Be With You ( いま, 會いにゆきます)

 This book was written by Japanese writter Ichikawa Dakuji, and made into the movie and drama in Japan. I read the book last summer and watched the movie this winter. In the book, readers get introduced to Mio,  Dakumi, and Yuji. Mio and Dakumi liked each other since they were in highschool, and got married few years after they graduated highschool. They lived happily together with their son Yuji until  Mio died when her son became 7 years old. When she died, she told Dakumi that she is going to return during the raining season (Which is between Spring and Summer, about 6 weeks long) to see if Dakumi and Yuji are living well. After one year, when it became the raining season, she really returns. However, she doesn’t remember anything. She doesn’t even know who she is and the fact that she actually died. Dakumi and Yuji, who know she actually died a year ago, pretend she never died, and tell her that she is not very healthy that she lost her memory. Mio, who was gone for a year returned, and they live together like before for 6 weeks. During that 6 weeks, Mio and Dakumi fall in love once again. At the end of 6 weeks, when the rain stops and sun shines, Mio leaves her husband and her son again.

This is not the end of the book. At the end, Mio leaves the letter to Dakumi, and that letter reveals many things. Mio, who returned during the raining season after she died, was Mio from the past.  When she was 21 years old, Dakumi tried to leave her due to his illness. Mio, who didn’t know Dakumi was sick, thought he didn’t love her anymore that she also tried to finish the relationship. One day, she got involved in the car accident, and when she opened her eyes, she was in the future. She jumped 8 years ahead, and there, she met her son Yuji, and her husband, Dakumi. She didn’t really know what was going on in the beginning that she actually believed what Dakumi told her. (He told her that she lost her memory due to her illness) However, while she was cleaning the house, she found the diary that she wrote when she was alive. And from reading the diary, she realize that she died a year ago. After that 6 weeks, when she returned to the present, where she is 21 years old, she then knows that she is going to die when she become 28 years old. She still chooses to marry Dakumi, and to raise Yuji even though she knows she is going to die early if she chooses to do so.

I really like the story because the story is told from two different perspectives  that I get to understand and imagine each scene better. Also, this story really focuses on the relationship and illustrates how the relationship progresses very slowly that I get to read and feel how characters feel in very detailed way.