SORA's Part-time job

不經不覺，還有一個星期左右就到聖誕了，同學們都紛紛為自己的課室佈置裝飾。

我們的課室今年也跟往常一樣，依舊會放置一棵古老小型聖誕樹。這棵聖誕樹從我讀幼稚園的時候已經存在，每年聖誕都會從後院搬回課室當值。而今年負責為聖誕樹裝飾的剛好是我跟 SORA。

正當我們開始替這位老朋友打扮的時候，我在放滿裝飾品的小盒子裡發現了一件久違了的東西。

是一個紅鼻子。

「原來它在這裡啊！我還以為已經弄丟了。SORA，你記得這個嗎？」我興奮地試著把這個紅鼻子套在鼻上，卻發現它的大小已經不適合我了。

「噢噢，想不到在這裡哩！」SORA 從我手上拿過去試戴，當然也一樣戴不上去。

「在幼稚園的聖誕派對時，你在交換禮物環節把這個送給我，還跟我說是第一次打工的報酬。我看你根本是忘記準備禮物，然後隨手就把聖誕樹上的裝飾拿過來頂替吧？」我為幼稚園時期受騙的自己抱怨道。

「才～沒有騙你啦。記得那年我在後山遊玩時偶然遇到那位老公公，他跟我說由於當年純鹿的出生率很低，讓他十分煩惱，然後就問我要不替他打工。我可跟他忙了整個平安夜哩！而這個紅鼻子就是當時的報酬了。」SORA 的解釋疑幻似真。

「老公公......平安夜......？你的打工內容是什麼？」我心中雀躍，卻還是故作冷靜地問道。

「就跟老公公養的純鹿們一起拉著他那輛會飛的雪橇，然後把禮物丟進有煙囪的屋子裡。可惜我們學校的宿舍沒有煙囪，要不然我們都應該會收到禮物哩！」SORA 悠然地形容。

「那......那不就是......！」我整個呆掉。

「今年那位老公公也有來找我打工啊！說起來我也差不多要出發去幫他整理禮物了。今年的平安夜大餐，你留起給我回來吃就好！」SORA 拋下這句說話後就一支箭地衝出課室，剩下我呆呆地拿著這個小小的紅鼻子。

「誒誒誒誒！？不會是真的吧！？」

Only a week was left for Christmas, everyone has started to decorate our classroom.

As tradition we'd put an old tiny Christmas tree in our classroom, which I could see on every Christmas since kindergarten. The tree would be taken from backyard to the classroom for displaying and it's SORA and my responsibility this year.

By the time we were about to dress our old friend up, I discovered something hadn't been seen for years in a tiny box filled with decors－ a red nose.

'Oh! I thought it was lost! SORA, do you still remember this?' I attempted to put it on my noise yet it couldn't fit any more.

'Oh! So it was here!!' SORA took it and put it on, naturally it didn't fit at all.

'You gave this to me during the Christmas party when we were kindergarteners, and told me it's the first pay of your job. But I'm sure it's just something you randomly took from a Christmas tree as you forgot to prepare my present, isn't it?' I grumbled.

'No! It's really my pay for work! I met an old man when I was playing in the mountain that year, he told me that the birth rate of reindeers was very low and he was troubled. He asked if I wanted to work with him so I had been busy with my job for whole day on Christmas eve.'

'Old man...? Christmas eve...? What's your job about?' I pretend to be calm yet in fact I was so excited.

'To take care of reindeers with the old man and pull a snow slide, also throwing presents into chimneys － what a pity that our school has no chimney, or else we may get our presents too!' SORA said causally.

'If...if that wasn't...!' I was stunned.

'The old man came to me this year again! Speaking of this it's almost time for me to help him to pack the presents, please keep me something good in the Christmas eve feast tonight!!' SORA rushed out of the classroom, leaving me who was holding the red nose stupidly behind.

'Whaaaaaaat!? Could that be real!?'

-JOBI

SORA & JOBI

在還沒開始上狐狸學校的時候，我喜歡在櫻老大熟睡之後，偷偷地跑出來闖蕩冒險。

記得有一天晚上，月亮比平時更大更圓。月光正好把樹林旁邊那條小河映照得閃閃發亮。正當我想跑進河裡玩耍時，我看見一隻金黃色的狐狸站在河中心，他的額頭上有個下弦月標記。

「你......你好喔！我們.....可以交朋友嗎？」金黃色狐狸從他隨身帶著的小瓶中掏了一粒綠色的星型小石出來，靦腆地遞給我。

「這個......是什麼？」小石頭晶瑩剔透，十分漂亮，而且帶著一點果香。

「這叫糖果喔。」金黃色狐狸又拿了一粒放進口中，我隨即也把自己的吃下。

「嗚哇好味道！哇哇哇哇好甜喔！」我被那種爆炸性的清甜果味刺激得手舞足蹈。

「嘻嘻......再給你試試，這是草莓味的。」他再遞上一粒給我，這次是紅色的糖果。同樣也是超．級．美．味啊！

「那......我們可以當朋友嗎？」金黃狐狸向前踏出一小步。

「當然可以喔！我叫 SORA，你叫什麼名字？」我最喜歡交朋友了。

「我叫 JOBI。」JOBI 看起來鬆了口氣。

「多多指教啊 JOBI！」我教 JOBI 捏起拳頭，跟我的拳頭互碰。那是男生之間友情的證明。

那是我第一次品嚐「糖果」這種零食，也是我跟 JOBI 的初次相遇。

Before attending Foxford College, I used to sneak out after Mr Cherry Blossom fell asleep. 

There was a night the moon was fuller and archer then usual, the river along the forest shimmered under the moonlight. Just when I decided to play in the water, I saw a fox in golden standing in the river. There was a waning crescent mark on his forehead. 

'Hel...hello! Can...can we be friends?' the golden fox took out a piece of star-shaped green stone from a can he was carrying, and handed it to me shyly. 

The stone was crystal-clear and stunningly appealing, also carried a fruitful scent. 

'Wha..what is this?'

'It's a candy.' He took one and ate it, I ate mine too. 

'Wow it's yummy! Ohhh so sweet!!' I was stormed by the miraculous juiciness of the candy. 

'Heeh heeh... try a strawberry flavoured one.' He gave me a red one. Same with the last one, it's phenomenally tasty! 

'So...will you be my friend?' The golden fox took a step forward. 

'Sure! My name is SORA, what's yours?' I loved making friends. 

'I'm JOBI.' JOBI seemed relieved. 

'Nice to meet you, JOBI!' I taught JOBI to make his hand into a fist and brofist with me － the prove of friendship among boys. 

This was the first time for me to try the snack 'candy', and my first encounter with JOBI. 

-SORA

RAINY DAY

今年的夏天很不錯耶！晴朗的日子比平常多。即使暑假過後，同學們都會把握好天氣，放學後去操場運動一下。

而今天則由我跟班長當值日，負責維持操場秩序。

在熱鬧的操場上，我看見 LEILA 郁悶地站著。我想她應該是在等幼稚園部放學，然後接 MIA 回宿舍吧？

話說回來，LEILA 自開學以來都只是獨個兒活動，沒有跟同學玩，也沒有跟其他女生一起上洗手間。就連最會破冰的 SORA 也沒她辦法。相比起已經成為開朗活潑、人見人愛的幼稚園部校花 MIA，LEILA 好像仍然很不習慣學校的生活。

「滴......溚......滴.....溚」

夏天就是這樣，天氣會突然轉壞。原本的藍天白雲轉眼就變成滂沱大雨。同學們都爭相離開操場躲避。就只有 LEILA 仍然站在原地。

「LEILA！快過來這邊避雨啦！你這樣會感冒的！」就在我正想過去把 LEILA 帶到樹蔭下的時候，班長拉住了我：

「你看，LEILA 笑了。」

仿佛被雨水溶化掉郁悶一樣，LEILA 興高采烈地在雨中跳舞，她的身體變成了湖水般的清澈藍色。雨水不斷落在她的身上，卻讓她看起來更加動人。

「終於下雨了！太好啦！你們不過來慶祝嗎？」LEILA 一邊跳著輕快而優雅的舞步，一邊邀請我們加入，讓我都有點想無視大雨跟她一起玩了。這個時候，我回望班長。

他就像剛才的 LEILA 一樣，一言不發地呆站著。臉頰好像有點紅紅的。

啊！

難道他得了感冒？

The summer this year was a great one! Sunny days were more then ever. Our classmates seized every good weather, and headed to the playground to exercise. 

It's MONITOR and my turn to be the proctors and maintain order in the playground today. 

I saw LEILA standing disconsolately on the spirited playground. She was probably going to pick MIA up and get back to the dormitory － MIA was still having lessons in the kindergarten department. 

Speaking of LEILA, she was always alone since the start of school year － she never plays with other classmates nor goes to toilet with girls. Even our icebreaking master SORA couldn't make a change. Contrasting to the most beloved MIA in the kindergarten department, LEIL hadn't gotten used to school life at all.

'Pitter-patter...pitter patter...'

Summers were like this, weathers turned bad all in a sudden － from clear to stormy. All students but LEILA rushed to take cover from the rain. 

'LEILA, come here! You will caught a fever!' I was going to take LEILA to a shelter. 

'Look, LEILA smiled.' MONITOR stopped me. 

As though the rain washed away her gloominess, LEILA danced in the rain blissfully. Her body turned into cardet blue, like a clear shimmering lake. The raindrops on her fur made her even more stunning. 

'Finally! It rains! Yay!! Aren't you guys gonna celebrate?' LEILA invited us to join her as she was dancing elegantly. Even I wanted to join her despite the rain. 

I looked at MONITOR. 

He was like LEILA before the rain － standing thoughtlessly. His cheeks seemed a bit rosy. 

OH! 

Did he catch a fever? 

-JOBI

JOBI AND MS.TRAVELLER

各位久等了，這次請讓我再次介紹自己。

跟大部份同學不同，我是在月球上出生的狐狸。當我睜開眼睛，眼前除了一半漆黑的天空，以及一半白茫茫的陸地之外，就沒有其他了，感覺一片死寂。

我呆坐著不知道過了多少天。忽然間，有人輕輕拍了下我的頭。

「久等了，小狐狸。你的名字叫 JOBI。」

跟我說話的是一位外表很像人類的女生。

得到她的命名後，我的毛色立刻起變化。由本來的全白色變成現在金黃色，額頭上多了個下弦月的胎記。我感覺充滿精神，眼淚卻不自覺湧出。

「哈哈，這次的 JOBI 是個愛哭鬼哩！」女生再次摸了摸我的頭。「JOBI，月球很沒趣的，到那邊去交朋友吧！」看見她指著遙遠的地球，我只是一臉茫然。

她把圍巾拿下來圈在我身上。又從被肩裡拿出一罐糖果給我說：「待會將會出現一條月光通道，你只要乘上它就能夠前往地球了。到了地球之後如果遇到想結交的朋友，就送他糖果吧。」

然後，我隨即向這位女生遞上一粒糖果：「我......我叫 JOBI，請問你叫什麼名字？我們......可以交朋友嗎？」

「......」

女生有點驚訝，她擦了擦眼睛並拿過糖果。「當然可以！我叫 TRAVELLER。」

TRAVELLER 姐姐吃過糖果之後，便送我上月光通道。道別時我好像看見她的嘴唇微微郁動，似乎在跟我說什麼，可是她的聲音太小，我都聽不清楚就是......

那次之後，我就沒有再見過 TRAVELLER 姐姐了。有時我會向著又大又圓的月亮祈禱，希望能夠跟她再會。我很想介紹現在的朋友給她認識啊！

Hello everyone, let me introduce myself again. 

Different from most of the classmates, I was born on the Moon. When I opened my eyes, there's nothing but the sky filled with darkness, and the land that shined in white. Nothing else, liveliness.

I seated there for countless days. Suddenly, someone petted my head. 

'Sorry for the wait, little fox. Your name will be JOBI.'

She was a human-looking girl. 

When I was named, my fur started to change — from plain white to golden brown, a luna mark appeared on my forehead. I felt like I was filled with strength, my tears dropped irresistibly. 

'Haha, this JOBI is a crybaby!' She petted my head again. 

'JOBI, Moon is dull, go make some friends in there!' She pointed at the Earth, which was far from Moon, I was puzzled. 

She put her scarf on me, then grabbed a can of candy from her cape.

'A moonlight tunnel will appear later－ what you have to do is simply ride on it, it will travel you to Earth. When you've gotten there, give a candy to whom you want to befriend.' She handed the candy to me. 

Soon after, I gave a candy to her. 

'My...my name is JOBI, what's yours? Can we be friends?'

'......'

'Sure! I'm TRAVELLER.' She seemed surprised. She rubbed her eyes and took the candy. 

After TRAVELLER ate her candy, she accompanied me to the moonlight tunnel. When we're waving goodbye, her lips were moving, seemed like she was saying something, yet her voice was too low to be heard...

I had never seen TRAVELLER again hereafter. Sometimes I pray to the shimmering Moon, and wish to meet her again. I hope I can introduce my friends to her! 

-JOBI

試膽大會 TEST OF COURAGE

暑假的壓軸節目，是一年一度的試膽大會。

同學們兩人一組從學校出發，沿後山的小徑圍繞整座後山一周，再回到學校的操場為之完成。

這是狐狸們十分期待的活動。除了証明自己的膽量之外，完成後更可以得到連續一星期特別豐富的午餐，故此大家都很踴躍參加。

不過呢......其實我......一點都不想參加就是了。因為我每次也是跟 SORA 那傢伙一組，而他總是一開始就不顧一切一口氣跑到終點......這次也不例外，我又被 SORA 撇下了。

由於環境太暗，看不清楚路徑，我只能勉強踱步行走。突然，我感覺絆到了什麼，失去重心的我順勢跌進一個地洞。

「嗚哇哇！」

我嚇得手足無措。幸好地洞不算深，只令我稍為摔了一跤。正當我打算爬出去時，一隻微微發光的手臂從洞口伸了下來。

「來。」

把我拉出地洞的，是一隻從未見過的狐狸。顏色鮮明的身體上滲透出微微綠光，毛髮上帶著細碎而閃亮的金銀色。

「請問你是......?」

「你沒事嗎？」

「啊，沒事喔！謝謝你。」

「那就好了。嘻嘻！」

我還沒來得及問名字，他就在我眼前分散成無數光點，光點散落在小徑上，一路把我引導回校。

回去之後，我把這件事情跟同學們說，然而他們都異口同聲地說沒有見過那隻狐狸。唯獨是 SORA，他好像對這件事情毫不感到奇怪。

「我之前就跟你介紹過他喔！只是那個時候，他不是以狐狸的樣子出現在你面前而已。」 SORA 把一塊櫻花花瓣交給我。

原來如此，那我知道他是誰了。下次我會帶零食去答謝他的！

還是應該帶肥料去呢？

The grand finale of summer vacation will be the the annual Test of Courage. 

Two classmates stay in a group, walk along the sidewalks through the mountain, then back to the playground at school. 

All foxes were excited about that as they could not only prove their courage but also could get a whole-week special lunch, so everyone participated actively. 

However, that didn't fit my situation at all. I was paired with SORA every year and he merely rushed for the ending point without caring for anything else. This time was not an exceptional － I was left behind again. 

I was not able to see the roads as it's too dark and could only managed with an effort. Suddenly, I was tripped by something and fell into a hole. 

'Oh nooo!'

I was scared to death. Luckily the hole wasn't deep and I didn't get hurt. As I was trying to get up from the hole, an glowing arm reached out for me. 

'Here.'

The person who pulled me out was a fox I have never seen － bright-coloured body gleamed in green, his fur was shimmering in silvery sparkles.

'Who are you...?'

'Are you alright?'

'Oh! Yes, thank you.'

'I'm so glad! Heeheeh.'

He disappeared in countless glitters that spread on the sidewalk before I could asked for his name, and led me back to the school. 

I told my classmates about the encounter after I got back to school, everyone but SORA claimed that they have not seen this fox before, and he wasn't surprised at all. 

'I have told you about him! Only he didn't appeared as a fox at that time.' SORA handed me a cherry blossom flower. 

Now I know who he is. Perhaps I should bring some snacks to thank him! Or shall I bring fertiliser? 

-JOBI

LEILA & MIA (2)

「......也就是說，你們是從另一個星球來到這裡的？」老師一臉驚訝。

「是的。我們一族在希波波星誕生，那裡原本是一個很漂亮的星球，但由於戰爭爆發，如今已經殘破不堪了。而我跟 MIA 也因此失去了同伴......」LEILA 邊說邊輕撫著 MIA 的頭。

「無論如何，現在總算是安全了。你們就待在這間學校吧。我可以幫你們辦理入學手續。」老師提議。

「謝謝。」雖然 LEILA 短促地回答，感覺卻比剛來到的時候放鬆不少。

「MIA 今年多大了？」老師問。

「3 歲！」MIA 乖巧地回答，看來比她的姊姊適應快好多。

「那你要到幼稚園部去喔。這裡是小學部。」老師在表格上填寫。

「我不要跟姊姊分開！不要不要不要！」MIA 一聽到老師的安排立刻就紅起面鰓，一眶眼淚在晃來晃去。

「MIA，你要快點學會獨立才行。要是我突然死了，你也得好好照顧自己啊！」LEILA 認真地告誡著緊緊摟著她左腿的 MIA。

「沒......沒那麼嚴重啦！只是分開上課而已，吃飯跟住宿也可以在一起的。」老師匆忙解釋。MIA 立刻如釋重負，表情多多的她又露出可愛的笑容了。看來她會很受歡迎哩。

「那就拜托班長先帶她們到宿舍休息吧，順便跟大家打個招呼。暑假後就開始上課嚕。」老師示意班長。

「我也可以當班長嗎？」LEILA 突然問道，讓大家有點錯愕。

「嗯？為什麼？」老師再次一臉驚訝。

「當班長的話敵人較少。」LEILA 斬釘截鐵，讓老師一下子不懂反應。

「老師，我也希望有同學可以分擔我的工作。」班長插話道，似乎明白什麼。

「喔......那好吧。拜託你了，LEILA 同學。」老師只好順應。

「我也要當班長！」MIA 也跟著喊。

「好，好。謝謝你呀小 MIA。」老師苦笑投降。

「多多指教。」LEILA 跟 MIA 一起向大家鞠了個躬。

  趕及在新學期開始前，我們迎來了兩位新同伴。

-JOBI

LEILA & MIA (1)

新同伴來得奇妙又突然。

下課之後，我如常跟 SORA 和班長一起回到宿舍時，突然看見一顆光球像流星般劃破天空，並急速降落在後山。這情景讓好奇心旺盛的 SORA 本能反應似的一口氣跑過去，我們都來不及阻止。

「外星人！是外星人啊！」第一個到達的 SORA 興奮地向隨後跟上的我們報告。

在熟悉的樹叢下，站在我們面前的是一位跟我們身高差不多，穿著太空衣，外表看起來像「人類」的生物。而在她旁邊的是兩隻我們從未見過的狐狸，似乎是兩姊妹。

「你看得見我們嗎？」班長懷疑地向外星人問道。因為一般地球人是看不見我們的。

「好多狐狸耶！JOHN 果然沒有說錯。」 外星人臉帶微笑。「你們好，我叫 YOKO，是負責帶牠們來這裡尋找同伴的。」她輕輕推前了身旁的狐狸一把。

「我是 LEILA，她是妹妹 MIA。」狐狸姊姊簡單地介紹自己。沉厚而崩緊的聲線聽起來帶點冷漠，卻跟她白裡透藍的毛色以及裹著及膝被肩的造型十分相稱。

「那麼我的任務就此完結。你們要好好相處喔！宇宙很大，生命很短。我們有緣再見。」YOKO 跟我們揮手道別之後就回到她身後的太空船，太空船未幾發出耀眼的光芒，不消幾秒就升空去了。

我看著逐漸變成星星般細小的太空船，對眼前所發生的事情還未來得及消化。

「請......請多多指教！」躲在 LEILA 背後的 MIA 努力又緊張地試圖打破沉默。

「你好啊！我叫 SORA，他們是 JOBI 跟班長。歡迎來到地球！」SORA 也立刻示好。

「這個地方......感覺好平靜。似乎沒有戰爭......？」LEILA 凝重地問道。

「你是指每天小休時間都在小賣部上演的零食爭奪戰嗎？」SORA 開玩笑地回答。

「......MIA，我們終於安全了。姐姐說過一定會保護你的。」由見面開始就一直崩緊的LEILA 終於鬆一口氣，並緊緊抱著 MIA。

「嗚哇......！」MIA 放聲大哭，這一幕令我無法想像她們的經歷。

「無論如何，我們先帶她們回去宿舍見老師吧。」班長說。

待續。

New companions always arrived startlingly. 

As usual, I headed back to the dormitory with SORA and MONITOR after lessons. All of a sudden, we saw a light ball streaked across the sky like a shooting star and plunged into the mountain. SORA, who was filled with curiosity, instinctively rushed to where the light ball landed before we could restrained him. 

'Alien! Aliens! ' SORA told us with excitement when we arrived. 

Under the grove stood two creatures that looked like 'human'. They were at the same height as us, and was wearing space suits. Standing beside them, were two foxes we had never seen, seemed like they were sisters. 

'So...you are able to see us?' MONITOR asked the aliens doubtfully, as most human could not see us. 

'So many foxes! JOHN's right!' the alien smiled. 'Hello, my name is YOKO, I brought them here to look for companions. ' She pushed the foxes beside her gently. 

'I'm LEILA, she's my sister MIA.' The elder sister introduced themselves briefly. Deep and stiff voice sounded a bit cold, which paired with her long cape and fur － white touched with blue. 

'I guess my mission is completed! I hope you guys can get along! Too big the universe, too short to live. Let's meet soon.' YOKO headed back to her spaceship after waving us goodbye. The spaceship shined and lifted off to the sky few seconds later. 

I watched as the spaceship vanished into the sky like a star. I was still confused about what had happened. 

'Nice... nice to meet you!' MIA who was hiding behind LEILA tried to break the ice nervously. 

'Hello! I'm SORA, they're JOBI and MONITOR. Welcome to Earth!' SORA said kindly. 

'This place... is so peaceful. Seems like there's no war here...?' LEILA asked restlessly. 

'You mean the daily snacks battle in tuck shop?' SORA cracked a joke. 

'...MIA, we are save at last. I promised I would protect you.' LEILA was finally relieved, and hugged MIA tightly. 

'Wahhh...!' MIA bursted into howling cry. I couldn't even imagine what had happened to them. 

'Anyway, Let's bring them back to the dormitory and meet the teacher. ' said MONITOR. 

- JOBI

To be continued



know more at John & Yoko's Space Diary

ABBY (霓虹派對 NEON NIGHT PARTY)

玩具店老闆 ABBY 為他的店製作了一個很漂亮的螢光燈招牌哩！

The toy shop owner ABBY has made a nice neon light signboard for his shop!

-JOBI

SORA (櫻 SAKURA)

春天來了，天氣開始和暖起來，植物慢慢回復生氣。唯獨是後山那棵櫻花樹依然是光禿禿的，我在想它會不會是生病了。

我擔心地把櫻花樹的情況告訴 SORA，怎料他聽到之後只是微笑了一下，然後就拉著我來到櫻花樹前。

「嗨嗨！櫻老大，春天已經來了。該起來啦！」SORA 大聲向櫻花樹嚷道。

其後，櫻花樹竟然像回應 SORA 的叫喊般產生奇妙的變化。本來瘦削的樹枝不斷長出新的枝葉，粉嫩的櫻花像爆米花般一朵接一朵冒出來。原本光禿禿的老樹一下子變得滿滿盛放之餘，就連 SORA 的毛色也跟著變成粉紅透白的櫻花色。奇跡般的風景簡直令我目不暇給！

「我是在這棵櫻花樹下出生的。它在我得到名字之前一直伴著我。我們已經是老朋友了啊！可能櫻老大年紀大了，稍為睡過頭就是，但它仍然老當益壯呢！」

原來如此，就連櫻花樹也跟 SORA 是朋友啊。這傢伙果然讓人意想不到哩......

「如此璀璨的風景，要是能夠讓更多的狐狸看見就好了。」放心下來的我望著緩緩飄到手心的櫻花花瓣。

「這主意不錯！我現在就幫櫻老大開枝散葉去！」行動派的 SORA 一手搶去我手上的花瓣，又在其他紛飛的花瓣中隨便多挑幾塊之後，頭也沒回就跑下山。

「喂，你要去哪裡啊？」我看著 SORA 逐漸縮小的背影。

「去全世界不同地方撒下櫻老大的種子！」SORA 興高采烈地回答。

「什麼！？」

就是這樣。如果有誰看見 SORA，請叫他快點回來上課。我已經快要找不到藉口向班長隱瞞他為何那麼久沒有回校了......

Spring has come — the weather was getting warmer, and greenery was freshened. Yet, the cherry blossom tree on the mountain was still shrivelled. I wondered if it was sick. 

I told SORA about the cherry blossom tree with great concern. Still, he simply gave me a smile as reply, then pulled me to the front of the tree. 

"Hey! Cherry Blossom, sir! Spring has arrived! It's time to get up!" SORA yelled at the tree. 

Thereafter, some enchanting changes occurred to the cherry blossom tree, as if he was responding to SORA — green leaves grew on the gaunt branches, just as pink blossoms bloomed like popcorns one after another. Not just the old tree spruced up himself, the colour of the fur of SORA also changed into pinkish white — the same as the cherry blossoms. 

"I was born underneath this tree, he accompanied me all the time before I have my given name — we are old friends! Perhaps he overslept due to elderliness, still he is old but vigorous!"

Now I see, even the cherry blossom tree was a friend of SORA. He never failed to surprise me. 

"I hope more foxes would be able to enjoy such spectacular scenery." I said in relief, looking at the petal of the cherry blossom that had just gently fallen into my palms. 

"What a fantastic idea! I'm going to make Sir Cherry Blossom flourish!" SORA the activist grasped the petals in my palms, picked some among the falling, then went downhill without any hesitation. 

"Hey, where are you heading to?" I asked as SORA's back was dwindling from my sight. 

"I'm going to travel around the world to plant the seed of Sir Cherry Blossom!" SORA answered in great excitement. 

"What?!"

So, If you see SORA, do ask him to come to class. I couldn't find any more excuse to hide the fact from MONITOR, that he has been absent from class for such a long period....

-JOBI