Lining the eastern boulevard away from Uchima Senior High, cherry blossom trees stood in stoic rows and silently awaited their turn of seasons. Nevertheless, afternoon sunlight dappled the verdant leaves and spilled over onto the ground, mingling with the shadows of tree trunks and students passing underneath. The weight of Japanese tradition literally hung over the heads of each successive generation who would attend and graduate from Uchima; only one exception was finding physical and mental difficulty in accepting it. That is, Kiritsugu found it his daily annoyance to brush away the lower hanging branches interfering with his movement.

About the twelfth tree down the line, Kiritsugu had enough of bending over to leaves whipping his face, and leaned back against its trunk, allowing those of better fitting stature to pass by him. Their usual drone of merrily chatting about their weekend plans, abound in Shikatsu, did not escape his ears. He shielded his eyes from the filtered Sun as he averted his gaze upwards towards the canopy. [i]Sunlight's one thing, shadow's another. Can't win with both problems.[/i]

The surrounding fields of rolling green captured Kiritsugu's attention next. An image flickered in his mind's eye, and the blank panorama transformed for him. Apartment complexes rose out of the ground, followed by skyscapers in the distance, reaching to block out the Sun and cast their looming shadows. At the base of it all, familiar restaurants and shops opened up to direct the flow of customers as the crowd increased in size and intensity. Kiritsugu relaxed against a traffic light, and listened to the buzzing conversation of Cantonese speakers walking past him, merrily chatting about their next stops in Kowloon. His hand felt around for the button to activate the crosswalk signal...

...instead scraping it against the bark. Kiritsugu kicked behind him, and let out a disappointed sigh when the "thunk" of the tree trunk was heard instead of the hum of metal. His eyes swam in the white light before readjusting to the ample shade, and he held an arm out to steady himself before continuing his walk down the boulevard. Gritting his teeth as he emerged out of the last of the cherry blossoms, he'd just remembered the irony of his Japanese surname, as he entered the initial suburbs marked by family houses.

//

[i]Let's think of something a normal person would for once.

Not much homework today. The weather's gotten to me, so no martial arts practice. If I'm indoors, at least I have to finish learning C++. Meh, programming's a bore.

Okay, any manhua I feel like rereading? Nope, still need to buy the next volume of Ravages of Time. That means waiting for mother to come home for longer than a day, and coinciding with a literature expo in Nagoya. Unless the heavens tear asunder and I can make a trip to Tokyo.

Oh look, here comes a truck. At least here I won't get run over looking both ways in the wrong order.[/i]