Beside Someone Who Chooses the Harder Way

Airnote  ·  Kanna  ·  Aug 29, 2026

Pruning done, we sat side by side on the stone base.
Drank iced tea, looked at the cut vines and the light coming through.

It's a strange feeling, that something that finally grew gets pruned back, Yu said.
Wish it could just decide how much to grow, on its own.

We talked about how the easiest thing would be to just grow, and stop somewhere, naturally.
A vine can't think that far, so it overgrows and gets cut.
We think too much, and end up unable to tell how far is too far.

I said — maybe the easiest thing would be someone standing at the middle,
lightly trimming, saying this much is enough.

Yu said, quietly, maybe I just don't want to choose that easy path.
I thought — this is someone who knows the easy road, and chooses not to take it.
Someone who wants to see how far they can go, on their own.

Not easy. But being beside someone like that —
I found I didn't dislike it.

Through the vines on the ceiling, the summer light had grown, just a little more.