Spring had returned to Hanatera.
The valley once again shimmered with life. Cherry trees lined the rivers, their branches heavy with delicate pink blossoms. Petals drifted through the air like snow, soft and fleeting, carrying the faint scent of something both familiar and long forgotten.
A young man walked along the riverbank, the sunlight glinting on the sigil faintly etched on his palm. He did not remember the battles, the divine storms, or the thousand-year sorrow of the fallen goddess. Yet he felt… a pull, a longing, as if the wind itself called him forward.
A girl appeared beneath the largest cherry tree, her hair catching the sunlight in shades of pink and gold. She smiled, serene, her eyes holding a depth he could not name — and yet recognized.
> "Hello," she said softly.
The young man stopped, breath catching. "Hello," he answered instinctively.
Petals swirled around them, spiraling like a gentle wind in a quiet cathedral. The world was alive with spring, yet a hush lingered, as though waiting for a story long told to find its next chapter.
He felt a warmth in her gaze, a sense of recognition that went deeper than memory. His fingers brushed against the sigil on his palm — faintly glowing, faintly alive.
> "I… feel like I've met you before," he said.
> "Perhaps you have," she replied, tilting her head, laughter in her voice like sunlight on blossoms.
"Or perhaps the wind remembers for both of us."
The petals drifted to the ground, carpeting the earth in pink. He reached for her hand. She took it, light and warm, and for a moment the world held its breath.
Somewhere in the distance, a soft voice seemed to whisper:
> "Every spring… until the last blossom falls."
He smiled, and she smiled back — and in that moment, the cycle continued. Not as legend, not as curse, but as life itself: fleeting, fragile, eternal.
The sun rose higher, and the cherry trees swayed, scattering petals across the valley. And beneath them, two souls — mortal and memory, love and legend — walked forward together.
The petals returned. 🌸