It was always there — still and unmoving — almost as if it was dead.
Himari Higuchi would always watch it with the utmost focus, sweat buds crinkling down from her temples, her earthly eyes always narrowed, her thin eyebrows always frowned hard — conveying the message that this was her umpteenth time of trying to catch it and her hands brought forward.
That's it, I'm close. I can do it. Just a little bit more and—
"Himari!" Her hands shrieked in the air due to the sudden loud voice, giving her prey the idea of escaping the situation as it fluttered its intricate wings and soared away from the flower it was resting on.
"Mom!" Himari whined, stomping her foot on the ground as she watched the butterfly with defeat. She admired the butterfly that was flapping its wings against the air, the violet wings and the pattern in it almost changing their hue due to the strong sun rays. She watched as the butterfly increased its speed slowly and just like that, it made its way to the forest a few yards away from where Himari was.
"I told you to not stay outside for that long in this heat. It's been hours," her mother, a woman in her early thirties, sighed, standing in the porch and giving her twelve-year-old daughter a look — a look that Himari was always afraid of, but this time, she was exasperated and slightly annoyed by her mother's interference. "You'll fall sick!"
Her mother's eyes landed where her daughter's focus was on and sighed again. "You're still after that butterfly, aren't you?"
"It's trying to tell me something! I just know it!" Himari defended herself, now turning around and glaring at her mother with a pout. "It's been here since we came here, you saw it, too!"
"And what exactly is this butterfly trying to tell you?" Her mother asked, teasing, a small smile playing in her plum lips — the ones that Himari also inherited from her as she waited for an answer.
Himari's cheeks turned red. "I don't know," she rolled her eyes. "Something mysterious for sure."
"And if you catch it, it's going to tell you?" Her mother raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe?"
"Sobo's been telling you quite a lot of fairy tales, hasn't she?" Her mother smiled gently.
"They're better than my textbooks," Himari said, rolling her eyes. "At least they don't make wanna bang my head on the wall."
Her mother laughed lightly, her voice melting with the buzzing sound of cicadas blanketing their atmosphere. "I used to say the same thing to your sobo when I was like you," she sighed, looking around the place where she once grew up -- the minka house where she spent her childhood in was still standing with its bamboos and straws intact, the small pond resting in front of their home glistening because of the sun's kisses, the shrubs and bushes surrounding their home full of radiant blossoms and just a little far away, was a small forest where she would run to whenever she had a heartbreak, or a bad day, in general.
"Lunch is ready. Sobo made your favorite," her mother said, before turning on her heels. "You can keep chasing your butterfly and I can—"
"I'm coming!" Himari immediately said, rushing up to the stairs, making a mental note to look for the butterfly later. For now, I'll just enjoy my sukiyaki.
***
Jun Hideyoshi wasn't the type to observe insects.
He was rather the type to study them in books while also learning about them.
It was killing two birds with one stone for him.
Sure, his friends often called him a freak and a weirdo for that, and his parents sometimes told him to experience life more practically, but with him burying his head over his thick books, he never had the time nor the chance to pay them any mind and eventually everyone accepted him as the kid who was enchanted by books.
But today was different.
Today, as he reached home with his overloaded randoseru and two thick books secured in his arms, he gulped down a glass of water while his mother chided about how he had forgotten to take off his shoes before entering the house. Jun made no comment on that -- he simply apologised and went to his room. He took a quick shower, changed into a white shirt and pants, grabbed the new book he had gotten from the library today, went out and sat on the porch, the book in his hand, the cover already piquing his interest.
He ran his fingers through the cover, reading the title again and again. "A Walk To The Other Side," he read aloud the title, opening the book and immersing himself in the fictional world and forgetting the cicadas buzzing from the trees, the bright sunlight caressing his cheeks, the swaying of the flowers in the yard and forgetting that he was even reading altogether.
It was after half an hour or so, he was still engrossed in the words of the book when a butterfly fluttered its wings and rested upon the edge of the book's spine, the very book that he was holding. He didn't notice it at first, his eyes preoccupied by the thousand combinations of letters laying paralysed in a white paper and yet entrancing him but when the butterfly's bright wings oscillated once more, almost getting into his eyes out, he broke out of his reverie, his eyes wide and standing up quickly in a defence, dropping the book on the ground.
He frowned as the butterfly continued flapping its wings in front of him, not moving, not being intimidated by a human and just simply watching him, its violet-black pattern being unlike anything Jun had ever seen as he wondered where it had come from or why it was even here in the first place. He stepped forward, bringing his hand forward, slowly reaching out to the little creature but it backed away, flailing its thin transparent wings, almost mocking him for not being able to do it.
"You're a unique one. Never saw you in any of my books," Jun said, to him or to the butterfly, he didn't know but he knew he would have to take a closer look at this butterfly and without thinking anything else, he began following it, running towards it and then chasing it. He laughed whenever he was close to hold its wing but it fluttered quicker than his moves, making him more determined to catch it. He jumped up and down to reach it, but failed as the butterfly seemed to outplay him in every ways. He thought of tricks and traps but even they didn't have any effect on the violet butterfly.
After chasing the butterfly and trying everything in his power to hold it even for a while and then failing, Jun finally decided to give up and make his way home. He stopped in his tracks, panting and holding his knees as he glared at the butterfly who was floating in the air in front of him. The butterfly still hadn't moved, it was just in front of him, a few inches away from him but he knew that the moment he lurches towards it, it'd fly back.
"You look like you're having fun," Jun rolled his eyes, now standing up and breathing heavily. "I will catch you tomorrow!" he leaned forward, eyeing the butterfly with a challenging look and turned around, thinking he hadn't gotten that far away from his home but his heart dropped when he looked at the huge trees surrounding him, and then he realised that he was in a forest.
Jun was lost.
***
The sun hadn't set down yet.
Himari was outside, fiddling with her fingers and contemplating if she should just go there.
"It's there. I know it," Himari mumbled, her eyes focused on the forest, the trees looking out to her and swaying because of the summer air. She looked around, checking for her mother or grandmother but saw no one. "Soba is sleeping. Mom is not home," she mumbled to herself, now biting her lips. The butterfly is in that forest. It always comes from there. It goes there. Its home is there.
She stepped forward, walking out of the expanse of yard and setting her foot out, her heart beating fast as she closed the gate. The forest was there, just a little further away from her. All she had to do was walk over the pavement and reach it. Himari took a deep breath, huffed and puffed, frowned to show herself she was confident and then with no other thoughts in her mind she ran to the forest and stopped only when she could feel the shadows of the trees hovering agasint her figure.
She looked around and let out a shaky breath when she realised that she really was in a forest. There's no time to hold back. I'm catching that freaking butterfly today. She paid no mind to the sudden rustle of the bushes, the sound of animals, the cicadas or the squirrels that seemed to appear out of thin air. She would catch that darn butterfly today.
The more she walked further into the forest, the more deeper she went into the green territory. She continued walking as more trees came into her view, each one bigger than the other, the sound of animals getting more clear.
Her walking came to a halt when she heard an odd sound. "Someone is crying," she mumbled, her heart beginning to rumble again as she walked towards the sound slowly. She came across a shrub, realising the crying was coming from behind it. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and went through the shrub.
She opened her eyes and saw it was a boy, probably around her age, sniffing in his arms as tears streamed down his flushed cheeks. "Who are you?" Himari stepped forward, taking the boy's warm hand gently. "Are you lost?" She asked, concerned, but he gave no verbal answer.
He nodded, still sniffing, his eyes puffy as well, while holding her index finger.
"I think I'm lost as well," she said, regretting her decision of coming as she could already imagine her mother getting mad at her and grounding her for the rest of her life. She shook her head in horror.
"We are both lost," she laughed.
The boy gave her a look as Himari firmed the hold around his hand. "And why are you. . . happy about that?"
"Because I'm not lost alone!" Her eyes glistened upon the sun's ray. "What is your name?"
"Jun," the boy said, his voice quiet.
Just then, a butterfly appeared out of the shrub, fluttering its wings, its violet wings now taking the form of another hue because of the sun as it flew in circle around them.
Himari squealed, taking Jun's hand again and shaking it aggressively. "It's that butterfly!" She looked over her shoulder, noticing the tint of blush in Jun's cheeks. "Do you like butterflies, Jun?"
Jun realised it was the same butterfly he was chasing as well and how he ended up here in the first place. He looked at Himari, and smiled because she was right -- he was lost, but he wasn't alone. "I do. A little,"
Himari beamed. "You wanna catch this one?"
Jun grinned, nodding vigorously. And just like that, they were chasing the same butterfly, laughing and giggling whenever they thought they caught it, only to realise they didn't, telling each other about themselves, pretending they were still trying to catch the butterfly, because deep down, even they knew they would never be able to catch the butterfly but for the sake of being lost together, they chased the same butterfly.
The butterfly continued to flutter its wings, this time more widely and freely, content of bringing them together, for they were each other's fate.