Page 6 of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop

‘That marks the end of my story,’ Fumiaki said, and left the flat a little while later. After seeing him off, Mio dragged herself back to sorting out the belongings, but she couldn’t seem to muster any strength in her arms and legs. Compared to the morning, she had slowed down considerably.

The guilt and bitterness she felt for knowing so little gradually turned into frustration with herself.

Based on what she’d just learned, there was supposedly a period in her life when she lived with only her mother, before Yoshihiro was born.

Why can’t I remember this? How did Mum cope with all of that?

But the most perplexing part of it all was that according to her mother, Mio had scolded her.

There was no way that could have happened.

While her mother may have given them a scolding from time to time, neither Mio nor Yoshihiro had the kind of relationship where they could confront her head-on.

So many questions flooded Mio’s head. Still, she somehow ploughed through the task of clearing out her mother’s things.

Eventually, at the back of the wardrobe, she found an old tangerine box made of wood.

Although it didn’t look like it would contain anything valuable, Mio’s intuition told her that whatever was inside were things that her mother cherished for a long time.

Sure enough, upon opening it, she discovered hers and Yoshihiro’s umbilical cords stored inside a box made of paulownia wood.

She also found all of her mother’s graduation certificates – elementary school, junior high school, high school and university – as well as her teaching license, and around twenty graduation yearbooks containing essays written by her students.

Seemingly hidden at the edge of the box was an envelope.

Inside it was a promissory note with her mother’s signature next to the word ‘Guarantor’.

Mio’s hand stopped short as a sigh escaped her.

Her mother had kept this piece of paper alongside items that marked important milestones of her life.

That realisation made her feel an emotion that she couldn’t quite describe – it wasn’t necessarily surprising, but it didn’t sit well with her either.

Why didn’t she tell me? Mio asked the same futile question again.

Although, at the same time, she also felt it was only natural that she didn’t.

Perhaps it was something Mio would never fully understand, as she was not a mother herself. She hated having to admit that.

At the very back of the wooden box, Mio found a paper bag containing something hard.

Reaching into the bag, she found that it was a book.

The Little Prince . Mio owned the copy of the same book, though she hadn’t opened it in quite a while.

As such thoughts went through her mind, she turned the cover.

The first thing that caught her eye was the illustration of the three baobab trees next to the title page.

It was at that moment that Mio’s memories came flooding back to her with such clarity, it was almost strange that she had ever forgotten them. That’s right, Mum used to read this book to me when I was little, she recalled.

The pages that followed the illustration had a different texture.

The main story began, and she immediately saw the famous drawing of ‘a boa constrictor digesting an elephant’.

The one where, in the story, the grown-ups would always say, ‘That is a hat.’ But the mysterious prince who appears in the desert understands the drawing straightaway.

And from then on, the prince becomes someone very special, not only to the pilot, who is the narrator, but also to the reader.

This is a rather challenging book to read to a child who hadn’t even started elementary school, Mio thought.

But then, out of nowhere, Mio’s stomach rumbled pitifully.

Remembering that she had skipped lunch, she wondered what to do.

Obviously, there was nothing shecould eat in the flat.

As Mio contemplated her options, her eyes landed on the north-facing window.

She gasped at the view before her. She hadn’t noticed them in the morning, but now, she could see that the bare trees she’d spotted seven weeks ago were somei-yoshino cherries.

With their blossoms in full bloom, they had transformed into a breathtakingly beautiful sight.

It was almost three o’clock. The sun had lowered quite a bit, but as far as she could see, the air was calm, perfect for a picnic under the cherry blossoms. She decided to head over to the trees. She would pick up some food on the way.

Feeling quite overwhelmed after everything she had heard, Mio had to admit that she wouldn’t mind stepping out from her mother’s flat for a while.

But something else had made her want to go – a kind of inexplicable pull, like someone was calling her.

Whatever it was, it was urging her to come immediately.

Mio glanced around the room. The cleaning could wait; she had come prepared to stay for several nights. Persuading herself that she had plenty of time, she locked the windows and got ready to leave, not forgetting to slip the copy of The Little Prince into her bag.

* * *

There was a convenience store along the single main road that led to the river. Imagining her mother walking the same path, Mio thought: Maybe this time last year, Mum stopped here to buy something before she went to the riverside, too .

The steep slope of the embankment was scattered with patches of green sprouting among the brown earth and dried grass, bright yellow flowers of rapeseed and dandelion poking their heads out here and there.

A paved cycling path cut across diagonally, heading upwards along the slope.

Following it with her eyes, Mio could see just the tips of the cherry trees above the crest of the embankment.

It looked almost as though the blossoms were idly floating in the sky, and she found herself smiling at the sight.

Returning her gaze to the slope, she realised just how steep it was.

She glanced down at her flat mules, which she had specifically chosen for the clear-out knowing she would be going in and out of the flat frequently.

Thank God I’m not wearing heels, she thought to herself as she took a step forward.

Partly because of the warm weather, by the time she reached the top, Mio was sweating a little.

But she quickly forgot about it and simply stood in awe.

The view was even more beautiful than she imagined.

Petals tinged with a pale, nearly white shade of pink filled the scenery, drifting through the air like confetti against theazure of the cloudless sky.

The petals fell so softly, everything around her seemed to move in slow motion.

For a moment, Mio wondered if time flowed differently here, then realised how foolish that thought was.

The path on the embankment was wider than Mio expected.

Despite the cherry blossoms being in peak bloom, there weren’t many people around.

An elderly gentleman wearing a hat strolled along, slowly leading his wife by the hand.

A woman carefully kept her two dogs on a short leash, making sure to give the couple plenty of room as she walked past them.

Halfway along the tree-lined path, Mio found a bench and sat down.

From the plastic bag containing her purchases from the convenience store, she pulled out a salmon-filled onigiri and a can of coffee.

Peeling off the plastic from her onigiri, she brought it to her mouth.

In the brief moment it took her to swallow that small bite, a single petal floated down and landed on her partially eaten onigiri. She ate, quietly taking in the scenery.

Even after she’d finished, Mio couldn’t bring herself to return to the flat and resume cleaning.

Gathering her now empty can of coffee and other pieces of rubbish into the plastic bag, she narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze towards the sky.

Although she was now directly facing the sun, its light wasn’t blinding.

That soft glow of spring caressed her warmly as the blossoms floated nonchalantly in the air, each petal giving off a gentle shimmer. The sight was indescribably stunning.

Lifting her bag, she reached into it to check her phone.

There were no new messages or calls. Then, glancing down at her bag again, she caught sight of The Little Prince .

She had forgotten that she had brought it along.

Placing her mother’s book on her lap, she flipped it open.

How many years had it been since she’d last read the story?

She was sure she would have read it as an adult – she had a copy of it somewhere in her studio – although it was likely buried under one of her messy piles of books.

As she leafed through the pages, the story she had long forgotten started to come back to her.

It was essentially the tale of a young prince’s adventures told through the narrator, a pilot – the author’s alter ego – who is left stranded after his plane crashes.

The inhabitants of various planets that the prince encounters in the first half of the book do not resemble typical fairy-tale characters; they are caricatures of narrow-minded grown-ups.

Despite this, the story does not appear overly satirical, perhaps owing to the illustrations created by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry himself.

The synergy between the art and the writing made the narrative of the two main characters truly unique.

The beauty of the story only deepened as it moved towards its conclusion.

Mio turned the pages fondly, savouring the feel of the paper beneath her fingertips as she searched for her favourite part of the book: the prince’s words as he bids farewell to his friend.