At least for now, I want to keep looking at you, making sure you still have the smile that inspires me... ― Florence Joyce
xxxxxx
[Rinako]
WELL, if anyone could prove that curiosity kills a cat—-literally—-then I guessed there were a lot of cats that should've been dead by now. But seriously, that wasn't even the point here.
My point was... How did Setsuji manage to make me agree to go to that legendary tree with him? Heck! I didn't even know the name of the giant tree. But I had to be honest that it was a beautiful tree. The whole area appeared to have been stuck in the spring season whenever I noticed how lush that particular tree was.
"From what my mother told me, this tree is already standing there for more than 500 years," Setsuji started which made me change my focus to him.
"How did this tree end up having that kind of legend about eternal love? From the looks of this tree, it seems that a lot of entities and spirits reside here because of its age."
Gosh! I even had to make a joke like that—-if it was even considered a joke—-just for me to remove whatever awkwardness I was feeling at the moment whenever I see the serious expression on Setsuji's face.
But to my surprise, he smiled gently which made me slightly gape. Come to think of it, had he ever smiled like that to other people? I've seen this kind of smile from him quite a few times now whenever... he was with me. I would see it during those times I was feeling troubled or I wasn't in the mood at all...
He was smiling the same way at that moment as he simultaneously look at me and the tree. I wonder what was in his mind at the moment for him to smile at me like this?
"A long time ago—-or more than 500 years ago, to be specific, there were two small islands near this town of Yakuramoto. Each island had an influential family that ruled it. There weren't any indications that the two families were enemies, but they rarely had the chance to even have communications with each other. Until an unexpected chance came that two people coming from both islands met and fell in love with each other," Setsuji started the story and he wasn't even looking at me while doing that.
Instead, he was looking at the massive tree. Seriously, what was with this tree for this guy to look at it so intently? But I guessed even I couldn't deny the fact that I was feeling something strange about this tree. It wasn't a bad feeling or even a scary one.
Just... mysterious.
"Those two would always meet here where this tree stood since the first time they saw each other. Until their constant meeting blossomed into a love that they knew would even defy death. Like a love that would transcend space and time."
"Well, isn't that dramatic? Don't tell me that the ending of their love story was something tragic?"
That was when Setsuji faced me. "Their story wasn't like those usual old love stories. The one thing that was beautiful about their story was their promise to each other"
"You mean the promise that became the reason for this tree to bloom and grow?"
"According to the legend, whoever two people—-particularly a couple—-who truly love each other that would tie a sacred rope that has their names on it on any part of this tree will never be separated. The proof for that—-it's when you see the sacred rope you tied together to this tree eight years after that wasn't destroyed by any natural disasters that passed. That was what that couple did ever since they planted this tree here."
Ah... okay. So that's how it was. But in all fairness, that legend sounded sweet and romantic in my ears. But then... there seemed to be something missing with that story.
And heck! This jerk hadn't even answered my question yet about the ending of that ancient lovers' love story.
"You're changing the conversation, you know that? What happened to the couple? Did they end up together or did they end up separated?" Yes, I knew. I was being obstinate here but I was curious, okay?
"They ended up together in the end even though there were still people who were against their relationship. But their families weren't among those people who were antagonistic about the relationship of the couple. They'd been reunited even after they were separated by the people who couldn't accept that they loved each other."
After he said that, he walked straight towards the edge of the cliff. My eyes widened when I noticed that.
Just what kind of craziness was this guy thinking again, huh?
"Hey! Will you just come back here? Don't you dare even think of throwing yourself over the edge of that cliff while I'm here? You're going to get it from me this time!" There! I ended up shouting all of a sudden. He better not think of committing suicide in front of me or I would never forgive him at all.
'Hey... She's worried, she's just denying it.'
I hate this part of my brain! I wonder why conscience even had to exist, anyway—if you could call it conscience or just some bothersome thought trying to disturb my quiet mind.
But this crazy person just snickered. Seriously! I could whack him, to be honest.
"I don't have any plans of committing suicide, okay? I haven't even spread my charming genes to the world. I could do that when I'm done with all the things that I must do," he said with a grin that somehow made me cringe for some reason.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you being this conceited," I could only whisper to myself and raised an eyebrow before I snorted. "What are you going to do there, anyway?"
"I just want to show you something. Come on," he beckoned. And since I didn't want him to become even more persistent, I just did what he wanted.
I followed him and stopped near the spot where he stood. And from there, something caught my attention that also made me frown a bit.
"Stones?" I looked at Setsuji because of that. "You seriously wanted to show me these two stones in the middle of the sea?" Okay... not exactly lying in the middle but it was erected somewhere deep.
"They're not merely stones, okay? Just look at it carefully."
I sighed and did what he said. I did look at it carefully... until my eyes widen at what I saw. "Is this a joke? How did those stones shape like humans?"
What I saw was two human-shaped stones—or specifically, boulders—appeared to be holding each other's hands while facing each other. A braided rope bound them in a form of what appeared to be a figure 8.
"Is that the example of the sacred rope that you're mentioning a while back?" I asked before facing Setsuji. He nodded. "How come there were stones like that in this place?"
"It was their parents who put it there soon after the couple was killed by the earthquake that ultimately sank the two islands. It was said that they died without letting go of each other. They said that even in death, they refused to be separated. The parents knew the promise that the lovers had uttered and left to this tree—-" Setsuji paused and looked at the tree before facing me. "—-that's why they created the statue of the couple that faced the rising sun and placed in between this tree and the previous location of the two islands. Their refusal to let go of each other and the placing of the sacred rope in figure 8 was what started the 'Infinite Love' legend. But that legend was more known as "The Legend Of The Promise Tree" because of the tree where they uttered the promise that they would be together and love each other beyond eternity."
Now that was dramatic. Not to mention, cheesy. But hey, I had nothing against the legend. It was quite beautiful and romantic, to be honest. So I guessed that was what made me look at this giant Promise Tree, as well.
And then I thought of something.
What exactly was Setsuji's reason for him to tell me all this? Was the legend that important for me to know?
"Fukuizumi, was there even a time in your life that you believed in eternal love?" the jerk asked me in a serious tone all of a sudden. And I had to admit, that had surprised me but I did my best not to show it to him.
I didn't want him to have the assumption that I thought he was just kidding around. Because to be honest, even though I wanted to make myself believe that it was a joke, somewhere in my heart, I knew it wasn't like that at all.
Was I seeing another side of Setsuji because of this legend?
"I admit that I was having a hard time believing it existed before. But I won't deny that for once in my life, I wished that I could experience a love similar to that." I sighed after saying that. "But after what happened with Yushiro, I don't know what else I should believe anymore."
Wait a minute...
Why was this jerk even begin asking me this kind of question, anyway? What was going on? Was this the effect of the ice cream we ate earlier?
Then I heard him laugh. Okay, what was funny? "Hey! Try to be careful when you laugh. There's still tomorrow."
"You're saying those words as if I'm going to die the next day." He struggled to stop laughing but finally succeeded after saying that. "I just laughed because your words made me think of something."
"What do you mean?" I asked him with a frown.
Gosh! Would there even be a time that I won't frown at whatever this guy was going to say? I would seriously end up having so many wrinkles because of this, you know.
But anyway...
He faced me with another serious look that I wasn't even used to seeing from Setsuji. Seriously, what was going on with this guy? I was confused here, to be honest.
"W-will you stop looking at me like that?" Great! Did I have to stammer?
One side of his lips curved up. Oh, boy!
"Why? What kind of look I was giving to you, anyway?"
And this jerk had the guts to play innocent! Grr! Just a little more and I would end up smacking him. The one thing I didn't like about this guy was for him to outsmart me.
Well, if Setsuji ever tried to do that, then good luck to his face.
I narrowed my eyes and then his smile widened. I thought he got my message that I don't want to goof off.
"If you don't want me to tease you, then don't show that you're affected by my presence."
"And you're still acting conceited, huh?" I rolled my eyes and scoffed before returning my composure. "But seriously, why did you even bring me here? And how many girls have you brought here, anyway?"
But then I saw his gaze at the tree hardened. Did I say something bad?
"Why would I bring them here when they couldn't even understand my simple fascination with this tree and its legend? They only knew how to make themselves pretty in the face of others, fool around guys that caught their attention, and in the end, they would just destroy those guys' hearts that they played with. They were doing it without them even knowing that it wasn't just innocent hearts that were destroyed but also those people's desire to dream and live their lives much longer."
I had no idea what to say after that. I could feel the disgust and anger in Setsuji's voice as he was saying those words. This wasn't the usual Setsuji I knew. He was certainly different when he firmly spoke those words.
I guessed there were many things that I still didn't know when it comes to this guy.
"So Fukuizumi, don't let that Nakagome guy ruin your life and your dreams. He may have broken your heart but time will help you piece them back together again," he said in a serious tone. But that serious tone was also laced with concern and care that I knew I heard once before.
I couldn't help smiling because of that realization. "Is that the reason why you bring me here? To lecture me about what will happen if I let the past tear me and my dreams apart? Do you think I would allow that to happen?"
"You'll never know," he replied with a shrug.
"Past is past. I still have a life that I should pay attention to for me to dwell on things that are not important. Besides, I made a promise to you that time, right? I cried hard that time so I can start over for me to finally move on and let go. I was just doing that promise." It was the truth. I just hoped this guy would see the truth behind that.
Moments of silence surrounded the two of us soon after. He was looking at me in a way that seemed like he was weighing my words. But then, there was nothing to analyze about what I said, right? Besides, I only spoke the truth and nothing but the truth.
I saw him heave a sigh.
"That's good, then." And he smiled, only for a short while. "You know what? I had to be honest with you."
"On what?"
"I've been wishing for quite some time now... and even thinking about it."
What kind of drama was this guy going to show to me again? But I ended up waiting for him to continue.
"I hope this truce of ours could change everything between us."
It wasn't enough that I stiffened because of what he said. He did not just say something like that, right? But I didn't want to be a hypocrite. Couldn't he even notice it?
Couldn't he even notice that it was already too late for him to wish about something that was already happening?
But then again, what should I expect? He didn't know that. He didn't even notice that a lot of things were already changing between us.
"Rinako..." he called, startling me at the way he would call my name. I didn't know why but it sounded different whenever he would say it. He doesn't usually call me by my given name and that was understandable. But even so, it was different and really strange for me to hear him call my name. "Can we even make it possible to let this truce between us finally last?"
I could've sworn I stopped breathing upon hearing Setsuji asked me that.
But... what kind of answer was appropriate as a reply to his question?