After five years of staying in the America, I came back to Japan, my hometown. I don't have memories nor experience of living my life here due to the accident that took both my parents and my memories. My uncle, a brother of my mom, told me it was the best to be in here and be able to regain my memories for the meantime.
While sitting on my scrawny wheelchair beside the dusty road, a man approached me shouting my name.
"Hey, Iroha!"
Though I was thinking of simply ignoring it, the only ones in the vicinity were myself and him, there's no way he could be shouting for another person. Since he's shouting so loud that the whole neighbourhood might hear him.
"Who are you?"
I asked not because I don't want to talk to him but I don't know him.
"What are you talking about, Iroha. It's me, Hiro."
I took a large breath and promptly choked on some dust he scattered as he ran, coughing a few times to clear my throat. He said my name but I don't remember telling him that.
"I'm sorry, I don't have memories regarding you or this place, I'm sorry."
"Hey, what do you mean? It's me Hiro, your childhood friend, and you promised you'd be my bride right?"
He said as his tears built up in the side of his eyelids.
"Oh, Hiro-kun."
Uncle approached the man called Hiro.
"I'm sorry."
I proceed to go inside but uncle stopped me.
"I'm sorry Hiro-kun. Since the accident happened, Iroha has lost all of her memories of this place or back there."
Uncle explained everything to him. I caught a glance of him wiping his tears as he faced back. After that, his tinged a sense of triumph. I didn't look at him.
"Oh is that so. Then, let's create more memories from now on. I'll properly introduce myself. I'm Takasu Hiro, 18 years old, currently at third year of high school. We used to be good friends before you moved out to America, five years ago. Many things have changed now."
I felt a feeling of real sorrow on the last lines he said. He must have been longing for me since then.
"I'm sorry, but I don't want to regain my memories back…"
I turned my back to him.
"Please don't talk to me anymore."
I don't want remembering anymore if it will only bring me such painful times, I don't want to be remembered nor to be with someone.
I heard his breath and his steps from behind me, and knew that he had walk towards me. Staying angled from behind, I caught a glimpse of him with a painful smile drawn on his face, as if he lost someone dear to him.
The wind carries such warm winds, I was sweaty and wanting to go inside. Having said everything I wanted to say, I rolled my scrawny wheelchair inside the place I'm staying in.
"Don't be like that, Iroha."
Uncle talked to me as I go inside.
"Your parents wouldn't want to see you like that."
Mixed emotions have went into me having heard of my parents.
"How can I know what my parents would want when I don't even know who they are!"
I unexpectedly raised my voice to him. My uncle is a soft hearted person so he didn't say anything about raising my words to him.
"Iroha…"
"I'm sorry uncle, I'm gonna go to my room now."
I stayed shut in my room for the whole day, I don't have the guts to go out of my room after what I did to my uncle. Even though I just got carried away by my emotions, I just couldn't find the courage to face him now.
"Iroha! Iroha!"
I heard a faint voice similar to that boy. I didn't check it, it must have been my imagination.
"Iroha!"
Bam. A sound as if a person hit the ground have woken me up. I stood up and looked out to the window of my room and I saw that boy on the ground with broken branches. The leaves matched to that of the big tree beside the place I'm staying in.
Out of nowhere, I burst out laughing. Is seeing people fell from a height this funny? He also laughed with me. Because of that, he's able to force me out of my gloomy, dark room.
"Hey, are you okay?"
My voice cracked as I continued out laughing. I haven't felt this feeling before nor remembers anything happened like this before.
"Looks like I made you get out of your room."
He looked at me closely with a smile on his face.
"I'm sorry."
I looked down, feeling sorry not knowing anything.
"Why would you do this idiotic for me?"
He burst out laughing, the adrenalin from the heat must have made him weird to the head.
"Why you ask? Because I've always loved you, both of you from five years ago and now."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't know, and I don't wanna know."
I casually turned away from him, I couldn't handle this much emotion coming through me all at once.
"I'm sorry..."
A day have passed, I enrolled to a high school near my place. I was nervous at first but as I step nearer and nearer to the school, most of my nervousness tend to go away.
"I'm Kitashirakawa Iroha, 17 years old."
My hands were trembling non stop. All of the courage I've gathered on the way here have perished as I started to talk in the front of the class.
"Good morning!"
A boy entered the room casually as if he's not late. I didn't looked at it.
"You're late again, Takasu-kun."
Takasu? The boy from before? The one that claims to be my childhood friend?
"Ah! Iroha!"
He shouted aloud.
"Oh! What a coincidence. You've enrolled here?"
He cheerfully held my hand. His face was dripping in sweat.
"Y-yeah."
I looked at a different direction to him as I gave him the towel I had in my pocket. He wiped his face with my towel and thanked to me.
"Oh, do you know each other?"
The teacher looked at us.
"Yes"
"No"
We simultanously said a contradicting statement.
"Y-yes."
I changed my answer as the teacher stared at us closely. Though I don't really know this guy is, he seems very close to me.
New classmates asks me things that I don't know to answer. Things that I might answer if I got my memories. The room is getting hot due to the summer heat, my skin is already sticky due to sweat.
"Okay, Class dismissed."
Said the teacher as the school bell went off.
After taking a sip of the green tea I brought out, I took a look in the classroom. There was not a single soul in there, except me.
"This is delicious."
The boy who is extremely pushy about things was relaxing onto the teacher's table while munching on his bun. I continued on drinking the same tea I brought out.
"Hey, Iroha. Don't you have a lunch with you?"
With a bun on his one hand, he dragged a chair that is near to me and sat on that.
"Y-yes, I forgot to bring it."
I tried to cut the conversation between us, I don't want to interact with someone as much as I can.
"Here!"
He gave me the other half of the bun he's eating. I figured it would be rude if I took down his offer so I took it.
"Thank you."
I made an appropriate response and took a bite of the bun he gave me.
It was delicious.
He held out his second bun while I was still munching on the bun he gave me. I ignored him and took a sip of the tea I've brought in. This earthy taste tastes so familiar yet not. It might have been from the memories I lost.
"Here."
He gave me another half of the bun he took out.
"No thanks, I'm full."
Though my words contradicts my action, I still refused. I don't want to interact anymore.
"I wouldn't accept such rejection, hear that?"
He reached out the bun onto my hand.
"Thank you…"
He giggled without looking my way, seemingly engaged in eating his bun. I could hear the creaks of the chair as he fidgets.
"You know what? We used to share buns like this before."
His usual tone have been changed, his voice gave off a gloomy vibe.
"I'm sorry…"
The school bell has rang once again indicating that the afternoon class will soon start. After the class ended, I stayed in the library for about an hour and head home after that.
When I got to the shoe lockers, it was already 6pm and Hiro was there, right beside my locker. He's just standing still and doing nothing.
I went to my locker and swapped my indoor shoes for my loafers and Hiro talked to me.
"Iroha! Should we head home."
He is a lot taller than me, it feels like I'm walking beside a tower. It was quite refreshing to be talked by someone while having to look up slightly to face them.
"Iroha?"
"Sorry, I was thinking of something."
"Oh, thinking about what?"
A wide smile have drawn on his face, he isn't that good looking nor ugly either.
"I don't know."
His smile dissolved instantly, as if he wasn't smiling in the first place. He looked at me with such curiosity drawn all over his face.
I stopped walking and let him put a distance between us.
"Oh, is that so…"
I was careful not to make it an ordinary conversation, without being friendly to anyone. That might trigger something to me that I don't want.
Of course, what I thought won't matter to him. Even though I act so differently than the Iroha he knew, he's still with me. There's this view of him that stirred me up a little inside. I want to remember but don't want too either.
He's a bit popular to school since he's a part of the tennis club, girls that are passing are looking to the both of us. No wonder, I just got here and Hiro is already this close to me.
"You're popular, aren't you? Why are you wasting your time on me?"
"Nothing much? I want to be back to who we are before. But I guess it isn't coming back."
"I'm sorry."
In the midst of our conversation, we had reached the school gate. He faced on the different direction where my place is.
"Hey, I'd be going now."
He faced on a different direction as mine. I waved a little to him as he walk away.
He made a cheerful face, I realized I never really showed any sort of expression the time I went here.
"Oh, I forgot."
He turned back to me.
"Are you free on Saturday."
I got startled at his question, I don't know how to answer to this.
"...yes."
Though I don't really want to go somewhere, my voice have slipped out on it's own.
"Let's meet at 10am in the front of the station! I'll wait for you."
With that said, without at all having to say what I really want, he waved his hand while running the opposite direction from my home.
The summer sky looked so red with a slightly blue finish, showing out its fading glow.
I waved back to him and once again, turned my back to him as I head home.
Without my past memories, many things looked so familiar yet not on the environment. I continued to walk that familiar path to home as the sun continued to set as the darkness devoured the sky.
I wonder what is he doing now. I wondered if my memories are coming back, and if does, what will I do?
The chilly evening wind blew against me. Just a little, I began looking forward being with him on Saturday.
end