One Petal /// Oneshot - Part I
Click, click, click.
The sounds were monotonous, but Jin loved them, however. They meant he was working, he was productive, he was capturing moments he’d probably never forget.
Looking at the scenery in front of him, Jin smiled.
The park was huge and it was a lovely day. The sky was blue, with only a few white fluffy clouds making their way through. People were having picnics, couples on dates were walking hand in hand, families were playing games in the huge meadow.
Along the road, the cherry trees were blooming, painting everything in a light pink.
Jin raised his camera again, took a picture as a light breeze made the petals dancing down to the ground. Children came running in his direction and he took a couple of pictures of them, watched them then, as they tried further on to catch the petals.
This kind of work was what he liked most. Taking shots of people the way they were, without them noticing they were photographed.
He liked his work in the studios quite a lot, as well, but this was much more relaxing. People looked a lot different when they didn’t know they were being observed. Jin liked the natural gestures, the unforced smiles.
He slowly went on, holding his camera, while he looked around, let everything take over him, so that he would find the next motive to keep.
“Okay, everyone, gather around”, Jin heard someone saying loudly and turned his head to where the voice came from. The children he had photographed before were running past him yelling happily and gathered in a crowd in the meadow.
Jin stopped and watched the scenery, took a few pictures of the children.
“Okay, we will read a story to you now”, the woman said and sat down. The children did the same. “Who wants to listen to a fairy tale?”
The children all made approval sounds, their voices excited.
Jin came a little closer and frowned, as he saw a young man in a blue apron joining the crowd, bringing in a few more kids.
A fairy tale, he thought and tilted his head, holding his camera to his chest. Right, there had been a time, long ago, when he’d been a young boy, as well; when he had believed in fairy tales.
The children were quiet, when the man sat down in front of them with a smile. As he started to speak, Jin noticed that his slightly husky voice was actually perfect for storytelling and he decided to stay and listen to it, as well.
“Once upon a time in a certain place, a young man, who had lost his parents as a child, was living in a lonely place at the foot of a mountain”, the teacher started the story. “The village was far away and socializing was not the young man’s strong point, so he was living a humble self-sustaining life; still he was a gentle hearted man working all day on his field, and if there was something that he needed, he would descend to the village to exchange things and supply himself, so he was satisfied with his daily life.”
Jin smiled over that, listening further on. The hero of a fairy tale didn’t have to be a knight or king, a shining prince or a brave adventurer, but always, he would have a gentle heart and kindness, as well as ambition.
He listened to how the man always went to a small shrine at a cherry tree every day and looked up at the trees around them.
Apparently, the teacher had chosen a fairy tale fitting the season.
He told the kids about how the man one day found the holy Jizō of the shrine replaced and its bib muddled. The man had moved the holy Jizō back to its place in the shrine, and had left his own towel for him, replacing the bib that couldn’t be used anymore.
Jin leaned against the tree next to him and wondered if any of the kids would remember this. Help others, and give when you have something you can give, even if it wasn’t much.
“That night, when he was lying exhausted in bed, someone came to the young man’s house to visit. Knock, knock…knock, knock, knock… ‘Who could this be… in the middle of the night…’” The teacher changed his voice and the children were watching him with huge eyes. Jin took a photo, amused by how tense the kids were.
”Besides the fact that usually nobody came to visit, now it was happening in the middle of the night. He took the hoe that stood hanging on the wall, then approached timidly and opened the lock at the entrance. When he opened the door, he was so astonished that he dropped the hoe from his hands.”
The children were making gasping sounds, and the young man took a break, gazing at them to raise the tension.
”There was a beautiful, well dressed girl, standing all alone, gazing at him.”
There she is, Jin thought, taking another picture. The beautiful princess had appeared, the damsel in distress.
“She had been searching for her mother for a long time, and just asked to spend the night in the man’s house. And of course, the man had let her stay, offering her from the little he could share.”
The teacher smiled at them, as they all made agreeing sounds, praised the hero of the tale.
“After some time the two fell in love with each other, so they spontaneously exchanged vows and became husband and wife”, he continued and Jin giggled, as the girls in the crowd made excited noises. “The girl was looking for her mother as always but, as she couldn’t find her, not even clues about her, both she and her husband eventually ran out of ideas.”
Jin turned, still listening on, but he had spotted an interesting form at the ground, so he took a few shots of that, while the story continued: “After exactly one year since the girl had come, the young man noticed something strange. For some mysterious reason, as it was already past spring, petals of cherry tree flowers came from somewhere fluttering about the house now and then.”
Jin turned just in time to see the teacher tilt his head, making a doubtful face. “‘How strange, isn’t it?’, the man always said.”
“It’s strange, it’s strange!” The kids agreed and moved at their spots, obviously having problems to sit still.
“It wasn’t such a big deal, so he didn’t pay special attention to this, but every time he found flower petals, he stood wondering.”
It’s that easy, Jin thought and watched the teacher more closely. Those small things that made one wonder were always those people didn’t spend further attention to. If one doesn’t understand something, then he would just wonder, but wouldn’t search for the reason behind it.
“One day, when they went together as always to the place of the holy Jizō, they found a crowd there.” He was actually pretty, in Jin’s mind. Probably the same age as him. His hair was light brunette and reached his shoulders, when he smiled it looked gentle and genuine. But then again, Jin figured, that was just typical for nursery teachers. It was rare to see a male one, though. He wondered if they had a labelling. “The young man turned towards a man who was looking at the cherry tree and was grumbling something for himself and asked: ‘Is something happening? Why is everybody gathered here?’ The man answered: ‘No, it’s just that it’s been decided that we should cut this tree, but it’s harder than we thought.’”
“Noooo”, most of the children yelled. “They shouldn’t, they mustn’t!”
The teacher smiled slightly and nodded at that, before he continued his story. Jin wondered how his expression could change so quickly, because when he went on, he told them about how sad both the man and the girl were that the cherry tree had to be cut and that at night, they were talking about it. That the girl confessed to the man she would have to leave him, because she was the spirit of that said cherry tree.
Jin’s amused smile over the little story faded, as the teacher said in a sad and quiet voice:
“The young man was crying aloud but the girl’s figure had already vanished; only one fluttering flower petal was left of her.” He looked sympathetically at the children who all watched him with huge, expecting eyes. “With that petal in his palm the young man stood sobbing and he could only hear the girl’s faint voice: ‘From now on, I’ll go on watching over you. Please, don’t forget about me. Before they cut down that cherry tree, take a twig from it and put it the house. That will remind you of me, so please take care of it.’”
He paused again and Jin could only stare at his gentle expression, the calm smile. How could he look that calm, telling such a sad story?
Then Jin let go of his breath and had to slightly laugh over himself. He had been too taken in by the story. It was a fairy tale; of course the teacher telling it could smile. He knew the ending. And in a fairy tale endings were always happy.
“Did she come back?” A girl’s voice was heard.
The young man looked at her and smiled a bit wider. “Let me tell you what the man did.”
Everyone was looking at him again and Jin found himself listening in tension, as well, wanting to know how they would get together again.
“Doing as he was told, he took a twig of the cherry tree and arranged it in a corner of the house. Afterwards he never saw the girl again and never heard her voice, but during his whole life, no matter how seasons changed or how many years passed, the twig never withered and went on making beautiful flowers bloom.”
It kept silent, and he stood again, patting his knees to remove any grass or mud that could have gotten there. “The End.”
“Eeeh? That was a sad ending!” One of the boys stood, as well. “Why didn’t they stay together?”
The teacher smiled at him. “They did. The twig of the tree never withered, she did watch over him for forever, just as she had promised.”
The female teacher with him stood now, as well and Jin saw her approaching his side. “Wasn’t that a lovely fairy tale, everyone?”
A girl pointed at a tree, looking at her with curious eyes. “Does that tree have a spirit, too? Just as the one in the fairy tale?”
The teacher nodded. “They all have.”
“Can we meet them?”
“If you take care of them, you probably can, one day.”
Jin smiled at that. Ah, the moral of the story. Care for your environment and treat everyone the way you would want to be treated yourself.
It was cute, the way the kids believed it and gathered around the tress, watching it closely.
Jin took a few pictures of them, smiled at how they all tried to get closer.
As he had taken enough pictures of it, he turned again to leave, but his attention was caught by the young man, watching them. He hadn’t noticed Jin, other than the female teacher who every now and then threw him a glance. As he had noticed she knew she was being photographed, Jin had left her out.
But the man hadn’t noticed him and the way he stood there, watched the cherry tree next to him with a smile, his head slightly raised, while the slight breeze made the light pink petals fall around him, his hair slightly moving, and his frame soaked in the golden sunlight - Jin couldn’t resist taking pictures.
“Everyone, we’re going to go back now, it’s time for the afternoon snacks”, the female teacher said then and the kids came running back and Jin saw the young man turning to them, smiling widely as he took a boy’s hand, talking to him.
They came into his direction and Jin quickly turned to get away. He got back to the path and took some random pictures, acting busy and completely engrossed in his work.
He turned his head once more, as the voices faded and looked after them, then he went on, looking for the next scenery to capture.
As it had gotten dark and Jin had taken the last pictures, he stopped by at a convenience store to buy some rice balls and some beer for dinner, before he went home.
His apartment was rather small and not always looking neat. At the moment, it was rather messy, but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t like he’d expect anyone, however.
Working at an assistant in a photography studio was taking a lot of time, and he loved the days like today, when he was off and could get around to take some pictures for himself.
Actually, this apartment had two rooms aside from bathroom and kitchen, but the one that had been supposed to be a bedroom had become Jin’s darkroom. That’s why he lived in only one room, but he had gotten used to it.
Sitting down at his bed, he put the bag beside him and took one beer, opening it to gulp it down.
With a deep breath, Jin stretched and then took his camera out, before he went without any further distraction to his darkroom and started to develop the negatives.
This was what was making him happy. The moment he got to see the motives he had taken in his pictures, relive them, remember what it had been like and sometimes even find something completely different than what he had seen, when he had taken it.
He laughed at one picture of a family playing with a ball. The ball had a strange position; it seemed much taller than the persons.
Jin went on developing the negatives, putting aside one photo after another.
He recognized the one picture, even before it was completely visible. It slowly took form and Jin knew which one it was.
He looked beautiful; gentle in his features, calm in his position. The light made him glow, his face was almost not visible anymore, but it was still obvious he smiled.
The cherry blossoms surrounded him and Jin stood for a while, just staring at the picture.
He shook his head and put it aside to take care of the rest.
It was already late at night, when he was finally done. He took the pictures with him to look at them again, before he’d go to sleep; to sort out which ones were good and which ones he could throw away.
The one he had taken of the teacher wasn’t one of the beautiful ones, actually. Technically, it wasn’t a good shot, but something made Jin put it to the ones he would keep, though.
He stared at it for a bit longer, wondered where exactly that beauty came from. Frowning, Jin rolled to his back and held the picture over his face, so that he could look at it.
It was surely strange, he figured then. He looked so calm and perfect and beautiful, happy, yet a bit melancholic, probably.
He reminded Jin of the man from the fairy tale, watching the cherry tree like that.
It really was strange, he thought again, just realising it now that the story had sunken in.
It had been the first time in Jin’s life that he had been told a fairy tale that didn’t have a happy ending.
“Akanishi-san!”
Jin turned his head, as he put his camera into its bag and gave his boss a curious look.
It had been almost two years, since he had been just an assistant at the place he worked at; in summer, he’d be a professional photographer for two years.
“This is Tamamori Yuta-kun”, his boss said, pointing at the boy behind him. “He’s an intern here for the upcoming week.”
Jin turned to them and nodded his head at the younger boy. He was quite small, had a pretty face, rather angular and friendly looking eyes. His hair was dyed almost blond. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too”, he said and bowed to Jin. “Please take care of me.”
“I want you to take him with you for this week, if it’s okay for you.”
Jin looked surprised, but the nodded vehemently. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
His boss smiled. “I think he can learn a lot from you, so work hard.”
“I will”, Jin answered and then smiled at Yuta, before he followed his supervisor. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
“It’s just, for that project for the day-care project you assigned me to; I am not really satisfied with the way it’s heading to.” Jin shrugged a shoulder. “The pictures we’ve taken here all don’t really suit the slogan and idea.”
“So, I guess you have something in mind?”
Nodding, he pulled a file from his bag and handed it to his chef. “Actually, I looked up a few day-care centres and called them. There is one that would be willing to let me come for the next two weeks to work with the children there and take pictures.”
The man looked at the file, quickly read through the information, before he handed it back to Jin. “I believe you’ll get the best out of this project.”
“Thank you very much”, Jin said, bowing, as his boss just patted his shoulder and then walked off.
Satisfied, Jin put the file away again and turned again, seeing his new trainee patently waiting for him to give him something to do.
“Yuta-kun, right?”
The boy nodded. “Yes, Akanishi-san?”
“Do you like children?”
He tilted his head and then nodded. “Yes, I think.”
“I guess you’ll spend your week here mostly with them”, Jin informed him and took the camera Yuta held to have a closer look. “This is a good one. Did you choose it?”
Yuta nodded. “I’ve had this one for a few years already, but it’s the one I work with best.”
Jin smiled. “Okay, then, get your things ready; we’ll leave in thirty minutes.”
The younger boy followed him, as he left the studio. “Where are we going to?”
“Out, just somewhere that’s not giving you walls, for starters.”
Yuta blinked his eyes, then he turned to get his jacket and his equipment and supplies.
As Jin came back after a while, he was ready to leave, waiting for any order. But Jin didn’t order anything, instead, he asked the younger one where he’d want to head to.
“We’ll just have to be at our next job in about an hour. So, show me what you work like.”
“I guess I am not like that”, Yuta answered, as they headed out of the building. “I just take pictures of what comes my way. It’s not like I’d go out with a purpose, thinking that today, I would take pictures of only this or that.”
Jin nodded. “I see; that’s good already.”
“Is it?”
Laughing, he ruffled the boy’s hair. “It is. Let’s see what we’ll come across on our way to the day-care centre.”
Yuta nodded and followed him, preparing his camera to start working.
Jin watched him, as they walked through one of the parks, smiling at how the boy focused a lot more on people than on nature motives.
He took some photos himself, but took his time to advise Yuta, whenever he noticed something about his ways. But he decided to rather guide him properly when they’d be working. As for now, it was fine to just let him work his way.
Jin stood at the edge of the path, taking shots of a few people having lunch together, as something blurred his view. He lowered his camera and looked down to find what had flattered in front of his viewfinder. A single, small and pinkish petal lay to his feet and Jin frowned, seeing it, before he looked up to search for the tree.
There was one a few meters away, not yet really blooming, only a few blossoms had made it already.
Cherry blossoms, Jin remembered and looked down again. It had been two years, but even now, he remembered it.
Las year, when the cherry blossoms had started to bloom, Jin had stood dazzled beneath the glorious in spring and he had remembered the fairy tale he had heard the year before. Had remembered the sight of that man, his voice, his gentle expression.
It was the same now, Jin thought and kneeled to look closer at the petal.
Cherry blossoms made him remember the story, made him remember how he had felt that day. And they reminded him of that person he had never gotten to know, but somehow couldn’t forget at all.
Slowly, he lifted his camera again and took a picture of the single petal, then he raised and looked for Yuta.
“Yuta-kun, let’s go, we’ll be late.”
“Yes!” His trainee came over and smiled widely. “What exactly are we going to do with the kids?”
“We have an assignment from a company and their concept for their advertisement is something you could frankly call ‘Happy Children’, so we need to hand in pictures and materials of exactly those.”
“And that takes two weeks?” Yuta frowned. “Isn’t a day enough?”
“Usually, a day would be enough”, Jin agreed, as they left the park through a huge gate. “But they are children. They need to get used to us, otherwise they won’t act normally in front of the camera.”
“I see”, Yuta mumbled. “I hope they won’t hate me.”
Laughing, Jin stopped in front of a building and held the door for the boy. “Just act normally, then it’ll be fine.”
They walked in and Jin made his way to the office first, knocking the door. “Excuse me, is someone here?”
“Please, come in, come in”, a voice answered and Jin opened the door, facing a middle-aged woman with a friendly face and a pink apron. Her hair was tied into two tails and she smiled at them. “You must be the photographers.”
Jin nodded and she took a stepped outside.
“I am Haruka-Sensei, I am the head of the teachers here. The principal is not here, at the moment.”
“I am Akanishi Jin, and this is Tamamori Yuta.” Jin bowed slightly to her. “It’s fine, I already talked to her over the phone, but I would like to introduce myself later and say my thanks.”
She smiled. “I’ll tell her to go and see you, as soon as she’s going to be back.” Then she pointed down the corridor and went ahead. “We decided to let you follow one class, since it wouldn’t be easy to have all children get used to you. It’s probably easier for you to just concentrate on one class and they will get attached to you much sooner.”
Agreeing, Jin followed her, until she stopped at a room. She turned to them again. “This is the tulip class, the class you’re going to work with.”
She opened the door slightly and without the children noticing, she called out the teachers.
A young woman in a yellow apron came out of the room with a bright smile. She was pretty; her brown hair tied back in a knot. She had a round face and light brown eyes, framed by dark lashes.
“This is Hitomi-Sensei. If there’s anything, please talk to her.”
“Nice to meet you”, Jin introduced himself and bowed to her, then he introduced Yuta.
“Where is he again?” Haruka-Sensei turned to look back into the room and after a few moments, she came back out, a young man following her.
Jin’s eyes widened, as he immediately recognized him. His hair was shorter, but still brunette and his expression still calm and gentle. He smiled at them.
“Kazuya-Sensei is the teacher for this class, as well.”
“Kazuya-Sensei”, Jin repeated quietly and the man bowed to him.
“Nice to meet you, I am looking forward to work with you.”
His voice, Jin thought, and could only look at him, before he remembered his manners and bowed, as well. It sounded just the way he remembered it. “Likewise.”
“Okay, shall we introduce you to the children first?” Hitomi-Sensei went ahead to go inside again.
Kazuya pointed out for them to follow and he smiled in a friendly way, as Yuta hesitated. “It’s okay, they are all nice.”
Jin went in first and Yuta followed him, then Kazuya closed the door.
The room was huge and fluted with light from big windows. There were small tables in the middle of the room and a huge area in the back where a lot of boxes were placed. At the walls, all kinds of drawings were placed.
“What are your first names?”
Jin looked at Kazuya and frowned. “Jin, I am Jin and he’s Yuta.”
“Yuta is a pretty name”, Kazuya answered and smiled at the younger one. “It’s easier for the children to remember your first names, if that’s okay with you.”
Yuta nodded immediately. “It is. They can call me by my nickname, too, if they want!”
Kazuya laughed and Jin couldn’t look away. “It’s okay, Yuta-kun. Are you fine with that, too?” He directed the question at Jin.
The older one nodded and looked away again, watched the other teacher getting around checking on the kids.
“Okay, everyone, listen up!” Jin watched, as Kazuya clapped his hands to get the children’s attention. “Come over here for a moment!”
Everyone did as they were told and gave him and Yuta curious looks.
“This is Jin-kun. He has come here to spend the next weeks playing with you. He will take photos of everyone”, Kazuya introduced them. “And this is Yuta-kun who will help Jin-kun out a lot, so please be nice to them, okay?”
The kids all got louder again and gathered around Jin and Yuta, asking questions, dragging them further into the room.
As they had silenced down again, finding back to their previous activity, Jin leaned in to Yuta. “As for today, we’ll just get them used to having us around. We’ll start taking pictures tomorrow.”
Yuta nodded in agreement and turned back to a few kids who where drawing something.
Jin stood and walked around the room for a bit, finding out where there was enough light, in which corners he’d be able to get good shots in the right light.
“Have you been working with kids before?”
Jin turned to look at Kazuya and shook his head. “Not like this.”
“You seem rather irritated.”
Frowning, Jin tilted his head. “Do I?”
“Yuta-kun is openly approaching them, but you’re hesitant”, Kazuya noticed.
“I’m just not that quick, that’s all.”
Kazuya smiled again and leaned against a board. “However, if you need anything, please let me know.”
Jin just nodded and walked off again, over to the piano to look over the room from that angle. After all, he was there for work.
He secretly watched Kazuya, as he got over to some of the children und helped them building a house with blocks.
Seeing him like this again, his aura was still gentle, still warm. But it had somehow lost the magic, since he wasn’t just anyone from Jin’s memory anymore.
Somehow, Jin thought and it strangely made his heart feel heavy, it was as if the fantasy, that fairy tale of his own he had treasured so much, had come to reality.
But in reality magic didn’t exist.
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CONTINUES HERE
The sounds were monotonous, but Jin loved them, however. They meant he was working, he was productive, he was capturing moments he’d probably never forget.
Looking at the scenery in front of him, Jin smiled.
The park was huge and it was a lovely day. The sky was blue, with only a few white fluffy clouds making their way through. People were having picnics, couples on dates were walking hand in hand, families were playing games in the huge meadow.
Along the road, the cherry trees were blooming, painting everything in a light pink.
Jin raised his camera again, took a picture as a light breeze made the petals dancing down to the ground. Children came running in his direction and he took a couple of pictures of them, watched them then, as they tried further on to catch the petals.
This kind of work was what he liked most. Taking shots of people the way they were, without them noticing they were photographed.
He liked his work in the studios quite a lot, as well, but this was much more relaxing. People looked a lot different when they didn’t know they were being observed. Jin liked the natural gestures, the unforced smiles.
He slowly went on, holding his camera, while he looked around, let everything take over him, so that he would find the next motive to keep.
“Okay, everyone, gather around”, Jin heard someone saying loudly and turned his head to where the voice came from. The children he had photographed before were running past him yelling happily and gathered in a crowd in the meadow.
Jin stopped and watched the scenery, took a few pictures of the children.
“Okay, we will read a story to you now”, the woman said and sat down. The children did the same. “Who wants to listen to a fairy tale?”
The children all made approval sounds, their voices excited.
Jin came a little closer and frowned, as he saw a young man in a blue apron joining the crowd, bringing in a few more kids.
A fairy tale, he thought and tilted his head, holding his camera to his chest. Right, there had been a time, long ago, when he’d been a young boy, as well; when he had believed in fairy tales.
The children were quiet, when the man sat down in front of them with a smile. As he started to speak, Jin noticed that his slightly husky voice was actually perfect for storytelling and he decided to stay and listen to it, as well.
“Once upon a time in a certain place, a young man, who had lost his parents as a child, was living in a lonely place at the foot of a mountain”, the teacher started the story. “The village was far away and socializing was not the young man’s strong point, so he was living a humble self-sustaining life; still he was a gentle hearted man working all day on his field, and if there was something that he needed, he would descend to the village to exchange things and supply himself, so he was satisfied with his daily life.”
Jin smiled over that, listening further on. The hero of a fairy tale didn’t have to be a knight or king, a shining prince or a brave adventurer, but always, he would have a gentle heart and kindness, as well as ambition.
He listened to how the man always went to a small shrine at a cherry tree every day and looked up at the trees around them.
Apparently, the teacher had chosen a fairy tale fitting the season.
He told the kids about how the man one day found the holy Jizō of the shrine replaced and its bib muddled. The man had moved the holy Jizō back to its place in the shrine, and had left his own towel for him, replacing the bib that couldn’t be used anymore.
Jin leaned against the tree next to him and wondered if any of the kids would remember this. Help others, and give when you have something you can give, even if it wasn’t much.
“That night, when he was lying exhausted in bed, someone came to the young man’s house to visit. Knock, knock…knock, knock, knock… ‘Who could this be… in the middle of the night…’” The teacher changed his voice and the children were watching him with huge eyes. Jin took a photo, amused by how tense the kids were.
”Besides the fact that usually nobody came to visit, now it was happening in the middle of the night. He took the hoe that stood hanging on the wall, then approached timidly and opened the lock at the entrance. When he opened the door, he was so astonished that he dropped the hoe from his hands.”
The children were making gasping sounds, and the young man took a break, gazing at them to raise the tension.
”There was a beautiful, well dressed girl, standing all alone, gazing at him.”
There she is, Jin thought, taking another picture. The beautiful princess had appeared, the damsel in distress.
“She had been searching for her mother for a long time, and just asked to spend the night in the man’s house. And of course, the man had let her stay, offering her from the little he could share.”
The teacher smiled at them, as they all made agreeing sounds, praised the hero of the tale.
“After some time the two fell in love with each other, so they spontaneously exchanged vows and became husband and wife”, he continued and Jin giggled, as the girls in the crowd made excited noises. “The girl was looking for her mother as always but, as she couldn’t find her, not even clues about her, both she and her husband eventually ran out of ideas.”
Jin turned, still listening on, but he had spotted an interesting form at the ground, so he took a few shots of that, while the story continued: “After exactly one year since the girl had come, the young man noticed something strange. For some mysterious reason, as it was already past spring, petals of cherry tree flowers came from somewhere fluttering about the house now and then.”
Jin turned just in time to see the teacher tilt his head, making a doubtful face. “‘How strange, isn’t it?’, the man always said.”
“It’s strange, it’s strange!” The kids agreed and moved at their spots, obviously having problems to sit still.
“It wasn’t such a big deal, so he didn’t pay special attention to this, but every time he found flower petals, he stood wondering.”
It’s that easy, Jin thought and watched the teacher more closely. Those small things that made one wonder were always those people didn’t spend further attention to. If one doesn’t understand something, then he would just wonder, but wouldn’t search for the reason behind it.
“One day, when they went together as always to the place of the holy Jizō, they found a crowd there.” He was actually pretty, in Jin’s mind. Probably the same age as him. His hair was light brunette and reached his shoulders, when he smiled it looked gentle and genuine. But then again, Jin figured, that was just typical for nursery teachers. It was rare to see a male one, though. He wondered if they had a labelling. “The young man turned towards a man who was looking at the cherry tree and was grumbling something for himself and asked: ‘Is something happening? Why is everybody gathered here?’ The man answered: ‘No, it’s just that it’s been decided that we should cut this tree, but it’s harder than we thought.’”
“Noooo”, most of the children yelled. “They shouldn’t, they mustn’t!”
The teacher smiled slightly and nodded at that, before he continued his story. Jin wondered how his expression could change so quickly, because when he went on, he told them about how sad both the man and the girl were that the cherry tree had to be cut and that at night, they were talking about it. That the girl confessed to the man she would have to leave him, because she was the spirit of that said cherry tree.
Jin’s amused smile over the little story faded, as the teacher said in a sad and quiet voice:
“The young man was crying aloud but the girl’s figure had already vanished; only one fluttering flower petal was left of her.” He looked sympathetically at the children who all watched him with huge, expecting eyes. “With that petal in his palm the young man stood sobbing and he could only hear the girl’s faint voice: ‘From now on, I’ll go on watching over you. Please, don’t forget about me. Before they cut down that cherry tree, take a twig from it and put it the house. That will remind you of me, so please take care of it.’”
He paused again and Jin could only stare at his gentle expression, the calm smile. How could he look that calm, telling such a sad story?
Then Jin let go of his breath and had to slightly laugh over himself. He had been too taken in by the story. It was a fairy tale; of course the teacher telling it could smile. He knew the ending. And in a fairy tale endings were always happy.
“Did she come back?” A girl’s voice was heard.
The young man looked at her and smiled a bit wider. “Let me tell you what the man did.”
Everyone was looking at him again and Jin found himself listening in tension, as well, wanting to know how they would get together again.
“Doing as he was told, he took a twig of the cherry tree and arranged it in a corner of the house. Afterwards he never saw the girl again and never heard her voice, but during his whole life, no matter how seasons changed or how many years passed, the twig never withered and went on making beautiful flowers bloom.”
It kept silent, and he stood again, patting his knees to remove any grass or mud that could have gotten there. “The End.”
“Eeeh? That was a sad ending!” One of the boys stood, as well. “Why didn’t they stay together?”
The teacher smiled at him. “They did. The twig of the tree never withered, she did watch over him for forever, just as she had promised.”
The female teacher with him stood now, as well and Jin saw her approaching his side. “Wasn’t that a lovely fairy tale, everyone?”
A girl pointed at a tree, looking at her with curious eyes. “Does that tree have a spirit, too? Just as the one in the fairy tale?”
The teacher nodded. “They all have.”
“Can we meet them?”
“If you take care of them, you probably can, one day.”
Jin smiled at that. Ah, the moral of the story. Care for your environment and treat everyone the way you would want to be treated yourself.
It was cute, the way the kids believed it and gathered around the tress, watching it closely.
Jin took a few pictures of them, smiled at how they all tried to get closer.
As he had taken enough pictures of it, he turned again to leave, but his attention was caught by the young man, watching them. He hadn’t noticed Jin, other than the female teacher who every now and then threw him a glance. As he had noticed she knew she was being photographed, Jin had left her out.
But the man hadn’t noticed him and the way he stood there, watched the cherry tree next to him with a smile, his head slightly raised, while the slight breeze made the light pink petals fall around him, his hair slightly moving, and his frame soaked in the golden sunlight - Jin couldn’t resist taking pictures.
“Everyone, we’re going to go back now, it’s time for the afternoon snacks”, the female teacher said then and the kids came running back and Jin saw the young man turning to them, smiling widely as he took a boy’s hand, talking to him.
They came into his direction and Jin quickly turned to get away. He got back to the path and took some random pictures, acting busy and completely engrossed in his work.
He turned his head once more, as the voices faded and looked after them, then he went on, looking for the next scenery to capture.
As it had gotten dark and Jin had taken the last pictures, he stopped by at a convenience store to buy some rice balls and some beer for dinner, before he went home.
His apartment was rather small and not always looking neat. At the moment, it was rather messy, but he didn’t really care. It wasn’t like he’d expect anyone, however.
Working at an assistant in a photography studio was taking a lot of time, and he loved the days like today, when he was off and could get around to take some pictures for himself.
Actually, this apartment had two rooms aside from bathroom and kitchen, but the one that had been supposed to be a bedroom had become Jin’s darkroom. That’s why he lived in only one room, but he had gotten used to it.
Sitting down at his bed, he put the bag beside him and took one beer, opening it to gulp it down.
With a deep breath, Jin stretched and then took his camera out, before he went without any further distraction to his darkroom and started to develop the negatives.
This was what was making him happy. The moment he got to see the motives he had taken in his pictures, relive them, remember what it had been like and sometimes even find something completely different than what he had seen, when he had taken it.
He laughed at one picture of a family playing with a ball. The ball had a strange position; it seemed much taller than the persons.
Jin went on developing the negatives, putting aside one photo after another.
He recognized the one picture, even before it was completely visible. It slowly took form and Jin knew which one it was.
He looked beautiful; gentle in his features, calm in his position. The light made him glow, his face was almost not visible anymore, but it was still obvious he smiled.
The cherry blossoms surrounded him and Jin stood for a while, just staring at the picture.
He shook his head and put it aside to take care of the rest.
It was already late at night, when he was finally done. He took the pictures with him to look at them again, before he’d go to sleep; to sort out which ones were good and which ones he could throw away.
The one he had taken of the teacher wasn’t one of the beautiful ones, actually. Technically, it wasn’t a good shot, but something made Jin put it to the ones he would keep, though.
He stared at it for a bit longer, wondered where exactly that beauty came from. Frowning, Jin rolled to his back and held the picture over his face, so that he could look at it.
It was surely strange, he figured then. He looked so calm and perfect and beautiful, happy, yet a bit melancholic, probably.
He reminded Jin of the man from the fairy tale, watching the cherry tree like that.
It really was strange, he thought again, just realising it now that the story had sunken in.
It had been the first time in Jin’s life that he had been told a fairy tale that didn’t have a happy ending.
“Akanishi-san!”
Jin turned his head, as he put his camera into its bag and gave his boss a curious look.
It had been almost two years, since he had been just an assistant at the place he worked at; in summer, he’d be a professional photographer for two years.
“This is Tamamori Yuta-kun”, his boss said, pointing at the boy behind him. “He’s an intern here for the upcoming week.”
Jin turned to them and nodded his head at the younger boy. He was quite small, had a pretty face, rather angular and friendly looking eyes. His hair was dyed almost blond. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too”, he said and bowed to Jin. “Please take care of me.”
“I want you to take him with you for this week, if it’s okay for you.”
Jin looked surprised, but the nodded vehemently. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
His boss smiled. “I think he can learn a lot from you, so work hard.”
“I will”, Jin answered and then smiled at Yuta, before he followed his supervisor. “There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
“It’s just, for that project for the day-care project you assigned me to; I am not really satisfied with the way it’s heading to.” Jin shrugged a shoulder. “The pictures we’ve taken here all don’t really suit the slogan and idea.”
“So, I guess you have something in mind?”
Nodding, he pulled a file from his bag and handed it to his chef. “Actually, I looked up a few day-care centres and called them. There is one that would be willing to let me come for the next two weeks to work with the children there and take pictures.”
The man looked at the file, quickly read through the information, before he handed it back to Jin. “I believe you’ll get the best out of this project.”
“Thank you very much”, Jin said, bowing, as his boss just patted his shoulder and then walked off.
Satisfied, Jin put the file away again and turned again, seeing his new trainee patently waiting for him to give him something to do.
“Yuta-kun, right?”
The boy nodded. “Yes, Akanishi-san?”
“Do you like children?”
He tilted his head and then nodded. “Yes, I think.”
“I guess you’ll spend your week here mostly with them”, Jin informed him and took the camera Yuta held to have a closer look. “This is a good one. Did you choose it?”
Yuta nodded. “I’ve had this one for a few years already, but it’s the one I work with best.”
Jin smiled. “Okay, then, get your things ready; we’ll leave in thirty minutes.”
The younger boy followed him, as he left the studio. “Where are we going to?”
“Out, just somewhere that’s not giving you walls, for starters.”
Yuta blinked his eyes, then he turned to get his jacket and his equipment and supplies.
As Jin came back after a while, he was ready to leave, waiting for any order. But Jin didn’t order anything, instead, he asked the younger one where he’d want to head to.
“We’ll just have to be at our next job in about an hour. So, show me what you work like.”
“I guess I am not like that”, Yuta answered, as they headed out of the building. “I just take pictures of what comes my way. It’s not like I’d go out with a purpose, thinking that today, I would take pictures of only this or that.”
Jin nodded. “I see; that’s good already.”
“Is it?”
Laughing, he ruffled the boy’s hair. “It is. Let’s see what we’ll come across on our way to the day-care centre.”
Yuta nodded and followed him, preparing his camera to start working.
Jin watched him, as they walked through one of the parks, smiling at how the boy focused a lot more on people than on nature motives.
He took some photos himself, but took his time to advise Yuta, whenever he noticed something about his ways. But he decided to rather guide him properly when they’d be working. As for now, it was fine to just let him work his way.
Jin stood at the edge of the path, taking shots of a few people having lunch together, as something blurred his view. He lowered his camera and looked down to find what had flattered in front of his viewfinder. A single, small and pinkish petal lay to his feet and Jin frowned, seeing it, before he looked up to search for the tree.
There was one a few meters away, not yet really blooming, only a few blossoms had made it already.
Cherry blossoms, Jin remembered and looked down again. It had been two years, but even now, he remembered it.
Las year, when the cherry blossoms had started to bloom, Jin had stood dazzled beneath the glorious in spring and he had remembered the fairy tale he had heard the year before. Had remembered the sight of that man, his voice, his gentle expression.
It was the same now, Jin thought and kneeled to look closer at the petal.
Cherry blossoms made him remember the story, made him remember how he had felt that day. And they reminded him of that person he had never gotten to know, but somehow couldn’t forget at all.
Slowly, he lifted his camera again and took a picture of the single petal, then he raised and looked for Yuta.
“Yuta-kun, let’s go, we’ll be late.”
“Yes!” His trainee came over and smiled widely. “What exactly are we going to do with the kids?”
“We have an assignment from a company and their concept for their advertisement is something you could frankly call ‘Happy Children’, so we need to hand in pictures and materials of exactly those.”
“And that takes two weeks?” Yuta frowned. “Isn’t a day enough?”
“Usually, a day would be enough”, Jin agreed, as they left the park through a huge gate. “But they are children. They need to get used to us, otherwise they won’t act normally in front of the camera.”
“I see”, Yuta mumbled. “I hope they won’t hate me.”
Laughing, Jin stopped in front of a building and held the door for the boy. “Just act normally, then it’ll be fine.”
They walked in and Jin made his way to the office first, knocking the door. “Excuse me, is someone here?”
“Please, come in, come in”, a voice answered and Jin opened the door, facing a middle-aged woman with a friendly face and a pink apron. Her hair was tied into two tails and she smiled at them. “You must be the photographers.”
Jin nodded and she took a stepped outside.
“I am Haruka-Sensei, I am the head of the teachers here. The principal is not here, at the moment.”
“I am Akanishi Jin, and this is Tamamori Yuta.” Jin bowed slightly to her. “It’s fine, I already talked to her over the phone, but I would like to introduce myself later and say my thanks.”
She smiled. “I’ll tell her to go and see you, as soon as she’s going to be back.” Then she pointed down the corridor and went ahead. “We decided to let you follow one class, since it wouldn’t be easy to have all children get used to you. It’s probably easier for you to just concentrate on one class and they will get attached to you much sooner.”
Agreeing, Jin followed her, until she stopped at a room. She turned to them again. “This is the tulip class, the class you’re going to work with.”
She opened the door slightly and without the children noticing, she called out the teachers.
A young woman in a yellow apron came out of the room with a bright smile. She was pretty; her brown hair tied back in a knot. She had a round face and light brown eyes, framed by dark lashes.
“This is Hitomi-Sensei. If there’s anything, please talk to her.”
“Nice to meet you”, Jin introduced himself and bowed to her, then he introduced Yuta.
“Where is he again?” Haruka-Sensei turned to look back into the room and after a few moments, she came back out, a young man following her.
Jin’s eyes widened, as he immediately recognized him. His hair was shorter, but still brunette and his expression still calm and gentle. He smiled at them.
“Kazuya-Sensei is the teacher for this class, as well.”
“Kazuya-Sensei”, Jin repeated quietly and the man bowed to him.
“Nice to meet you, I am looking forward to work with you.”
His voice, Jin thought, and could only look at him, before he remembered his manners and bowed, as well. It sounded just the way he remembered it. “Likewise.”
“Okay, shall we introduce you to the children first?” Hitomi-Sensei went ahead to go inside again.
Kazuya pointed out for them to follow and he smiled in a friendly way, as Yuta hesitated. “It’s okay, they are all nice.”
Jin went in first and Yuta followed him, then Kazuya closed the door.
The room was huge and fluted with light from big windows. There were small tables in the middle of the room and a huge area in the back where a lot of boxes were placed. At the walls, all kinds of drawings were placed.
“What are your first names?”
Jin looked at Kazuya and frowned. “Jin, I am Jin and he’s Yuta.”
“Yuta is a pretty name”, Kazuya answered and smiled at the younger one. “It’s easier for the children to remember your first names, if that’s okay with you.”
Yuta nodded immediately. “It is. They can call me by my nickname, too, if they want!”
Kazuya laughed and Jin couldn’t look away. “It’s okay, Yuta-kun. Are you fine with that, too?” He directed the question at Jin.
The older one nodded and looked away again, watched the other teacher getting around checking on the kids.
“Okay, everyone, listen up!” Jin watched, as Kazuya clapped his hands to get the children’s attention. “Come over here for a moment!”
Everyone did as they were told and gave him and Yuta curious looks.
“This is Jin-kun. He has come here to spend the next weeks playing with you. He will take photos of everyone”, Kazuya introduced them. “And this is Yuta-kun who will help Jin-kun out a lot, so please be nice to them, okay?”
The kids all got louder again and gathered around Jin and Yuta, asking questions, dragging them further into the room.
As they had silenced down again, finding back to their previous activity, Jin leaned in to Yuta. “As for today, we’ll just get them used to having us around. We’ll start taking pictures tomorrow.”
Yuta nodded in agreement and turned back to a few kids who where drawing something.
Jin stood and walked around the room for a bit, finding out where there was enough light, in which corners he’d be able to get good shots in the right light.
“Have you been working with kids before?”
Jin turned to look at Kazuya and shook his head. “Not like this.”
“You seem rather irritated.”
Frowning, Jin tilted his head. “Do I?”
“Yuta-kun is openly approaching them, but you’re hesitant”, Kazuya noticed.
“I’m just not that quick, that’s all.”
Kazuya smiled again and leaned against a board. “However, if you need anything, please let me know.”
Jin just nodded and walked off again, over to the piano to look over the room from that angle. After all, he was there for work.
He secretly watched Kazuya, as he got over to some of the children und helped them building a house with blocks.
Seeing him like this again, his aura was still gentle, still warm. But it had somehow lost the magic, since he wasn’t just anyone from Jin’s memory anymore.
Somehow, Jin thought and it strangely made his heart feel heavy, it was as if the fantasy, that fairy tale of his own he had treasured so much, had come to reality.
But in reality magic didn’t exist.
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CONTINUES HERE