As the cherry blossoms fall

...

Takahashi would let out a tiny sigh, feeling her face scrunch up at the pain she felt from standing up from her seat. While it didn't usually hurt to walk, for some reason, it always hurt her to stand up. She felt a blush of embarrassment come to her face as the person next to her gave her a weird look, she knew that they were judging her, but she just didn't know how they couldn't understand that she was in pain. She would quickly let out a quiet apology and make her way out of the classroom. Her original plan was to write them all a letter and stick it through their door, however... Thinking over it again, she realized that they would probably end up never opening the letter due to it not having a specific name on it.

So, she quickly discarded that idea and thought of a different one! One she funnily named "Plan Two! Talk to each brother one-on-one! Easiest to hardest seeming!" A long name, sure, but only she needed to know about it, so it didn't need to be something short... With a bright smile now on her face, she made her way down the stairs and to the courtyard. In all honesty, she rarely got to see how beautiful this place was. She just couldn't leave the house and go to school as much as she hoped she could. However, starting this year, she was told by the doctor that her time was almost up. A case where her Adenocarcinoma was getting worse far faster than it should've been. So, she decided that she was going to make this year the best one of her life. She was going to go every day and make friends!

It was now the end of the school year though. It was almost time for graduation... She should be happy, but... It was hard. No matter what she did now, it was almost her time. However, there was one more thing she needed—no—wanted to do. She wanted to at least talk to the sextuplets that went to her school. Kind of stupid, huh? The idea alone would make anybody laugh, she'd know... When she told some of her new friends that she made, they were all surprised and told her that it was a very stupid idea. Apparently, they were all idiots who didn't deserve the time of day.

In all honesty, Takahashi didn't understand why that was such a bad thing. So what if they were idiots? That just makes them funny and cool! In Takahashi's opinion, everything she saw them do made her laugh, even if it was slightly inappropriate for what was exactly happening at the time...

She could feel her legs coming to a quick stop as she noticed him sitting all alone on a bench. If there was one thing she noticed, it would be that as of late, the six of them have been avoiding each other like the plague at school. It honestly made her frown just thinking about it, she had put together that it was because everybody was comparing them to each other, which she could get would make anybody upset.

And all of a sudden, she felt far more nervous than usual. She was actually about to do this, she was about to talk to him! It was all going to be worth it. She would finally be able to do the one thing she had wanted to do since the start of the year.

And with that thought now stuck deep in her mind, a new form of confidence arose inside of her.

She felt her feet start back up again, and now she was once again moving towards where he was seated.

As she took the final step, finally standing in front of him, the one thing she noticed was how sad he looked. She didn't like that look in the slightest...

Then, a quiet "Eh?" was heard from his mouth. Despite his sad looks, he surprisingly had a pretty deep voice. All six of them had unique and different voices, also different looks if you didn't include their hair. She felt her nerves return slightly as he finally raised his head to look at her. "Uhm, who are you?"

"Oh, uhm..." she let out a shaky sigh, trying to get her nerves back down. The confused look he gave her didn't help all that much in calming them though. "Do you want to sit here? I can uh, move somewhere else if you do." Eh? Oh no, that was the LAST thing she wanted!

"No, No! I wanted to talk to you Matsuno-kun!" she blurted out, trying to make him stay. However, her answer just left him looking even more confused somehow. "Eh, I think you might be looking for Osomatsu or Ichimatsu. I don't know you." Ah, of course, if she were correct, those two seemed to be the ones who talked to their classmates the most... However, she could only tell that due to being in the same class as them.

"No, not them. I uh... I know we're not in the same class, but there's something important I wanted to talk to you about if it's okay."

"..."

"Just to be clear just in case you are making a mistake, I'm Karamatsu." Wow, he didn't have confidence in himself, huh? He's way different from Osomatsu who wouldn't have a doubt in the world if he was the right one who she was looking for... Eh, that just proves even more that they're different from each other.

"I know, you have freckles, unlike your brothers... It's honestly pretty easy to tell you apart from them." She felt a smile come to her face, almost giggling as a slight bit of blush showed up on his face. "Oh... Uh, well... Sit down then? I'm fine with talking, not like I'm really busy..." She would quickly nod, muttering a thank you as she sat down beside him on the bench.

"So uh... Firstly, what's your name?" Ah, now she was the one with a blush of embarrassment appearing on her face. How could she forget such a simple thing?! "Ah, I'm Takahashi Nozomi ! I'm so sorry for not saying that sooner, how embarrassing..." She could see him shake his head quickly, a look of worry on his face, "No, No! It's perfectly okay, Takahashi-san! Er... What exactly did you want to talk to me about though?"

She would feel herself sigh, a sad smile finally coming onto her face.

"You know, there's one thing I wanted this year. It was to at least get to talk to one of you guys. Pretty stupid, right?" She felt herself laugh, it sounded quite forced though. "I know this is kind of weird considering this is the first time we have ever met, but you and your brothers have kind of made this year so much more funnier and brighter for me. Takes me away from the sad fact of the reality of the stuff that's going on in my own life right now..." That sad smile still remained on her face, and looking at his, she could see he was frowning pretty deeply, a look of concern on his face.

He didn't say anything yet though, he was just listening to her carefully.

"To be blunt, I only have till the end of this year left." Blunt indeed. She needed to be with this. She looked down to the floor, not wanting to see the expression that he wore. Not wanting to know if she was making him uncomfortable. (In reality, she knew he had to be uncomfortable. Anybody would after listening to what she was saying.)

"..." The silence was deafening. It hurt in a way.

She heard a shaky sigh coming from him, it took him a few more seconds before he finally spoke what he was thinking.

"What...What is it?" he said, uncertainty in his voice, he was probably worrying about if he asked something disrespectful or not. Not as if Takahashi cared if it was though.

"It's Adenocarcinoma. To be frank, I didn't listen all too much when they explained most of it, I was in shock." She continued to look at the ground, "It's a type of lung cancer. That's all I remember them saying through the blurred memory."

She would sigh, "But... I'm fine with it, I guess. No matter what happens, at least I got to do the stuff I wanted to." She finally looked back up at him, smiling, "I'm ready to go. I don't need to spend the rest of my very short life worrying about something that can't be stopped."

There was a sudden sigh from him, "You..." He swallowed, "Do you think having siblings are stressful?" Ah? That was quite random. "I wouldn't know. I'm an only child." At that, she could see his frown grow once more. "But... I wish I did have a brother or sister... I... I don't want my parents to be alone after I'm gone..."

..."Takahashi-san—" BRING!

Ah.

"The bell." She muttered, standing up. "Well, thank you, Matsuno-kun... I hope we can talk again someday." She then ran off, leaving him there all alone.

"..."

"That..." He looked down, "Was that even real...?" He sighed, looking up to the sky.

He really didn't want to go back to class...