Title: The Sakura Between Two Worlds
The last petal fell as the sun sank beneath the crimson horizon.
Kaito stood under the ancient sakura tree that crowned the hill, the same tree his grandmother once said connected two worlds — the world of the living and the world of forgotten dreams.
He didn't believe in such things.
At least, not until the day she appeared.
The air shimmered like glass. A girl in a white kimono stepped out from the fading light, her silver hair glinting with cherry petals. Her eyes were the color of the dawn — gentle, but endless.
"You called me," she whispered.
"I... I didn't call anyone," Kaito said, stepping back.
"You did," she smiled faintly. "When you wished for time to stop."
Kaito's heart froze. He had made that wish just hours ago, staring up at the blossoms, wishing his world wouldn't keep moving without his grandmother in it.
The girl reached out her hand. "I am Aira — the guardian of this tree. Every hundred years, someone's wish touches the roots of the sakura. You wished to stop time. But are you ready to bear the cost?"
"The cost?"
"To stop time, you must give up your place in it."
The petals swirled like snow. Kaito looked around — the hill, the sky, everything seemed still, as if the world was holding its breath.
"What happens if I don't?"
"Then the world will forget your wish… and your heart will keep breaking."
Aira's voice trembled for the first time. Kaito could feel her sadness — the loneliness of someone who had lived centuries watching others come and go.
He stepped closer. "If I give up my place… what happens to you?"
Her eyes widened. "Then I disappear. The guardian must fade when the next one takes her place."
Kaito smiled. "Then maybe it's time you stopped being alone."
Before she could stop him, he touched the trunk of the sakura. The blossoms flared in light, a thousand petals swirling like stars.
Aira gasped — and then smiled through her tears. "You're a fool… but thank you."
The world blurred. The last thing Kaito saw was her smile dissolving into the petals.
When spring came again, people noticed the sakura tree on the hill had two figures carved into its trunk — a boy and a girl, standing side by side beneath an eternal bloom.
And when the wind blew, the petals whispered softly through the air:
> "Time doesn't stop… but love remembers."
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Would you like me to make this into a series (multi-chapter anime novel) or keep it as a standalone one-shot?