Those simple sentences worked like a spell. I could finally let go of this matter in my heart. 
Strangely, my inner-self began to calm down… I didn’t feel touched, or sad… instead, it was like a gentle warm ripple reverberating in my heart.

It took Papa a lot of courage to say these things out. But when he told me that, he did not hesitate at all.  ( Read more... )

“Kazumi, are you disappointed with Papa?”
I shook my head “No, I’m not. Kazumi is a great name. I love my name… really.”

I only realised recently that I truly loved my name.

That night in the ICU, Papa’s murmurs rang across my ears over and over again. I was very scared that Papa would leave us because he longed so much for Kamenashi.

But in the ( Read more... )

I was unable to forget Papa’s murmurs while he was in the ICU.
So, I took this opportunity to ask him personally, “Papa… at that time, how old was Kamenashi in your dreams? And in what scenarios did he appear in?”

Papa kept quiet for a moment before he replied. “I dreamt about different stages of him. But the most common dream I had, was that I was ( Read more... )

Chapter Summary
The truth.
Jin's POV.

?!! WTF?!
Did I hear things wrongly? 
Papa actually said… “He… isn’t around anymore”…

My tensed up feelings relaxed in a split second.
But at the following moment, shock overwhelmed me. It was as if all the skeletons were out of the closet, and the truth was exposed. My initial knowledge was overturned yet again. The ( Read more... )

Extending from the foot of the hill to the far end, the sea of sunflowers blossomed under the sunshine. 
Everywhere was yellow and beautiful.
The afternoon wind blew across and created gentle waves across the fields.

This was my first time on this hilltop.
I used to look at Papa from lower ground, thus I never knew where he was looking from this ( Read more... )

I kicked the pebbles as I walked, guessing what Papa was thinking.
I wondered if Pi told Papa anything.

Papa said he came to look for 'something important'…
Was that me? Or the journal that I took away without asking.

Papa talked about random and irrelevant things as we took our forest stroll. I had no idea where I was and could only follow Papa ( Read more... )

Chapter Summary:
Finally back to current day akanishi!kazumi thoughts.
someone appeared...

If I looked out from the window, I could see the forest and the sea of golden sunflowers. 
That field of yellow brilliance… I have both vague and clear memories of it. 
The sky was blue and it was a breezy day.

In one of his letters, Kamenashi mentioned that ( Read more... )

His final resting place is at Narashino, Chiba.

Pi was the one who decided that Kamenashi should be buried in the rose garden. Papa’s hometown is in Chiba, and his favourite flowers are roses. Pi, who loved Kamenashi very much, believed that Kamenashi would be happy with his decision.

Kamenashi's tomb was built to face Tokyo.
The couple ring he ( Read more... )

That was the last long letter that Kamenashi wrote to Pi. After this, he merely sent some short notes to him.

Somewhere between July and August, Kamenashi lost his sight, and his hearing deteriorated rapidly. He was unable to get out of bed and his reflexes were slowing down. The needle marks on his arms increased too.

It was as if Kamenashi could ( Read more... )

The room was terribly small, and the walls were all white.

Even the only source of freedom that I imagined was way below my expectations - instead of gigantic glass windows, the windows here are fitted with heavy metal grilles. The beautiful sky view from the room was cut up into pieces by the grilles, and only gave off a sense of hopelessness and ( Read more... )