FINAL CHAPTER: Hope and Happiness

January 3, 1892

Snow fell on the streets of a city where no one worries about who passes by you. In a small cloth shop, there was an elderly person with a newly hired assistant who worked as a helper and accountant.

"Can you repeat your name?" commented the person who was the owner and administrator of the place.

"Arakawa Takumi," the assistant said to the shop owner. He had started working three weeks earlier. The owner, a thin person with a beard he wore proudly, found it difficult to remember his new employee's name.

"Look, Arakawa-san," the owner said. "I need you to do the inventory for me. We need to see which fabrics we are missing. Winter has just begun, and several of my frequent clients will soon arrive to place orders."

Takumi nodded and went to the warehouse, but not before looking out the window. It was barely visible, but the smoke plume of Mount Fuji could be seen from where he stood. Covered in snow, the volcano observed the quiet life of the city dwellers who were beginning to live in a new year.

Sachie walked through the streets, trying to find medicinal herbs to continue learning, to move forward with her dream of opening her own apothecary. But it was difficult for her to find her ingredients, not only because of winter but also because in Tokyo, it was more noticeable that modern medicine was used more than in Shimizu.

Although people continued to judge her, continued to point her out, as it was strange that she arrived still as an engaged woman instead of married. Out of necessity, Sachie began working cleaning houses for the nobles in the city.
In that environment, she was praised for her dedication to the work, so since she arrived, she gained recommendations and by that time already had frequent clients who called her constantly.

She became known as the Polite Cleaning Lady. That afternoon, frustrated by not being able to get what she wanted, she arrived at her small room that she shared with Takumi. She looked out the window, watching the snow fall, and only dreamed of opening her apothecary, of starting to create medicines once spring arrived.

The door opened, and Takumi entered with some already-made food. He explained that the neighbor had again made more than enough and decided once more to share some.

While Sachie organized the table for dinner, Takumi gave her a letter written by Himawari. Shachie smile with her fisrt letter of the year; the smile in her face didn't disappeared when she saw a date: April 21.

Before finally leaving Shimizu, Takumi had managed to convince the only person he considered a friend to send and receive clandestine letters from him and Sachie and give them to their respective siblings. That way, they could know what was happening in Shimizu.

Himawari commented in the newly arrived letter that her recovery was slow, and Urara continued to guide her in her recovery, overseeing her healing. She was using crutches and had left the family home to live permanently with the Yanagis.

Her father had been definitively repudiated by society. With a destroyed business, he was only surviving on the charity of the Yanagi family. Himawari explained as best she could that the last savings her father had were being administered by Shinobu. Part of those savings were earmarked for her dowry, so Himawari thought it was the perfect excuse to manage her father's money.

She commented that she was surprised how her father had to humiliate himself to ask for his own money to fix his house, to see if the family's apothecary could start operating again. In the letter, she commented that Urara believed that this would never happen, so the expenses for the reconstruction of his house would stop.

Haruto was forced to attend his daughter's physical therapy, to watch over her so that she maintained excellent behavior, and to monitor her speedy recovery. The given date was for her wedding. Izumi had proposed it, and she agreed. April was the month of their mother's birthday.

Sachie smiled melancholically. The idea of missing her sister's wedding made her sad. She would have liked to see her, at least on that important day for her. She imagined her in her shiromuku (wedding kimono). It would be something she could never see.

Takumi's letter from his own brother was shorter. He commented that the Shibasakis had finally moved to a new city that he couldn't remember. The last time he saw Haruna, she was fine, no longer wearing bandages, but she looked sad.

His father had begun a strict and rigorous education, and his classes bored him. "How I admire you!," he commented. He finished with: "Mother looks sad every day, father is almost never home and spends his time fixing the factory. He always come home late and went straight to rest. The two of them were always depressed. You are coming back soon, right?" 

Takumi sighed. Both of them had hoped for a cheerier letter, with better news, about how they went to the temple to praying for a prosperous year, about perhaps some vacations or new projects.

The dinner they ate that night tasted too salty, but they were able to enjoy it while talking about their day. Sachie had been to a house where there was a pair of disastrous twins who lacked manners. She commented that they dirtied where she had already cleaned. Their mother, more focused on the older son who was ten years older than the pair, was preparing to formalize his engagement.

Both finished dinner, and Sachie prepared the tea, which they drank while the streetlights illuminated the few snowflakes that were still falling. Takumi had decided to use the little remaining charcoal to warm the room.

Takumi, seeing Sachie sad and depressed, tried to cheer her up. "The Watanabe family invited us to dinner next week," Sachie look at Takumi confused. Usually they ignored invitations like that. "I think is time to us to make friends here. What do you think, my dear?"

Sachie smile. "I think it's a wonderful idea! We can start the year by creating those friendships we've been refusing to have."

"Its decided!" Said Takumi also smiling. He took Sachie's hands. "Tomorrow I'll confirm our attendance."

After the tea, the couple reafirm the plans they have for the year: business, friendship, even family plans. They would create a future where they can plan without needing to ask permission.