Xu Fei joined in, mercilessly mocking those claiming that '5 Centimeters per Second' would end in tragedy.
She hated tragic romance the most. Sure, they stuck with you and left a deep impact, and yes, Jing Yu was undeniably brilliant at writing them…
But she didn't want this story to go in that direction.
In this third and final chapter, Jing Yu has added many details from the novel version about Takaki.
For instance, after losing contact with Akari, it wasn't as if Takaki never dated again.
He did, during college, several times. But none of them went anywhere.
Every single relationship was built on chasing after Akari's shadow.
Not someone who looked like her, but someone who could give him the same feeling Akari once had.
In truth, after so many years, his memory of her had become vague. The once-piercing emotion had hollowed out. But there was one thing Takaki still remembered clearly—
That snowy night in middle school… the kiss beneath the barren cherry tree branches.
That, to him, was love.
His first girlfriend had broken up with him, saying:
"I still really like you… But I know very clearly—you don't feel the same. I can't take it anymore!"
The second girlfriend… he kissed her by accident, and in that instant, it felt like when Akari had once kissed him.
So, he started dating her. But after a few months, the passion faded.
Because she wasn't Akari.
His third girlfriend was…
A kind, gentle woman.
"Even if we exchange a thousand messages, our hearts will never get even one centimeter closer."
The moment this line came up—
Xu Fei fell completely silent.
A grief too subtle to name swelled in her chest.
She could feel it from the story—Takaki wasn't "hung up" on Akari.
Akari had merely been someone real, someone from his past.
As time passed, even her image had grown blurry.
But what she left behind… was an obsession.
A spiritual imprint buried deep within his soul.
That was why, even knowing Kanae liked him, he never responded.
Why did none of his three girlfriends ever last?
Jing Yu used short, simple edits to stitch together this entire part of Takaki's journey.
From the very first chapter, the oppressive atmosphere of '5 Centimeters per Second' had been building up—and now, it reached its peak with Takaki quitting his job after breaking up with his third girlfriend.
But then… the perspective shifted.
To Akari.
Now 27 years old.
She'd discovered an old letter in her storage room—the one she never got to give Takaki.
That night, she dreamed of him.
The next day, she set off for the town of her memories.
She was getting married.
Jing Yu didn't say it outright. But he hinted—through a ring on Akari's left hand, and a brief conversation with her parents.
Still—
Xu Fei's heart plummeted.
"What the hell? That ring on her hand?"
"No way… Akari's getting married?"
"Wait, wait—what's going on with the train scene at the beginning of the chapter then?"
"Yeah! If she's about to get married, what was that whole setup for?"
"Ugh, you don't get it—she's only about to get married. Has she gotten married yet?"
"Exactly. Has she?"
"Wait, don't tell me this is going to turn into a last-minute wedding crash trope?"
"No way, Takaki wouldn't do that… right?"
"That'd be way too cliché."
"Why are you thinking so much? Just watch."
Xu Fei took a deep breath to settle herself.
Something really did feel off.
And the following scenes—
Only magnified that feeling.
Both of them, now living in the same city…
That night, they each looked up at the starry sky.
Their thoughts overlapped—like they could hear each other.
"Last night… I had a dream." —Takaki.
"A dream from long ago."
"In the dream, we were just kids."
"We stood in a field, blanketed in thick snow… only our footprints stretched across the white."
"We thought, someday, we'd watch the cherry blossoms together."
A soft, melancholic piano prelude began to play.
Xu Fei's lips parted slightly.
That intro alone made her want to cry.
In Great Zhou's live-action version, most of the soundtrack was copied from the original anime.
But this one—this theme song—Jing Yu replaced.
He never liked the original's rhythm at the end, no matter how many times he watched the movie in his past life. Not because it was bad, just… personal taste.
So in this world, he chose to replace it with a song he loved from his past life: "The Wind Rises".
He invited the famous Great Zhou singer Zhou You to perform it.
Of course, technically speaking, "The Wind Rises" wasn't even originally a Chinese song. It was created by Japanese artist Yu Takahashi, with the Chinese version being a lyrical adaptation.
"Walking and pausing along the road…"
"Following the trails of a drifting youth…"
As the male voice rang out, the bittersweet melody fully immersed Xu Fei—and countless others—into the unfolding scene behind the music.
After that final meeting, Akari and Takaki moved to different cities.
Though they didn't watch cherry blossoms together in spring…
They parted with a smile.
They wrote letters regularly and kept each other updated.
"And the skies of Nagano… still as warm as before, stirring memories from the past."
Long-distance love might burn bright at first—but can it really last?
In the beginning, writing letters was exciting—full of anticipation.
But then… it became a chore.
What do you even write?
What can you still say?
Takaki sat at his desk, unable to write a single word.
Akari stared at a blank sheet of stationery. All she'd written was:
"Hello, Takaki—"
And then stopped.
One day, he didn't get a letter.
So he stopped writing too.
At first, they'd check the mailbox every day—maybe the letter was delayed?
But eventually…
They'd just glance at the mailbox in passing.
Not even bothering to open it.
When mutual silence becomes a habit, inertia takes over.
Their messages grew fewer and farther between.
"Even if the horizon seems just ahead, I'd still brave fire and water… just to walk that path again."
Takaki sat alone on a hillside.
He typed out a message to the girl in his memory… then deleted it.
His feelings for Akari had become a fixation.
Akari, too, had loved Takaki.
Even years later, she still remembered him.
But she had accepted a new life.
Takaki's eyes grew more and more vacant.
Work, life—nothing more than tools to dull the emptiness inside.
Akari had new friends, a new lover.
And she had agreed to marry him.
"I once turned my youth into her image, and played out summers with my fingertips."
"Your eyes, so full of light and shadow. One smile blooms… while dusk hides your hesitant steps."
Finally, the screen returned to where the third chapter began.
Akari and Takaki…
Crossing paths again, after more than a decade.
At the railway station where they once promised to watch cherry blossoms together.
"In the end, I returned my youth to her, along with that summer strummed from my fingertips."
The song came to a close.
But its final notes still echoed.
Takaki turned back.
The train blocked his view.
Cherry blossoms fell.
The train…
Did not move.
Xu Fei's heart was pounding. She wanted to jump into the screen and blow the damn train up.
One second…
Five seconds…
Ten seconds…
It felt like a lifetime.
Finally, the train passed.
"In the name of love… are you still willing?"
Across the tracks—no one.
Just petals in the wind.
The scene was heartbreakingly beautiful.
A faint smile appeared on Takaki's face.
His eyes are no longer empty.
Without hesitation, without confusion, he turned and walked uphill.
But Xu Fei felt something hollow open up inside her.
The ending theme of '5 Centimeters per Second' played.
The movie… was over.
Are you seriously ending it here?!
Xu Fei sat there, stunned.
Emotionally wrecked.
She took a deep breath… and exhaled sharply.
It didn't help.
She'd thought the final ending would be Akari cancelling the wedding.
Instead, they simply passed each other—like strangers.
Akari had truly let go.
That's why she walked away.
And Takaki… the girl he'd chased for thirteen years, turned out to be just a passerby in his life.
A dream.
Their crossing paths again was just…
A coincidence. A miracle.
But the characters moved on.
What about the audience?
The deeper your emotional immersion…
The stronger the emptiness after.
Who could even write an ending like this?!
Is the screenwriter even human?!