The orange flame in her hand illuminated the once dim lit room as she continued.
"Apparently, the pieces of the meteor that buried itself into the ground were radioactive. It wasn't too long after the Dark Year that most of us started to awaken to these mysterious powers. Before we received them, we thought all hope for humanity was lost. That we were nothing but powerless playthings for the monsters. With these new powers, we thought we could finally fight back and protect ourselves from them. However..."
"However?"
"We were still too naive." The nurse replied with a grim look. She closed her hand and the flame vanished. "The adults at the time would form groups and march straight to their caves and try to take them head on. My father, being one of them." She started to choke up on her words. "But, they didn't know how to properly use their powers and ended up getting themselves killed. But even so, more and more people went and more and more people died senselessly. We didn't know any better. I mean, what else could we do? It seemed like nothing had changed after all. Because of that, a lot of us kids back then grew up without parents. You were considered luck to even have one. But for that very reason, a few years later, a system was set in place by the government. A system that helped us learn more about the magic that was granted to us from the remains of the meteor. A system that would teach kids of that time, who possessed magic, how to use it so that their parents, who went into those dungeons, didn't die a meaningless death. And that system is-"
"This very school, Bōken Academy." A voice from behind the wooden sliding door said. The door slid open and behind it was a man, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties wearing a light grey suit, with a burgundy tie. "Good afternoon, Iwasaki-Sensei. Sorry for listening in on your conversation"
"And to you too, Yano-Sensei. Don't worry about it." Iwasaki replied.
"Have you figured out what's wrong with my student here?"
"Amnesia. And it's bad. She doesn't remember much of anything. But, she was able to recall some of the lost technologies. Did you go over that in the first week of school?"
"No, after all, it's only the first week." He replied. "We didn't do much of anything besides go into more detail about the past and explain why the school was founded." He walked closer to the bed until he was about 2 feet away from it, crouched down so he was eye level with Fumiko.
"Tachibana, you really don't remember anything?
Fumiko was didn't know if he was talking to her. "Tachibana?" She replied with a confused tone.
Yano stood up. "So it is true. She can't even remember her own family name." He looked at Iwasaki. "Do you know if her memories might return? This might pose a problem."
Iwasaki shook her head. "I honestly don't know. They may or may not. Only time will tell. Even if they do return, it won't be anytime soon."
"That's unfortunate then." He replied "I'll be sure to tell the class what going on tomorro-"
Yano was interrupted by the wooden door suddenly sliding open. Behind it this time, was the girl that Fumiko saw this morning. "Rei-Chan!" She dropped the bag she was holding, and dashed toward Fumiko and hugged her.
Fumiko didn't have time to react since the girl sprinted over to her quickly. Not to mention she was still feeling a little lightheaded.
"Kageyama, the school day ended hours ago, what are you still doing here? Yano asked her.
She let go of Fumiko and turned towards her teacher. "After she was taken here this morning, I couldn't stop worrying about her." She replied. "I couldn't focus at all in class today. I needed to know if she was okay." She then turned towards Iwasaki. "Iwasaki-Sensei, do you know what's going on with her?"
"A bad case of amnesia." She replied. "We don't know if her memory will return."
Kageyama was heartbroken when she heard those words. "So...she doesn't remember anything, anyone? Not even me?"
"Unfortunately, no." Iwasaki replied.
Kageyama looked as if she was going to cry. But, instead of bursting into tears, she turned towards Fumiko once more and hugged her again for about a couple of seconds before letting go. "Well, that doesn't change who you are to me." She said while smiling. "You're still my very best friend."
She went to go pick up the bag that she dropped when she entered earlier. "Your mom couldn't make it here so she gave me some clothes for you to wear so you don't have to walk home in your pajamas."
Fumiko looked under the covers and realized she was still wearing what she woke up in earlier.
"Yes, that's what you guys should be doing, returning home soon, it's getting late." Yano told his two students as he and Iwasaki headed out the door.
Fumiko looked out the window to her left. It was late afternoon, the crisp, glowing sun stood in the middle of the blood orange sky, towering above the campus of Bōken Academy.
"Here." Kageyama said as she handed the bag of clothes to Fumiko. "I'm guessing you don't know your own way home." She said while grinning. She walked to the door and turned around. "Oh, that's right, I haven't told you my name again yet. It's Akira, just call me Aki like you always have since we were little. I'll be waiting for you outside." The grin turned to a smile. "I'm glad you're okay, Rei-Chan." She said before closing the door, leaving Fumiko alone in the room.
Fumiko didn't know what to make of the events that just unfolded in front her. She just sat there for about 3 minutes going over everything. "Amnesia? The Time Meteor?" She thought to herself. It felt like she was just thrown into a storm of confusion and she's barely staying afloat. Her mind was still racing when she got a knock on the door.
"Rei-Chan, have you forgotten how to put your uniform on too?" Akira joked from the other side of the door.
Fumiko decided to just go along with everything. After all, what else could she do? "I'm fine." She replied. It felt like she hasn't spoken in forever. "Just give me a few minutes."
Fumiko opened the bag and looked inside. There lay, a white shirt, brown shoes, and a burgundy skirt and blazer. She put them on and looked at a reflection of herself from a glass cabinet since the room lacked any mirrors. She felt out of place. "I don't belong here. But if I don't belong here, where do I belong?" She thought to herself. She sighed and called out to Akira. Akira opened the door, saw her best friend and smiled.
"Let's go home."