A story by Ishaani Gupta Agrahari of class 6 Epic Public School where she narrates the story about Yui and Tsumugi, who embark on an adventurous trip to the Osaka Castle Park Cherry Blossoms Festival to find a magical cure for Yui’s ailing mother.
There was a city named Osaka in Japan, and there lived a girl named Yui. She had a friend named Tsumugi.
These two friends were living quite happily until one day Yui’s mother fell ill. This made Yui very worried about her mother’s health.
When Tsumugi saw this, she tried to help her friend. She came to Yui and said, “Don’t worry, I have a solution.”
“What’s the solution?” Yui asked with excitement.
“It’s not that easy,” Tsumugi explained. “We have to collect four different colours of cherry blossoms and mix them to make a potion.”
“I see. Then let’s go to the Osaka Castle Park Cherry Blossom Festival,” Yui suggested.
“Why?” asked Tsumugi.
“You see, it starts every year at the end of March. In fact, it starts tomorrow,” Yui informed her. “And it’s there that we can find different colours of cherry blossoms.”
“Oh, I see. Great! Let’s pack what we need and leave tomorrow afternoon, as the crowd will be smaller,” Tsumugi said, sounding excited and happy to have found a solution to their problem.
“In that case, let’s get some rest,” Yui suggested, “as tomorrow will be a tiring day.”
“Okay, that’s a good idea,” agreed Tsumugi.
The next day, Yui and Tsumugi woke up excited, their eyes filled with hope as they were finally about to start their journey to the Osaka Castle Park Cherry Blossom Festival. The place was around 1,500 km away from their hometown.
They started their journey by bus. They found a couple of seats and, after purchasing their tickets from the conductor, they began chatting about the fascinating festival. They were quite excited, as this was their first time visiting such an amazing place.
They knew the journey would take a long time, so they were prepared. After travelling for more than 25 hours, they finally arrived.
Stepping off the bus, the first thing that caught their eyes was an enormous board that read ‘The Osaka Castle Park Cherry Blossom Festival’. Their excitement grew the moment they saw the sign. They looked at each other and exchanged a smile.
But to their surprise, one of the guards stopped them as they tried to enter. He asked, “Excuse me, do you have your golden card with you?”
“Sorry sir, we didn’t know about the card,” Yui said, puzzled.
“Then, as per the rules, you need to solve five puzzles to enter the festival. Do you agree?” the guard asked.
“Certainly, sir,” said Yui and Tsumugi together.
They followed the guard to a room where a machine displayed a screen showing a question: ‘What is full of holes but still holds water?’
Yui said, “I know the answer — it’s a sponge.”
The second question appeared: ‘What is always coming but never arrives?’
Yui looked at her friend and said, “Tsumugi, give it a shot.”
“Tomorrow,” answered Tsumugi.
The third question read: ‘What has one head and four legs?’
“A bed!” said Yui and Tsumugi together.
The fourth question asked: ‘What can be broken but never held?’
“A promise,” answered Tsumugi.
The final question came up: ‘What goes up and down but does not move?’
“A staircase,” answered Yui joyfully.
Finally, the machine gave them a golden card. Both of them were overjoyed to get entry to the vibrant festival.
When they entered, they cherished the beauty of the cherry blossoms in various colours. They were overjoyed and picked up some of the fallen blossoms from the ground.
They collected pink, red, blue and green cherry blossoms. They wandered around the festival for some time and finally left.
Tired from the day’s adventure, they quickly booked a hotel nearby and talked about the beautiful ambience they had experienced. They ordered some delicious food and finished it quickly.
Without wasting much time, they packed all their belongings and went to the bus stand. They purchased their tickets and were soon homeward bound.
Finally, they reached home and prepared the potion with the cherry blossoms, giving it to Yui’s mother.
After a few days, Yui’s mother started to heal and felt much better.
Yui thanked her friend Tsumugi for the unforgettable help she had offered.
Tsumugi replied with a smile, “Why are you thanking me? Because of you, I got a chance to visit the cherry blossom garden.”
