24-A view just for two

Krish-san took hold of my shoulders and turned me around.

I exclaimed, "Uwaah, how pretty! What's that?!"

From the direction where we'd come from, there was a large crowd of lights drawing closer. They moved erratically, moving right to left and back, floating and sinking in turns. They were moving towards us at wind speed.

"Those are the luminescent moss spores," Krish-san explained. "Truthfully, I wanted to take you to the moss field, but there wasn't enough time. So make do with this for now."

What 'make do', this was amazing!!

Because I'd already been about to sleep for the day. And even if I had a chance to see them in the future, I always figured I'd be going by myself.

"So pretty. It's like the stars themselves are moving."

This was truly something that could be enjoyed by anyone. Specks of colorful light being blown by the wind and dancing in the air—it really was quite romantic, just as Genett-san had said. I could understand why so many people would choose to propose on this day. Did Norn and the others see this wave of lights too?

The Christmas illumination displays and projection mapping in my original world were pretty too, but they couldn't compare to this natural wave of lights.

However, there was one thing I was worried about.

"Krish-san, are you alright with not coming to see this with your family?"

I was happy that he took me here, but I grew worried thinking maybe there were people waiting for him.

Maybe because of me, there were some people who were sad that they couldn't be with Krish-san right now.

"I don't have any family."

"Then, a lover?"

"I don't have that, either."

"I see. Then, you're the same as me."

So we were both alone. For some reason, I felt relief at that, followed closely by guilt.

Being happy that Krish-san was alone, I was a pretty despicable person.

"Look, Shinobu. They've come closer."

Though each spore was only as large as a thumbnail, there were so many of them they completely surrounded us. They kept changing colors and floated in every direction, as if they had their own consciousness.

For every change in color, they reminded me of sights I'd seen back in Japan. When they turned white, it reminded me of the snow-filled landscape of Hokkaido that I'd seen on TV. Blue, and it reminded me of the water in the shark tank of the public aquarium I once went to.

And when they turned pink, my eyes unconsciously teared up.

It was the color of my favorite flower. There'd been a row of cherry blossom trees near the house where my parents and I used to live in. Every spring, they would all bloom at the same time, and after a few days, the flower petals would scatter.

Whenever that time came, I would always take the long way to school just so I could walk under those trees.

The cherry blossoms at grandma's place bloomed earlier than where I lived, so every spring break, I would sit at their veranda and watch the magnificent cherry blossom tree growing in their garden.

When I was much younger, I would even chase the flower petals around. 'Like a puppy,' my grandparents had said, laughing.

I liked the fully bloomed cherry blossoms, and even the flower buds that were just starting to bloom, too. But what I liked best was when the flowers were starting to fall.

I would watch the cherry blossoms for hours on end without getting tired of it. And beside me, grandma would sit and do her mending, while grandpa would take a nap with his head on her lap.

Whenever the wind blew, the petals would scatter, and the whole garden would be carpeted in pink. We would eat some sakura mochi and sip on some green tea that grandma had prepared, and without realizing it, a couple of petals would have fallen into my cup and floated on the surface of the tea.

"How elegant," my grandma would say. With the sunlight streaming through the leaves, the sound of her laughter and grandpa's faint snoring would weave in with the wind.

At night, when I would go to the toilet, the sight of the cherry blossom tree under the moonlight would be so beautiful that it was terrifying, that after I went, I would run to my grandparents' room and sneak under my grandma's warm futon.

Grandpa had loved to drink, so sometimes he would drink some saké while he watched the cherry blossoms. Watching him chug down cup after cup made me envious, so one time, I stole a sip while he wasn't looking, and it had made me so dizzy.

Grandpa had panicked when he found me drunk, red-faced and laughing in a strange way. He'd gone and called for grandma, and apparently she'd scolded him harshly for letting me out of his sight.

As the memories I had related to cherry blossoms poured out one after the other, feelings of sadness and nostalgia all jumbled up together.

Crying while watching cherry blossoms, I was truly a Japanese person.

I knew they were just the spores glowing pink, but it was like I was seeing a flurry of cherry blossoms, something I thought I'd never see again. It made me incredibly happy.

I didn't want Krish-san to see me crying though, so just like when I chased after the cherry blossom petals back when I was young, I went racing after the spores.

As I was about to catch them, they would slip through my fingers. I went to chase after them again and again.

Then I tripped and fell. I rolled on the ground until I came face up. Tears welled up once more.

In that moment, the spore's color had changed into purple. This time, it reminded me of the wisteria trellis that was in somebody's garden near the school. When I'd told my friend that the flowers dangling down looked like delicious grapes, he'd made a face at me and replied that he was allergic to fruits.

That friend had decided to go to a university in a faraway town, so he'd moved and was now living there by himself.

He'd said he'd come and visit this summer break, so we'd promised to go to a festival together, but now I wouldn't be able to keep that promise.

I wondered what he was doing now. It should be summer vacation over there, so he should have gone home. Was he angry that I'd broken our promise? Or was he worried about me now that I'd gone missing from that world?

The grass rustled, and from amidst the leaves, Krish-san's face appeared. When he saw me, he froze for a split-second. He'd probably noticed the tears on my face.

He'd seen me crying before, too. For a man to be seen crying twice now, how pathetic. Grandpa had always told me that men shouldn't show their tears so easily.

He'd often spouted, 'Men can only cry thrice in their lives,' as he drank his saké. After that he'd started slurring, so I never got to hear the rest of his lecture.

I was a crybaby back when I was young though; I'd already passed the three-time limit that my grandpa set a long time ago. Besides, I was pretty sure that I'd cried countless times a day as a baby. So I might just be a failure of a man.

Krish-san sat down beside me, and covered my cheeks in his calloused palms.

His thumbs moved back and forth, wiping my cheeks. Then in his usual calm voice, he murmured, "There are spores stuck on your cheeks."

The people of this world had night vision that were leagues better than mine. Plus with the spores lighting up the area, I was sure that he could clearly see the tears on my face.

However, he probably realized that I hadn't wanted him to see me crying, so he kindly lied and pretended not to have noticed.

I said, "You know, in my world, there's this tree with pink flowers called cherry blossoms. They all bloom simultaneously and then fall soon after. Seeing those spores turning pink earlier just reminded me of them."

"I see."

I laughed to hide my embarrassment, and sat up. While I'd been lying down on the ground, most of the luminescent spores had been blown away by the wind. Now there were only a scattered few still hanging around.

Krish-san opened his mouth. "I've never seen it personally, but the trees of life used to bloom pink flowers. I hope that someday I'll be able to show it to you."

"Really? I'd love to see it."

I looked up at Krish-san who was sitting beside me, and saw a spore shining white on his shoulder. I blew on the spore, wishing all the while that it would plant itself somewhere and someday show me a flurry of cherry blossoms one more time. The spore turned green as it floated off.

"Krish-san, I'm glad that I was able to come here today. Thank you for taking me."

"I see. In that case, I'm glad," Krish-san spoke without turning around. We then watched quietly until the rest of the spores had all floated off to the west.

Inwardly, I waved goodbye to the spores. A gentle hush fell.

"We should head back."

"Okay," I agreed easily.

The two of us got up and together, held hands and began walking.

I knew I would have to let go of his hand once we got to the horse, so I slowed down.

Krish-san didn't hurry me. Instead, he matched his pace with mine.

Maybe he didn't want to let go of my hand, too. I hoped so, anyway.

But no matter how slowly we walked, our distance to where the horse was waiting was too short. In no time at all, we'd arrived.

While we'd been watching the luminescent spores, Krish-san's horse had been chewing on the grass. Noticing that its owner had come back, it raised its head and swished its tail.

Just like when he'd come to pick me up earlier, Krish-san first got up on his horse and pulled me up. This time, I wasn't scared of the height at all.

It was probably because Krish-san had handed the reins over to me and placed his hand on top of mine.

Keeping his promise to me, who'd been hesitant to go out at night with my bad night vision, and protecting me even when we were on horseback... Krish-san was truly such an upright person.

I really hadn't wanted to let go of his hand, so I was glad that he did so. It made me feel giddy.

But, my other hand felt a little empty and lonely, so I placed it on top of the arm that Krish-san had around my waist.

Krish-san glanced at that hand as he gave a light kick to the horse to urge it forward.

Though I was no longer afraid, I still wasn't used to the swaying motion of being on horseback. When the horse took its first step, I almost lost balance.

Thankfully, Krish-san pulled me back into him, and now I was resting perfectly on his armor.

The armor was stiff and hard, but it had gotten cool to the touch from the wind so it felt good.

"Hold tight. It's more unstable when heading downhill."

With that warning, my fingers on Krish-san's arm curled, and I held on tightly.

After we'd descended the hill, there wasn't any reason to keep holding on, but I didn't let go.

It might be my imagination, but I felt that after watching the luminescent spores together, the distance between our hearts had gotten much closer than before.

Maybe the day when Krish-san would show me his bare face had gotten a little closer too? With that thought in mind, I fully enjoyed the ride home.