I often find myself walking through this part of the city, the one place people refuse to go through for some reason.
Walking along the streets I can see beautiful red roses lined up along the sides of the buildings here. Nobody else appears to be around here, yet the roses are being looked after by someone.
"How pretty," I say softly while kneeling down in front of a patch of roses.
At the end of this street an old cherry blossom sits in the center of a small park where people used to go. Couples really liked it here though, since it makes for a nice date spot.
So I thought.
Looking ahead, a girl stands by the base of the tree with a book in her hands.
A girl lingering around in an abandoned part of the city like this? I wouldn't have expected to see anyone, yet alone a girl. Maybe, just maybe there is hope for this district.
I take a closer look at the girl as I slowly begin to approach.
She has short blue hair, just barely reaching her shoulders, kind of curly towards the ends, bright blue eyes, two small lines along her cheeks from her eyes, she's kind of short, and it appears that she is wearing a nice dress with a floral like design.
Why is such a pretty girl here?
Her eyes look slightly over the top of her book towards me, like she knew I was coming.
"Come to visit the tree?" She asks, just loud enough for me to hear her.
"I actually come to visit this whole district usually when I can," I answer with a bit of nervousness in my voice.
"Here I thought I was the only one," She says with a slight laugh after.
A small gust of wind blows past, sending some of the cherry blossom petals throughout the area.
She lowers the book the rest of the way, revealing a smile.
"For the longest time I thought the same," I reply, before taking notice of my face getting a bit hotter.
"It is a beautiful day," She says while looking up at the sky. "It wouldn't be too bad to enjoy it with someone for a little while."
"I don't think I'd mind that," I reply with a bit of happiness in my voice. "I'm Yuji, felt like it'd be weird if I didn't give you my name."
Her cheeks look as if a bit of pink is appearing, maybe she is feeling just as nervous.
"Luna," She says calmly.
After that she takes a seat on one of the benches next to me; I didn't feel right standing around so I decide to take one next to her, leaving a bit of space between us.
It's been two years since I had the confidence to talk with another girl after everything that happened. I think I'm doing better now, not a single stutter.
I don't really know how it'll go from here but I'm positive that this is a sign.
"It is quite sad that nobody really seems to come here," Luna speaks with a soft tone.
"I guess this is the district that Haru lived in so a lot of people don't want to come here," I respond quietly.
"The man who created—" She stops before finishing the sentence.
"Yes, the one who made the robots. I'll never understand why everyone came to hate them so much," I say with some sadness in my voice.
"The fear of being replaced, we all have it," Luna replies softly.
Yet I wasn't replaced. I was fired.
Fired for wanting to help keep the robots functioning when no one else did. It definitely doesn't help that a bunch of people started to riot over them.
Forcing the manufacturers to shut down.
But there isn't anything we can do about it anymore so it doesn't really matter what I think about them. I wasted a couple years of my life learning robotics and engineering, it isn't a complete waste though.
Engineers will always have a purpose.
"You don't have that fear, do you?" Luna asks, taking my attention.
"I believe that robots could've been useful in some fields, not just a way to replace us," I answer softly.
"What do you do Yuji?" Luna asks with curiosity.
"At the moment I'm living off of savings, but I used to be a robotics engineer," I answer with a bit of disappointment in my voice. "The world is cutting it all out now, back to square one."
"I'll never understand it... Why go back on such a great advancement," Luna says with confusion in her voice. "It takes jobs away from people like you too."
"Yeah," I reply while looking up towards the tree.
"Don't worry about it too much, good things come along," Luna says with a positive tone.
Staring at the cherry blossom tree I notice that some real old initials are carved on the stones next to it. R+G. Not any name I'd ever know.
"That is true, good things come along at some point or another," I reply in agreement.
"What part of the city are you from?" Luna questions curiously.
"I live over in the Emerald district, but I'm not sure how long it'll last," I answer quietly.
The emerald district has been declining for quite some time since business relied a lot on the advancements made with robots. It'll rebound at some point, maybe.
It all depends on what the market decides to do going forward.
"Huh, I've never been there," Luna says as she sits her book down on the bench.
"Where are you from?" I ask with some curiosity.
"I live here," Luna answers without hesitation.
Honestly I didn't expect anyone to live here anymore... Especially not someone like her.
"How long have you been living here?" I question.
"About two years now, but I do think a change of scenery would be nice," Luna answers as she begins to smile.