| Preview - Children Who Went to the Spiritual World, Book One |
| from 'The Angel and the Mystery of the Red Tulip: Akira Uno's Story' |
The world of dreams
As if nothing had happened, the sky today was once again brilliantly clear and deep blue. The sky is so full of strange mysteries, Akira muttered to himself. The beautiful image of the angel that had disappeared in the sky did not appear again, and the next several days passed by like a dream.
That night, exhausted from the day and having forgotten completely about the angel, Akira fell fast asleep. The world of his dreams was lucid and radiant. His new neighborhood could not compare to the beauty of this dream world, with its pure green grass, and trees whose every leaf sparkled brilliantly. The road and the houses scattered here and there were picture perfect. Akira walked along the paved road as if he were gliding. Although there was no one in sight, it was clear from the surroundings that people lived here. Akira had walked up and down the street for a while, when suddenly he came across a beautiful woman standing on a corner. Just then, he remembered that morning some days ago. Wasn’t this the angel he had seen in that great red tulip that bloomed in the eastern sky? “Oh!” Akira let out a sound of surprise. Seeing her again in this place was so unexpected, his chest pounded and he was unable to speak.
The angel's voice
In contrast to Akira’s surprise, the angel spoke to him softly and calmly. Or rather, she did not actually speak in words, but the voice of her heart echoed clearly within Akira’s chest. Immediately, he was overcome with an indescribably familiar feeling. Mother! he suddenly wanted to shout. Not knowing what to call her, he hesitated, and the angel spoke to him softly.
“I am your true mother.”
Upon hearing this, Akira thought first of his earthly mother, then his father, and his little sister.
As if looking inside his heart, the angel gazed at Akira warmly. “Ah, that’s right—you have a mother, a father, and a sister in your family… I’m sorry for saying that I am ‘your true mother.’ You are not ready to understand that yet.”
Having said that much, and smiling as if lost in thought, the angel held forth a fresh, red tulip, which Akira had not noticed before, and put it in Akira’s hand.
Without thinking, Akira blurted out: “Oh, this is the tulip I saw the other day—the bright red tulip.”
At that moment, he realized that this was the beautiful angel who had appeared in the form of a butterfly. He was now standing before that same angel. As Akira looked up at her, thinking how pure and beautiful she was, the angel enveloped him with her smile and her eyes of immeasurable kindness.
“The petals of this tulip will fall one by one. When all of them have fallen, that will be the time when you come back to live here with me. It will not be long.”
With these words, the angel disappeared, along with the beautiful landscape of the spiritual world. Akira went on sleeping soundly in his bed. It was some time later when he finally opened his eyes. Today was Sunday, and his mother had let her exhausted child sleep late.
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