Irasshaimase, okyaku-sama. Welcome to Somei-Ya, the best tailor in Nishiki. |
Ah, this child? She's going to start working here today as a live-in. I met her by chance when I was in the mountains recently. |
Yes... while I went to visit my daughter's grave. |
Most of the cherry trees on that mountain are yama sakura, but there is one beautiful shidare-zakura near the grave. She was standing there... no, standing there, in the middle. |
--Now, Yoshino. Say hello to our customers. |
While in our expedition, Yoshino met a girl in a village. The girl's windmill was cursed with a life-destroying curse. Yoshino said she heard a voice calling for the windmill, so we went into the mountains together to break the curse... |
Yoshino |
"Shashou, it's soon. Can hear it from around here. The voices are getting louder and louder." |
Yoshino stopped and looked around to find the owner of the voice. Without heeding my advice to be careful in the dark, Yoshino jumped over a nearby bush, following the voice's lead. |
Yoshino |
"SHASHOU, COME HERE!" |
Yoshino shouted from behind a bush. Thinking something was wrong, I hurried after Yoshino. |
Yoshino |
"Whoever called Yoshino... is this." |
Conductor |
This, you said, I don't see a person anywhere, though. |
Yoshino |
"Now, turning on the lights." |
Conductor |
Yoshino took out an ofuda and alighted it using sorcery. Then, in the darkness... a dead tree appeared. |
Yoshino |
"It's not a person, but a yama sakura. Underneath the tree, is the voice of that child's oka-san." |
Yoshino |
"She said to not wake her up. Said the person who put the curse on the windmill also knows...". |
Yoshino |
"Shashou. Yoshino, knows the truth about the situation." |
Yoshino |
"The one who put the curse on the windmill... is herself." |
Conductor |
That girl? Why would she even do that for? |
Yoshino |
"......Listen." |
Yoshino |
"Yoshino is the same as her..." |
Yoshino |
"She..." |
Yoshino |
"She, made a yakusoku with her oka-san." |
Yoshino |
"She said she would be back by the time winter came. When the leaves on this mountain start to wilt, it's a sign that she will see her oka-san soon." |
Conductor |
......But the promise was not kept. |
Yoshino |
"She must have been very sad. She must have been very lonely. That's why the windmill her oka-san gave her was so special to her." |
Yoshino |
"When the leaves wilt, winter will come. That thought grew so strong that it became a curse that caused the trees to die." |
Yoshino |
"Yoshino understands that feeling very well, because Yoshino too, did the same thing..." |
Before Yoshino was adopted by Somei-Ya as an orphan, Yoshino worked as an apprentice at a factory deep in the mountains; Yoshino's parents left young Yoshino in the care of an acquaintance and travelled to Eisengrad. |
With the promise that they will come for her next spring... When the cherry blossoms are in bloom. |
Yoshino |
"When the factory disappeared, Yoshino was left all alone. Whenever spring came, Yoshino would wait at the yakusoku spot as told." |
Yoshino |
"There was a cherry tree that is much bigger than this tree." |
Yoshino |
"When Yoshino had no more work to do, was starving, and thought that Yoshino would never live to see another cherry tree, Yoshino broke the yakusoku made on the mountain... and forced the cherry tree to bloom." |
Yoshino |
"Yoshino knew it was wrong, was sure it was all a good dream, but the cherry blossoms, woke up." |
Yoshino's voice and shoulders trembled slightly. She must have felt herself too similar with that girl. |
Yoshino did the same thing similar like that girl a long time ago. She wanted to see her parents, who had not returned for years, so she used sorcery. Desperate that there was no way she could see them again, she hastened the blossoming of the cherry trees. |
Yoshino |
"But Yoshino didn't cry, Yoshino is happy thanks to those cherry blossoms. Met the owner, the couples of Somei-Ya." |
Yoshino |
"When there are goodbyes, there are also encounters - that's what Yoshino would like to tell that girl." |
Yoshino touched the cherry tree that has ended its life and quietly closed her eyes. |
Then, the broken windmill began to spin violently, making a rattling sound. The wind is not blowing at all, yet it is spinning so strongly that the propellers seem to be nearly flying away. |
Yoshino |
"This time it's special because it's to break the curse. Really shouldn't do this." |
The next moment, an unbelievable scene unfolds before my eyes. |
The dead yama sakura had blossomed. They are in full bloom. I have never seen such magnificent yama sakura. |
Yoshino |
"The windmill has brought back the life it lost. These wild cherry trees will be in full bloom for a while. Yoshino is sure it will help her to get over her troubles." |
Yoshino |
"Hope you will make new friends under the tree where your oka-san sleeps." |
Yoshino walks towards me under the yama sakura in full bloom, holding a windmill that kept spinning wildly. |
It is not enough to praise her for a job well done. I hugged Yoshino's small body with all my might, as the cherry blossoms bloom again with a guilty conscience she carries on her back. |
Yoshino |
"Yoshino loves yama sakura blossoms, but Yoshino loves kiku shidare-zakura blossoms the most." |
Kiku shidare-zakura bloom about a week earlier than other cherry trees. I wonder if Yoshino knows this fact. |