Chapter 5 & 6 Summary:
More reading of the journal. Jin's favourite flower is...?
A.Kazumi recalls something from her childhood, about meeting a youth.
Jin talks about his movie with Kame in his music column
Chapter 5: Sunflower
Later that night, I flipped through the journal again and discovered a signature of Kamenashi. It was his full name written in kanji. Next to it was a childish sentence, “All rights reserved, but Pi & Jin are allowed write here too ^-^ ”
“Kame-chan, you’re the cutest”.
“Akanishi Jin, you’re an idiot”. Pi retorted
“Pi, I want to eat ramen”. This handwriting looked like Kamenashi’s.
There were strange drawings on one of the pages.
Next to them, Papa wrote, “Kame-chan likes flowers”.
“You suck at drawing.” Came Pi’s reply
“Shut up, Pi”
Then, it was a beautiful drawing of a rose, stating “Pi & Jin’s favourite flower”.
“Kazu-chan! You can draw very well~~~” Pi replied.
“Pi you’re the best to me =)”
“What about me? ” Papa’s hand-writing.
“You are only capable of bullying me all the time”. Kamenashi’s reply had a tinge of tease in it.
Roses? Papa’s favourite flowers?
But… but I thought his favourite flowers were sunflowers...
Every summer, he would bring our entire family to Hokkaido to view the sunflower fields.
Ah. Those golden yellow brilliance. And the distinct scent that came along.
Papa would always instruct me to follow Mama before he walked off with sakura, our pet dog.
He would stand at a hilltop and stare into the distance. Usually, he would stay there for a very long period of time and later return with a sad smile on his face.
Suddenly, blurred memories and images flashed across my mind…
A youth dressed in a blue shirt stood in the fields of sunflowers.
He had short hair.
He was thin and frail.
There was a familiar sparkle of silver on his ear.
He smiled, “She’s Kazumi?”
“Yes”. That sounded like Pi… “She’s turning one tomorrow”.
One? I’m already 18 years old, what was Pi talking about…
“Can I carry her?”
“Of course… Be careful though, she’s heavy” Another voice replied.
What’s the…? I’m not that heavy!
How rude…
Just when I was grumbling to myself, the youth’s face inched closer.
It felt as though he was cradling me.
It was very comfortable in his arms and he had a familiar scent on him.
“Kazumi” The youth stretched out his hands and touched my face gently.
On his pale face, I could see a mixture happiness and yearning, “She’s so cute”.
The youth’s mouth moved; I knew he spoke to me then. But the strong wind masked his voice and I couldn’t hear anything. As he spoke to me, his eyes brimmed with tears and he tried his best to hold them back. He looked so pitiful that was heart-wrenching.
What happened to him? Why did he have such intense emotions in his eyes? He looked so sad, as if he was going to give up his beloved. I stretched out my hands in hope to give him a little warmth and comfort, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move at all.
What happened to you? Why are you crying? Don’t cry…
I snapped back to reality and realized I had dozed off unknowingly. The bedside clock showed 4am.
I put the journal into my drawer carefully and went to bed.
I knew that those images weren’t from my dreams. It was definitely something that I saw before. The sad look from the youth reminded me of Papa’s sad smile. It must be; the emotions expressed on both their faces were too identical.
However, what I couldn’t comprehend was the feminine voice that said “Of course.. Be careful, she’s very heavy.”
It definitely didn’t belong to that youth. Neither did it belong to Pi.
It sounded like… Mama.