A Change of Heart

Aru walks through a beautiful garden of flowers. Stunning groves of different colored flora. Herbs for medicines. Grasses surround the old house with a gentle wind whispering in the early afternoon. Aru stops. Her eyes enjoy the spectacle, almost whimsical small house. She carefully observes the earthen wall of darkened brick. Neatly set and carefully put together. Old bark used for some portions of the layout. Yet Aru could not understand why the house drew her to it.

“It looks like a regular house.” Aru thought. “A grove..? But it seems different.” Nothing seemed odd about the house. Only a sense of curiosity. Nevertheless, Aru enters. One step inside the house, a paradise of green plants and flowers. Light comes through the roof. A light so bright— so warm, it permeated throughout the whole grove.

“This… should be impossible…” Aru thought. “But how?” Ari entered slowly, catching a glimpse of her beautiful mother, Ami. Pure white hair like herself. Small horns protrude from her upper forehead, and small red markings on her cheeks. What strikes Aru the most about her mother is her powder skin just like her and light pink-red eyes. Closer to her pupil, a darkened shade of red. As the color reaches to the rest of Ami’s eyes, you can see the alluring rose pink hue stand out in the golden light.

Ami sits relaxed on a wooden chair carefully snipping a bonsai tree. Sculpting the tree into her own design. Aru watches her with close detail. However something else captures her attention. The light in which should be nonexistent. It shines through like a greenhouse she remembers back in her own world. Aru could only stare at the beautiful lush greens and the different colored petals. Within her mother’s grove.

“This is…Beautiful.. But mother, how is this possible?” Aru finally utters words. Her eyes wander all over the greenhouse. Plants and flora she has never seen. Aru moves forward. Ami’s focus shifts to her daughter. Eyes of joy and love. Eyes Aru could never look away from.

“Ah hello, my heart.” Ami began. She looks up to the ceiling where the light shines.” It is my magic. A light which gives life to these beautiful flowers and trees.”

“Magic?” Aru asked in confusion. A word foreign to her.

“Yes. Special people like myself, your father, and possibly you, Aru, have special magical abilities. They might start flourishing as we speak."

“Wow! Really!? Me?” Aru said with excitement.

“Of course, Sweetheart. You are our daughter. Our flesh and blood. A beacon of hope just like the Negai. However, you must use your magic to help others. And even if others have done something so terrible. So vile. Forgive them. Cleanse their heart of their pain.”

Aru keeps her silence, unable to speak a word.

“My flower, do you fancy your robes?” Aru sniffled before she could speak.

“Yes! They are beautiful. Nothing I have ever felt before!” She exclaimed.

“I am relieved. The robes were made by —”

“Poie spiders. Father told me about them.”

“I also heard you fainted when he showed you.” Aru laughed. Her tone is almost on the verge of tears. Aru, however, held herself back.

“Ah, my adorable child.” Ami said. She raises her right hand where a poie spider lands on her hand. A string of silk almost invisible to the naked eyes. “I, too, feared them. More so than anyone. Fear became my weakness. After meeting your father, he taught me how to be brave. To face my fears and for once in my life, I felt I could make a difference. To be courageous. This little spider is your first step.” Ami’s words stirred something in Aru that she never felt before. It started pouring out from her heart.

“Thank you mother. For your kind words. For supporting me.” Aru finally said.

“Why would I not support my own child? A ray of sunshine. I know everyone would agree with my sentiment.” Aru couldn’t help herself. She cried in front of her mother. Ami failed to understand Aru’s tears. Confusion sprang onto her face. Only Aru knew. The pain of her past life. The words she always wanted to hear.

“Come here, child. Why do you shed tears? There is no need for them.” Ami beckoned her daughter to sit down beside her. Aru obliges. Slowly sitting beside her caring mother.

“Forgive me mother. They are not tears of sadness. But tears of joy.” Although Aru cried throughout her reddish face, she smiled. Flushed yet illuminated with Ami’s own light. Joy consumed her cold heart.

Ami smiled. “It’s okay, my flower.” The poie spider crawls from Aru’s hands to her shoulder. Overcome by tears of joy, her fear evaporated from the fear of spiders. Ami embraces Aru, the spider skidded to Ami’s shoulder where it rested. They shared a moment of calm. Aru’s tears dried, enjoying the warm embrace of her mother. Ami looked down onto her daughter.

“The robes… It took me all year to procure it. Sleepless nights beside your bedside.” Ami kept Aru close. The spider moved from Ami’s shoulder and to the desk where it returned to the ceiling, disappearing into the light.

“Hope.” Aru muttered.

“Yes. Hope. you brought it to all. Just like the Negai. A hope that will never be extinguished.” Aru stared at the Negai tree.

“I remember…” Aru thought.

Her mind drifted back to a memory. An ordinary day of clear sky, a warm sun, and not a cloud in sight.

“I remember it clearly. I was hungry, so I went to the cafeteria… And then I saw him…”

Midway from the cafeteria, she stumbles upon a classroom filled with bonsai trees. There, a student. Aru knew him. It was Shizuki.

“Hi Mimi, what brings you here?” asked Shizuki. He still carefully snipped portions of the bonsai tree.

“Nothing at all. I happened to pass by and saw you here.”

“I’m sure you’re interested. Do you want to see?”

“I’m not interested in the slightest! I am much too busy to waste time like this. My studies take precedent.”

“I see. The “Queen of Perfection” has no time to waste and yet you are watching me cut a “tree”.”

“That’s all you are doing anyway. Cutting a small tree.”

“It is more than that. An art.”

“Art? Don’t make me laugh. You call cutting that small tree an art?”

“Yes. It is an art of improvement. Everyday you strive for something better.”

“Hmph. Why are you telling me this? How can a plant teach me anything?” Mimi retorted.

“Well… sometimes being perfect can be tiring, don’t you think? As for the bonsai plant, it keeps me striving to be better regardless of my circumstances. Always growing and always changing. Just like us”

“ You’re wasting my time! I have to get going!”

“You will understand in time. Seek me out when you are ready.”

“Hmph, whatever.”

Mimi walks away dismissively. Angry for having to hear anything Shizuki has to say as she makes her way to the cafeteria. However, she looks back at the classroom. She hesitated. Mimi looks at the school floor. Silent. For a split second, she froze before she continued walking to the cafeteria.

Aru comes back from her memory to a calm hymn. She lays on her mother’s lap as she continues to carefully snip parts of the Negai tree. Small yet sturdy. Slim with so much life.

“I…I think I have a change of heart about…everything. Everything I thought was a waste of time. Seiji climbing trees. Nozomi always dragging me to play video games. Shizuki cutting bonsai trees. I thought all of it was a waste of time because…”

Her mind floods into her past parents. Their faces cold and indifferent.

“For so long I thought joy would come by appeasing my parents. I looked up to them. My mother always glamorous and beautiful. My father hardworking and disciplined. As much as I worked… my time never came. They never saw my achievements. They never gave me a chance. But the sight of my now mother. A mother who supports me. A father who acknowledges me. My friends… I wish you were here Nozomi. I understand now.”

Aru stares at The Negai. The image of Shizuki carefully cutting the bonsai tree.

“Shizuki…” She mutters.

Shizuki rests on the castle’s patio. Blue skies surround the white clouds as they float above the sky.

“I thought I heard my name…but who…” I wonder…” Shizuki pondered.