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As spring came closer, the snow-covered Gensokyo gradually regained its colors; winter's whiteness was fading from the lowest reaches of the mountains and, as if to replace it, those low reaches were once again being colored white: spring's whiteness, the cherry blossoms.

Those cherry blossoms could also be seen from Kourindou's window, but if you think I would purposely go out for a flower viewing, then you are mistaken. Isn't it good enough to enjoy a flower viewing from inside my own store? I don't like noisy places, and even going to a flower-viewing with people I often see is not that pleasing. I will quietly watch the cherry blossoms alone, from inside my store. I don't think there is a more elegant - or refined - way of viewing flowers; the humans who go out for flower-viewing are those poor people who live in the forest or somewhere where they don't already have a great view of the scenery; they seem more like the half-witted kind of humans, enticed by the magic of the sakura.

*Knock-knock.*

"Hey, Kourin, it's flower-viewing season! There's one every day at the shrine."

"Oh, Marisa? Your hat is full of flower petals; shake them off before coming in."

"But I left 'em there on purpose..." Marisa commented as she went outside and shook her hat off.

Marisa's house, in the Forest of Magic, didn't have any tasteful vegetation like cherry trees, and in fact, the forest repelled honest people, so it was extremely obvious that Marisa was elated to see cherry blossoms.

"So, ain'tcha goin'? To the flower-viewing, I mean."

"Flower-viewing, huh...I have other things to do today, so I will pass."

A flower-viewing with Marisa would be a fairly loud one - and I don't like loudness.

"And you are always pretty vacant...what's that ya gotta do? Does it take long?"

"Ah, I have another flower-viewing - a quiet one."

"Alright, go to your wake-like flower-viewing," said Marisa as she left.

I resumed my quiet flower-viewing. Watching the cherry blossoms alone from the inside of my store was the biggest luxury I could ask for.

And just like that, it became night.



The next day, the cherry blossoms were even more splendid. Since the previous day I had a flower-viewing consisting only of looking absent-mindedly at flowers, today I thought of having a more refined flower-viewing - and by refined, I mean while reading a book.

My archive didn't have only books from Gensokyo, but also many from the outside, though books regarding sakura were extremely common by any standards. There was not, however, a single book about the skunk cabbage, even though it's also a type of vegetation. Anyhow, just from that, you could see that sakura were a special flower for the Japanese. Since a long time ago, both humans and youkai have been driven insane by the color of the cherry blossoms. One person would become exhilirated under them; another would think of death, becoming all emotional. All of it was the doing of the reminiscent sakura.

*Knock-knock.*

"Is anyone here?"

"Welcome." It was the half-human girl from that other time...Youmu, was it?

"Ah, thank you very much for before; thanks to that, Lady Yuyuko was only a little angry with me."

"That's good to hear."

I don't know to what extent, but from what I heard from Marisa later, this girl was tasked with gathering all the stray ghosts in Gensokyo, and was still looking for unfound bodies. If so, was the other day when she was in the middle of this punishment...?

"Even if you say that, all I did was sell you an item. Are you looking for something to buy today as well?"

"No, I was passing in front of your shop, and I thought of both giving you my thanks and inviting you to a flower-viewing."

I think that if she hadn't said that she was just passing by, the thanks would have had a higher value...but anyway, seems it's another flower-viewing invitation.

"The cherry blossoms at my Lady's garden are several times more worth seeing than the ones around here. But, even so, today's flower-viewing is actually at the shrine..."

"Hm...unfortunately, I have other things to do today."

"Oh, is that so? Well, the cherry trees will not run away, but the blossoms will, so please come see them while they are still blossoming."

I saw Youmu out, and turned to watch the cherry blossoms several times less worth seeing than the ones in her mansion, while reading a book.

And just like that, it had once again become night.



The following day, the cherry blossoms were once again even more splendid.

By the way, the book I was reading yesterday obviously did mention cherry blossoms. That was also a roundabout flower-viewing. As to why I would read a book about cherry blossoms while under them, this is just a way of enjoying life. People who don't know how to enjoy life are the simplistic and emotional kind; when they see cherry blossoms, they say things like "how pretty!" or "aren't they beautiful?," or perhaps "there are many ways to enjoy the cherry blossoms" like they know what they are saying, but are actually only exposing their foolishness. Being satisfied with merely speaking whatever is on your mind is such a simplistic and childish attitude, you see. Humans that only say those kinds of things are not much different from shikigami or tools.

When you just let yourself feel the sakura in front of you - without comparing them to sakura you saw somewhere else, or ones you saw in the past - you will gradually arrive at a true flower-viewing. To attain a certain level of sophistication, one must be able to appreciate subtleties like these.

Today I stored the heater I had left out all this time. Naturally, you couldn't get a real spring feeling with it around. But, I still felt a little uncertain about it, as perhaps the mornings and evenings would still feel a little chilly.

Speaking of the heater reminds me of Youmu coming here yesterday. The turth is that what she said about those magnificent cherry blossoms bothered me a little; for starters, the connection between cherry blossoms and ghosts is a deep one, so when you talk about the cherry blossoms in that lady's garden full of ghosts, you can feel some cause and effect there.

There are not just a few plants that turn into youkai in Gensokyo; especially the cherry trees that lure people to their deaths - those have a great magical power. And not only cherry trees, but all kinds of dangerous plants exist in the Forest of Magic. Trees live longer than humans - and occasionally, even longer than youkai; the only ones who have seen all of Gensokyo's history...are none other than the Gensokyo trees.

*Knock-knock.*

"Is anybody there?"

"Welcome."

"The store was open, so I imagined you would be here, but..."

The ones who came were the ones from some time ago: the vampire lady, Remilia Scarlet, and her maid, Sakuya.

"...there wasn't anybody at the shrine, so I thought Reimu might have come here."

If you look at it closely, the mistress' dress is also cherry-colored. Vampires live long by sucking human blood; they might be fundamentally the same as cherry trees.

"No...I haven't seen Reimu here for a while."

"Today I arbitrarily decided to have a flower-viewing at the shrine, but then she arbitrarily decided not to be there!" The cherry-colored vampire had some unreasonable complaints. "That's right, won't you come to the flower-viewing as well? At the shrine."

"Is that alright, with Reimu not being there?"

"The cherry blossoms are flowering whether she's there or not."

"And besides, since the shrine is wide open, there are food and drinks available," said Sakuya, smiling. With a maid like this around, I can't carelessly leave the shop unattended.

"I am glad for the invitation, but it's still opening hours for the shop, so I guess I will have to decline."

"If you see Reimu, please tell her to head back to the shrine, alright?" Having said this, both of them left.

I kept looking at the cherry blossoms as I tidied up the heater.

As such, the day ended.


Again the next day, the cherry blossoms were endlessly splendid.

I wonder, did they end up finding Reimu yesterday after all? But then, even if Reimu wasn't home, it's easy to imagine them in a loud merriness under the cherry trees - and the image of Reimu's indignation upon coming back in the evening and finding everyone helping themselves to her stuff was also on my mind.

The cherry-colored vampire and the red-white shrine maiden...if you mixed the red and the white, maybe you would get that cherry-pink color. But this definitely wouldn't be correct; the red and the white are not there to be mixed. In other words, there should be a boundary between them.

Since ancient times in Japan, red and white have been used for joyous occasions, and reversely, for inauspicious ones, black and white are used. It should be noted that, for both of these opposite customs, the color white is used. To put it more simply, you might say that the color red indicates a good omen, while black means a bad omen. So it looks, but it's actually not like that. The white is indeed indispensable.

So, in this case, what does white indicate, you might wonder? Firstly, it is not recognized as a proper color. As for why? It's because it can turn into any other color, which makes it a unique type of color. If you would give it a number, it would be zero.

On the other hand, red is the color of human blood, so it also symbolizes life. It's the color of a human's first perception of life - a color of genesis. You could think of it as existence itself.

So basically, red and white symbolize the distinction between existence and nothingness. That's why the red-white boundary means "joyous." By using red and white together, this border is emphasized, and the borderline represents the beginning of all things. That's why the ancient people thought of it as a good omen.

So what about black and white? Just as white is not recognized as a proper color, black is not either; black is simply darkness - and in the darkness, all colors turn black. If white is zero, then black is a void (imaginary) number. Besides them being zero and void, nothing concrete can come from the border between black and white. Basically, life can't be born from it. The difference between red/white and black/white is analogous to the difference between this world and the next. So there's nothing mysterious about the fact that red/white symbolizes life, while black/white means death.

So why, then, of all things, does the color of cherry blossoms puzzle humans, and charm a great many people...?

*Knock-knock.*

"The cherry blossoms are sure white."

"Welco--"

There was the sound of the door opening, but why wasn't anyone standing in the entrance...?

"...When did you get inside?!"

Right inside the store was Yukari Yakumo. I am not really comfortable around this girl. Not only can't I understand how she thinks, but I feel as though I'm being watched from somewhere. Whenever she is close by, I feel terribly uncomfortable.

"And besides, everyone around here seems to be doing flower-viewings every day. Shouldn't you take a rest?"

"Oh no, tomorrow will be the first. Flower-viewing, I mean."

"I see...so you haven't been at the shrine?" I had this image of everyone around Reimu being loud fools, so I was a little surprised.

"Why, no; I have been at the shrine every day. But tomorrow will be the first flower-viewing. It's tomorrow that the true cherry blossoms will flower."

I didn't really understand what she was saying, but it seemed today was not going to be a flower-viewing day. I was thinking that if I got invited for a flower-viewing again today, I might as well go, but I suppose I escaped from that; I guess today, I'll have another flower-viewing by myself while drinking tea.

"Today I just came to confirm the cherry blossoms' whiteness. Well then, now I'll be going back to the shrine again. The shrine's crimson cherry blossoms...Ah, that's right; it's unrelated, but did you know that the origin of red-white banners as an auspicious symbol is from Hachiman? Most people have forgotten about it, such an old thing."

Yukari said that, then left through the front door without waiting for an answer. I can't follow her line of talk; I can never fully understand it. I believe that in a conversation, you are supposed to be able to expect what your partner is going to say, so that - no matter how fast it goes - it can follow a logical course. Unexpected words sound the same as Buddhist prayers.

I had some tea and watched the cherry blossoms. If I were to make a comparison, I'd say that these cherry blossoms are whiter than those from other places - and that maybe this wasn't only due to their variety of cherry tree. I don't know why, but up until last year, they weren't so white in the first place. But by any means, I will participate in the flower-viewing tomorrow. If I get invited, that is.



The next day, the cherry blossoms were in such full bloom that it made the previous days' seem like fakes. There were such swelling white waves that it looked as though they were going to drown the shop. It already seemed as if nothing but cherry blossoms existed outside the shop's windows.

That's right - could it be that the sakura originally couldn't blossom that much? Nature is always surpassing expectations. After all, weren't things like expectations unnecessary for fantasy? But anyway, if you think about it calmly, aren't they blossoming a little too much? Cherry flowers shouldn't last that long even when there's no wind blowing...for something that is supposed to be fleeting to be showing for so long, it actually makes me feel anxious; are these cherry blossoms really going to scatter...?

*Knock-knock.*

"Are you there?"

"Welco- ah, Reimu?"

Reimu, who should have been at her shrine's every day flower-viewing, had come here. Reimu seemed busy around the clock with preparations and clean-ups, so I was rather expecting Marisa to show up again.

"Lately, it seems there's always a flower-viewing; almost every day someone comes to my house."

"Isn't that because the cherry blossoms at the shrine are splendid ones?"

"I guess..." Strangely, I felt a certain awkwardness. Obviously, even Reimu might be feeling tired from day after day of flower-viewing.

"Today I'm borrowing the back of your shop."

"The back of the shop? And what do you mean by 'borrowing'?"

"For a flower-viewing, of course: today I'm having a flower-viewing at the back of your shop."

Ah, of course. So she wasn't tired from the continuous flower-viewings after all.

"Everybody told me about it...that the cherry blossoms at Kourindou were about to fully bloom. So I came to see them, and it seems they are in the perfect state already."

So as far as these girls were concerned, the cherry blossoms up until yesterday still hadn't blossomed? Does that mean that I was the only one who thought they were in full bloom the entire time and kept doing one-person flower-viewings? So maybe all the recent visitors were here to check on the state of the cherry blossoms at the back of the store?

"I don't really like noisiness, but...did you call everyone else already?"

"No, I haven't called anyone yet, since I was only coming to give the cherry blossoms a look, but I think that they would naturally gather here in a little while anyway."

"And why is that?"

"Because I happen to be here."

Was that natural for Reimu? As far as she was concerned, it was obvious for people to come to where she was, and since it was obvious, she didn't concern herself too much about it.

"If you say that, then I suppose this shop will soon get really noisy. Maybe I should close the shop early today; I don't think I'm going to do any business anyway."

"Really? I thought you never really did any business."

"That's because a lot of people who are not customers keep coming."

"No, it's because there's nothing in this store that anyone would want."

The white sakura at the back of the shop. White is the lack of color, and at the same time, the basis for all colors. Even the seven colors of the rainbow are based in the color white. If you join it with red, the color of genesis, to form the red-white, all kinds of different colors might be called forth. The fact that the flowers became white and blossomed fully at the same time that the red-white Reimu came is not a coincidence; this is all the doing of those ghastly sakura. And then when Reimu comes, people start to gather. And so, while no one notices, they are being manipulated by these sakura.

The cherry flowers bloom thinking only of luring people to come gather under them. If you think just of all the gatherings, across dozens and hundreds of years, then it seems they have a mysterious magical power, despite appearing to be mere plants. The sakura at the back of the store made themselves white to better attract people's eyes. And so they called Reimu's redness, and thought of obtaining all seven colors of the rainbow through that red-white-ness.

I am probably the only one who noticed the sakura's scheme. This way, by manipulating humans, they may be gradually turning into youkai. If they end up acquiring power enough to hurt humans, they will become more than what humans could handle. Just when had the sakura at the back of my store become so devious?

...Oh well, whatever. Wanting to noisily watch the cherry blossoms, wanting to die, wanting to gather...it's all quite natural. At any rate, the sakura having both red and white means the birth of colors, and that's a good kind of birth. It's just as the birth of a new season, so the flowering of the cherry blossoms should really be at New Year. Obviously, this is impossible, but at least I can feel a New Year mood. Being manipulated by the sakura's magic is not so bad.

"What happened? Why that happy face?" Reimu asked.

"Well, if it's New Year, you've got to be happy."

"It's kind of late for New Year."

"By the way, do you know the reason why red-white means happy situations?"

"Oh, that? It's obvious that it's because they are shrine maiden colors, isn't it?"

Outside the window, I could see some black mixed with the cherry blossoms' white coming this way. But for some reason, I couldn't see this black as a bad omen.

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