Beginning?

5 Centimeters per Second was the story that Shishio had written. Before he wrote this story, he had thought of several stories in his head before, but he felt that this story was the most suitable one for him to say goodbye to his past.

"Is this really a romance story, Oga-kun?" Shiro-san asked curiously since the title seemed quite interesting. He knew that Shishio had written a romance story since Shishio told them in the morning, but he still asked regardless to confirm it since the title was very unique. '5 Centimetres per second, huh? I wonder what it means.' He rubbed his chin while trying to understand the meaning behind these words.

"It's romance," Shishio said from the kitchen as he was about to prepare dinner. "Just read it first and tell me what you think."

"Oh."

Everyone nodded and started to read the story that Shishio wrote.

"A chain of short stories about their distances."

Those words were written under the title, which made everyone feel even intrigued.

"Hey, they say it's five centimeters per second."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The speed at which cherry blossoms fall. It's supposed to be five centimeters per second."

"Akari, you sure know a lot about those sorts of things, huh?

"So... don't you think that it's kind of like snow?"

Leaving those words, the girl dashed over.

"Hey, wait up!" The boy chased after the girl when she left so suddenly.

The girl kept running and passed the railroad crossing.

The boy wanted to chase after her, but the railroad crossing closed, and he could only see the girl who had passed on the opposite side.

"Akari!"

The girl turned and looked toward the boy with both of her hands behind. Holding a pink umbrella in her hand, she twirled around, showing a beautiful smile toward the boy, and said, "It'd be great if we could watch the cherry blossoms fall again together next year."

Hearing such words, the boy wanted to say something, but the train passed, so his voice wasn't heard by the girl.

After reading those words, everyone started to read the beginning of the story.

The story of the 5 Centimeters per Second was just a romance story that tried to empathize the exploration about time, distance, memories, and love.

The reason why Shishio wrote this story was that this story was the one that could perfectly describe his relationship with his girlfriend in his previous life.

The cherry blossom tree bloomed in two weeks. Eventually, the leaves fell, and as they did, the distance between the trees and leaves increased, just like how his relationship with his girlfriend in his previous life had drifted apart. Both of them were in a different world. He had died in that world. Hence, there was no way for both of them to be together again, even if it was possible in the future because of the system. With distance, time, and space as their hurdle, their feelings would become just another vague memory.

The precious memory between the two would become just a distant memory for his girlfriend. As for him, it was impossible to forget, considering he had an "Enhanced Memory," which was why he couldn't forget even if he wanted to.

Shishio was a pragmatist after all, and even though he knew that it would be great if his girlfriend in his past life didn't forget about him, kept thinking about him, and even still single after he died, he knew that it wasn't realistic, considering that both of them were still young. So even though it hurt and made him uncomfortable, he didn't want her to waste her youth, but if he could come back to his previous world, then he would rob his girlfriend without hesitation even if she had married someone.

Still, if his girlfriend really met someone, Shishio couldn't blame her. After all, he had also done the same since he had dated two girls at the same time in this world.

Shishio tried to numb his heart by flirting with a lot of girls, losing his first time after a month, acting as if he wanted to become the strongest or the richest when in truth, he didn't care much about all of that, but he knew that he couldn't go back.

So all he could do was to learn to love someone else.

As the leaves and the cherry blossom tree drifted apart, they would bloom again after some time.

Shishio might not be able to see her again, but he could love someone again, and if one person wasn't enough, then two, if two weren't enough, then three, and more until he could fill the hollow on his heart. Jokes aside, he knew it wouldn't be easy. If it was only a playful interaction and having sex, then he might not be thinking too much, but love was different after all.

Shishio sighed and felt that love was very troublesome. For him, love was illogical, and it only caused him a lot of trouble, but it was very wonderful that it was so hard to forget when it really happened. Hopefully, time would soften these memories, and he could learn to love someone again.

'Not hopefully...' Shishio smiled. 'But I'm sure of it.'

Still, when Shishio thought about his girlfriend in his previous life, he hoped that his girlfriend wouldn't become crazy and created a clone of him. His girlfriend was a scientist, and she was very interested in cloning technology. If that girl really created a clone of him, then combine it with the knowledge of dark magic to call his soul back before putting it back to the cloning body.

'If that really happens, I'm not sure what's going to happen...'

Shishio felt that the more he thought about this problem, the more he felt a headache, but enough of his problem since what was important was the matter of his story. As he had said before, his story had three segments, and he had only written one segment, but this story was pretty simple. It was the story of a pair of childhood friends Takaki Touno and Akari Shinohara, who got separated physically and emotionally with the passage of time.

"We forget about the people whom we once cherished the most. Maybe that is life. You have to move on despite all your emotional bonds. As time passes, bonds of childhood become weaker and weaker until it's finally broken when we become adults. The memories still remain somewhere in our subconscious, but it fades away gradually."

Takaki and Akari had promised each other to meet and watch the cherry blossoms together in the future. So, in the last segment, they met and watched the cherry blossoms again, but unlike before where they saw the cherry blossoms as a childhood sweetheart, this time, they watched them as a stranger who had moved on to each other.

It was a bitter and sad story, but it left a deep memory to anyone who read it, which was why it was a great story.

While cooking, Shishio observed everyone's reaction, who read the first segment of the story.

There were three segments of the story: "Cherry Blossom," "Cosmonaut," and "5 Centimeters Per Second".

The first segment, "Cherry Blossom," was mostly talking about the meeting between Takaki and Akari.

Takaki Touno was a young boy living in Tokyo. One day, he met Akari Shinohara, a girl who had just transferred to his elementary school. The two quickly became best friends due to similar interests and health issues. However, Akari's parents were on the move again, meaning that Akari had to continue her studies in another school. At this point, Takaki and Akari were still keeping in touch with each other through letters.

Due to the physical distance between the two, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the friendship. Besides, Takaki was also moving to another city, which was even further away from Akari's place. As a result, Takaki decided to meet up with Akari one last time before they stopped seeing each other.

Takaki took a train to see Akari. In his hands, he held a personal letter confessing his feelings for her. Meanwhile, a snowstorm kept delaying the train, and during one of the stops, he stepped outside for a moment. Then, a gust of wind blew towards him, making him lose the letter written for Akari. The constant delays made him arrive at the station several hours after the scheduled time. Nonetheless, Akari was at the train station waiting for him.

Both Akari and Takaki headed out of the train station to seek refuge. As they walked towards the shed, the two shared a kiss. After spending the night in a shed, Akari and Takaki parted ways. However, they promised to continue writing letters to each other.

Holding a bag in her hand, Akari gazed toward Takaki, who was standing at the train right in front of her. "Takaki-kun..."

"Yeah?"

"Takaki-kun..." Akari called out his name softly again, with an expression mixed with sadness and hesitation. Then after a moment, she looked at him and said with an expression as if she was okay. "...I'm sure you'll be okay from now on. I just know it!"

"Thank you," Takaki said as the door of the train closed, but he still had something to say to Akari. His expression was desperate, looking at the girl that he loved, but was unable to express his feelings. "Akari, you be well, too! I will write a letter to you! I will call you too!"

As the train left, Akari stared at the train that slowly disappeared from her eyes before she took out the letter that she had written for him but could not send it and decided to keep it for herself.

Of course, Takaki didn't know about this matter since he was also unable to tell her that he wanted to send her a love letter.

"All I wanted was the strength to protect her. With that thought in my mind, I continued to gaze out over the landscape beyond the window... forever."

Everyone wiped their eyes with those last sentences, and they also smelled a delicious smell from the kitchen.

"How is it?" Shishio asked.

When they heard this question, there were mixed feelings in their hearts. They were both frustrated and curious about this story. They were frustrated at Takaki's indecisive actions. Still, they also knew that it was quite hard to maintain their relationship if they really became a couple, considering their situation since they were children, they didn't have money, and they couldn't meet each other as they wished. Still, even so, they also felt curious at how this story was going to unfold, whether both of them could be together or not, and even if they weren't together, they were curious how Shishio was going to write this story.

"It's sad and bitter." Shiro-san sighed, and somehow it reminded him of his past. "But it is a great story." He looked at Shishio and said, "When you have published your book, let me know, Oga-kun. I'll buy it."

"....."

Shiro-san's words dumbfounded everyone, but at the same time, they didn't feel that surprised since they knew that Shishio's story could be published anytime.

"You will publish this book, right, Oga-kun?" Shiro-san asked.

"Um." Shishio nodded.

"Do you want me to introduce you to the editor at Kondasha? I'm sure that they'll be happy to know a genius writer like you," Shiro-san said without hesitation.

"In truth, I know someone from Kondasha too, Shiro-san. I'll talk to them once my story is finished," Shishio said.

"Is that so?" Shiro-san nodded with a smile and didn't feel that surprised. "I can't wait to read the finished product."

"Thank you," Shishio nodded with a smile, then he noticed Mitaka, who stopped at the entrance of the living room, which made him quite weird because this guy was standing there.

When Shishio and Shiro-san stopped talking, Shiina wanted to say something, but...

"Shishio!"

Misaki quickly dashed over Shishio, holding both of his hands, and said, "Shishio, please write a script for my anime!"

"...."

Shishio raised his eyebrow at this request and noticed Mitaka, who had suddenly left at this moment, which made him sigh.

"Senpai." Shishio smiled softly at Misaki.

"Yes, Shishio-kun!" Misaki was full of smiles and thought that Shishio was going to agree with her request.

"I refuse," Shishio said with a warm smile.

"...."