7 April 2006
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AS KOKORO LEFT HOME PUNCTUALLY, her mother called out, ‘Will you be OK? Do you want me to go with you?’
‘I’m OK. I’ll go by myself,’ Kokoro said.
Last night she’d told her mother over and over again, but she still seemed worried. It’s only to be expected, Kokoro thought, but she had made up her mind.
Today was the first day of the first semester of eighth grade for her at Yukishina No. 5.
She was able to go confidently to school because she’d understood that this school wasn’t the only place she belonged.
Moé-chan had moved on to another school. But her words to Kokoro remained strongly etched in her memory.
It’s only school.
She knew now there were other worlds, other places she could go.
If she didn’t like her school, there were always the No. 1 and No. 3 junior highs nearby. She knew she’d make it. She could go anywhere. It wasn’t as if it was always going to be easy. There’d always be people she disliked. That reality wasn’t going to go away.
There was a person who’d said she didn’t have to struggle if she didn’t want to.
That’s why she’d decided to go back.
Back to school.
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THE CHERRY TREES WERE IN full bloom and their blossoms fluttered silently to the ground. A light wind was blowing.
As Kokoro walked through the school gate, she held her hair down in the wind. She was a little anxious – it would be a lie to say she wasn’t – but she’d set off to school today with her head held high.
She heard a voice from somewhere in front of her.
‘Hey.’
Eyes narrowed in the blustery wind, Kokoro looked towards the voice. The fallen blossoms stopped swirling and her field of vision began to clear.
She saw a boy straddling a bicycle, and he was looking in her direction.
He was wearing the boys’ uniform for Yukishina No. 5 Junior High, the school badge showing clearly on his chest.
The embroidered name tag said Mizumori.
I feel as if – I know his name, Kokoro thought. Her eyes widened.
Because she sometimes had a dream.
A dream of a transfer student arriving.
And among all her many classmates he noticed her, and a smile as dazzling as the sun spread over his face. He said, ‘Good morning.’ And he smiled.