Appreciate cherry blossoms with Xiu

  Although it's afternoon, the weather isn't as hot as before, especially in places surrounded by cherry blossoms.

  The cherry blossoms are swaying coquettishly in the sky, and from time to time, one or two petals float down with the wind, it's really breathtakingly beautiful.

  Yi Yi and Takahashi Shū sat under a cherry blossom tree, admiring it.

  "You really have time to invite me to see cherry blossoms." Yiyi smiled as she looked at Takahashi Hideto's profile.

  "But it's just seeing you like this for a while now, it's really sad, so..."

  "Thank you, it's just that you're the only one who can think of me at this time."

  "It doesn't matter, you don't have to say it, from now on I'll be your family anyway."

  "Indeed, relatives are better than friends."

  "How's it going? Are you still hanging in there?"

  "Why ask me like this?"

  "Hirano Toshi has left, Narita Shou has parted with you, won't you collapse?"

  "Where did you think I'd go? I'm made of iron!" Yiyi raised her fist and shook it in front of him.

  "Yi yi." Takahashi Hidetoshi grasped her fist, his gentle gaze pouring onto her face.

  Yi Yi feared getting deeply trapped in his infinite tenderness, hastily shifting her gaze away, and quickly withdrawing her hand.

  Takahashi Hidaka found himself out of sorts and let go of Yayoi's hand, saying apologetically: "Sorry, Yayoi."

  "Your tenderness, it's the first time I've seen it! If it were another girl, she would definitely fall for your tenderness, but don't forget, I'm an old hand at this, you can't deceive me."

  "I just remembered her."

  "Is she... a boy or... a girl?"

  "She is a girl."

  "It must be the girl you like!"

  "Uh-huh, yes, she loves cherry blossoms the most. Every time they bloom, I'll bring her here. She really adores cherry blossoms, as if she's a cherry blossom fairy."

  "Is that so? Where is she then? Why didn't you bring her along?"

  "She's already... gone."

  "Oh? Sorry, I shouldn't have brought up your painful past."

  "It's okay, it's rare for me to mention my troubles to someone."

  "Oh, what a pity! Lovers cannot be together forever."

  "No, she never liked me, I was just infatuated with her, she always loved and thought of my older brother."

  "Good heavens! Could it be that this is the legendary fratricide for a woman?"

  "No, it's me who gave up. Brother is like a parent to me, how can I take away what he loves and make him sad?"

  "How are they doing now?"

  "They didn't know whether they were in heaven or had been reborn into modern times." Xiu looked at Yiyi's astonished face.

  "Ah! No way, they're all gone."

  "Yes, first it was her brother who died, and then she followed him."

  "What a lovely and sentimental lady!" Yiyin exclaimed in admiration, she was completely absorbed in this extraordinary and legendary romance, without noticing Xiū's loving gaze at her.

  "Good morning!"

  Yi Yi looked at Xiu Chong and shouted out a strange name, hastily asking: "What did you just call me?"

  "Nothing." Xiuzi turned around, her back facing her, and stopped talking.

  Yi Yi gazed at his back, thinking to herself: No wonder, with a personality as strange as his, he must have gone through a heartbreaking love affair. Not only did he fail to win the heart of the woman he loved, but also found out that she had feelings for his own brother. How much anguish and helplessness must he have felt? It's not something an ordinary person can imagine. And yet, he was able to let go; what a vast capacity for forgiveness he must possess! Who knows how long this wound will linger in his heart?

  "Xiu, you brought her to see the cherry blossoms, what have you been up to?"

  Takahashi was taken aback because he had never heard her call him "Shū" before, and for a moment he couldn't say a word.

  "What's wrong?" Yiyi looked at him staring blankly at herself.

  "You and she look alike."

  "So that's it! No wonder you've been clinging to me all along."

  "In the past, we would be under the cherry blossom tree, she would admire the blossoms, and I would play the piano for her to listen."

  "Since I'm so similar to her, why don't you play a tune for me too?"

  "Alright then!"

  Xiū opened the cloth wrapping around the qin.

  An extremely ancient zither appeared before Yiyuan.

  He sat down with his legs crossed, placing the guqin on his lap. He first stroked the hard strings, closed his eyes, and seemed to be feeling the sensation of playing the guqin for Rong Rong in the past. Fortunately, the person sitting opposite him was Rong Rong's reincarnation, Yiyi, so he quickly found the feeling again.

  The sound of the zither was like heavenly music, entering Yiy's ears.

  Yi Yi gazed at the cherry blossom petals dancing in the sky, occasionally glancing at Xiu's relaxed face, listening to such a wonderful melody, yet somehow having a heart-wrenching feeling. As she smelled the fragrance of the cherry blossoms, Yi Yi would stretch out her hand, catching a petal, looking at its small body, with pink blushes spreading all over, truly like a noble lady in the boudoir.

  The sound of the guqin began to become more mournful and beautiful, she listened intently as if in a trance, and could sense the emotions of the person playing the guqin at this moment.

  In an instant, Yiyi felt that this melody seemed familiar, but no matter how hard she tried to think about it, there was no impression. Perhaps in her past life, she was a cherry blossom tree, and Xiu was a recluse who played the piano and drank wine under the tree every day, gradually becoming one with nature...

  Yi began her fantasy, in this wonderful melody, she gradually forgot the cruel fate of Cheng Tian Sheng Yu, the departure of Hirano Toshi, forgot everything, she was about to merge with the piano sound, no worries, only cherry blossoms, only the piano sound.

  The strings' sound grew more and more urgent, and as the last cherry blossom fell to the ground, the music also came to an abrupt halt.

  Yi Yi didn't come out of it.

  Quiet.

  The world has become very quiet.

  Xiu broke this tranquility.

  "Yi Yi, have you heard this song before?"

  "Uh, seems familiar but can't quite recall."

  "If you've heard it before, then you're her reincarnation."

  "Really? Then I'm honored, in my past life I was loved by such a good man."

  "So, you've fallen in love with me?"

  "Good, it's not just talent!"

  "Is it still that kid, Narita Sento, whom you love?"

  "Nonsense! I like Hirano-senpai!"

  "Believe me, my intuition is accurate, you and that kid must have a destined relationship."

  "If only it were like that."

  Sadly gazing up at the sky.

  The sky darkened suddenly in the late afternoon, the birds on the treetops flew away, and through the dense night, it became quiet as if by magic.

  "Alright, let's go have some drinks!"

  "Alright."

  They walked out of the cherry blossom garden shoulder to shoulder.

  The laughter of the past, the sound of the piano in the past, only the trees know, only the birds know.