seemed proud to see his class wanting to learn the history of the southern village.

“Ah! Sakurai-sensei! Look.”, a student pointed out a deserted house with the sign “Sakurai Resident” in front of it.

Sakurai-sensei had a sentimental look on his face. “Yes, this was my old home. I used to live here.”

“Huh?”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Tell us what it was like here?”

Students were becoming interested to hear about Sakurai-sensei’s backstory.

He gave a small chuckle. “I was born months after the fire so half the town was already in ruins when I was here. I didn’t live here very long. The southern side didn’t have the support and resources to continue on with keeping this village alive. People started moving out and eventually the village became deserted. Luckily, I had family in the northern side so I didn’t have to move very far. That being said...there’s still ghosts lurking around here from the victims of the fire.”, Saurai-sensei let out a maniacal laugh.

“Sensei, you ruined the mood!”

“Why’d you have to end it like that?”

“That’s not funny!”

The whole class didn’t enjoy Sensei’s sudden mood change.

The whole class dissipated but Sakurako was just standing where she was.

“Sensei…were you related to anyone named Kaori?”

He gasped at the sound of the name. His expression changed to a sentimental one again. “My older sister. Although I’ve never met her. My parents didn’t want to tell me about her after I was born. Every time I saw her in pictures when I was younger, they’d always tell me she was an angel who came to make their lives better. When I think about it, they were probably just using that to make themselves feel better. It’s funny how people would lie so they wouldn’t hurt themselves.”

Sakurako understood what he meant. Her grandma was like that before. She was like that too but, she wouldn’t lie to not hurt herself, she just turned people away before getting to know them.

“Well you’re probably tired of hearing from me. Go hang out with your friends.”, he gestured to Yumi and Daiki who were examining another house nearby.

Sakurako went to go to where her friends were. “What’s this place?”

“Uehara Chiharu’s house.”, Daiki said excitedly. Sakurako let out a quiet gasp. “I wonder if we’ll see the ghost.”

“Don’t be stupid Daiki…Ghosts only come out at night.”, Yumi retorted back.

Sakurako went inside the house without thinking twice.

“Whoa, Sakurako is braver than most of the class.”, Daiki announced and followed her in which made Yumi go in too.

The house didn’t look too different from the houses they were already living in; it was just a bit dusty because no one had been in there for a while. Sakurako was searching every room of the house.

“Are you looking for something?”, Yumi asked.

“Nothing…just looking.” Sakurako then stumbled into Chiharu’s room. She took her time to look around here more than the rest of the house. The room looked like it was left untouched. The desk was piled with old books and on top of the books was a single picture. The picture was a black and white photo of a boy and girl. Sakurako assumed that it could only be Chiharu and Kaori. The background of the picture seemed familiar to her as if she had seen it before. She noticed the fireworks in the sky and that’s when it dawned on her; this was the event that she dreamed about.

“What’s that?”, Yumi came up behind Sakurako and saw the picture. “Who’s the girl?”, Yumi wondered.

“She’s pretty cute!”, Daiki snuck up behind him which startled Yumi.

Sakurako was quiet. Tears were flooding her eyes but she wiped it off before they could fall. “I’m gonna take this. For research.”, she said suddenly.

“Huh? Can you even do that?”, Yumi questioned Sakurako’s actions.

“I’ll bring it back after the project.”

“Aren’t you scared his ghost might haunt you? What if he was a scary guy?”, Daiki warned.

“Or he could be a nice one, we don’t know him.”, Yumi tried to sound rational.

Sakurako was right, no one knew him. Not even her and she’s met him twice. She was going to break her promise of not bothering him.

“Then I’ll go and try to get to know him.”, Sakurako looked at Yumi. It was a look that Yumi hadn't seen in Sakurako’s eyes before. It was a look of longing for someone. Yumi thought that maybe what her friend was telling her before was the truth. No matter what, Yumi was willing to give her friend her full support.