Chapter Sixteen: Moving Forward:

I probably should let go of the past. Well, not completely. I don’t want to forget everything about me. But I want to live in this life I’m in now. Yumi and her parents showed me what I could experience in this city. I didn’t have anything when I came back from the war. I didn’t have a home or any real friends. But now…

I have a life here.

I need to turn the page to go forward into the future. Kaori said that I needed to do it if I wanted to change things in my life.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” I asked.

“You’ll know when you feel it,” she said. By then, I had given up on trying to figure out what was going on in that head of hers. I would probably end up confusing myself in the process.

“Sure,” was all I said. Kaori’s bright smile was enough to make me forget about the headaches that she could give me.

“What are we doing today?” I asked in present day.

“I don’t know,” Yumi said. I looked up with a shocked look on my face.

“What?” I asked. She sat at her desk with her back to me. My fiancée shrugged. I looked so confused.

“But… you’re usually the one with the plan!” I said. Yumi shrugged again.

“Don’t feel like it today.”

“Is something wrong?”

“Nope.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Did you?”

“No?” I tried to dig in my brain with what I might have done over the past week. I couldn’t come up with anything. Yumi put down her pencil.

“There doesn’t have to be anything wrong or me being mad,” she said. “I just don’t feel like doing anything today.” I started to say something but closed my mouth. That made sense to me.

“So… what are we doing today?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Yumi said again. I blinked.

“Then… what should we do today?” I asked again.

“Decide that yourself,” she answered at last. Yumi picked up her pen and went back to work on whatever she was working on. I leaned back on her futon and frowned. I pouted after much thought. So she was going to just punt it all on me? What nerve!

Then another thought crossed my mind.

When was the last time that we had a lazy day like this? It felt… felt… nice. Could every day be like this? I couldn’t help but smile. I lied back and stared at the ceiling. Would I get bored with this? I’m not sure. It would be interesting to see if I would. Meanwhile, Yumi turned the page at her desk.

I thought back to my own page. I haven’t turned it yet. I didn’t know how I knew. I would have to try.

“And how would I turn this page?” I asked Kaori in our younger days. She broke into a little smile.

“You’ll know when the time comes,” she said. I sat up, frowning.

“Woman, why can’t you make any sense?” I asked. Instead of an answer, my girlfriend stuck her tongue out at me and giggled. Remembering all of that, I began to see what she was saying.

So today, I turn the page in the story of my life. I can’t wait to see where it goes next.