Chapter 106

“And everyone was relatively conservative about love, not as direct and open as it is now.”

“Plus the school strictly prohibited students from dating...”

“That girl used this point and thought of a ‘ghost idea’.”

“She started spreading rumors in the school every day, saying that previous graduates had buried a ‘pink card’ under the cherry blossom tree in the school.”

“As long as you put this card into a love letter and give it to the person you like, and the confession is successful, the two will definitely be able to grow old together.”

“But she also said that the card seemed to have been dug up long ago and is now hidden in the Broadcasting Club.”

“At that time, many students who had long had a crush on someone ran to the Broadcasting Club to look for it.”

“That girl was very smart, saying the card was on her, but you had to join the club for a full year before it would be randomly given to members.”

“As a result, quite a few students believed her ‘evil’ and joined the Broadcasting Club.”

“Just like that, the Broadcasting Club’s disbandment crisis was temporarily resolved.”

“However... the rumor that ‘confessing under the cherry blossom tree can lead to growing old together’ has spread from then on and never stopped.”

“It even intensified.”

“Every day, many students secretly ran to the cherry blossom tree to confess, which seriously affected the learning atmosphere at that time.”

“The school therefore once wanted to cut down this hundred-year-old cherry blossom tree.”

Fujiwara Aoi covered her mouth and asked worriedly:

“Then... was the cherry blossom tree cut down later?”

Natsume Chikage looked at the huge cherry blossom tree in front of him, then looked at her, wanting to say something but stopping, and finally chose silence.

Otsuka Takuyuki smiled:

“Of course not.”

“The students resisted this decision by the school very strongly.”

“So much so that every time the school tried to take action, there would always be students surrounding the cherry blossom tree to block it.”

“There were even students who didn’t sleep at night, guarding there, for fear that the school would take advantage of the night to find someone to cut down the tree.”

Natsume Chikage pondered:

“This situation is a bit wrong.”

“Just for a cherry blossom tree, students shouldn’t have such strong motivation to do these things that might lead to police and school punishment.”

Otsuka Takuyuki nodded approvingly.

“You’re right.”

“Actually, the real reason behind it is related to the background of that era.”

“Thirty years ago, at the end of the Showa era, society was in a period of intense movement. Many students were dissatisfied with Japanese society and would go on the streets to demonstrate.”

“And the cherry blossom tree incident... was actually just an ‘excuse’ for students to confront the upper-level system.”

Natsume Chikage understood.

“I see.”

Fujiwara Aoi asked curiously:

“Then what happened later? What happened to the school and the students in the end?”

Otsuka Takuyuki sighed:

“The confrontation between the school and the students at that time ended up making a big noise, and even brought in the police, making a big fuss.”

“In the end, both sides reached a compromise: students could not be so blatant, must take into account their studies, and no longer engage in similar activities; while the school turned a blind eye to students who occasionally confessed under the cherry blossom tree.”

Fujiwara Aoi said happily:

“It’s a good ending.”

Natsume Chikage was a bit confused.

“However, I heard Teacher Sakai mention the hundred-year-old cherry blossom tree, but she never mentioned this history to me?”

Otsuka Takuyuki smiled helplessly.

“Teacher Sakai is very young, she has only been working for two years, it’s normal not to know this history.”

Fujiwara Aoi was confused:

“But... it seems no one else in the school knows about this? In the few days since I enrolled, I have never heard classmates mention it.”

Otsuka Takuyuki explained:

“Because the school thinks this is not a glorious thing, the relevant records have been deliberately erased.”

“It can be said that except for those who experienced it personally back then, basically no one knows this history of the school.”

“Even in order to ‘beautify’ this matter, the school chose to let the rumors continue to spread.”

“So the legend of ‘confessing under the cherry blossom tree can lead to growing old together’ that you hear now was born this way.”

Fujiwara Aoi suddenly realized.

“The origin is actually like this...”

Natsume Chikage was also a bit surprised, but at this moment he faintly sensed something wrong.

Because for such a big event, someone always has to take responsibility.

But Otsuka Takuyuki didn’t mention the follow-up of that Broadcasting Club girl at all in his narration.

He frowned and asked:

“The Broadcasting Club girl you mentioned at the beginning... what happened to her in the end?”

“Was she pushed out to... take the blame?”

“You... are unexpectedly sharp.”

Otsuka Takuyuki was stunned, clearly not expecting Natsume Chikage to capture this key point instantly.

Fujiwara Aoi heard Natsume Chikage’s inquiry and also covered her mouth in surprise.

“Teacher Otsuka, that girl in the end... could it be that she was really pushed out to take the blame?”

Otsuka Takuyuki didn’t hide it, just smiled with a hint of helplessness, shaking his head repeatedly.

“As for the scapegoat you mentioned, there was indeed one.”

“But it wasn’t that girl from the Broadcasting Club.”

“I said at the beginning, that girl was very smart.”

“After she realized the situation was starting to get out of control, she immediately started playing dumb.”

“In order to completely clear the relationship, she even pulled out the two seniors who had been expelled because of causing trouble in the Broadcasting Club and fighting with school leaders.”

“You also know that the confrontation between students and the school and society at that time was very intense.”

“Those two expelled seniors were fooled by that girl.”

“She said that as long as they were willing to stand up, they could become heroes for all the ‘movement’ students.”

“Many boys in that era had a sense of hot blood in their hearts, longing to become leaders.”

“The two of them heard they could be heroes, and even knowing they were taking the blame for others, they stood up without hesitation!”

Fujiwara Aoi was dumbfounded.

“Ah?”

“This... this is okay too?”

“That girl is too witty, right?”

Natsume Chikage nodded.

“Indeed.”

Otsuka Takuyuki slapped his knee and laughed:

“See, you think so too.”

Natsume Chikage asked:

“What was the ending for those two seniors?”

Fujiwara Aoi asked worriedly:

“Don’t tell me... they have to go to jail for a long time?”

Otsuka Takuyuki shook his head and smiled:

“That’s not the case.”

“If it were an ordinary student, doing this would definitely be expelled.”