Page 31 of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop
‘Wait – Shiho-chan?’
Her mother tried to follow her. And without meaning to, Kaho let the words ‘It’s fine, Tae-chan’ slip from her mouth. The voice came out of the young Shiho. Kaho assumed that this was because Shiho’s mind was no longer present.
‘Huh? Shiho-chan, did you just call me “Tae-chan”?’
Leaving behind her flustered mother, she hurried back towards the hospital room. The young Shiho desperately wanted to know the outcome of the boy’s confession – Kaho could feel it so intensely, it was almost painful.
But when she finally peeked into the room, she quickly pulled her head back. Although she couldn’t be sure, it felt like she had accidentally met Shoma’s eyes. Pressing herself against the wall in the corridor, she listened as Shoma continued to speak.
‘Well, I guess I like you and Shiho-chan equally. If I could, I would marry you both.’
Now Kaho understood. Shoma had known that Shiho was listening. That was why he had pretended like he couldn’t choose between them. And her sister regretted making him say such a thing.
Why did I have to go back?
The sound of Shiho’s pounding heart boomed through her, and Kaho could feel every beat as if it were her own.
At that moment, the world around her suddenly jolted. A great force gripped Kaho, and almost instantly pulled her back to the shop, where she found herself sitting across from Shiho.
At first, it felt incredibly awkward to meet her eyes, and Shiho seemed to feel the same way. They each looked around in search of something to focus on, their gazes eventually synchronising on the cat on the table. The cat, opening just one eye, gave a small cry.
Shiho kept her face turned away from Kaho as she finally broke the silence.
‘I’m sure you know by now, but that day, I was standing outside the room – I had gone back. And that’s why Shoma couldn’t tell you that he liked you the best. Maybe he realised how I felt about him. I’ve always wanted to apologise to you about that.’
‘None of that is your fault, Shiho. I’m the one who should apologise.’
‘But for what?’
‘I had no idea how you felt about him. And you heard me, right? I told Shoma-kun that he was still a kid, that he couldn’t be an adult. If I hadn’t said something like that, then maybe he could have grown up?—’
‘What? That’s ridiculous. You’re overthinking it.’
‘I know that. But still?—’
‘Is that what you’ve been thinking all this time?’
‘I suppose so…’
‘I wish you had told me … but I guess you couldn’t, especially not to me.’
‘No, not really.’
‘Yeah…’
‘But you must feel a little bit better now,’ a voice interrupted.
It was the girl in the burgundy pinafore dress, suddenly standing right beside them. A satisfied grin had spread across her face.
‘Looks like you two are going to be just fine now. In fact, I don’t think there was anything we needed to worry about in the first place. Even if we hadn’t been brought together in this way, I’m sure that the thorn in your hearts would have found its way out. If not, it probably would have dissolved away without you even knowing. But I suppose we – me, my little companion and this shop – are what you’d call peddlers. We draw in customers and push miracles onto them.’
The girl bowed deeply.
‘Now, I believe it is time for you to return to the world you’ve come from. It’s still chilly in the mornings and evenings. Please look after yourselves, and take care not to catch a cold as you each embark on your new student lives. Oh, and I will not be accepting a payment, of course. But some day, if you happen to remember that this shop was named Sakura, then that would make me very happy indeed.’
After the girl finished speaking, a beat passed before the soft flop of a book closing echoed from somewhere in the distance.
For a while, the girl kept her eyes fixed on the spot where the twins had been.
