𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍. ʜᴀɴᴀꜱʜɪʀᴏ

2 2 : 常緑樹

Evergreen

—

Green, green, green — oh, there was it, that weird tune again from a few hours ago.

Nene fiddles with her fingers as she looks away; if she could ever have the chance to dye her hair, it would definitely not be green. Not that she had any hard feelings towards the color and to people who love and have it — the reason would just simply be because that would certainly not suit her.

But she never knew and ever expected that someone could actually look stunning with green locks.

Nene looks back at the woman in front of them again, a timid look on her face; if she was a boy, she would've definitely fallen in love with her. What with those pretty emerald eyes with specks of gold and fine green hair — she was a total beauty!

But even with those attractive features and all, she seemed kind of lonely — kind of a melancholic look as she stared outside, sitting properly in front of the both of them.

Moreover, she was dripping wet, from head to toe.

"U-Uhm," Nene tries to call out to her as she taps her shoes gently on the floor — a habit that she does whenever she feels a bit tense or awkward with someone they just met. "Are you okay? Aren't you cold?"

"Of course she's cold," Hanako mumbles quietly from beside her. "But I don't think you can really offer her anything — you don't even have a handkerchief, do you?"

"Yeah, but," she frowns at him. "I'm trying here."

"I'm fine, please don't worry about me," the soaked woman says as she finally looks over at the both of them. Her eyes were half-closed and Nene couldn't tell if it was just because she was plain disinterested or really drowsy — yeah, even in this kind of situation they're in right now. "I apologize for suddenly approaching the both of you here."

"No, no, that's definitely okay," Hanako grins at her, waving his hands. "Your hair color is really pretty, too. What's your name?"

"I'm Sakura Nanamine."

"Nice name!"

"Thanks."

And then, it felt awkward again because Sakura turned and stared out at the forest again.

Maybe she wasn't the type to talk about her past or anything relevant to what happened to her, Nene thought as she observed her again. She didn't knew what kind of emotion there was in her eyes as she continued to look at her. Besides, it felt as if she could get lost in those orbs easily.

"Her eyes looked like they long for the rainforest's embrace," Hanako whispers from near her again. "Look."

When he said that, Nene finally realized as she looked back at her; her eyes held mixed feelings of hope, longing and melancholy as she just stared outside. She was quiet, her lips in a fine, thin line. Sakura looked like a painting.

"If you were wondering about why I'm soaked," Sakura suddenly speaks up, although she didn't even gave them a single glance. "I died drowning."

Nene gasps, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Sakura looks at her, "It's okay."

Hanako stared at the both of them, thinking how Sakura may be someone with only a few words. But it didn't bother them, anyway — they were used to it as they have met quite a lot of people who were the same as her.

"I don't want to bother you about this or anything, but," Nene inches a bit forward towards her, a small smile, playing on her lips. "What happened? Are you alright? Do you, uh, want to talk, perhaps?"

Sakura looks over at her again and stares. Nene immediately waves her hands, blushing furiously out of embarrassment, "W-Well, it's all fine if you don't want to!"

The green-haired woman stared at her with no emotion on her face whatsoever, until looking back out at the window again. Nene quietly bit onto her inside cheeks and curled her toes, feeling really awkward and embarrassed after being ignored. "It's okay," Hanako gave her a sympathetic smile.

Feeling completely dejected, Nene inwardly sighed until Sakura speaks up again, which made her look up. "Have you ever heard of the largest cruise ship ever in the world?"

She tilts her head to the side a bit, shaking it slowly, "N-No, I haven't."

"I was one of the passengers of an enormous cruise ship; we were about 2,000+ on board, travelling towards the Atlantic Ocean," she told them as she looked down at her hands on her lap, still no emotion on her face. "It hit an iceberg, making the ship sink at the middle of the ocean. I was on board the largest ship ever made in the year 1912, the Titanic."

Hanako and Nene both gasped as they looked at each other with wide eyes. To be honest, Nene didn't knew how to respond with what she just said — should she reply with an amazed look, saying, "Wow, Nanamine-san! You're from the future?" to lift things up or with a sympathetic look while saying, "Is that so? I will make sure not to be on board that ship, then!"

Ugh. Why is communicating so hard?

Hanako quietly looked at Nene as she seemingly suffers from a mental breakdown. He knew what was up in her mind and he just knew what the right answer would be: to not say anything back. Perhaps that would be rude, but he has been through this kind of situation for a long time now. He knows.

Sakura looks up again. "I won't be staying here for too long. I'll be going soon; thank you for also hearing me out before I go," she stands up as a small smile makes its way to her lips. "I hope you two can go back soon."

Soon, the steam train came to a halt once again as another soul went off towards their next desired destination. Nene watched from the window as Sakura walked away into the forest of the unknown and thought about how it seems as if she felt home at just the sight of it — and there was no ounce of hesitation and fear in her as she approached the place with the same color as her silky locks.

The train started moving again and Hanako rested his hands on the sill just beside her. "The look in her eyes earlier, did you feel it?" He asks without looking at her.

She glances at him, "What do you mean?"

"Whenever she would stare out at the window as if in a daze," he rested his cheek on his palm. "It felt as if she felt at home and longed for the forest. I don't know, maybe it's just me but, maybe she felt like that because the last thing she saw was only the lone and cold ocean, seeing as how the ship sank, thousands of people must've died alongside her, too."

It's must've been like that; the way how Sakura died was lonely — she sank away, further down towards the depths of the ocean, with nothing to grab onto and nothing to hold onto. Maybe, before she drowned, while she was still at the surface, she must've looked around frantically, trying to search for someone or something that can save her life.

Sakura must've felt hopeles after seeing nothing but hearing the cries of all the other people that weren't saved for the lifeboats because all the other nobles stole them away, that they ended up having no choice but to have life jackets. It was no use because any minute by then, they would be frozen because of the cold, brought by the waters.

And then, as she gave up and drowned away, the only thing that was in her mind was a scenery of a forest — the complete opposite of where she was by then.

"I guess." Nene mumbles. "I hope she won't feel that same thing again in her next life."