Miyuki Ogawa is a junior high school girl who lives in a block of high rise apartments with her

two parents. One morning in June, Miyuki decides not to go to school because of a typhoon.

Her parents soon leave the apartment to go to work. Left all alone in the living room, everything

around Miyuki suddenly reminded her of the heavy rain outside.

She began to imagine what

it was like.

The crowded train she usually took to school in the morning was probably filled

with the same rainy atmosphere - someone's wet umbrella soaking someone's skirt and legs,

businessmen cramped together with their clothes smelling of insecticide and the air conditioner

turned on too high, making all the damp clothes feel even colder...

After having only a yogurt that morning for breakfast, Miyuki returned to her room to resume

her work.

She was writing a novel that no one knew about yet.

It wasn't complete yet and even

if she did finish it, Miyuki didn't know what she was going to do with it afterwards. Miyuki

stretched a little and began manicuring her nails. "I probably just want to leave a trace of myself

behind in this world."

Miyuki soon noticed the wind had picked up outside her window as it howled through the gaps

between buildings. Sirens could be heard.

Pressing her ear towards the window she could hear

the trees violently swaying in the wind, trucks running through water and a sign being thrown

violently onto the ground. Scenes of the raging rain outside made their way into Miyuki's mind

again - roofs exposed to the roaring typhoon winds, the rusted cable cars, the empty crossings,

the deserted buildings, creaking lights and her classmates taking lessons quietly in class...

Staring at the white notepad before her, Miyuki thought about the possible future ahead of

her.

She'll be taking her final exams soon, wearing a new uniform and if it all goes well, she'll be

attending a private senior high school that only takes forty minutes to get to by train and she

will probably join the basketball club again.

She'll be working part-time and maybe go out with

a few boys. "After graduating from high school, I'll go to university," thought Miyuki to herself.

"Hmmm, university life... After that it'll be a career and marriage for me but that's not

something that I can really imagine.

Anyway, this novel I'm writing now shouldn't have any

effect on my future. But then what am I writing this for?"

"...No, my novel has nothing to do with any of that," thought Miyuki. "There's nothing I

want to be just now. I haven't done things I want to do yet. First I'm going to write this novel

because I want to know more about myself.

I'm sure there will be a whole new world that I'll

be able to reach out to once I'm finished."

Miyuki noticed the wind had stopped now. Silence hung peacefully in her room.

Looking up

she could see how bright it had suddenly become outside. Rays of sunlight were bursting through

the clouds... The sound of Miyuki's sandals echoed as she opened the window and stepped out

onto the veranda. What a world that laid before her eyes!

Just moments ago the town was drenched in rain but now, it was glowing brightly as dazzling

rays of sunlight illuminated of it. The clouds above were breaking up and dashes of the blue sky

could be seen. Small black clouds were being whisked quickly away by the strong winds

overhead

in the sky."This is the first time I've seen anything like this. Yes, this must be the eye of the storm..."

Looking at the sky from the high veranda, Miyuki thought the blue colour was a sad one.

It

was so far away and so high. Even though she knew she couldn't reach out to touch it, Miyuki

stretched out her hands. She didn't know why but under that powerful moment of time, she

broke down in tears.

It was a bright sunny morning the next day. Miyuki was walking down a side lane in between

buildings as she made her way to the station. Stopping, she turns round to look at the town

hidden away by the blue sky.

"No one would believe me if I tried to tell them what I saw

yesterday," thought Miyuki. "I don't know why but it's been bothering me... It's impossible to

leave any traces of my life behind in this big world."

"So yet why do I continue writing my story?" Miyuki looked away from the sky and continued

to walk again.

"Hey, it looks just like snow, "Akari had said.

It was seventeen years ago when she said that.We had just become elementary grade six students and we would always walk together around the small grove on our way home with our school bags on our little backs.

It was spring and a countless number of cherry blossoms were in full bloom on the lovely trees, their petals dancing in the beauty of silence in the air , covering the road beneath our feet in blanket of white.

The air was warm and the sky hung overhead as if it was a crystal clear and calm Ocean . Not far from us stretched the main road and the Odasaki railroad crossing but none of its noise seemed to reach us. Only the singing of birds could be heard as if a blessing from spring .

There was no one else around .It was as if it was just a painting of a certain spring scene. That's right. At least in my memories that moment of time was like a painting. You could say they were just a collection of images.

When I try to recollect those old memories, I feel as if I'm looking from outside a frame at a little distance. The boy had only just turned eleven and so was the girl who was around the same height as he was. I look at their figures as they run into the distance , the light that filled the world enveloped them naturally.

I was always watching them from behind in that painting. And every time it would always be the young girl who ran ahead first. When I remember that short moment of sadness that shook the heart of the young man, it makes even I who was now an adult feel just a little sadness.

In any case, I remember how Akari had described the shower of cherry blossom petals were like snow. But I never saw it that way. At that time, cherry blossoms were just cherry blossoms and snow was just snow to me.

"Hey, it looks just like snow."

"It does? Hmmm, maybe it does. . . "

"Oh, never mind," Akari said coldly walking two steps ahead quickly before turning around.

Her brown hair was shining as the light from the sky reflected of it and once again, she said something mysterious.

"Hey, I heard they fall at five centimetres per second."

"What?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Come on, think about it, Takaki-kun ."

I still didn't have any what she was talking about so I just honestly told her I didn't know.

"It's the speed cherry blossom petals fall at. They fall at five centimetres per second."

Five centimetres per second. It had a mysterious ring to it. I let her know how fascinated I was, "Wow, you know a lot of these things don't you, Akari."

"Heehee," Akari smiled happily.

"There's a lot I know. Rain falls at five centimetres per second. Clouds fall at one centimetre per second."

"Clouds? You mean the clouds in the sky?"

"Yes, the clouds in the sky."

"Clouds fall too? Don't they just oat?"

"Clouds fall too. They don't oat because they're composed of water vapour. It only looks like they're floating because they're so big and so far away. As the vapour expands in the clouds they grow bigger and bigger and then they fall to the surface as rain or snow."

"Wow. . . " I said as I looked up at the clouds in fascination and then back at the cherry blossoms again. Akari's young cheery, pleasant voice made it sound as if it was an important rule of the universe.

Five centimetres per second!.

'Wow !' she repeated, teasing me and suddenly broke into a run.

"Hey wait, Akari!" I cried as I ran after her.

I know it's been long since last updated and I'm sorry about that , i will try to update frequently and make the it interesting to read so make sure to support me , and hope everyone likes it .

let's get back to the story...

He started to think about the things they used to do while chasing Akari and what he felt . During that moment in time, it was a habit of akari and i to exchange little bits of knowledge

we learned from books and watching tv as we returned home.

little bits of knowledge that we

thought were important things such as the speed flower petals fell at, the age of the universe or

the temperature silver melted at .

it was as if we were a pair of squirrels desperately preparing for

our winter hibernation, or perhaps we were travellers sailing the seas ,

trying to learn astrology so

that we could gather the starlight scattered around the world. for some reason, we had seriously

thought these little bits of knowledge were going to be essential in our future lives.

yes. that was why both akari and i knew so much. we knew what position the stars were in

during the seasons, or in which direction and brightness jupiter must be at before it was visible

to the ***** eye .

we even knew why the sky was blue, why the earth had seasons,

when did the

neanderthals disappear and the names of the species that became extinct during the cambrian

period.

we were both extremely fascinated by everything that was much bigger and far away

from us. but for me, i've forgotten most of it all. all i know is that they were bits of knowledge

,

that i once knew were the truth to me.

from the moment i first met akari until the moment we separated i thought we were both

alike ,

that was around three years between elementary four and six. both of our fathers relocated

a lot due to work and we had both arrived at the same elementary school in tokyo.

i had moved

to tokyo from nagano when i was in elementary three and akari moved from shizuoka while she

was in elementary four.

Even now i remember how tense and nervous she looked as she stood in front of the blackboard on her first day at school.

she stood there hands clasped neatly together

in front of her as the spring light shone through the classroom windows on her, casting a shadow

from her shoulder up all the way to her long hair.

Her lips were nervously pursed together bright

red, her unblinking eyes wide open as her line of sight was fixed onto a single spot before her.

she reminded me of my own expression when i have arrived a year ago and immediately i felt we were closer to each other.

i think i was the one that spoke to her first and we quickly got along.

Akari was the only one who had the same strong opinions as i did about how students who

were brought up in setagaya seemed more mature,

how hard it was to breathe within the crowds

at the station, how surprisingly unpleasant tap water tasted. to us, they were all problems.

we were small and were prone to falling ill so we preferred staying in the library than being in

the playgrounds and that was why physical education classes were very unpleasant for us.

Both

akari and i were like adults who preferred to enjoy having a conversation with someone or to

read a book.

At the time my father was working at a bank and we were living in a company

owned apartment and , perhaps it was the same for akari which was why we went the same way

back home.

Naturally as if we needed each other, we always spent our breaks and after school

time together.

Of course, we were teased by many of our classmates a lot. now that i look back,

the way

they acted and the things they said to us were really just something kids commonly do but at that time ,

i couldn't really handle those situations very well and every time something happened,

i was hurt. the need we had for each other grew stronger because of that.

one day, something happened. i had gone to the toilet and was on my way back to the

classroom when i saw akari standing alone in front of the blackboard.

on the board there

was a drawing of an umbrella with both akari and my own name written underneath (that

could be considered harassment now i think about it),

while her classmates were standing afar

murmuring to each other, staring at akari. she had gone up to the blackboard trying to stop their harassment but was probably too embarrassed and had stopped half way.

I grew stiff at

the sight of her standing like that and without a word I walked into the classroom, grabbed the

duster and quickly wiped off the drawing .

I didn't know why but I grabbed Akari's hand and we ran out of the classroom.

We could hear the voices behind us getting excited but we ignored

them and continued running.

Even I couldn't believe how bold I was to do what I did but I

remembered how the softness of Akari's hand made my heart throb so hard,

I was almost dizzy

and for the first time, I felt there was nothing in the world to be afraid of.

I was sure many more

bad things were still to come in the rest of our lives but no matter what it was , whether it was

transferring between schools, taking exams, going to a foreign land or feeling uneasy meeting new people,

as long as Akari was there I would be able to endure it all. I think we were still too

young to call it love but at the time,

it was clear I liked Akari and I could clearly feel that Akari

liked me too .

As we ran with our hands held tightly together, the more I was certain of that

feeling.

As long as we had each other no matter what was going to happen, we strongly believed

there was nothing to be frightened of.