Sakura and Illya

Part 3: Taiyaki

Someone had written day 2 in pencil on a scrap of paper that had been sitting in the corner of Sakura's room. She had not noticed it until she woke up the next day and she soon realized it was from an English assignment she had torn up last year. Frost lingered in the air outside but the sun's rays opened up the snowy curtains and warmth reflected in prisms of melting icicles.

Yesterday, after the meal, Shirou waved goodbye, but not before asking Sakura if she had gone to see Illya at all in the last year. Maybe a couple of times she bumped shoulders with the regal girl on the way buying groceries, and they had exchanged tiny messages, but the war always seemed to creep out behind the purple coat and scare her from further approach.

The remnants of the Ishikari Nabe had been repurposed into Ojiya and placed neatly in Sakura's fridge as leftovers, and now, was being pulled out of the microwave and burning Sakura's fingers. She hopped as fast as she could to the table and dropped it down with a clank, then grabbed a spoon and began to eat. She stopped seeing anything past her breakfast. The taste was trapped in yesterday.

Well, Shirou had traveled through the deep tunnel of the forest to the Einzberg castle and finally got himself in front of the grand archway. He greeted the two maids and sneaked across long corridors and grand staircases to get to Illya's room. Though once inside, he became somber gazing at Illya's condition, and the journey back home started sluggish and lethargic, as if he caught the malady himself. But, being the Shirou that he is, he couldn't be depressed for too long, and eventually he made his way across the streets with determination.

He met Sakura's front door. For a moment, it wasn't so easy, he stepped around and took his hand up and down, not sure where to place it. The doorbell would be too loud, so he decided to knock and hope for the best.

Sakura opened the door just enough to fit herself through.

"Hello, um Senpai?" A gap in dialogue as they both waited for more.

"I think you should see Illya."

"You think?" She was still going in and out of hunger.

"She wrote about you, almost." Illya hopped out of bed yet again once she realized she left her diary wide open, but Shirou was already past the door. He tried to pretend he didn't notice anything, but Illya still wound up for a punch. Even with a follow through he felt the weakness in her fist. For her, the floor began to tilt and seasickness made her almost fall backwards, but Shirou caught her arm and reeled her back. Hugging the purple fish, for a while, and she put her arms on his shoulders, and realizing her openness, slipped away and dove back to her bed. This jammed the rest of the visit.

Sakura was confused at first. "Why?" tumbled out of her mouth and she blushed. She gripped her forearm for a minute and felt the pain again, then jolted her hand back as if she touched a hot plate.

"Not sure. It's up to you." Shirou shrugged in defense and then slowly backed down the front step.

They both said their goodbyes and Sakura was left back in the dark in the dusty main hall. She kept turning the lighter on and off in her stomach, and sometimes it would light up brighter than she realized. After this short moment of undecided momentum, she put on some heavy clothes and a puffy jacket and began her journey through even more planes of doubt.

She passed through the consumer alley, restaurants and little snack shops, and some Taiyaki caught her eye. She fished around for some extra change and bought one trapped in cellophane wrap. She kept it in the palm of her hand and tried not to smush the cake. She continued her walk through the remains of snow and frozen puddles.

Finally she breached the outskirts of the Einzbern forest. The evening was forming above the sky, through clouds, the calming yellows melting across gray and blue. The smell of decomposed leaves and moss saturated the air and the pathway into the forest was dripping with mud. A cold wind swept across her face and her ribbon swayed back to the city. She kept on again.

The branches of the trees sliced up the rare light into tiny points that swayed across disheveled roots. Mist sat in the trenches, and each step Sakura took was one to the depth of nowhere. Everything blurred into a nondescript maze. Anxiety pierced against her throat. Her foot slipped into a slush-filled hole and her ankle almost twisted. She staggered forward and her gut tightened, and once she finally regained her balance her body kept tense, eyes shut. Frozen, she clutched the Taiyaki to her chest, and unraveled. Her heart peeled away as she whimpered to the gaps of the forest. She breathed deep through a straw. Slowly, she crept her foot outwards to the ground. A deathtrap, she thought, is where she stood.

It would seem she was paralyzed there, but in her mind, she kept staring at that fish in plastic, and slowly, the fear was thawed out. The rust cracked off her bones. Her eyes peeled open. She began to move again, from the murky dead thicket, and eventually, found herself in a golden field below the giant castle.