Origami Girl

Prologue

Origami Girl

Prologue

"I want you always to remember me. Will you remember that I existed, and that I stood next to you here like this?"

― Murakami Haruki, Norwegian Wood

 "If I were to die, I'd like to be reborn as a cherry blossom," she had said the last spring, painfully opening her heart under the farce of a gentle smile. "That way, I won't have to suffer any more."

Those words that escaped from her parted lips echoed in her head as she tread on the pavement, blanketed with the bright hues of the fallen leaves.

The afternoon wind blew gently across autumn-time Hakodate, the salty scent of the sea thick in the air. The girl walked down the avenue, holding her file tightly against her chest. Her silky shoulder-length hair, slightly wavy, fluttered in the breeze. The leaves of the trees lining the front yards of the houses on both sides a menagerie of gold and crimson. It was fall, the season of change, where all the leaves dry up and cascaded to the ground, making the bare trees seem dead, only to be reborn in the springtime. Such was the cycle of seasons.

An irony, that death could be so beautiful. She had tried to explain how she felt, but he didn't believe her. He didn't really understand her, but he was all that she had in the cold, cruel world.

Dried leaves crunched underneath her feet. The crisp noise was the only sound to be heard, save for the relentless howling of the wind and the rustling of the dying leaves. She was alone that afternoon, since he couldn't be with her due to certain commitments. Thinking about him, she sighed. It was just dreadful to walk along those avenues with no one for company.

The chilly breeze was sure strong that day, and once, the girl's salmon hairband nearly slid off. She quickly reached out with her left hand to adjust it, but while doing so, another gust of strong wind hit, and somehow the file she was clutching on to slipped out of her grasp, spilling out its contents, which then went on fluttering and soaring in the air, tossed and turned by the turbulent wind.

What a pain, she thought, as she chased after the worksheets, catching some in mid-air and picking up some on the ground. As she bent down to pick up one of the last pieces of work, she felt someone coming up from behind her. Quickly, stuffing whatever paper she picked up back into her file, she quickly stood up and spun around.

It was none other than him. Her lips curled into a smile, and he answered it with a somewhat awkward smile, biting his lower lip. In his right hand were a couple of worksheets, some of which were soaking wet.

"Hey," he began, "Sorry it got wet," he apologised shyly.

The girl giggled as she took the soiled pieces of paper from him. The boy's cheeks turned beetroot.

"It's fine, it wasn't your fault now isn't it?" the girl asked in response, comforting him.

"Well, you can borrow mine if you want, there's a lot of important stuff in there you know," he offered, "You can photocopy it or something."

The girl thanked him and waited for him to fish out his worksheets from his blue haversack. She received them with both hands, and placed them in her file. Then, as a surprise, she stood on her toes, reached up to the boy's face and pecked him on his cheek. He couldn't help but blush nervously in response.

"Chemistry is such a chore isn't it?" the girl complained as she began to walk, acting as if nothing had happened.

Upon hearing this, the boy smiled, the wind sweeping his fringe to the left. Her complaining was just so typical of her.