The closer the person was to him, the more he forgets about them.
No matter how hard he tried to connect Ayden's name, face and jersey number; everything went back to zero in an instant. He gave up trying and labelled him as the only teammate without a name.
Ayden noticed a slight change in Zordyz's expression and went to support him.
"Hey, keep it together. Doesn't matter if you don't know me, it'll be okay!" he gave Zordyz a firm grip on the shoulder before going back to his position.
Zordyz had no idea who said it to him, but the words lingered in his mind.
Zordyz took a deep breath and nodded to himself. He knew what was happening inside and he had no control over it. He couldn't recover in a short amount of time.
Sometimes he recovered quickly but can never remember the reason for it.
'Just go with the flow, focus on the opponent.' he told himself and pushed forward.
They won without any problems and nobody else except Ayden realized his condition. Even after the match ended, he was still out of it.
Once the adrenaline wore off; his intimidating aura dissipated, leaving him looking all dazed.
"If you'll excuse us, Zor and I will be on our way now." Ayden took it as a cue and whisked him away.
Zordyz felt drained from the ordeal that he didn't mind the 'stranger' walking next to him. As long as he gets home, nothing else matters.
"You okay?" Ayden looked at him worriedly.
Zordyz grunted, visibly too exhausted to give a proper reply.
"Man, that hit you hard eh? It's not the first time but it still caught me off guard. You're dealing with it better now." Ayden said in a cheerful tone.
"You're quite calm about it even when it happened during matches. I've always been curious as to how you keep your cool. I would've freaked out," he continued to talk in monologues.
He knew that as long as Zordyz didn't recover from his amnesia, he wouldn't remember him or any of the conversation they had.
How did he know?
He had been trying since grade school and nothing jogged his friend's memory when he's in that state. Not even once.
Ayden is one of Zordyz's closest friends for a reason. He has grown so sensitive towards Zordyz's emotional state that whenever Zordyz had his episodes, he could detect them right away.
Aside from Yuenelia, Ayden understands him the most.
"Who are you again?" Zordyz asked.
Ayden shook his head and grinned. "Never mind me. You'll remember soon."
"At this time, what you need is to argue with Yuenelia, and everything will be back to normal." he chuckled. "But I doubt you remember her when you can't even recognise me."
"Argue with who?" Zordyz's mind immediately erased Yuenelia's name from the conversation.
"You're hopeless in this. Let's just head home. You'll feel better afterwards."
It might not show during the match, but when Zordyz's out of it and in a less crowded area, his personality is the total opposite of his normal self.
Ayden kept his jersey visible to Zordyz as a constant reminder that he's his teammate. He had to be careful not to scare him off.
They met with Yuenelia and Aexiq on the way home.
Ayden waved excitedly at Yuenelia but stopped when he saw an unknown person beside her.
'Who's that?' his hand still hanging in midair.
"Zor, Ayden! You're back early." Yuenelia chirped.
She noticed right away that Zordyz was having his episode and her cheerful tone dropped. He was not making any eye contact with her.
"Yeah, we only had one game today. Luckily," Ayden smiled awkwardly.
He was trying to hide Zordyz behind him, but he was not tall enough to do so. Other people didn't know about Zordyz's condition and Aexiq's presence was bad news.
"Aexiq, what are you doing here?" Zordyz spoke, his expression and tone softer than usual.
Aexiq was taken aback by Zordyz's attitude towards him. Whenever he meets Zordyz, he always gets a disapproving look from him.
"My house is in the same direction. It's dangerous for a girl to walk alone on these streets, so I thought I should accompany Yuenelia." Aexiq replied, feeling slightly uncomfortable with Zordyz's lack of aggression.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. Ayden, this is Aexiq Lydon from class 1-C. We are taking the same afternoon lesson. He's been walking me home for the past few days since Zor was not around." Yuenelia introduced Aexiq to Ayden.
"Ayden Jadenite. The same class with Yuenelia and Zordyz. I've been friends with these two for ages." Ayden gave Aexiq a firm handshake.
"I'll leave Zor to you. He takes way too long to recover without you." Ayden whispered.
"And how am I supposed to get him to come together when he doesn't even know me?" Yuenelia whispered back, panic in her eyes.
"He knows Aexiq, right? Just bring him along. When he's gone, go back and check on Zor. That will do."
"But-"
"I gotta go now. My home is in the other direction," excusing himself.
"Zor, follow the girl. She's your friend and neighbour. Remember that." Ayden whispered to Zordyz as he walked past him.
"See y'all tomorrow!" he waved and ran off.
"Friend..." Zordyz mumbled to himself.
He turned to look at Ayden, but he has already forgotten his face.