Time and Time Again

Sakurako was sitting under the sakura tree, staring at the sky. She was trying to get over what happened just now. Her emotions were all over the place, she felt sad but at the same time happy with a little bit of confusion. Even though Chiharu was gone, she didn’t really feel empty inside. “Maybe we were just meant to help heal each other.”, Sakurako thought to herself. “Now I’ve got this place to myself.”

Sakurako closed her eyes to feel the gentle breeze. She took in the environment surrounding her and then stood up. She started walking to the hospital.

Once she arrived, she told the front desk she wanted to see her grandmother.

“Miyoshi Rena?”, the receptionist questioned. She was looking through the patient list on her computer. “We don’t have any patient named Miyoshi Rena admitted here.”

Sakurako was confused. “Why wasn’t she in the system?”, she wondered to herself.

“I’m sorry, I can’t find anything about your grandma.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just go home then. Maybe she’s there.” Sakurako walked out of the hospital still confused. “Maybe the hospital messed something up.”, she was blaming them.

She stopped by her house and opened the door only to find her grandma there having tea.

“Sakurako! You’re back.”, her grandma happily greeted. Sakurako noticed her grandma was looking happier than before. She wondered what happened when she was gone.

“Grandma, when did you get home? I thought you were still at the hospital so I stopped there.”, she entered the room and closed the door behind her.

“Hospital? I’ve been here the whole time. Just because I’m old doesn’t mean I always need to go to the hospital.”, Rena seemed a bit annoyed at her granddaughter.

“Sorry, it’s just that…”, Sakurako didn’t understand what was going on. “Something must’ve happened when I went back in time.”, she thought to herself. “Maybe confessing changed everything. I didn’t mean to change history. But I couldn’t go on without telling him.”, she blamed herself and tears were forming in her eyes.

“Sakurako, are you okay? Did someone do something to you?”, Rena was concerned since she’s never seen her granddaughter like this.

“Is everything the same?”

Rena was taken aback at the question. “I think so, what’s wrong?”

“I thought I messed everything up…when I went to see him.”, she said the last part to herself quietly.

Rena looked at her granddaughter then got up to go to her room. She opened one of the drawers and took out an envelope. She came back out and handed the envelope to Sakurako. “I believe this is yours.”

Sakurako took it from her grandmother and immediately opened it. She took out a letter.

“50 years ago, he said Kaori would be back with me and I got angry at him for saying such things. He said to give this to her when she gets here. That was the last day I saw him.”, Rena sighed and chuckled. “I need to go to the market, so I’ll just leave you here for a bit.”, Rena wanted her granddaughter to be alone as she read the letter inside. She left the house and Sakurako was all alone.

As she read the letter, she started crying again. The letter was from Chiharu:

“Sakurako, this is Chiharu. I’m sorry for wanting to end things so early. Being able to tell you how I feel was actually very healing for me. I feel so much happier as if all my guilt and regret are gone. I thought about all you told me and I don’t want to live with any regrets and I don’t want my friends to be regretful either. I hope I haven’t changed the future much by doing this. I told them all of my problems and we helped each other get through the pain. I spent a little bit more time with them afterwards too and we made lots of new memories together. One thing I didn’t want to change was my promise. Akira and Rena understood me and were able to let go of me happily. They told me they weren’t going to have any regrets anymore. I will still go up to the tree and wait for Kaori. Except now, I won’t go up there with remorse and guilt, I’ll be there with happiness knowing I was able to tell her how I felt and knowing that she felt the same way. Now my soul can rest happily. Hopefully, we can meet again in the next life. Please try to recognize me.”

The envelope didn’t just contain letters, Chiharu included pictures of him, Rena, and Akira making memories together. She was glad to not only see Chiharu happy, but now her grandmother wouldn’t have to live with any regrets. Now she can tell herself that she did try her best and let go of any guilt she had before.

“I hope I get to meet you in your next life too.”, Sakurako said to herself.

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

Sakurako was walking down the hallway to get to class.

In the classroom, a student was keeping watch to see if Sakurako was approaching.

“Guys, be quiet, here she comes.”, the student warned. The class got quiet and when Sakurako entered the room, everyone stood up in unison.

Sakurako wondered what was going on. “Good morning, Sasaki Sakurako, welcome to class 2-D, we hope we get to know you better throughout the year.”, they all bowed.

Sakurako was dumbfounded and speechless. She honestly didn’t know what to say so the whole class suddenly became tense.

“Did we do something wrong?”

“We shouldn’t have put her on the spot like this”

“I thought she changed”, many students were quietly whispering to one another. Sakurako spotted Daiki and Yumi who had a guilty expression on their faces; they looked away to avoid making eye contact with her. Sakurako started laughing which surprised the class. The laugh started off quiet but gradually became louder. The class saw that she was being genuine and some started laughing with her.

“Let’s get to know each other better!!”, Sakurako exclaimed to the whole class which resulted in cheers. She was feeling genuine happiness and wasn’t annoyed by this when normally she would be. She walked over to her desk and Yumi and Daiki came over. “I love you guys.”, this made Yumi and Daiki blush.

“I told you she loves me too.”, Daiki bragged which made Yumi roll her eyes.

“Daiki!”, a boy’s voice called out from behind. Daiki turned around and was surprised to see an old friend.

“Hayate? You’re back?” Daiki went over to greet him.

“Who’s that?”, Sakurako wondered.

“Hayate was our friend before he moved away.”, Yumi explained. “I guess he’s back now.”

“Ah, Yumi. I want to show you something.”, Sakurako went through her backpack to take out a few photos. It was the photo that she and Chiharu took at the firework festival. “And in case that’s not enough evidence.”, she gave Yumi a picture of Chiharu with Akira and Rena. “That’s my grandma and Mr. Tanimoto.”

Yumi stared at the pictures and then at Sakurako. “I’ll never doubt you ever again”, Yumi hugged Sakurako. She found that cute and chuckled.

Daiki and Hayate walked over to Sakurako’s desk. Sakurako and Hayate made eye contact and were staring at each other. The look in his eyes felt familiar to her.

“Didn’t I tell you she was cute?”, Daiki asked.

“I-I’m Hayate. Tanimoto Hayate.”, he stuttered

“Sasaki Sakurako. Nice to meet you.”, they both greeted each other without breaking eye contact.

Hayate blushed and sat in the seat next to Sakurako. “Daiki said you just moved here? From where?”

“Ah, I came from Kyoto last winter.”

“Really? I moved to Kyoto last winter.”

“Whoa, you guys could’ve met each other.”, Daiki commented.

“Tanimoto…by any chance, are you related to Tanimoto Akira?”

“Mm. He’s my grandpa. I’m actually staying with him.”

“He’s friends with my grandma. He stops by her house every week.”

“Mrs. Miyoshi? I used to help him bring vegetables to her house every week before I left for Kyoto.”, Hayate chuckled.

“It's like you guys were meant to meet or something.”, Daiki said before the bell rang, and then he went to his seat. Hayate and Sakurako blushed at the sound of that.

“Coincidence? Maybe fate?”, Sakurako thought to herself. She was curious about him, she wanted to get to know him while at the same time she felt like she already did know him. Hayate noticed Sakurako was looking at him and gave her a smile, and that’s when Sakurako finally knew why she was feeling this way.

“Chiharu…you’re back.”