ᴡɪɴᴅ ʙʟᴏᴡs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴄʜɪᴍᴇs|| h. haganezuka

ⓒⓗⓟⓣ.① || 𝚏𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚜

You don't realize how much you miss the smell of forests until you miss it.

How the sweet breeze feels on bare skin, it's like a love letter to your senses. It whispers sweet nothings into your ears like birds chirping from Japanese bay trees. It's missing the feeling of plush grass cradling your body like the warm embrace of a hug. You sigh in relaxation and comfort, the nostalgia washing over you.

Something is very wrong here.

Your eyes snap open to the thick, lush forest you felt was only a dream. Is it? It doesn't make much sense otherwise. Weren't you back in town? Didn't you quit your job? Hit by a bus????

You feel a headache coming on as you pull yourself up from the patch of grass that held you. Trees surrounded you at every turn, light dappled through their canopy. The sun was high in the sky, noon you were guessing.

"How the hell did I end up in this situation?" You wondered aloud. The forest only stayed silent in its response. Whatever knowledge you gained from watching all those fake survival shows and camping when you were little would have to step up now, as the reality of the situation started to dawn on you a bit.

You were alone, completely and utterly alone, in a forest with no signs of people for- what you assumed to be miles. You prayed to whatever deity that would listen to not be dead before sundown, and set off to where you guessed the sun would set. Was it east or west? Oh yeah, you are screwed.

Walking alone in a picturesque forest felt almost like a nice hike for a while. You thanked your lucky stars you were wearing your sturdy, comfortable work boots instead of the ratty Converse you usually wore to work, and for a couple of hours, it was pleasant. Then, the hunger set in. Slow at first, gnawing at your stomach, then soon all the energy spent wandering for hours seemed to finally catch up to you.

"What did Bear Grylls say? Eat caterpillars or something?" You looked around and spotted a low-hanging branch of what you guessed was a mulberry tree. 'Native flora to some parts of Asia, and weren't those Japanese Bay trees earlier?' All of a sudden, you started noticing the different trees and plants that only grew in mountainous regions located throughout the northeast tip of the Asian Monsoon Zone. So India, China, Korea, and Southeast Asian countries. That horticulture class you took in high school unexpectedly came in clutch. But why were plants only native to Asia in America?

Were... were you still in America?

What the fuck is going on?

"I'm too hungry for this" You muttered under your breath and grabbed the mulberry tree, shaking its branch until some fat caterpillars 'Plopped!' to the forest floor. Your nose curled in disgust and you wrenched one off the ground. Its beady little eyes stared back at you as it wriggled its fat little body between your fingertips.

'Please! Don't eat me! I have a wife and kids! Have mercy on me!' Its eyes pleaded back to you. Yeah, you weren't nearly hungry enough to commit murder, and placed it back on the branch you shook it from.

After sparing the caterpillar from its certain demise, you start to try to place where you are, maybe some sort of privately owned land. Yeah right, someone created a realistic Japanese forest with the topography of the region in check too. Totally. Maybe you were knocked out by the bus, kidnapped by some weirdos, and dropped off in the middle of goddamn nowhere??

By your guesses, you were definitely in Asia, maybe in some parts of China or Korea. But you didn't smell the Ocean, or hear any sea birds so not anywhere near the coast. So inland, in a mountainous region, with mulberry trees. Then you saw it, large and sprawling with twisted branches and sweet lavender petals cascading down.

Wisteria.

Native only to, Japan.

Now your gears were turning.

Why the fuck were you in Japan???

Your headache only worsened, splitting your head into twos, then threes. The thought of just laying down on the ground and letting the earth claim you crossed your mind until "A River!" you exclaimed.

'I could follow it upstream, maybe I could find someone!' You thought to yourself. Your pace started to pick up a bit, sloppy footsteps growing faster and faster until you started running as fast as your tired legs could take you.

If you thought the forest was breathtaking, you had another thing coming.

The small stream was beautiful, ebbing and flowing through little rocks like a dancer, curving around the smooth stones. You could pick out little fish and small frogs, existing in such serenity. It had you stunned, just a little bit. The time for admiration had passed, however, as the sun was starting its descent into the sky and you definitely could not be alone at night.

Then you heard it, voices.

Small, flittering sounds of laughter and conversation, people!

Your sprint had broken out now, running towards your new salvation. Before you could clear the last patch you stopped, huffing out heavy breaths with hands on your knees. "Help!" you yelled. "Please! Can you hear me!? I need- whoo now hold on" You tried to regain your breathing a bit, to no avail.

The lack of food combined with your over-exertion was catching up with you now, as you slowly felt your conscience slipping.

Then, silly pink faces start to blur into your vision, with voices you don't recognize saying something to you in a language you couldn't quite catch.

'Why the long face?' you chuckled, before finally closing your eyes and succumbing to your exhaustion.