Graduation...Without You

The butterfly weeds in Hamamatsu were planted in April of my second-year of high school. They would be cared for by professionals, thus making it likely that they'd fully grow and begin blooming after two years rather than the typical three, just like the butterfly weeds at the school's flower garden.

My school life had gotten duller with Yuri-chan's absence, but I never felt alone or empty. I still had my precious friends in the Environmental club. There wasn't a single day where I didn't work on the poem.

I celebrated birthdays and holidays with my friends, and sometimes they would use their phones to video call Yuri-chan and get her in on the fun. Even when she was behind a screen on the other side of the planet, I could feel her warmth as if she was still next to me – head on my shoulder.

As the days, months, and years passed, I took my time with the poem. I took our experiences and inspirations into account to create something that could connect the entire world to her. That was what I wanted, for the world to make her happy.

There was plenty of change in my life after Yuri-chan's departure. I got a job at the food truck Muku and I frequented, and by the time I entered my third-year, I was able to purchase a smartphone. Yuri-chan and I did often talk, but I never told her about my developments with the poem because I wanted it to be a surprise.

She was living in Naples, along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. In just a year, she became fluent in English and Italian, while also learning a bit of Spanish from me. We celebrated events together, like Valentine's Day, which had just passed. That day was special to me because it was when that special feeling, that never wavered and only blossomed more, first developed two years ago.

The Italian school system was different from Japan, but we would still end up graduating around the same time, though of course, without each other.

Just yesterday, on the day prior to my high school graduation, we were having a video call. I was in my room, with Muku lazing around in my bed behind me.

"So, do you think you can visit around that time?" I asked.

"Yes I can," she replied. "Since the last time you asked, I managed to convince my mother to join me on this trip back to Kyoto. I can't believe I've never had the time to visit before, business school is super stressful, but also very exciting!"

Her chipper voice never failed to make me smile, and it was prominent all over my face.

"Where are you two goin' to stay? With your old house sold to another family, are you stayin' at a hotel?"

"No, Hanamaru and her family will be hosting us. I already know she'll be clinging onto me the entire time. Fufu."

I thought, So that's why she started bein' happier than usual. At least now Akaki-kun will get a break. It's almost been a year since those two started datin'.

"So, Kiyoshi-kun, do you have anything planned for us? The way you begged me to visit tells me I should look forward to it."

"I don't think I 'beg' you to visit, but yes, I do have somethin' planned."

From behind me, Muku yelled, "Is it a date~? Kiyo-brother, you rascal!"

I turned my chair around and said, "Muku, get out of my room. Be a nuisance to mom or somethin'."

"Bye Yuri-sis~!"

Turning back, Yuri-chan had a mischievous smirk.
"Is it a date?"

We weren't dating, though it was quite obvious that we wanted to. To not give away my plan for her visit, I kept things vague.
"Dependin' on what happens that day, it could be," I said with a smirk of my own.

"Great, then I can't wait! See you then, Kiyoshi-kun."

Once we said our farewells and ended the call, I went back to work on the poem. I felt like I had the beginning and middle, but I was struggling with the end. I had recently bought a small keyboard piano that I kept in my room.

I thought, She'll be visitin' the week of her birthday. Luckily this year it's on a Saturday, which means there'll be no university classes to get in our way. I need to have this done before then.

I reconstructed the rhythm of Yuri-chan's flower song into notes, and played the keys in a specific sequence while softly reciting the poem. Flawless was the first half, I felt like I had an audience before me giving me an applause, however near the end was different.

My eyes shut until the light drew to a closure. I replaced the empty space with images of my life in an attempt to find the missing piece.
What do I need to think about to get this endin' right?

*Life is like a poem, Kiyoshi,* said Swani. *You recite the poem itself aloud, but never your life.*

What do you mean by that?

*She used to tell her stories to the flowers. Those flowers, you have never spoken to them, but she has put a part of herself into them for you.*

I need to talk to the flowers?

Conversations with myself used to be depressing, but recently, they have become the source of many of my ideas; this one being my best one yet.

For years, I have been trying to complete the butterfly weed's new poem, and it wasn't until the end of my high school graduation that I had discovered the missing piece. My reminiscing had ended.

The spring breeze, perfectly balancing its cold and cool winds, brushes my hair onto my cheeks. The newly budding orange florals, that caused me to meet the love of my life, are waving around as if they're giving me a round of applause. I look up at the spotless sky with my back against the hedge.

I say, "Thanks, Yuri-chan. You've helped me finally crack the code. How's it possible that you left for Italy, and yet you never left the flower garden?"

I stand up and brush the dirt from my uniform. Turning around, I'm able to see more over the hedge than before, I'm a growing boy. To most people, the cherry trees, the hedge, the myriad of flowers are just pieces of nature that go about their lives. Nature never knows how much they mean to people, but they do it better than everything else in the world.

Today will be my last day in this garden. I won't get to see these butterfly weeds bloom to their fullest, but as Yuri-chan once said, I'm just like them. My full potential blossoms at the same pace, and it's because of a singular girl.

I love this garden.

I love my family.

I love my friends.

I love the girl that used to be at the other side of the hedge.

I love myself.

I had desired a world of solitude, leaving everyone on a boat with myself at the bottom. I rejected and I denied everything, until I realized I had been begging.

Now I'm above the water's surface, waiting for people to come back. I wait patiently to be together with her again. I accept myself and others.

"Thanks for everythin'," I say as I start walking away. "But our work still isn't finished yet. I have to go to Hamamatsu and turn in this poem, then return a month later to show Yuri-chan my love for her."

I turn my body at the waist to give one final smile at the garden.
"Wish me luck, okay?"

I leave the school for the last time as a student, but who's to say I won't ever return again? Life is about balancing when to move forward, and when to return; both are possible, just ask the butterfly weeds how.

Jino helps me as I submit the poem's final version to the park. I'm told the day of the attraction's grand opening will be on April 17th. Jino gives me two premium passes that will allow us special access to that area.

➼ ➼ ➼

After spring break concluded, Akaki, Maru, and I attended school at Kyoto University. I'm pursuing a career in computer science, with a minor in creative writing.

Nothing happens in life worth noting until the week that Yuri-chan arrives in Kyoto. She'll be staying for two weeks, since it's her spring break period. She graduates from high school in the early summer, then she'll inherit her dad's company.

I won't see her until the day before her birthday, because that's when she'll throw her party for everyone to celebrate. It will be just the two of us on the actual day.

That day finally arrives.