Aisuru

A dying girl. A prince on the run. One cherry tree that changes everything.

Sakura has already made peace with her final countdown beginning.  She's spent her life perfecting the art of being alone: no friends, no attachments, no one left behind to grieve. She's planned out her final year of high school and the end of her life, but they didn't include finding a wounded yokai prince lying at the base of her cherry tree in her small garden in Hakodate.

Kazuki is charming, warm, and trying to hide his heartache behind a smile.  He fled to the human realm after his beloved younger brother turned on him without warning. He doesn't understand why, he only knows he can't fight back. Moving into Sakura's house while he waits for his father to return seems like the obvious solution even if his young tengu aide is loudly and adorably furious about the whole arrangement.

Sakura tells herself none of it matters. She'll be gone soon anyway. But her unexpected roommates have a ripple effect on her life.  Now there is a girl from school deciding, quite firmly, that Sakura is going to be her friend whether she likes it or not. And Kazuki—patient, persistent, impossible Kazuki—is making her want a future she'd already given up on.

Sakura has long known how her story would end, but can she find the courage to live it first?

A bittersweet YA romance steeped in the folklore and streets of Hakodate, Japan. Has a sprinkling of spice, and touches on themes of child abuse, grief, and mental illness with care. For readers who want to cry, cheer, and fall a little bit in love, sometimes all on the same page.