Where The Cherry-blossoms Bloomed

[Gladuos 857]

Spoiler

Just a short and sweet follow-up piece I did after my post about Shinobu about a year ago. Enjoy the read, if you would.

 

 

[Music]

“...Where’s my cane?”

Flashes in the night in a faraway place where the cherry-blossoms bloomed.
 

“Hello… Does anyone hear me? I’ve lost my cane…”

 

Like a haze and stuck in a feverish dream, he sees only cloud or grey smog. He feels so alone, so confused. There’s nowhere to run; he can’t even walk. The wound in his hip feels so fresh, so much more painful than ever before. A beam is seen in his peripherals.

 

A light appears in the darkness - a beacon for him to follow, but he cannot walk. It remains in the distance, out of his feeble reach. He hears someone calling so dimly. She wants him to come with her, but he can’t. The pain is too much.

 

The light at the end of the proverbial tunnel becomes dimmer the longer he waits. He crawls, but it looks to be speeding away. He tries to scream, but no words come. It’s not long before the light is gone. Then he feels it: he starts to choke. Coughing, coughing, coughing.

“Where’s… My family? My love, my life?” he rasps, like a whisper.

 

Blood pours from his neck as it starts raining. Or it sounds like rain, the pitter-patter of things falling all around, but it isn’t. Coins drop just close enough where he can make out their details. They clatter on the ground, but soon disappear. Eventually they start landing on him too. Metal falls upon him in the tons, crushing him under its weight. Yet he cannot die. He cannot die.

 

Memories of lying in the grass, crying, vowing he wouldn’t allow himself to go. There’s still so much to do - a man he must become. A respected man. Once he dreamed of being so skilled, so successful, that no one could touch him. Loved ones, honor, and fulfillment were all in the twinkle of his naive, youthful eyes... Now his eyes are dim.

 

“...Where am I?”