🇯🇵 Japanese Title:
埋めた約束
Umeta Yakusoku
The Promise We Buried
🎯 Theme:
As summer ends, Hana and Yuki return to the elementary school where they first met Aika. In a quiet garden behind the gym, they find the buried time capsule the three of them placed years ago.
Inside: drawings, trinkets, and one simple paper — a “promise contract” signed by all three.
“When we forget why we started, we’ll come back here and remember.”
Overcome with emotion, they add a new letter, this time to Aika — and bury it in the same spot.
📍 Setting:
- Overgrown schoolyard behind an old gym
- A rusted shovel, cracked time capsule box
- Small garden with blooming sunflowers
- Quiet classroom hallway at sunset
📚 Vocabulary
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| タイムカプセル | — | time capsule |
| 埋める | うめる | to bury |
| 契約 | けいやく | contract, agreement |
| 思い出す | おもいだす | to recall, remember |
| 再出発 | さいしゅっぱつ | a new start |
🗣️ Useful Phrases
| Japanese | Meaning |
|---|---|
| こんな約束、してたんだね。 | I forgot we made this kind of promise. |
| あの時の気持ちを思い出した。 | I remembered how we felt back then. |
| また、始めてみようか。 | Let’s try starting again. |
| 彼女も、ここにいたんだね。 | She was here with us, too. |
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💡 Grammar Focus
| Grammar Point | Usage | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 〜たまま | Left as / remained that way | 約束は紙に書いたままだった。 (The promise remained on paper.) |
| 〜ように | So that / in order to | 忘れないように埋めたんだ。 (We buried it so we wouldn’t forget.) |
| 〜たところ | Just did / upon doing | 掘ったところ、箱が出てきた。 (When we dug, the box appeared.) |
🎥 Dialogue
Yuki (gently unfolding the paper):
「“思い出せなかったら、ここで会おう”って…」
(“If we ever forget, let’s meet here.”)
Hana:
「また、ここから始めてもいいよね。」
(It’s okay to start again from here, right?)
🧭 Final Note:
They rebury the capsule. Carved into the soil is a new message:
「忘れない。次は、私たちが届ける番。」
(We won’t forget. Now it’s our turn to deliver.)