Sakura

Marian Bircea
The Olympics is a war without weapons, Ikebana is the art of flower arrangements, including cherry blossom twigs. Peace is a rare flower that many people have had theirs snapped and so I had been dropped off the list. Out of sorrow, I drank a shot of cherry liqueur while looking at my phone at a few ripe cherries. The supreme court, my wife, found me and chased me out of the house threatening to shake off my plum tree. Being all alone, I wonder where I should go? To Heaven or Hell? I have friends on both sides. Some taken willingly, some sent there.

Vero Anttheia Teodoru
During classes he would always post another picture. That night the cherry twig enchanted us all. Come on, konban wa, minasan. Konban wa, sensei, we replied together. Each had his eyes on his own screen, but everyone was looking at the same picture. The teacher's calm voice explained how politeness is a basic norm in Japan and that in this class we would contaminate ourselves, there being no other way. We would listen fascinated, with our eyes gazing at the fragile, scented flowers and at the warm voice that caressed our ears. When this class ended, a few petals that were shaken onto the keyboard perfumed the room.

Monica Ciurea
I'm getting married, Marin, and I promised her I would show her sakura. Man, it's really bad, lend me 200. Wait a second, what the hell is that sack thing? Dude, those cherry trees from Japan, do you get it? I'll pay you back, come on, don't get in the way of our happiness. Wait, man, is that all? Now if you want to lend me more, I won't say no, but 200 is more than enough, because I owe 190 to the bar, and I shouldn't get married with debts. 10 lei is for gas. To Japan? No, to the roundabout, the mayor planted two Japanese cherry blossoms that are now in bloom.

(Translated by Andreea Cuprian / University of Bucharest, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, MTTLC, year II / Corrected by Silvia Petrescu, coordinator of the translations)


Real Fiction is a collective project started in 2013 by Florin Piersic Jr. The concept of Real Fiction continued to exist as a Facebook group, after a volume of stories was published at Humanitas Publishing House. (In September 2024, the group has 13,320 members.) The authors write ultra-short stories, with the texts limited to 500 characters (in Romanian, so the length of the English translation might be a little different) - a flash-fiction exercise on a topic that changes every few days. The group's coordinators are Florin Piersic Jr., Gabriel Molnar, Răzvan Penescu, Luchian Abel, Monica Aldea, and Vlad Mușat. (Drawing by Adrian T. Roman)

Versiunea în română a acestui text se poate citi aici, în rubrica Ficțiuni Reale.