Adachi to Shimamura - Volume 4 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Love and Sakura…

For how long was I going to keep pretending like I was asleep? My eyes closed shut, I struggled to find the answer to that question. 
I was well aware that the sunlight was hitting my back, that it was already morning. And yet, the sound that filled my ears was not the chirping of birds, but instead, that of Adachi's soft voice. 
She was praying. 
Please let me sit close to Shimamura. 
She wanted it to happen that badly? I honestly didn't know how to react. I also wasn't able to get up. 
Could it be, had she prayed like this in the beginning of the year as well before the new classes had been announced? Considering how things had played out, I could only assume so. That image of her jumping up and down with the spring behind her was still fresh in my memory. 
Speaking of Adachi, I could sense her turn over. In the next instant, a hand that wasn't mine fell on top of my numb fingertips and grasped them tight. Though it was spring already, Adachi's hand felt ever so slightly cold. 
She remained like that, completely motionless, and little by little, that chilliness began to vanish. 
It was transforming into my warmth. 
There was a part of me that felt that to be precious. 
I went ahead and shook my hand a little as if I'd just woken up. I could hear Adachi stop praying and—as it was resting on top of my arm—felt her move her head. I then slowly opened my eyes, and there she was: Adachi, her lips pursed tight. 
She hastily let go of my hand she'd been grasping before turning my way. It appeared that she was blissfully unaware of the fact that I'd caught her in the act. 
Appropriate for her name, Adachi's face was coloured in the same tinge of pink as the flowers of a sakura tree. I also got the impression that it was even closer to mine than before we'd fallen asleep; her weight currently rested on my elbow instead of my forearm. It was the sort of distance where it would only take a single unfortunate roll from one side to another, and our heads would end up smashing together. Dangerous, indeed. I suppose you could say that the fact that we were both calm sleepers had really saved us. 
"Good morning." 
"Good... m-morning." 
Adachi's head shook a little as she spoke. 
Her eyes were wide open and also somewhat dry, giving me the impression that she'd been awake for a while now. 
I suppose that made sense when you went to bed at eight. If anything, sleeping for this long might have made me the exception here. And yet, after all those hours of extra sleep, I still felt slightly tired. A yawn would surely escape my mouth were I to let my guard down. 
"What did we do yesterday?" 
"Huh?" 
Her question came to me as a complete shock. I really didn't know what she was asking. 
"I was just wondering... Last night, what did you do, Shimamura?" 
Yet another incomprehensible question was added on top of the previous one. I struggled to come up with an answer, and all the while, Adachi's ears turned even further red, as if her head was boiling. 
"The night specifically? Hmm... I slept, I guess?" 
Hadn't I been right there? Hadn't my arm literally been under her head? Was everything okay with her? 
There was also the possibility that the problem lay within me; perhaps something big truly had happened, just in a way that made it difficult for me to grasp. 
Could it be, had Adachi done something? Like, scribble some text on my face? I decided to check just in case. 
Whereas I was experiencing uneasiness akin to watching a horror movie, the same wasn't true with Adachi. "Well, in that case, that's good", she stated while curling her back, her voice filled with relief coming all the way from the bottom of her heart. There was a look of tranquillity on her face as she rested her head on my arm and closed her eyes, almost like trying to hide her teary pupils. I could hear her breathe softly, in a way sounding like she was still asleep. 
In the midst of those breaths, something exited her mouth and reached my ears. Maybe it was just me, but it really did sound like she'd said the following words: "Thank goodness it was just a dream." 
I found it impossible to shake her awake and question her given the soft expression on her face. Instead, I was left simply to hold my tongue. 
The silence between us continued for the next few moments. And yet, for some reason, it didn't feel painful like it did on the phone, like I'd fallen into a deep ravine and been robbed of the freedom to move my limbs. The weight of her head and the numbness of my arm mixed together to form a pleasant sensation I didn't quite know how to describe, and before I knew it, yet another yawn had escaped my mouth. My fingers twitched a little. 
I wonder, did Hino and Nagafuji do this too, idle about under the same futon? 
It might have been understandable in some weird way for them to do it, but us? I wasn't sure. Regardless, lying there, I turned my head to the extent I was able to and checked the clock, only to find that we really had to get up and start getting ready soon. Any longer than this, and Mom would likely come wake us up. 
Me getting up required Adachi to do so as well. And yet, she showed no signs of doing so, instead simply remaining in place with her eyes closed shut. I went ahead and moved my arm a little. This prompted Adachi to slightly clench her fist, all the while her cheeks turned red, as if blushing. Was it the lightness of her complexion that allowed me to immediately pick up the faintest changes in colour on her face? Probably. What about going forward, though? Would my impression of her change once the summer sun burnt her skin? It wasn't really all that far off. 
Regardless, if it was our goal to ever reach said summer, what mattered now was waking her up. 
While it was unfortunate given how sleep deprived she appeared, I saw no way out of this aside from me personally assuming the role of an alarm clock. Repeating myself from earlier, I shook my arm once again, this time with a bit more force. Adachi responded by shaking her head from left to right, as if refusing my suggestion. 
This was followed by her gripping the sleeve of my pyjama tight. Her body then tensed up as she assumed a reluctant stance. 
Looking at her like this, would you ever have been able to guess how old she was? 
Seriously, what a handful. I couldn't help but smile. 

"Wait, lass." 
I'd just been putting on my shoes in the entrance when Mom stopped me. As far as her ways of addressing me went, that one felt quite novel. 
"Take this with you", she said as she handed me a rectangular bundle. Next, she turned towards Adachi: "Here's one for you too, Adachi." 
Feeling the object I'd received in my hands, I decided to go ahead and ask her for clarification. 
"What is this?" 
"Can't you tell just by looking?" 
"Packed lunch is making a comeback?" 
Exactly, she replied while giving me the thumbs-up. Where was this coming from? My eyes wide open, I stared at her confused. 
For a second, Mom looked like she was about to launch into a full-scale explanation, but ultimately, decided to skip it, likely because she couldn't be bothered. 
"Just hurry up and get going already. You'll be late otherwise." 
Having said that, Mom drove us off. What a change in mood, seriously. I gave Adachi a quick glance to see if she concurred. 
The sight which appeared before me was not at all what I'd expected; her mouth half-open, she stared at the lunch box she'd just been handed. 

Anyway, with that exchange out of the way, it was time for another productive day at school. Or not. I had my doubts about it. 
A thought crossed my mind as I rode on the back of Adachi's bike. 
"Come to think of it, this is our first time going to school together, isn't it?" 
She'd given me multiple rides back from school, but never the other way around. Completely disregarding the fact that she was riding a bike, Adachi turned around to face me, prompting me to lift my head. 
"Might be", she mumbled. This was where you would've normally expected her to turn back, but Adachi didn't, instead choosing to spend the next couple of moments staring at me. Reluctantly, I was left to watch the road in her stead. 
The roadside trees dripping with light, the stained walls of the buildings, the streams of people and cars. The white clouds that left a long trail behind them, and the sun which intensely burned my hair—once again black. I bathed in its shine, warmer than during spring, but not as hot as during summer. 
Everywhere you looked, you could see signs of May. 
Both beauty and filth were brought to the surface by the sunlight shining on the school road just past the residential area. 
Given that it'd been Sunday yesterday, it only made sense that we had school today. Furthermore, as we were going there from the same place anyway, we'd decided that Adachi might as well give me a ride on her bike. Speaking of, she had loaded up all the luggage she'd brought with her, all in all making it three or four bags she had to carry. You might have thought this would be really tough on her especially when you also factored in my weight, but surprisingly, no; she appeared to have no difficulty making the pedals turn. I rarely meant it as a joke when I thought about her as being reliable. 
"You really should turn back around now", I stated while lightly pressing the back of Adachi's head with my finger. Although her lips did curl in a way that indicated reluctance, ultimately, she did as told. 
With that matter dealt with, I began drawing my hand in. It was there my eyes came across a reddish mark resembling the outline of a flower etched into my skin. Instantly, I recognized it to be the pattern from the pillow upon which the arm supporting Adachi's head had rested for the duration of the night. Were I to roll up her uniform, I'd likely find that Adachi bore a similar mark, wouldn't I? Thinking about that, I gently rubbed my arm through my sleeve. 
With my hands on her shoulders, I went ahead and took a good look at Adachi. Tension was written all over her. And not just on her face, but also on her hands that tightly gripped the handlebars of the bike. Maybe even a bit too tightly, judging by the visible tendons going across the backs of her hands. Was she nervous because of the massive—as far as she was concerned, at least—event that was the new seating order waiting for us at school? Probably. 
Wait, no. Considering that we'd yet to actually change anything, I suppose it was more accurate to say she was scared of us deciding the new seating order. 
To what extent was prayer able to defy reality? 
Was there any meaning to simply casting yourself into the flow of time and letting it carry you without interacting with the world around you? 
Watching things happen was way more fun when you knew what had caused them. 

Though they'd barely started falling back during the day of the entrance ceremony, right now, the flowers of the sakura trees were but a mere shadow of their former selves. 
Come to think of it, had I ever seen a sakura in full bloom? That was the thought that crossed my mind as I walked down the pathway leading to the school building, every now and then taking glances at the sky above. By virtue of how things were scheduled, the vast majority of the flowers had always fallen off by the time spring break came to an end and I returned to school, year after year. I found my eyes naturally turning towards the ground covered by a layer of discarded petals as I walked forward. 
Really, it might have been that I only knew the lushness of cherry trees in leaf, having cast away their blossoms, and nothing else. 
A deep sense of regret filled me now that I was aware of what I'd missed. I really wanted to see them. And yet, there was no turning back the clock. 
How many more times were things going to happen in my life? How many more times would sakura trees bloom and then drop their flowers? 
"Hmm..." 
I compared the paper slip I'd opened to the numbers written on the blackboard. 
I'd been too busy thinking about this and that, and by the time I realised it, the new seats had already been assigned. 
With the draw completed, each one of us were made to move their desk to the spot indicated by the number written on the blackboard matching that on their piece of paper. Based on the intense glare pressing hard against my back, I could only assume that Adachi was already done with hers. 
I eventually found where the number I'd drawn placed me; one row to the left from my current seat, second from the back. 
As for Adachi, she sat around three seats to the right of me. 
"...Not too shabby, honestly." 
She wasn't in direct contact with me. At the same time, she also wasn't needlessly far. 
A big gap horizontally, but a small one vertically. I wonder, what did this say about the extent to which her prayers had come true? Having already gotten to my spot, I sat there resting my head against my hand, observing Adachi while the rest of the class continued moving their desks around. 
I adjusted my gaze a little, and it was there that our eyes met. Although the expression on her face itself did appear mostly the same as before, one critical thing to point out was the fact that her head was pointed straight ahead, not downwards. From this, it seemed reasonable to assume that she was satisfied with the outcome. Looking unstable, like she might melt soon, Adachi continued staring my way. They were the same eyes I'd seen inside the futon. In other words, she appeared tired. 
That was going to last this entire day, wasn't it? A small smile appeared on my face; I could definitely sympathize with her there. 
Class then began, and after what felt like an eternity, the teacher eventually paused for long enough for me to glance to my side. I did just that, and wouldn't you know it, our eyes once again ended up meeting. 
We remained like that, staring at each other. A few moments passed. Then a couple more. It ended up being too much for Adachi to handle, and after some time, she ultimately looked away as if unable to bear it for any longer. The same wasn't the case with me; I continued observing her like I had up until this point, and soon enough, she did turn her head back towards me a second time. Although there were two or three heads between us, somehow, our eyes managed to grasp exactly what was going on inside the mind of the other person. This lasted for a handful of seconds until Adachi eventually turned her head away, this time for real. 
I watched as she proceeded to trace something on the surface of her textbook with her finger, her downturned face giving off the appearance of utter bewilderment. 
That something seemed to be a series of letters. I tried to follow them with my eyes, but unfortunately, wasn't able to pick any of them up. 
What I did see was the flower I'd given her yesterday, still attached to her hair now waving in an unsteady fashion. 
In conclusion, everything appeared to be fine with her. Good. With that matter out of the way, I next turned my eyes towards the window and the intense sunlight shining through. 
It was already May, huh? Where had the time gone? We'd begun our second year, and it seemed like an entire month had passed between it and me opening my eyes. There was only a single April left for me before I'd be done with high school. May, June, the class I was currently attending, they were all the same way, all things that would happen only once and then never repeat. Doing things over was not at all an effective way to live your life. The faster the flow of time grew, the more aware of that fact I was forced to become. 
You did not have infinite time to go through each and every day at your own leisurely pace. 
It might be that the sakura petals covering the ground symbolized the time I had wasted. 
Unlike me, Adachi was well aware of this being how the world worked, which was why she strove to do her absolute best each day, almost as if chased by something. Maybe. I couldn't really tell for sure; saying that I had a good grasp of her would have been an overstatement. Regardless, while she did from time to time appear like she was about to pass out, her tired eyes remained fully open for the entire duration of the class. I couldn't help but smile a little as I watched her give it her all. 
There was something about the sight which caused a load to come off my chest, as if I was touching the warmth of the spring in its very essence. 
Oh, was that it? Was that the answer? Distancing myself from the painful atmosphere surrounding me, I moved forward in its direction. 
One day. Yes, one day. A future unlike anything I was able to imagine, a future I wouldn't be able to avoid. 
A world without spring break. 
A future where there might not be anyone beside me. 
Even if I didn't want it, there would eventually come a day when I too would be made to walk down a spring path while staring at the sakura trees blooming above me. 
It would take a while, but there was no reason why I needed to just wait. I could always satisfy myself with the sakuras blooming right in front of me. That didn't seem like a bad option. 
Not bad. That's how I believed it to be. 
It being late April, there were no longer any trees blooming. 
Given that, the Sakura I sought would be found within Adachi. 
In the profile of her face, surely.