The movie begins by showing a young man named Kouta Sometani,
who is about to go to school with his best friend, a girl named Mei Konno.
Kouta and Mei have been friends since they were little,
and their friendship continued until they became third-year high school students.
In high school, they also befriend three other students: two young men named Iori Ishikawa and Ryohei Yoshimura and
a girl named Haruka Noda.
Iori seems to have romantic feelings for Mei because he often feels jealous of Mei and Kouta's closeness.
However, the friendship between the five makes Iori put aside his romantic feelings.
Because he didn't want to destroy their friendship.
Being close friends with Kouta since childhood, Mei became close to his mother, which is Kouta's only family.
One day, when Mei visits Kouta's house, she tells about a legend about cherry blossoms,
where whoever expresses their love for someone under a blooming cherry tree will become
a couple and live happily ever after. Therefore, Mei hopes there will be a young man who confesses
his love for her under the blooming cherry trees. Kouta's mother, Mrs. Sometani, who heard Mei's
wish, then openly asked her son to express his love for Mei because she would be really happy
if Mei became her daughter-in-law. Because that day coincided with Kouta's birthday, Mei gave a
cute keychain as a birthday gift to Kouta. In the evening, Kouta looked at the keychain Mei gave him
and thought back to her dream of wanting to have a romantic moment under the cherry blossom tree.
After that, Mei took Kouta to see the meteor shower, saying she wanted the five of them to continue their friendship forever.
Even she had hoped they would become teenagers in the future so they could always be together.
Mei harbored feelings of love for Kouta for a long time, but
she wanted him to first confess his love to her under the blooming cherry trees.
Because of that, Mei prayed diligently and hung a sign with her wish in the temple. On the other hand, Kouta,
who also harbors feelings for Mei, decides to express his love and asks her to meet him
under the cherry blossom tree. Mei, who got the message, felt very happy and rushed to the place.
Iori apparently knew that Kouta would confess his love for Mei and immediately felt jealous and
decided to do something before Kouta went to meet Mei who had already headed to their meeting place.
After school, Iori then confronted Kouta and told him that there was something he wanted to talk to him about.
Meanwhile, Mei had been waiting for Kouta at the cherry tree for hours,
but he never came to see her. She had tried calling Kouta's cell phone, but he didn't pick up.
Feeling anxious, Mei decided to look for Kouta's where abouts around there. As Mei was walking down
the road to the bridge, she saw an ambulance, and people were crowding around, indicating
that an accident had occurred there. When Mei pushed through the crowd, she was shocked to see
Kouta's body being carried into the ambulance. She was shocked and very frustrated by Kouta's
sudden death. On the other hand, Iori looks like he's just silent, watching his best friend's body
being taken away. Mei never thought that her best friend and the only person she loved left
her so quickly and would never return. Feeling devastated by Kouta's death, Mei walked toward
the cherry blossom tree and hoped she could be reunited with Kouta while crying in frustration.
Seven years later, twenty-four-year-old Mei now lives and works in Tokyo. Mei goes on with her
life and tries to live a good life. However, problem after problem always came to her,
and the most serious one was when a woman accused Mei of having an affair with her husband and
humiliated her in front of her co-workers. Even though it wasn't Mei's fault, she decided to
resign from her job. After that, Mei, who saw the news on television about the cherry trees
in her hometown that would be cut down for a hospital construction project, remembered her
memories with her high school friends. Because Mei has precious memories of the cherry tree,
she finally decides to return to her hometown by train. Arriving there, Mei accidentally meets
Ryohei, now working as an officer at the train station. Ryohei then told about Iori's attitude,
which seemed to stay away from them since Kouta's death. They couldn't blame Iori as he was the
one who first discovered Kouta's body, so he might have been in a lot of shock and trauma.
Elsewhere, a young man named Naoki, who serves as a temple guard, accidentally finds a wish board
belonging to Mei seven years ago that fell under a pit. He immediately picked it up and
hung it back in its place. At the same time, Mei was already at the cherry blossom tree,
where she had hoped that Kouta would confess his love for her. Not long after, a strong wind blew,
and cherry blossom petals flew toward her, so Mei had to close her eyes. However, when Mei opened
her eyes, she was shocked when she saw Kouta standing in front of her, and his appearance was
still the same as seven years ago. Mei screamed in fear and immediately rushed away from there
because she thought Kouta was a ghost. Meanwhile, Kouta, who didn't know what had happened to him,
chose to go to school and sit at his desk. But then, Naoki arrives there and instantly
recognizes Kouta as a high school student who died seven years ago from falling off a steep
cliff while riding a bicycle. Naoki then told Kouta about the news of his death on the internet,
but he did not immediately believe that he was dead and ran back to his house.
At the same time, while driving her car, Haruka accidentally saw Kouta, who ran past her. She was
very surprised and tried to call out to him but was ignored. Kouta finally arrived at his house
and was surprised to find out that the house had been abandoned for a long time because his mother
had decided to move after his death. Naoki, who knew that Kouta would come to his house, took him
to his grave to make him believe that he was dead. Even so, Kouta didn't remember anything about
the incident that had killed him. Afterward, Mei goes to Ryohei and tells him that she met Kouta's
figure in the cherry tree. She thought that at that time, she might be hallucinating. However,
not long after, Haruka came to see Ryohei and said the same thing. Knowing that she wasn't the only
one who saw Kouta come back to life, Mei went to the temple and prayed that she would be reunited
with him. Surprisingly, Mei meets Kouta, who decides to stay at the temple with Naoki since
he no longer has a place to live. She looks so happy after confirming that he came back alive,
and the figure of Kouta in front of her is not a ghost. The two friends hugged each other to
release their longing. Mei then invites Kouta to meet their happy friends because, somehow,
Kouta can come back to life. Kouta finally found out that their friendship was strained after his
death. Even Iori blatantly shunned them, as if he had never known them before. Ryohei thought
that Iori might feel so shocked and devastated by Kouta's death that he chose to stay away from
the rest of his friends. Hearing this, Haruka took the initiative to meet Iori, who is now a doctor.
Haruka reveals to Iori that seven years ago, she saw Iori, who was having a serious conversation
with Kouta on the day he died. Haruka also tells Iori that Kouta somehow came back to life at
this time. He didn't believe her words because dead people can't come back to life. Iori then
revealed the secret he had been keeping for so long and said he was the cause of Kouta's death.
The next day, Kouta decides to find his mother, who has moved to Tokyo. He headed straight for the
address where his mother was currently. Arriving there, Kouta met a little girl named Akane, who
turned out to live in the house. She greeted him warmly and ushered him into the house. However,
Kouta couldn't meet his mother because she was out of the house. Akane informs that his mother
and her father are engaged and will get married soon. Akane said her father was a cardiologist
who treated Mrs. Sometani while in the hospital. After Kouta's death, Mrs. Sometani became sickly,
and her health deteriorated due to depression over the death of her beloved son. After being
hospitalized for a while, she decided to move to Tokyo. Knowing that his mother has found a
new family who loves her, Kouta chooses to leave before his mother returns. On the other hand, Mrs.
Sometani, who had just returned, was told by Akane that a young man was looking for her. Because he
looks like Mrs. Sometani's late son, Akane invited him in, and they had a chance to talk before the
young man suddenly left. Meanwhile, Kouta, trying to give up his mother, who is happy and has a new
family, meets Mei, who deliberately follows him to Tokyo because she worries about him. Kouta
told Mei about his mother's condition, who had given up on his death and was getting married
soon. Because of that, Kouta thought it was better for him not to see his mother so she wouldn't have
to feel burdened with him anymore. Kouta and Mei then spend time together having fun in Tokyo, as
this is the first time he has visited Tokyo. They do a lot of fun things and visit a lot of places.
Sometime later, Mei and Ryohei are surprised when Mrs. Sometani visits them and asks about the boy
who looks like Kouta who visited her house a while ago. Mei secretly contacted Kouta and
told him about his mother, who came to see them. However, Kouta is reluctant to meet his mother and
asks Mei and Ryohei to keep a secret about his revived self. Mrs. Sometani then tells Mei that
she is getting married soon, but she still thinks of Kouta and feels guilty for her beloved son
because she has found a new family and continues to live after Kouta's death. Upon hearing that,
Mei continued the words of Kouta, who was happy because his mother could give up his death and
start a new life that would make her happy. Mei convinced Mrs. Sometani that Kouta is a child who
is devoted to his parents and wants his mother to find happiness and enjoy a happy life with
her new family. Mrs. Sometani is very grateful that Mei's words can calm her heart and prays
that Mei also lives her life full of happiness. After that, Mei met Kouta and chatted with him
while enjoying the food from Mrs. Sometani, who then made Kouta cry because he remembered the
moment he was together with his mother. The following day, Mei, who was trying to help a
girl who was a victim of an accident, accidentally met Iori when she took the girl to the hospital.
After Iori treated the patient, he went to meet Mei, and they chatted after not seeing each other
for so long. Mei is very impressed with Iori, who has succeeded in pursuing his dream of becoming a
doctor while she is just living an ordinary life. Mei then talks about Kouta and hopes that Iori
can meet him and reunite with them. A few days later, Iori finally met Kouta, hanging out with
his friends. In front of his friends, Iori then tells the truth about what happened to Kouta.
That day, Iori discovers that Kouta will confess his love for Mei. Because of that, he invited
Kouta to talk because Iori also harbored feelings of love for Mei. Iori says that he won't give up
on his feelings for Mei and asks Kouta to have a bicycle race with him, and whoever wins will
confess his love for Mei first. Kouta agreed to Iori's request and did his bicycle race with him.
Iori made it to the finish line first and waited for Kouta there. But after a while,
Kouta didn't show up, so Iori immediately rushed to look for Kouta's whereabouts because he was
worried about him. Arriving at the bridge, Iori found Kouta's bicycle lying there,
but Kouta wasn't anywhere. He rushed to look for Kouta's whereabouts and finally found Kouta lying
at the bottom of the abyss in a lifeless state. Iori blamed himself from then on. If he had never
asked Kouta to race a bicycle, maybe until this moment, he was still alive and hanging out with
them. Iori then apologized to Kouta for indirectly causing his death. After that, Kouta felt pain in
his head and began to remember the incident before his death, where at that time, a car hit him,
so he fell off the bridge and landed at the bottom of a steep ravine. Kouta still had time to wake up
and knew that a man was looking at him from the top of the bridge. He tried to ask for help, but
the man left him instead. Mei then told Iori about this and asked if he saw a car passing nearby at
the time of the incident. Surprisingly, Iori still clearly remembers that the only car that passed
while they were doing the bicycle race was the car driven by Mayor Akaike because the road was not a
road frequented by vehicles. Knowing that there was a possibility that the Mayor was involved in
the accident that killed Kouta, Iori and Mei tried to investigate this. After conducting
an investigation, Iori and Mei discover that the Mayor took this route on the day of Kouta's death,
which is the only way to get to his destination. The Mayor was most likely the one who had bumped
into Kouta and had purposely covered up the incident so as not to damage his image in
the eyes of the public. Iori and Mei then meet Mayor Akaike and confront him about the incident
that killed Kouta. However, the Mayor denied the accusations and denied that he had no recollection
of the events seven years ago. Mei immediately became angry with the Mayor for not helping Kouta,
even though he had a chance to save Kouta, who was still alive at that time. Mayor Akaike continues
denying Mei's accusations against him, challenging them to prove his involvement in the incident.
Meanwhile, Kouta, under the cherry blossom tree, was approached by an old man who knew that he was
a dead man who had come back to life. The old man told Kouta that he would disappear along with the
last cherry blossom petals that fell from the tree. Knowing he doesn't have much time, Kouta
invites his friends to spend time together and do fun things. Kouta, who knows that Iori still
harbors feelings of love for Mei, even after seven years have passed, suggests that Iori express his
love for her. Kouta wanted to make Mei happy in her last moments and wished that she would always
live happily, even though he was gone from his side for good. Kouta hopes his friends will no
longer feel burdened by his death and can reunite and live happily even without him. The next day,
Mei comes to the temple to meet Kouta, but Naoki says that Kouta has left and may not return again.
Elsewhere, Iori decides to expose Mayor Akaike's crimes, including the hit-and-run incident that
killed Kouta. After Mayor Akaike is arrested and will be tried for all the crimes he has committed,
Iori goes to Mei and tells her to meet Kouta at the cherry tree one last time. Mei rushed to where
Kouta was waiting for her under the cherry tree. Kouta then expressed his love for Mei and revealed
that he had loved her for a long time. Mei also expressed her love for Kouta and thanked him for
making her dream come true. At the same time, Mei realized that this was the last moment she
could see and touch Kouta, and the only thing she could do now was to let him go for good, and he
finally disappeared. One year later, the cherry blossoms bloomed again. Because Iori managed to
uncover Mayor Akaike's scandal, the cherry tree was not cut down, so Mei could visit the cherry
tree again in her spare time. The film ends with Mei reuniting with Iori, Haruka, and Ryohei under
the cherry blossom tree, where Kouta's figure will forever live in their hearts.
The moral that can be learned from this movie is that letting someone go will bring good and happiness to us.
Because we will no longer sink into sadness and can move forward to start a new and better life.