A/N: I don't own Five Centimeters Per Second.

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

― Eleanor Roosevelt

[3] Friendship


The school guidance counselor took a seat at his desk with a stern look in his eye. "Sumida-san, I don't think you realize how important it is that you turn in your college and career questionnaire," he said. "Graduation is coming sooner than you can count on, and you don't want to be the only one of your classmates stuck with no clue as to where you want to go or what you want to do with your life." Kanae pretended to listen with him with great interest, though in reality she was merely drowning out the sound of his voice with the tune of Quadra's "Get it by your hands" in her mind. [1]

Then she was caught.

"Sumida-san, are you even listening to me?" No answer. "Sumida-san?"

"Ah, yes, sensei. I'm sorry." She bowed to the old man apologetically. "My mind is on the possibilities of what I can do after graduation," she lied. In reality, she was wondering if she would see Kei at the beach again. She'd never been so fascinated by the life of another so easily. Hamasaki Kei was the exact definition of complexity.

The counselor continued on with his lecture, and Kanae continued to space out in spite of being scolded moments ago. "I'll need your college and career questionnaire by the end of the week," he finally concluded.

"Yes, sir." She gathered up her book bag and stood to leave.

"That is all. You may go now. I hope you take a serious amount of time to reflect on yourself and what you truly want in this life, Sumida-san. Good luck."

"Thank you, sensei," she said as she bowed, then slowly trudged to her first class.


The lack of extra sleep from waking up early to see the counselor in the morning made it very difficult for Kanae to full-heartedly participate in her daily activities. The last thing the counselor said to her kept running through her mind. She had always pushed thoughts of her future to the back of her mind, as if to keep herself from facing the reality of growing up. Growing up was a fear for Kanae. She feared having to face the challenges of adulthood without the knowledge of how to handle them. Periodically throughout her classes her mind started to drift to reflections of herself as a person. What was she good at? What did she really want to be when she grew up? What kind of places did she want to see? Would life in a larger city suit her more so than life in a small village? There are many possibilities to the answers she could find to these questions, but it would take more than a few hours of pondering her place in life to help her make a clear decision about her future. She disliked having to conform to the high school's standard of making students decide so early what their future plans were. All of the other students had decided because their parents determined it for them, but Kanae's sister never pushed her to be one thing or the other. It felt condemning ―like whatever decision she made, she would be indefinitely stuck with. What if she changed her mind? What would she do then?

What do you do when there are so many things that interest you in this world? It certainly is not possible to obtain an education and career path in every specific field that interests you.

Thanks to her incessant pondering, the day moved along much more quickly than she expected it to. Out of habit, she found herself riding her scooter immediately to the beach, rather than going home to even get her surfboard or leave her school bag in her room. Kanae did not feel like talking to her sister just then. In fact, there were few people on the planet in which she found herself willing to talk to at that moment. She parked her scooter off to the side of the road and took off her shoes before walking down to the shoreline. She walked up and down the beach for at least two hours, at which point the darkness almost completely took over the sky. Kanae finally sat down close to the water so that the tide could wash over her feet as it swept in and out. She watched the stars gradually become brighter and clearer in the night sky.

"Sumida-san?"

She sharply inhaled but then relaxed as she realized that Kei was the one behind her. "Hello, Hamasaki-san." She held her hand to her heart as she recovered from the surprise.

"I apologize. I didn't mean to scare you," he said. "You're out here awfully late, and you're not even surfing today. Is everything okay?" She studied the genuine look in his eyes from the light of the moon and nodded.

"Everything is fine, thank you. I am just lost in my own thoughts." She smiled a small smile.

"You should be careful doing that. It's dangerous to think so intensely. You'll melt your brain," he joked.

"Hamasaki-san, may I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever... have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is?" He sat down on the sand next to her.

"I have. It takes a lot of time to reflect, and the answer isn't always very obvious," he said in a very serious tone. "Life isn't that simple. If it's your future you're wondering about, I'd say you still have time to decide. You're very young still, and the amount of things you are capable of are endless. I don't agree with schools forcing students to choose their paths in life so early, but I do believe you have the power to change your own path."

Kei's words eased Kanae's worries about her own future, though she knew how the adults and her peers spoke of her indecisiveness. The disapproving looks from her indecision always bothered her. "I just feel so pressured that I can't even wrap my head around graduation itself."

"Everyone does. Even I did," he admitted with a sheepish grin. "Before I graduated, I told my school counselor that I wanted to study marketing. I got accepted to Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, and I even had top grades while I was there. That's when I started working my part time job. After everything that happened, I don't know what I want out of my life anymore." The two sat in silence for a short while.

"Look, Sumida-san: it's a shooting star!" he pointed out.

Kanae smiled and wished to herself that he would be able to soon find his place in life again. She understood the social pressure he must feel when other adults looked at him and what he'd been doing with his life thus far.

"I hope he becomes happy," she thought.


"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

―Albert Schweitzer


[1.] Eureka seveN reference: take it or leave it. ;)