"An Excerpt on Cherry Blossoms" (桜花抄, Ōkashō) is the first chapter of 5 Centimeters per Second manga.
Summary[]
A man and a woman pass each other at a train crossing, and seemingly recognize each other.
Takaki Tōno meets Akari Shinohara in fifth grade. In the school library, they discover that both of them had to move away from their hometown due to their parents' work: Akari was from Shizuoka, while Takaki came from Nagano the year before. Since Akari has just transferred, she asks Takaki if he knows any good places. He shows her a sakura tree which she comments is beautiful.
Akari wishes to join the choir club, and asks Takaki to enter with her, but he declines because he is so tone deaf that she cannot keep herself from laughing. The next year, Akari and Takaki are no longer classmates, so they decide to join the same club: the science club. They plan to go to the same middle school, and study together to pass the entrance exam. However, after passing the exam, Akari discovers that her family is moving to Iwafune because of her father's work, and tearfully apologizes to Takaki over the phone. Afterwards, the mood between them is awkward, and on graduation day Takaki and Akari say goodbye to each other.
In the first year of middle school, Takaki and Akari exchange letters. Takaki is caught staring at a girl, but it is due to him thinking whether she is how Akari looks like now. Towards the end of the school year, Takaki's family is to move to Kagoshima, so he decides to see Akari when he still has the chance. They plan to meet on March 4, and Takaki writes a love letter for the first time in his life.
Characters[]
- Present
- Past
