The dream I couldn't let go.

“See ya!” Nagashiki and Ikaritake waved, as they vanished in the direction of the bicycle rack. Takurō bid goodbye to them as well and made his way towards the front gate of the school. The afternoon sun still stood high atop the sky. Usually this marked the end point of his day, but this time he had different plans.

“Hey, Kanōya-kun,” someone said from behind. He turned around. It was Ashiya. With crossed arms she pushed herself off the wall next to the front gate. There was something cute about her in her school uniform.

“Hey,” he said and gave her a surprised look.

She came even closer, looked at the ground. “Have a minute?”

He nodded and turned towards her completely. “Sure.”

“Where you headed?”

“Towards the station. Is that your direction?”

She nodded. “Yeah, roughly.” Ashiya fumbled with the hem of her skirt, as they began to walk alongside. “I wanted to apologize for running off so quickly last Saturday, y’know.”

Takurō faltered for a second. “Don’t worry. It’s nothing, really.”

“You’re way too polite for your own good, yah.” Her eyes looked straight ahead. “I trampled on your kindness, and you just say it’s nothing.”

“Your … apology feels honest. I won’t be mad at you, really.”

“What if it isn’t … what if I just couldn’t keep it in anymore?”

They reached a red traffic light and stopped. “Keep what in?” Takurō scanned her face from the side.

Ashiya slightly clenched her hand around the strap of her sports bag. “I dunno why, but I can’t stop thinking about the movie, yah. Whatever I do, it just comes back again and again.”

“You liked it, yeah?” he asked surprised.

The light switched green, and both set themselves in motion again. “I’m not sure. I think it was pretty well made, but it felt more like it didn’t resonate with me. Nonetheless, I can’t remember being churned up like this from a movie before.” She crossed her arms. “Actually, I don’t like most of ‘em.”

“Really?” Takurō huffed surprisedly. “That’s like saying you don’t like … I dunno … eating. There are just so many dishes. You must like at least one of them.”

She clicked her tongue. “Seems like some people are only fed junk food until they realize what great taste is.”

“Great taste? So, ya like it!”

She shrugged. “As I said: I dunno. Guess I need to see more to find out if this was not just a one-time-experience.”

Takurō thought for a moment. He cleared his throat. “If you want to watch other movies of this kind, I can suggest you a whole list of other great ones, f’sure.”

“That’d be nice.” A small smile raised to Ashiya’s face. Takurō could not help but return it. She pulled out her phone and typed something. A notification sound came from Takurō’s trousers.

He pulled out his own phone. A message from a new number. “I demand a list of must-watch movies from you ASAP.”

“I saved you as ‘Personal Movie Guru’, yah.” Ashiya winked at Takurō.

“Where did you get my number?”

She stretched her arms and looked over to him. “Ah, y’know, I’ve just been stalking you to check if you had any shady business going on before approaching you another time.”

“Huh?” Takurō stepped to the side.

“We might need to talk about a few debatable preferences, but I wouldn’t be here if it’d be too severe.” She brushed a strand of violet hair behind her ear and looked over at him with a cheeky grin. “Or maybe I just pulled your number from our class group …”

Takurō exhaled slightly relieved. “A’ight.” He slowly came to a halt at a street corner.

Ashiya turned around at him a little confused.

“I have to get off here, now,” he said.

“But the station’s over there.” She pointed to the other side of the street.

“Yeah. I’m on an event this afternoon. I’ll go and change clothes at my mom’s store before we go there.”

“Your mom’s …” Ashiya blinked at him. “What event exactly?”

“Uhh …” Takurō turned back to her. “My older brother is a working student at a big movie production company here in Ōsaka. They are celebrating their 75th anniversary today and hold a festival where all employees, as well as their families and friends are invited. My brother wanted to show me their studios and some other exciting things!”

Ashiya blinked. “So … your brother loves movies just as much as you do?”

“Yeah. But don’t worry, I’ll compile you a list of recommendations as soon as I’m home again, yah.” He began to turn around.

“Kanōya-kun!” Ashiya tightened the grip around the strap of her sport bag. “You’re talking ‘bout the celebration at YūKa Entertainment, aren’t you? I’ll be at the same event!”

He looked back at her with a speechless expression. She was?

“Maybe we can even go together,” she suggested with a light shrug.

Takurō still looked at her in surprise. “You also have relatives working there?” He smiled. “What a coincidence.”

She replied with an awkward grin and looked away.

Only a few seconds later Takurō noticed he hadn’t replied to her suggestion. “Oh, uh … of course, I’d be really happy to go there with you.”

Ashiya nodded and made a step towards him. “But only if that wouldn’t destroy the bromance between you and your brother.”

“Our mom’s there as well so don’t worry. Plus, the bromance is strong with us. I don’t think you’d be able to destroy that.”

“Is that supposed to be a challenge?” Ashiya raised a brow.

Takurō laughed. “No, please! I didn’t want to enrage the mighty Ashiya-san!” He pressed his hands together. “So how shall we do it? When were you planning to get there?”

“I wrote Iyogi-san. He’ll be here in about half an hour to fetch me. If you like, we’ll take you guys with us.”

The kind butler … Takurō remembered him. “Oh, that’d be great, f’sure!”

Together, they walked down the side street. At the end they could already see the grassy dam, that shielded the smaller suburban district of Ōsaka from floods of the big Yodo River. In the summer months, the risk for that was rather negligible. Quite the opposite, actually: Some rivers were even in danger of saltwater intrusion from the sea, due to the reduced freshwater outflow.

Only few minutes later the two arrived at the small flower shop, that was located at the corner of a five-story residential building. The display stands in front of the tiny store were stacked with countless different flowers in all colors and shapes imaginable.

A few vines grew along the white trellis in front of the building. Branchlets of juicy green plants flowed across the hanging pots. The big shopwindow was filled with shelfs of different flowery plants as well.

An old woman was just watering the plants outside. She wore a brown apron with a dark shirt underneath. Her silvery hair was pinned into a bun. With a kind smile on her lips, she was completely absorbed in her task.

“Hey Obāchan!” Takurō called out as soon as they came into hearing range.

The woman turned around. “Takurō!” She noticed Ashiya by his side and turned off the hose. “Oh, you’ve brought a friend with ya, now. Hey, dear. I’m Takurō’s grandmother. It’s lovely to meet you.”

Ashiya gave her a slight bow. “Hey! The pleasure is all mine. My name is Akimi Ashiya. Thanks for having me.”

“Ashiya-san’s a classmate,” Takurō explained.

“Ah, I see. You never told me you had such lovely classmates.” His grandma nodded, her eyes shaping into kind folds. “Then please make yourself at home, dear.”

Ashiya nodded. “Thank you.”

“I already told Okan there is not much time, and that she should get ready soon, but ya know how she is, yah,” his grandma said. “She wanted to arrange another bouquet for tomorrow.”

Takurō nodded. “No worries. We’ll go get her.”

His grandma opened the hose again to continue watering the flowers, as the two stepped into the store. A gong resounded through the shop room. “Please come in! I am with you in just a moment,” someone called from the back.

“It’s me, Okan,” Takurō replied.

“Ah, honey. On the way.”

The insides of the store were just as packed with flowers, as the outside. Only small aisles were free to tread between the plants.

Different types of flowers sprawled across all the shelves. A sea of colors, reached into the back of the small store. For Takurō the sight was already well known, but Ashiya struggled to decide, where to look first.

A middle-aged woman emerged from one of the aisles. She wore the same combination of apron and shirt as Takurō’s grandma. For her, however, long, and deep blue hair reached to her hips.

It was undeniable that this woman was his mother: They had the same, hair color and even their eyes had a much similar kindness to them. Her hands were stained with dirt, and a surprised gasp left her, when she saw the girl standing behind her son.