Of East and West

Author’s Note: Hello! This is just a little side-story I felt like writing. It's not my usual writing style, and I probably won't write like this again, and I'm not sure if anyone will like it but…Oh well. - Love from SatoKibi

He approaches her on a typical day, completely out of the blue. She had not expected him to, nor did she sense his strange questions coming her way. “Tell me,” he says, looking directly into her eyes. “If someone walks east, and another person walks west, what will happen to them?”

“They would get further and further apart, right?”

He stays silent for a while, and she glances up to see what the matter is. There is a deep, bewildering sadness in his eyes as he nods. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

They move on, but there is an inexplicable feeling that she cannot remove from her heart.

After a few days, on a clear and cloudless morning, he speaks to her again. “Look up at the sky,” he tells her. “What do you see?”

“Blue?” she replies hesitantly, suspecting that it’s a trick question, or maybe that it would hurt him like the last time.

“How many stars do you see?”

“None?”

Again, the sadness in his eyes returns as he nods. “Yeah, I suppose so.” And again, he leaves her, without another word. This time, she feels her own eyes fill with sadness too.

Weeks pass, and finally he decides to talk to her again. At sunset, he takes her to a nearby lake, onto a red wooden bridge, and gives her the last question. His eyes wander around, taking in the scenery, before he asks, “Look at the water. What do you see?”

She gazes down, trying to pierce through the murkiness. But the water simply doesn’t let her see into it. So she tries looking from the other side of the bridge- still nothing. “I can’t see anything!” she cries in frustration. His face falls, and the sadness appears in his eyes again. “What am I looking for?”

“If you don’t even know that, then I can’t explain.” He turns to go.

“Wait!” she calls, and tugs the back of his shirt. He doesn’t look back. He can’t. Not just yet. “But… I really do want to know.”

Sighing softly, his heart softens a little, because he knows that at least she cares. “I’ll give you one last chance. I will be here tomorrow morning. Tell me answers, or I will have to leave you forever.” Then he continues on his way.

She nods, even though he is not looking, and her eyes fill with more sadness than the two of them put together. She turns to go as well, off the other side of the bridge- one walking east, the other walking west. That night, she thinks and she ponders. She digs into the depths of her mind, and tries to figure out his riddles. But her mind is only occupied by the worry of not being able to see him again. Feeling helpless and hopeless, she prays that at least she can see him in her dreams as she reluctantly drifts off into her sleep.

He, on the other hand, can’t sleep at all. He keeps on asking himself over and over, whether he was too harsh. Not everyone sees the way he does, but it’s not the way he sees that he wants her to know about- it the actual things he sees, as well as just plain truth. Even though he is not sure she will find any answers, he believes in her. And even if she doesn’t get anything right, he is ready to forgive her. But, of course, she doesn’t know that.

Her next morning begins with a tonne of light pouring onto her face- she had forgotten to close the curtains the night before. The sun peeks into her room, as if it’s showing off the fact that it helped to dry her tear-soaked pillow. The sun. At least she found one answer.

He is waiting, just as he promised, at the red wooden bridge over the lake. Leaning comfortably on the edge, he stares straight ahead, admiring the view. “The sun is such an amazing star, isn’t it?” she remarks casually as she joins him.

Finally he faces her and smiles for the first time, and she finds herself smiling back. “Yes indeed it is. I see you have found an answer. But what about what you see as you stand over this water?”

Her smile turns itself upside down. “Am I looking for something?” She has no idea.

“Are you looking for something?” he repeats.

“Your questions contradict each other.”

“You think too much.”

She pauses for a while, then looks again. “What am I looking for?” she questions herself, as she searches the surroundings. “I don’t think I’m looking for anything. I actually only came because I was looking for you.” Then everything starts falling in place.

"Don't you understand?" he asks, "I wasn't telling you to search in the water; I brought you here to show you how beautiful this place is."

"Of course, this place is magical," she agrees.

“Okay,” he says, smiling a little wider. He takes her hand and looks into her eyes once more. “What about my last question? If someone walks east, and another person walks west, what will happen to them?”

Her eyes light up, as she finds her answer. “They will part, of course. But only for a while. And sooner or later… they will meet up once again.”

And then he kisses her on the red wooden bridge, while the warm sun scatters handfuls of sparkly confetti across the surface of the lake, in celebration east and west…finally coming together.