Day 3

I woke up and looked at the clock. 8: 10 AM. Yukimura had told me to be at his house at 9: 00. I leapt out of my bed to get ready, but slowed down to let the black lights and spinning sensation in my head fade away. After I got dressed and brushed my teeth, I walked out into the corridor. I headed towards the nurse's desk and collected my medicine. I glanced at my watch. It was 8: 35. I walked away from the desk and towards the lobby.

Stopping to drop some fish food flakes in the tank, I watched as the guppies and angelfish swam to the surface to nibble at the orange and green crumbs. For a moment I wondered what it was like to be a fish; trapped in a glass tank the whole day, swimming around mindlessly with nowhere to go and no freedom. It must suck more than knowing that you only had a few days left on this world.

"Akane! Wow, you're up earlier than before! How are you feeling?" I turned around to see one of those nurses that had helped me when I first got to the hospital.

"Good," I answered, smiling at her.

"Okay, keep on getting better!" With a friendly smile and a wave, she left. I checked my watch. 8: 45. With one last glance at the fish tank, I stood up and walked out the door.

I rang the doorbell and waited anxiously, not quite sure if I had gotten the right place. I started to worry, but just then the door swung open and I looked up to see Yukimura. He smiled, inviting me in.

"Wow you're early. Sorry, but can you wait for a few minutes? I need to get some things... You can do whatever you want." Then, he disappeared upstairs.

I wandered over to the place that looked like a living room and noticed a shelf full of medals and trophies. As I approached the shelf, I realized that most of the awards were for tennis tournaments. "Gold… gold… first place… Whoa, he's good." A sound behind me shook me from my thoughts and I turned around to see Yukimura standing behind me.

"Ready to go?" he asked. I turned away from the shelf and nodded, "Yeah."

"So… where should we go?" he asked me, looking around.

"Anyplace is okay with me. You can chose."

He grinned, and then said, "Follow me."

"A castle?" I asked while we were heading towards the place. I was kind of surprised by his choice.

"No, we're going to the garden. Here, it says in this book," he handed it to me. "Kairakuen Garden… famous for its cherry blossoms…" I read silently to myself. I flipped to a random page and started to read it too. I just didn't know what to say to Yukimura so I just kept myself busy reading.

"We get off here," he suddenly told me, tapping my shoulder. I followed him off at Mito Station and walked beside him, silence stretching awkwardly between us.

It was broken when I saw the garden. Pink, white, red, and even purple cherry blossom trees stood before me, their beautiful petals dappling gracefully to the ground.

"Whoa! It's so… so beautiful!" I exclaimed, eyes wide in amazement. I had never seen anything like this before.

"Yeah… I like to come here when I have the time to think things through and to just get some quiet time. Not a lot of people come here now," Yukimura's answer sounded a bit sad. However, when I looked up at him, he was grinning too and it seemed like he was in a second home.

We picked a nice dry spot and laid out our blanket on the ground. For a while we just sat there, watching the different coloured flower petals falling to the ground like a second winter. "It's so pretty…" I muttered to myself again. Yukimura was busy taking pictures.

"Um, I'll go get something to drink, k?" I got up and walked away, anxious to get away from the quietness.

As I walked, I heard voices and lots of laughter. I saw a group of kids crowding around something. As I got closer, I saw what was the centre of their attention. One kid- the leader, probably, was crouched over a wounded dog, whacking it and poking it cruelly, laughing with pleasure. I rushed in and pushed the kid away, scooping up the petrified dog.

"What's your problem?" I asked as I glared at the kid as fiercely as I could. I could feel the dog shaking in my arms and when I saw that the dog's blood soaking into my shirt, I decided to drop the argument and hurry the dog to the vet.

I ran back to Yukimura, reassuring the dog with occasional pats. When he saw the poor animal, he ripped off a strip of the picnic cloth and wound it around the dog's wounded leg, securing it tightly. He then made a padding out of the cloth and placed the dog gently on it, handing it back to me. "Let's go," he started walking as soon as he was sure I had the dog held securely.

"Is he gonna be okay?" I asked anxiously as the vet looked over the petrified animal.

"Yes, physically, but he might be a bit shy of humans for a while," the vet, Makoto, replied patiently. I watched as she applied gauzes and bandages. After a while, she tied the last knot and said, "All done. Make sure you watch him carefully though, in case his wounds open again. Don't be too rough with him." I picked up the dog as gently as I could and hugged him.

Since I wasn't allowed to keep pets in my hospital room, Yukimura brought him home. As I turned to walk back to the hospital, Yukimura called my name. "Promise you'll come tomorrow too?" he asked.

" I promise," I grinned.