A Pink Flurry
Part I: Cherry Blossom
After watching Tri., I decided to revisit some of my old fanfiction. It was, uh, not fun to look at how bad my previous writing was...and so I decided to just rewrite these stories to the best of my ability. I hope you enjoy.
5/8/18: Made some edits because I realized I was inconsistent with Taichi's last name; I went with his original name, Yagami Taichi.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or 5 Centimeters per Second.
"My name is Takenouchi Sora, and I am originally from Kyoto."
The new girl stood in front of the class, blushing a bit while looking down at the wooden floor of the classroom.
She was a bit tall for a girl her age. She had a skinny body and very pretty orange hair that reached her collarbone. Her eyes were a bright shade of amber, framed with long eyelashes. Her thin lips formed a nervous smile on her face.
"Welcome, Takenouchi-san," the teacher said. "Please take an empty chair."
Sora obediently nodded and looked for the closest empty seat.
There was one seat right in front of her at the end of the row, right next to a boy.
She nervously sat in the chair, trying not to make too much noise.
"Hi, I'm Yagami Taichi!" The boy said, grinning from ear to ear.
Sora stared at him cautiously. He had giant, chestnut hair, that went in all sorts of directions. He had large brown eyes that made him look like a deer. He had tanned skin, implying he spent a lot of time outdoors.
"Hi," Sora replied, smiling politely. 'What a weird guy,' she thought to herself. 'He's so outgoing. No one is this nice to the new girl.'
-x-x-x-
"Oh, Takenouchi, you walk this route, too?"
Sora quickly looked in the direction of where the voice came from.
Right behind her was Yagami Taichi, her new classmate.
"I do," she replied. "I live in an apartment complex not too far from school, actually."
"Oh, sick!"
He slightly ran to catch up to her. They continued to walk next to each other.
"So why did you move here?" Taichi asked.
"My father has a job that makes him move a lot," Sora replied.
"Hey, me too!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, my dad is constantly getting transferred. I've been in Tokyo for four years now, which is probably the longest I've ever stayed anywhere."
Soft pink petals were littered across the path. It was springtime here. The cherry blossoms were starting to bloom, and so their pretty petals fall onto the ground.
"It's super pretty here," Taichi added. "I'll miss it if I ever leave."
"Yeah, it really is," Sora said, admiring all of the pink petals.
Up ahead was a train crossing. The lights started flashing, and an alarm started ringing, signalling that a train was approaching. Sora ran ahead to quickly cross.
"Takenouchi!" Taichi yelled, as the gates fell and a train ran by. "Sora-chan!"
He patiently stood, waiting for the train to cross and the gates to fly open.
He saw Sora also standing, waiting for him.
Taichi quickly ran across. "Why did you run?"
"I thought it was going to take longer for the train to cross," Sora flatly said.
Taichi chuckled.
The two continued to walk home together, as pink cherry blossom petals continued to keep falling.
"Five centimetres," Sora murmured.
"What?"
"The rate that cherry blossoms fall," Sora replied.
They walked together silently, admiring the pink flurry.
"Let's see the cherry blossoms again Yagami-kun," Sora said, smiling.
"Okay!" Taichi agreed, also smiling.
-x-x-x-
Taichi and Sora quickly became very close.
The two would even address each other by first names, and not last names.
Taichi and Sora both played soccer, and would often play against each other during recess.
After school, they would walk home together and take turns going to each other's apartments, where they would do homework together.
They even studied for the entrance exams together. They planned to attend the same middle school.
The two became the best of friends.
Friends placed bets on when the two would start dating.
Some even placed bets to see if they would get married.
Sora was a cheerful girl who had a big heart, and Taichi was a courageous hothead. They seemed to be a good pair, with Sora calming him down and Taichi taking care of Sora.
They had formed a strong bond.
It seemed as though things would be this way forever.
-x-x-x-
Taichi was watching television with his little sister Hikari as the phone rang.
He ran to get it, and saw the caller ID said "Takenouchi Sora."
"What's up, Sora?" he asked as he picked up the telephone.
"Taichi," she solemnly said.
Such a sad tone rarely came from Sora, making Taichi worried. "Sora?"
"I just got really bad news,"
"What's wrong?"
There was a long pause before she answered.
"My family is moving to Tochigi,"
Caught by surprise, Taichi was silent for a moment. Thoughts ran through his head; does this mean that he and Sora can't attend middle school together anymore? Would he no longer have a friend to play soccer with? Who would walk home with him?
Tochigi was a nearby prefecture, but it was still not Tokyo. Sora would be far away.
"I'm really sorry, Taichi," Sora said, her voice cracking.
A long silence enveloped between them.
Sora played with the telephones cord, as Taichi continued to stand there, confused. His little sister looked at him with worry, wondering why he was silent. Taichi was usually a chatterbox when Sora called.
Sora's eyes eventually welled up with tears. She was confused as to why he was so silent. But then again, what did she expect him to say?
"I-I'm gonna go now," Sora said, wanting the unbearable silence to end.
"It's okay," he finally replied.
"Is it?"
Taichi could hear Sora struggling to hold in her tears; her voice was choking.
"W-we won't go to the same school anymore or anything. We'll be so far away from each other,"
He stood there, silent, but absorbing her words.
"We won't be playing soccer together anymore," her voice was starting to shake, as she started sobbing. "We won't get to go to school together anymore. Everything we planned out is going to waste,"
"Don't worry," Taichi said, trying to be optimistic. "We'll keep in touch. We can write letters to each other, or something. Maybe I can even visit you once in awhile!" He grinned enthusiastically as if she was there to witness it.
"Okay," Sora said, smiling. Tears continued to drop down her cheeks. She smiled softly.
-x-x-x-
The two had kept in touch by writing letters to each other, just as they originally intended.
Dear Sora,
Middle school sucks. I made the boy's soccer team, but they're all jerks. I miss playing soccer with you.
Actual school is hard, too. I do good on my math and science tests, but writing and reading is hard. I wish I still had someone to study with. You were always so good at writing.
- Yagami, Taichi
Dear Taichi,
I'm sorry to hear that you are not enjoying school. My middle school isn't nice, either. I actually have recently started playing tennis. I want to play tennis, but the girls on the tennis team are a little catty. I'm doing well in reading, writing, and science...but my math scores are not so good. I wish I could study with you, too.
Take care of yourself.
- Takenouchi, Sora
Dear Sora,
I hope you like tennis! Soccer is still the best sport, though, haha. It sounds like you're doing well in school! I'm sure your math scores will continue to get better. Knowing you, you probably study very hard.
- Taichi
Dear Taichi,
Thank you for your kind words. I just got my math test back, and it turns out I got an 83%! I am slowly getting better.
How are you doing?
-Sora
They would write to each other on a biweekly basis. But Taichi was taking an unusually long time to respond.
Sora opened the mailbox one day, expecting it to be empty yet again. But there was an envelope inside. Sora opened it slowly.
Dear Sora,
My father is transferring jobs himself. We will be moving far away from Tokyo. We will be moving to Kagoshima; that's on the other side of Japan. I'll be even farther away from you. I just got into middle school and just made the boys soccer team. I'm very upset about this.
We should meet up one more time before I move away.
-Tai Y.
She closed up the letter and ran back inside to call him. The two often did not call because phone bills were expensive, but she thought this was an emergency.
-x-x-x-
Sora sat there, waiting, by the heater in Tochigi station.
She had agreed to meet Taichi one last time before the two would be separated even further apart from each other. They had agreed to meet hours ago. But a sudden snowstorm halted their scheduled meeting. What was going to be a simple train ride from Tokyo to Tochigi was stalled by a severe blizzard. One by one, people left the station to go home. But Sora waited silently, waiting for Taichi to come.
Taichi sat in the busted leather seat of the train, looking outside into the barren, snowy landscape.
His coat was very thick, but he still felt the cold penetrate. He sat there, waiting. Time felt like an eternity. He and Sora were separated by more than just distance at this point. It felt as though the whole world conspired to be against them. The train's operator repeatedly apologized for the long wait; they were stuck in the snow.
He wondered how long she would wait for him, and while he wished to see her so badly, he really wanted her to go home and escape this intolerable weather.
Hours passed between the two before he finally arrived at Tochigi station.
The train doors opened slowly and cautiously, reflecting how he felt inside.
He still had the letter in his pocket.
The letter that explained his feelings for her. He was undeniably nervous to give it to her.
He felt as though it was obvious that he had growing feelings for her, but he couldn't help but be nervous as to how she felt.
Most of the other passengers fled to find taxis, but he went straight to her.
The harsh winter wind fiercely blew.
As he was ready to take the letter from his pocket, the wind snatched the letter away.
The letter danced amongst the winter wind, before trailing off too far away for Taichi to grab it.
'It's not a big deal,' he shrugged. He was too busy thinking about Sora and hoping that she was still waiting.
She sat still in her seat, snuggled by the heater. Her eyes were closed tightly.
He gently put his hands on her shoulder; she was startled and awoke instantly.
"T-Taichi?" she asked, her voice sounding sleepy.
"It's me," he grinned.
She smiled softly, waking up. "I'm so glad to see you," she murmured.
She looked into his chestnut eyes for a moment. She suddenly wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling to his body for warmth.
He was so close to her. He could smell the vanilla perfume she sprayed.
It was as if the two were never separated.
"Do you want to go?" Taichi asked.
Sora merely nodded.
They immediately began conversing again, just like they used to. They wouldn't shut up about a various amount of subjects: how soccer was going, what their favourite school subjects were, what high schools they were going to be attending.
The two found themselves walking outside into a field covered with snow. It was literally a white sea.
"Wow, it's so pretty!" Sora exclaimed, running into the field.
She gazed around her, looking at all of the barren trees.
"Can you imagine how pretty it'd be if it was spring?" she asked.
Taichi looked around them, too.
He realized that she was referencing all of the cherry blossom trees. "We never got to see those cherry blossoms together again, did we?"
"No," Sora glumly replied, remembering their childhood promise.
"There's always next year, right?" Taichi replied joyously.
"Yeah, there is," Sora grinned.
Taichi was baffled at how much snow was collected in this field. He dug his bare hands into the fluffy snow and made a compact ball within his palms. As if it were an instinct, he attempted to throw it at Sora, but she managed to dodge it.
"Wow, Taichi, you have awful aim!" she chuckled, trying to make a snowball too.
"I bet it's better than yours!" Taichi teased, making another snowball.
The two began to throw snowballs at each other like children, giggling all the while.
Their cheeks were beet red, but not just because of the cold.
Sora began to shiver after awhile, making Taichi realize how cold she was.
"Hey, we should go find somewhere," he suggested.
"I-I'm fine!"
"No, you're not," he replied, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
She instinctively nudged her face against his chest. 'Taichi is so warm. He's still so nice,' she thought to herself.
"I think I see a shed out there. Hopefully, no one is home."
The shed was dusty, but it was warm. And empty.
He closed the shed door behind them and sat down against the wall. Sora sat down next to him.
"Are you cold?" she asked.
Taichi instead wrapped his arms around her again, keeping himself and her warm.
"I've really missed you,"
Taichi smiled at her. "Me too," he said. "I've had no one to play soccer with."
"Whatever," she smirked. "You have lots of friends. None of the girls like me here,"
"I mean, you are pretty scary," Taichi teased, causing Sora to elbow him a little too hard.
"It's so sad to think you'll be even farther away from me,"
"Don't worry, we'll still write to each other,"
"Will we?"
"Of course. I could never forget about you,"
The two were silent for a moment, as their eyes were locked into each other's gaze. Their lips naturally curved together and pressed up against each other.
Their hearts were beating together, their minds also as one.
'I've really missed you,' they both thought to themselves.
-x-x-x-
He boarded the 11:00 AM train back to Tokyo.
There were only a few other passengers aboard.
"I'll keep writing to you," Sora said, smiling at him.
He smiled back in response. "I will too,"
The two stood there for a moment, smiling at each other.
"Keep clear, the train doors are closing," the conductor said.
"You're going to be fine out there Taichi," Sora said, her cheeks flushing. "Take care of yourself out there, okay?"
"You too, Sora."
The doors slowly began closing, centimetre by centimetre.
"You take of yourself too, Sora!" Taichi yelled, as the doors finally closed.
He hopelessly rested his hand against the train door, wishing there was no wall between him and Sora. She put her hand on the other side of the glass as well.
"Bye," they whispered together, at the same time.
He decided to sit down.
He crossed his arms, trying to keep himself warm; the trains heater was most likely busted.
His eyes were closed as she thought of how yesterday went.
He was upset that he lost the letter he meant to give her.
He figured it was not a loss that he lost that letter after that kiss between him and Sora.
Sora stood alone on the platform, as the train slowly drove away.
She stood there, waiting for the train to leave her sight.
The winter morning air was chilly, but the sun kept her if even a little warm. She glanced up at the clear winter sky.
Her hands stayed rested in her coat pocket.
She clutched the letter she had written to him.
She wished more than ever at that moment that she could have given him it.