Heart and Soul

“Thank you all for your report, I hope to see everyone after the summer break. Try and get through this last week.”, Sakurai sensei left the classroom at the sound of the bell.

“Sakurako!!”, Yumi went over to Sakurako’s desk, happier than ever.

“Oh, Yumi. What happened to Sa-sa-chan?”

“Huh? I thought you didn’t like to be called that? You always correct me when I say that.”, Yumi pouted.

Sakurako blushed, “Well, I actually kind of like it.” Yumi found this side of Sakurako cute.

“Wow! Sa-sa-chan! You’re so cute when you open up!”, Yumi tightly hugged her friend.

“I want hugs too!”, Daiki came over and hugged both of them. Sakurako felt embarrassed but she kind of enjoyed being fawned over by them. Yumi pushed Daiki away.

“She only wants to hug me!.”

“I’m her friend too!”

Daiki and Yumi were so busy fighting for Sakurako’s affection that it made Sakurako burst out laughing.

“Wow Sakurako, you’ve been so different lately. Did something good happen to you?”, Daiki wondered.

“Can I tell him? Please?”, Yumi begged Sakurako but she was hesitating.

“What, is she in love or something?” Yumi and Sakurako looked at him with surprised expressions.

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“Ehhhh??? Sakurako’s in love with someone?”, Daiki shouted. They were all together behind the school.

“Don’t be so loud!!”, Yumi seemed annoyed.

“Who is this guy? Do we know him? Does he go here? I mean, he has to go here, it’s the only high school in this village unless-”, but Daiki was interrupted by Sakurako.

“You don’t know him and he doesn’t go here. I wish he did so I could be with him more.”, the last part she said more quietly.

“Whoa, Sa-sa-chan. You seem like a different person when you’re in love.”

“If you need help in love, I can help you!”, Daiki exclaimed. “I’ve had multiple relationships and experiences with love. I can help you determine if that guy is your soulmate or not.”

“Reading romance mangas doesn’t count.”, Yumi and Daiki started arguing again.

“Soulmate?”, Sakurako thought to herself. “What’s a soulmate?”, she asked. Yumi and Daiki stopped arguing and looked at Sakurako.

“Sa-sa-chan. A soulmate is like-kind of like-it’s…it’s someone you fall in love with. I think.”, Yumi couldn’t really answer her question.

“Hah. Not so smart now are you?”, Daiki teased Yumi. “Soulmate: someone you are most compatible with. A person who feels like they complete you. When you’re with them, you feel an intense joy that you don’t feel with anyone else. You feel you could be with them forever with no problem and the love will only grow more with time!”, Daiki recited his knowledge of love to Yumi and Sakurako. Yumi had an annoyed expression while Sakurako listened attentively.

As Sakurako listened, she realized that what Daiki had been saying was what she had been feeling when she was with Chiharu. The only problem was that he was in the past and she lives in the present. This was one thing she couldn’t get past. How could soulmates be from different times?

“Could soulmates be from different times?”, Sakurako asked.

“Different time? In manga, yes, but this is real life. Do you have a crush on a historical figure or something?”, Daiki was questioning Sakurako and looked at her as if she was crazy. “If you are, I know someone who helped me get over my crush on a manga character, although-”

“Okay, let’s just end this here. Sorry Sakurako,” Yumi grabbed Daiki’s hand while he was still talking and both went inside the school. Sakurako was left alone outside deep in her thoughts.

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“I’m home!”, Sakurako yelled out at she entered the front door. Her grandma was in the kitchen.

“Sakurako! I’m in here”, Rena yelled out. Sakurako entered the kitchen. “Akira gave me too much daikon, I have to pickle them before they go bad.”, Rena was busy chopping up vegetables. “Tell me about school.”

“Uh… well. I learned something new today. Not from class but from my friends.”

“Tell me, I want to know what kids are talking about these days.”

“I don’t know if this is real or not but we were talking about soulmates.”, Sakurako tried to play it off like she didn’t believe in it. “Apparently it’s like someone you’re meant to be with or something like that. But that’s just a lie right?

Rena paused for a moment.

“Grandma? Are you okay.”

Rena continued cutting her vegetables and hesitantly said, “Yeah…that’s just a bunch of lies.”

Sakurako could sense that something was wrong. “Grandma, do you believe in soulmates?”

Rena stopped again and faced her granddaughter. She let out a sigh. “I used to but now I’m not sure. In high school, I believed that everyone was meant to be with someone. I used to think that Chiharu and Kaori were meant to be together; but after the accident, I was starting to question my belief. I mean, if two people were meant to be together, why did fate make one of them gone?”

“I think I’ve found mine.”, Sakurako suddenly said, which surprised her grandmother.

“Huh? Who is it? I didn’t know you had feelings for someone."

Sakurako decided to just be honest and tell her grandma everything. There was no point in hiding it anyways. “I’m in love with Uehara Chiharu!.”

Her grandma had a shocked expression and let out a gasp. Then her tone changed to an unserious one, “Is this like the time you had a crush on Oda Nobunaga? Sure he was an impressive man, but even then he is far too old for you.”

“That was one time! Can people stop thinking I’m falling in love with historical figures?.”, Sakurako retorted back. She took a deep breath and tried to explain herself. “I’ve been going back in time, I’ve met Chiharu many times already.”

Rena couldn’t believe her, “You’re just trying to stir up my feelings. It’s not working and it’s not nice to play with people’s emotions.”

“I’m not! I went back in time and saw what the village was like 50 years ago. I know that Mr. Tanimoto’s market used to be a restaurant.”

“He could’ve told you that.”

“I know that you used to work there!.”

“Again, that could’ve come from him.”

Sakurako was thinking hard about how she could convince her grandma. “I know about his promise to Kaori. Not the promise in my dream but the promise that he’d wait for her no matter what. That’s why he would spend his days waiting for her under the sakura tree.”

Rena dropped her knife and it fell on the floor. She started crying, “Kaori, you’re back.”

Sakurako was confused. “Grandma.”, she went over to comfort her grandmother.

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“Ever since you were born, I’ve had this feeling that Kaori was back.” Rena and Sakurako were sitting on the ground in the main room. “When she died, I prayed every night hoping she would come back to me. I hoped that somehow, her soul would find its way back into my life.”, she started reminiscing about the day Sakurako was born. “When you came along, you had the same smile as her. The same look in your eyes as her whenever you were happy. The fact that you became closer to me than your parents made me believe that Kaori came back. But I just thought my own head was messing with me. But now, when you told me about your dream, I thought it was no coincidence that you are connected to her somehow. I realized that maybe her soul did come back to me. And now, I think it's true. Kaori is back with me.”

This was all too much for Sakurako to take in. Although, her grandma made sense. Her dream, her ability to go through time, and her sudden attachment to Chiharu, she could very well be Kaori reincarnated. “Could that be why I’m in love with him?”

“Your soul suffered so much. I think it’s time for you to heal it.”,

Sakurako took this as a sign that her grandma believed her and that she supports her love for Chiharu.