The river was flowing alongside the road. Hikoboshi looked at the waves and remembered the time he was a boy. “When was it that I have grown up?” he wondered. It is hard to notice the children grow up and mature, even though it is happening very fast. It is equally difficult to grasp the moment when the trees blossoming with white flowers suddenly become green. The same is with the flow of age. Every time we look at the past, it seems that is has passed unbelievably quickly.

And so it was – never noticing when, he found himself on the way back from the valley. She didn’t show up… Hikoboshi decided to get back by bus. He took a walk to a nearby village with the intention of finding a transport there. The town was situated at the top of a small mountain on the other side of the river. To get there, you had to cross the steel bridge hanged over a great body of water.

As he was walking along the bridge, snow petals began to slowly fall from the sky. He could also feel the cold the river underneath was emitting. From a distance, he noticed someone sitting by the barrier of the bridge. When he approached closer, he noticed that it was a person sitting on the wheelchair. It was a beautiful girl around his age, mindlessly looking at the waves sinking over the horizon. Her cheeks and hand were red from cold.

Hikoboshi kneeled down in front of her, grabbed her hands and looked her in the eyes. Her gaze was full of depth; and the depth was full of sadness. Those were the eyes that have lost their light of hope.

“What are you doing here alone? Aren’t you cold?” The boy asked.

The girl didn’t reply immediately. She looked at the river and said, as to herself: “There is something about the water. When you look at it, suddenly all your worries disappear.”

“I think that your main worry right now is that you are going to catch a cold.” Hikoboshi took off his gloves and put it on the girl’s hands. He also wrapped his scarf around her neck. “I think you should have some hot tea. Is the top of the mountain where you live?”

She nodded. Hikoboshi grabbed the arms of the wheelchair and they began moving. Walking in the silence, he shook off the snow that has piled up on the top of the girl’s head.

“Hey, I don’t know what is troubling you, but I can tell you how I deal with my worries,” began Hikoboshi. “Although I still cannot find what looking for, I never give up nor lose hope. I always believe that, someday, my wish will be fulfilled. Because what is motivated by love, has the full support of God.”

The girl replied: “You know, I got rid of my egoistic wishes a long time ago. If you truly love someone, you should value that person’s happiness over your own. And who could be happy with me in this form, on this wheelchair? Ever since the accident, I’ve decided I won’t be a burden for anyone.”

“This isn’t the truth. Love is not about being perfect. There is no place for perfect things in this world. Form changes, as everything around us. The only thing that stays the same is the essence of your being, the thing that makes you stay you no matter what the circumstances. Here, isn’t his grandma waving at us?”

The bridge and the river were now far away. As Hikoboshi said, an older woman standing in front of the nearby house was waving her hand at them. “Dear, did this kind boy helped you climb the mountain?” she said as she approached closer. “I’m always telling you we should move away from this village, but you insist on going to watch that river.”

Continue to The Milky Way – Part V

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