POV: Ikehara Mirai.
Timeline: *Ten years ago*
"Father, where is Shinobo?" Izumi said with a forced smile on his face in the middle of cafeteria as he approached father while crossing his fingers nervously.
"Damn, I feel worried about letting Izumi be the bait," I said as I peeked from behind one of the tables near them with Kenta and Yasahiro.
"It can't be helped my plan had that unexpected weakness after all, that was a surprise, but I'm glad we figured that side of your ability before it was too late," Kenta said while confidently smiling at me.
I let out a sigh as I remembered about what happened few moments ago.
---
Timeline: *few moments before the scene*
"Well, whatever that was," Kenta said trying to reclaim his calm, "we got interrupted but we'll go ahead with the plan! Let's go!"
We all nodded, and they started moving toward the cafeteria again where father was.
But as I took a step to follow them, a voice rushed inside my head again and yelled, "I can't be the bait!"
I paused and turned in all directions around me, looking for the source, but as I didn't find anyone near me, I frowned as I looked at the floor confused about that voice that resounded inside my head again.
"Chizuru? What are you doing?" Kenta asked as he came back to me, he patted my shoulder and told me, "pull yourself together, you're the key role in our plan."
The voice rang again and repeated, "I can't take part in the plan, I can't become the bait."
"What's this voice?" I said as I squeezed my head unable to comprehend the voice inside.
Kenta looked worried and asked, "are you alright? What voice?"
"I don't get it completely but there is a voice that keeps telling me that I can't be the bait," I explained to Kenta.
"Aren't you just afraid? Don't pay it any attention," Kenta brushed it off.
Yasahiro got closer to us and said, "I heard it too, it didn't sound like it's nothing. What's weird is that it sounded like your own thoughts, have this ever happened to you before?"
I paused and tried to relook at the past, then I remembered that the voice talked to me when I was with Shinobo last time as well.
"It happened before, when I was with Shinobo, it was telling me not to tell him to go see father or I'll regret it, it's like it already knew what was about to happen," I responded.
Kenta scratched his head and asked, "maybe it's something related to your ability?"
Yasahiro let out a sigh and added, "but since it was accurate last time, until we figure that out, carrying the plan like we had originally planned might backfire at us."
"Last time it was to not tell Shinobo to go to father, meaning that it would have been alright if Shinobo didn't go to father," I thought out loud, then started assuming, "this time it was that I can't be the bait, maybe there is something that will happen if I become the bait? Won't it be faster if we tried to figure out the bad side-effects that are caused by me becoming a bait?"
"Maybe, if you ask that question it would help them realize your ability?" Yasahiro asked.
Kenta eyes widen as if he concluded something and said, "that's right, we almost forgot but they had those documents about our abilities even the ones that didn't surface yet! What if they knew your ability surfaced and moreover that the memory erasing doesn't work on you like others? We would lose a lot if they knew about that."
"By acting oblivious to Shinobo's existence, you'll prove that your ability didn't appear yet," Yasahiro added to Kenta's conclusion.
"So, taking that role is not the best idea," I mumbled, and raised my head and asked them, "but then who will be the bait instead? Or should we abandon the plan?"
"As long as we don't know how the memory erasing works, we can't take actions carelessly," Yasahiro remarked.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused why that is related to assigning the bait role to someone else.
"What if it wasn't memory erasing but memory taking?" Yasahiro pointed out.
"I don't think it matters what it is," I opposed to his statement.
Kenta laughed and grinned my way and corrected me, "it does matter, actually it makes an enormous change, if it's memory erasing, then that's good and our plan would work, but if it's memory taking, then they would end up knowing of our taken memory, if they came across the memory of us reading the documents or discussing this plan, all our efforts are pointless. It would be our defeat."
I was taken back by how everything could have ended on the spot if that voice inside my head didn't point this out, despite the plan seeming so carefully planned it had this many holes in it.
"I guess we have to abandon this plan, and think of something less risky," Yasahiro stated while staring intensely at both of us.
"No," Kenta objected, "there is another way to execute the plan without any risks of our plans being figured out."
----
Timeline: *few moments after*
"Father, where is Shinobo?" Izumi said with a forced smile on his face in the middle of cafeteria as he approached father while crossing his fingers nervously.
Which brings us to our current situation, I do think Izumi who doesn't know a thing about our plan is a good idea, but I feel uneasy letting this important part depend on Izumi.
I can't help but think he'll ruin this somehow.
"I know Shinobo's whereabouts now!" Yasahiro exclaimed excitedly between his heavy breathes.
"That's good!" Kenta said with happiness covering his face proud of how his plan worked out.
I continued to watch worryingly as Izumi got pulled to the corner by father.
"Will Izumi be alright?" I asked worried about how we're just discarding Izumi.
Kenta grinned and explained, "it's fine, Izumi doesn't even know who Shinobo is, he probably already got his memory erased once before. They'll think their memory erasing had errors in it and they'll just erase it again. This was the best way to execute plans without explaining anything to anyone, since Izumi will do anything I ask without even wondering about the reason."
"Y-Yeah," I hesitantly agreed as I remembered the relation between Kenta and Izumi that Yasahiro spoke of before.
---
"Are you sure this is the place?" Kenta confirmed with Yasahiro.
Yasahiro nodded, then I remarked, "b-but this is… the workshop?
We were standing right behind the workshop, staring at the building that me, and Kenta barely ran out of last time after reading the documents.
"It's on the second floor, inside a room numbered 002," Yasahiro gave more details.
This time I didn't even need the voice to tell me, I already knew that getting inside was already hard, but we have to go to the second floor as well which made it seem like an impossible task.
"We don't even know where the staircase is, I don't really want to go inside without a solid plan," Kenta said with a tone that seemed as worried as mine, I nodded and emphasized, "h-he's right."
"It's fine, I already read about this once in a book!" Izumi exclaimed from behind us with a grin on his face.
Somehow, seeing Izumi this confident made me feel more uneasy about this whole situation.
He got ahead of us and explained, "there will be a girl inside with a really long hair, she'll extend her hair down for us to climb if we scream her name!"
Izumi took a deep breathe, but before he could scream out, he got punched by both Kenta and Yasahiro.
"You idiot are you trying to get us caught!!?" Yasahiro yelled at him, "I knew it was a mistake to bring him, but he knows too much now! let's kill him…" Kenta suggested.
Yasahiro looked at Kenta and he nodded agreeing with Kenta's plan, then they both grinned at each other.
"k-k-kill!?" Izumi asked with a shaky voice as he teared up and looked at me asking me for help with his eyes.
"Now, now, give poor Izumi a break, he helped us," I tried to defend him, which unexpectedly worked despite my lack of enthusiasm, and they both got away from him and started mumbling about how to figure a way to get inside.
Izumi quickly got up from the ground and wiped the dust from on top of himself and told us again, "don't worry, guys! I read about another way that might work!"
As he said that, all my worries just increased double folds.
Izumi started spinning his arm in circles and yelled, "gomu gomu no!!!!! pisto-!"
But then got hit again by Yasahiro and Kenta, which caused him to fall on the ground again.
"As I thought, let's kill him, he will get us found out," Kenta repeated his plan, "I think I saw a rope near here, let's hang him up on some tree," Yasahiro suggested a plan as he agreed with Kenta.
"k-k-kill!?" Izumi said with teary eyes as he looked at me again asking for help, but I turned my head away as I mumbled to myself, "I already saved him once. May your stupid soul rests in peace."
I suddenly got goosebumps as I realized a way to get inside, "w-wait, you guys!" I tried to get their attention.
"It's too late, Chizuru, don't try to stop us!" Yasahiro warned me.
"No, not about that," I said and continued, "I figured a way to get inside!"
Kenta looked at me doubtfully as he questioned me, "it better not be something stupid like Izumi's…"
"I'm not that idiotic!" I yelled as if he just insulted me, which made Izumi screeches, "eeehhh!?"
"Anyway," I said trying to explain my plan, "thanks to Yasahiro, a plan just came to me! How about we climb a tree!?" I suggested.
Izumi eyes sparkled, and he started saying, "then we might be able to find dinosaurs eggs! And use the dinosaurs to get to the second floor! So smart!"
After covering Izumi's mouth, Kenta remarked, "using trees to get to the second floor, I must say that does seem more possible than going inside and blindly searching for a staircase."
Yasahiro glanced at Izumi and said with a disappointed tone, "but seriously, this guy really is useless, huh… I just read his thoughts and… he can't even climb trees…"
"I'll go with Kenta to search for Shinobo, Yasahiro and Izumi stay here and guard the place," I told everyone the plan.
"Wait, I have to stay with this idiot!?" Yasahiro exclaimed with his eyes objecting this idea completely, "i-idiot?" Izumi mumbled shocked.
"It can't be helped, I need Kenta's ability to make plans fast on the spot, and in case we got caught, one of us has to remember what happened, that means I have to go," I explained as I let out a sigh feeling a bit sorry toward Yasahiro for having to stick with Izumi.
"That's not fair, I'll think of a plan too, so let me go with you instead! My reading mind ability would be more useful! Plus, for this idiot not to make any stupid moves again, someone like Kenta should watch over him!" Yasahiro said feeling unconvinced, "s-stupid!?" Izumi mumbled shocked again.
"Even if Izumi is brainless, he's still useful as a bait! If they see you, just abandon him and run away, he's slow so they'll catch him and that will give you more time to run away!" Kenta reassured Yasahiro, "b-brainless!?!!!" Izumi mumbled shocked yet again.
Kenta and Yasahiro both yelled pissed at Izumi, "and stop getting shocked at every word!! So annoying!"
Izumi moved his head toward me asking for help again, but I turned my head away as I mumbled to myself, "don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact…"
---
POV: Isozaki Izumi
Timeline: *Present*
Yasahiro scoffed as he looked down at me and said with an annoying tone, "you were an idiot even back then, huh."
"S-shut up!" I yelled feeling embarrassed about my past self that I didn't remember.
"Don't say that," Mirai said while laughing, "despite being an idiot, he was really adorable."
I slammed my hand on Mirai's desk, "y-you're not helping!"
"Just what happened that made that crybaby Izumi turn into a delinquent!?" Junzo wondered while looking at me.
"You, jerks, sure are having fun with this!" I said glaring at them.
I got mad and pointed at Junzo, and declared, "at least I didn't have the worse marks while being the eldest!" and pointed at Yasahiro, "or was aloof that had no friends even when I had normal expressions!" and pointed at Mirai and continued, "or … or… uh… dammit! Anyway, what I mean is that you guys were just as bad, okay!?!!!"
Junzo and Mirai laughed while Yasahiro let out a sigh and said, "you're not really helping in changing our views on you."
I crossed my arms and sat down glaring at them, and complained, "damn, I knew we shouldn't have listened to a story about a past we didn't remember."
Yasahiro tilted his head and asked me, "but that's weird, you didn't remember me, nor Junzo, nor Mirai, yet why do you still remember Kenta?"
I scratched my head and responded, "that have been bugging me as well, the Kenta I remember does resembles the Kenta Mirai mentioned, but the Kenta I know was my brother and we lived alone after our father died in a house in a forest, not in an orphanage."
"Maybe, it wasn't memory erasing nor memory taking, maybe it was memory altering?" Yasahiro concluded.
"No," Mirai objected Yasahiro's conclusion, and explained, "it was indeed memory erasing, but because it can control which parts of the memory to erase, for one reason or another, when everyone else's memories were erased, Izumi's memories still had Kenta and father in it, the Izumi I knew, treated Kenta like his brother, no, they both were like real siblings, maybe that's why you were confused and thought he was your brother."
I got angry and argued, "you're wrong! I don't know about anything else, but I clearly remember Kenta! I wouldn't make a mistake like that!"
Mirai smiled and told me, "you're right, I have no right to interfere and push my assumptions on you."
"Assumptions?" Yasahiro asked her while not liking her usage of the word.
"Well, I'm someone that abandoned every single one of you," Mirai said as she looked downward not making eye contact with any of us, "despite knowing what Kenta will do, despite knowing about Yasahiro's existence that everyone forgot about, despite being one of the two who knew about their horrible plan, despite knowing everyone else will die, I decided to avert my eyes and run away alone. That's right… Chizuru abandoned everyone, she abandoned every…one."
Mirai's saddened expression made the three of us, stare at her unable to utter a word.
She looked like a sinner that is making a confession to seek our forgiveness despite us not remembering.
And seeing her like that, I knew, her long story that was filled with her regrets was coming to an unfortunate end.