Gimai Seikatsu's

short Story: Sakura Spring and Meetings

Whenever cherry blossom season comes, I, Ayase Saki, always think of one thing: Why is everyone so happy with a new beginning? During the new semester, when I heard the cheerful and shrill laughter of the other students, it felt like I was just watching them from a different world through a glass window, even though we are in the same plane of existence.

New environments are more troublesome than fun. After all, if your environment is reshuffled, you are forced to show the people around you what kind of person you are.

I have devoted my time to becoming stronger and more independent so as not to be underestimated. I want to live my own life and my own future. That's why I never felt like making friends. I let them think that I was hard to approach and get along with so they would leave me alone out of fear or annoyance. Anyway, it just made it easier for me. However, once spring arrives, I have to do it again. That's why I can't stand this cherry blossom season.

“Seeing cherry blossoms, yes?”

After passing through the school gate, there was a huge sakura tree standing around me, as if welcoming the incoming students. When I looked up, I remembered my conversation with Mom.

“One of the regulars invited me to go see the cherry blossoms. Would you like to join us, Saki?”

“Hmmm. I feel like I wouldn't be excited about that kind of thing even if there were other adults around me.”

“Ara, what a pity. Though I want to introduce the daughter I have always been proud of.”

“You sound very close to that person.”

I know he was deliberately evasive. Lately, I have realized that Mom talks about this guy quite often. Although we couldn't spend much time together because of our different lifestyles, and we could barely eat breakfast or dinner together, we tried to tell each other about what happened. About her work, about my school, about the development of my studies, about the stories of her work that rarely happen every day, even about how cold the weather is these days, or how cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. Overall, it was a fairly common and harmless conversation.

After she and Dad started living apart, and especially after they divorced, she barely talked about men at all. I thought she might have given up on the relationship for now, but from her voice there seemed to be some kind of development I was unaware of. While I was feeling happy over this change, and a true joy because she was feeling better, a feeling of loneliness assaulted me, as if I was abandoned.

Just as I was about to pass under the sakura tree, I stopped for a moment. On the stairs beside the entrance, there was a bit of a darker area in the shade. I could see a male disciple with his back facing the wall, his calm eyes glued to the book in his hands. It has black hair and medium stature, the opposite of the typical male striking High School. Instead, he looked calm and calm.

Even when another disciple passed by and chatted cheerfully, he did not react at all. He kept reading. He was separated from the outside world by an invisible but thick film of glass.

“Like a comrade in arms.” muttered.

However, my voice was not heard by him. Mercifully. If a careless girl suddenly said something strange like that, she would definitely be confused. In the worst case, he might even think that I was seducing him.

After all, if I called him, it would be an act contrary to his wishes. He clearly shows the barrier between himself and everyone who will find joy from the new meeting in this new season. He must be like me, not wanting a human relationship with someone too close for comfort. That said, just knowing that there was someone who had the same mindset as me made me feel a little more relaxed.

In the end, I walked past him to the entrance, not saying a word to him. Of course, I don't know his name, and I doubt that I can remember his face well. Even if we meet again, I'm sure I won't recognize him.

A distinctive feature of the cherry blossom season, this is the time of new encounters. At this second, no one knew that this was the first meeting of the two that would eventually become stepbrothers.