You and I

In the darkness of the hospital room, Sakurako quietly got up from the chair she was sleeping on. Her grandma was still resting, so she was going to take this chance to leave. She couldn’t really see the whole room but she tried her best to quietly move around to find the front door. She reached out in front of her, hoping she wouldn’t hit anything because any noise would wake her grandmother up. She didn’t get to tell her grandma her decision to go to him last night. She felt guilty for leaving her grandma in the hospital by herself, but it seemed like she was doing fine. She told herself that she’d just go quickly and come back before her grandmother wakes up. Once she grabbed hold of the door handle, she tried her best to quietly open the door.

“You’re going to see him now, aren’t you?” Her grandma’s voice startled her.

Sakurako stopped, “I’ve decided that I want to go see him. That’s the choice I came up with and I’m sure it’s the right one.”

“You didn’t have to sneak out like this.”, Rena slightly chuckled. “I knew what you were going to choose to do anyway. I told you, I trust you with whatever decision you are willing to make. So, go to him. Don’t live with any regrets. I’d hate to see you suffer like he did.”

Tears were forming in Sakurako’s eyes. “I promise no more after this. I just want to tell him before it’s too late.” She was thankful that her grandma was starting to understand her. “I’ll be back soon.” And then she was off. 

As Rena laid in her bed, she smiled and thought to herself, “you’ve waited for so long Chiharu, your soul can be complete again.”

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Sakurako was running up the hill; she was using all of her energy to get to the top. “I have to tell him. I have to tell him.”, that was all she was thinking about. Once she reached it, Chiharu just reached the top too. She was out of breath but seeing Chiharu was worth it; seeing him made her full of energy again.

“Chiharu!” She ran up to him and hugged him tightly, as if someone was going to take him away. She was crying as she held him in her arms.

“Whoa, are you okay? What happened?”, Chiharu was confused but didn’t mind that Sakurako was holding on to him. He reciprocated back by hugging her too.

“Where were you two days ago? I was waiting and I was scared I’ll never get to see you again.” Sakurako didn’t know whether to feel angry or relieved.

“I thought about what you said and decided to go meet with Rena and Akira.”

“You should’ve told me! I came up here and got worried because I didn’t get to see you, I thought you would’ve been gone forever.”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know you wanted to see me.”

Sakurako sobbed even harder.

“It’s okay, everything’s okay. I’m here now.”, he stroked her head to try and calm her down. He’d never seen her like this before; it was like he’d just seen another side of her. “Did something happen to you?”

Sakurako didn’t want him to worry much so she didn’t fully him the truth. “I was just scared. I just wanted to see you. I think I’m okay now.”

Chiharu was happy to hear that from Sakurako. He feels the same way as her; if she shows up, he would feel so happy and then he’d feel empty again once she leaves. Chiharu was actually happy that Sakurako came to see him even though he told her they couldn’t meet anymore.

Sakurako started to get her feelings in order and stopped crying. “I have to tell you something.” She let go of Chiharu so that she could face him when she told him this, “I like you. I want to be with you.”

“Sakurako, I don’t think this is a good idea. We shouldn’t be doing this.”, he didn’t want to get closer to her. It was already hard to forget about her now; this will only make it harder to get rid of the feelings he had.

“Look, I know it doesn’t seem right, but you are the person that I’m missing in my life. How you feel with Kaori, that’s how I feel with you. You’re right, it can’t be put into words, but now I know the feeling.”

Chiharu was hesitating, but if Sakurako was brave enough to put her feelings out in the open despite knowing they can’t be together, then he should be too. “I feel the same way.”, he suddenly said.

Sakurako was glad to hear that and it only made her tear up even more.

“I thought that the person I was meant to be with was Kaori. But being with you all of this time, maybe I was just closing myself off. When we are together, I feel complete; I feel like the sadness that I’m feeling over this loss just disappears. Honestly, I felt guilty for feeling like this at first because I promised Kaori I would wait for her. But it’s like what you said to me before; Kaori would probably want me to be happy. And for me to be happy now, I want to be with you too.”

Sakurako was taken aback by his confession. 

“Sakurako, I like you.”

Tears flowed out of Sakurako’s eyes. She suddenly felt healed; it was like all of her internal stress just disappeared and all that she felt was happiness.

Suddenly a light was emitting around Sakurako. She didn’t notice what was happening but Chiharu could see what was going on. The light became brighter and brighter as Sakurako was letting out her emotions. “Chiharu, I like you!” She yelled out as she was crying. The light that was surrounding her engulfed her and soon she was just a bright, yellow, silhouette. Chiharu couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He didn’t know what to do or how to react, he was just frozen.

As Sakurako was calming down, little drops of light were coming out of the silhouette and they were coming together to form a shape. Soon afterwards, a figure appeared that was made out of the little drops of light. It was a familiar person, a girl who Chiharu hadn't seen for a while and who he thought he would never see again.

“Kaori?”, Chiharu called out to the figure. Kaori stood there with the light surrounding her. She opened her eyes and saw Chiharu. She gave him a big smile; one that made him tear up once he saw it. “Kaori…how-”

“Chiharu, did you have something to tell me?”, she looked at him with curious eyes.

“Kaori…”, Chiharu was speechless. He couldn’t believe that Kaori was in front of him. He wanted to believe that this was a dream but even if it was a dream, he didn’t want it to end. He just stood there staring at her, wanting her to stay there forever. “Kaori…I…I love you.”, he finally confessed.

Kaori kept the same smile on her face and let out a light chuckle. “Chiharu…I love you too. Thank you for waiting.” During this moment, Chiharu figured that Kaori’s soul was with Sakurako all along. That was the reason she felt familiar to him. That’s the reason why she was able to steer him away from his sadness. He was with Kaori all along. Kaori’s figure became even brighter until it was almost blinding.

“Kaori!” Chiharu realized that Kaori was disappearing so he ran towards her.

“Chiharu, you don’t have to wait anymore.”, Kaori reassured him. The light filled up their surroundings and everything was back to normal.

Sakurako was kneeling on the ground. She was breathing hard as if she was trying to catch her breath. Sakurako was confused as to what happened. “Chiharu?”, she looked around but no one was there. “Chiharu? Where are you?”, she called out. Sakurako got up from where she was and saw the southern village, in ruins like in the present. She turned around and saw her own village exactly like how it was when she left it. “Chiharu?”, she said quietly. She was back in the present. All she could do was cry. She dropped to the ground and let her emotions run out. “After everything, why did this happen? Why did he have to go the minute I finally told him how I feel?”, she thought to herself.

There was another part of her that felt healed. She was sad but also very relieved. Even if he was gone, she was glad to have met him. She was glad to meet someone who she was able to open up to. “Maybe it was just meant to be like this.”, she tried to console herself. Now, all she can do is try and let go, and to start living in the present.