At first, she seemed annoyed by his presence. It only made sense for her to be annoyed; she did not remember him. Ki lost her memories of the time they met one another in the facility. It upset him too when he realized that. But he did not dwell on it too long. He focused on making new memories with her.
Eventually, the girl learned to trust him. Perhaps it was due to his persistent behavior, but he eventually became the person closest to her. All of that changed when Terashima Yuhi came into the picture two years ago.
When he first heard his name, Mamoru recalled screaming and rushing to him immediately to confirm his suspicions. The reason being, before he met Ki in the facility. It turned out she got herself involved in an accident, and the culprit was Terashima Yuhi. Before him, Ki already had somebody special.
He had never met the man before, but he knew straight away when he met him. 'It must be this person.' Mamoru confirmed the facts with him, and Yuhi seemed startled but admitted everything.
The words destiny appeared in his head. These two are destined to be together.
But then, where does that leave the feelings that continue to grow in his heart?
'I already made my mind up. I will never confess to Ki. I will never let her know how I feel about her.' It would be difficult distancing himself from her, so he didn't bother with that. He remained close and suppressed his feelings. He encouraged and gave the two clueless fools advice so they would finally get together.
It did not occur to him that Ki would turn Yuhi down.
That was not in his calculations. When it happened, he did not know what to do. Something did not go to plan for the first time, and his mind felt muddled. But his goal had not changed regardless.
He still wants to make Ki the happiest person in this world. To do that, Terashima Yuhi has to be by her side. For now, the two are separated, but he does not intend for it to be like this forever. He will make sure the two reunite.
Ki's condition isn't good recently. Since Yuhi is in star town, he will make sure she gets enough rest.
"What about you, Ru?"
"Huh?"
"You receive plenty of confessions, but I do not see you attached to a particular girl. Is there nobody you like?"
At those words, Mamoru sighed deeply. This girl makes everything so complicated. What other girl can he get attached to?
'The one I like is you, you idiot.' Sometimes he wants to scream at how oblivious she is. It's true he has taken careful steps to make sure that she does not realize his feelings. But his behavior and treatment of her should give it away.
"But I don't think any girl can get close to you with me around."
Why does she think he even wants to get close to other girls? Geez, she truly knows how to drive him mad!
"I only want to be close to you, Ki. You're the only one I need." To prove his point, he bravely grabbed hold of her hands.
She seemed startled for a moment before she laughed softly. "I see."
"You don't seem surprised."
"Since we were younger, you were strangely attached to me, Ru. I remember how you used to climb the wall to break into my house just to see me."
His cheeks colored at those words. "That's because your parents were so strict. They didn't like you getting close with a member of the opposite gender."
Sumire laughed. "Of course they were; my parents held traditional views."
"I remember when your dad caught me once. It looked like he would hit me with a cane."
"Listening to that, it would seem like they cared and treasured me a lot. But that's not how it was. They did that just to uphold their values, not because they were worried about you being a bad influence."
"Ki."
"Lately, I think about them more than I did before. I wonder why that is. But every time, the dream ends with me thinking of the fire. Their pained cries- I did not see what happened. But I think they were being murdered right before me; the fire hid everything."
Mamoru squeezed her hands. "Ki, I will never leave your side."
Even when she gets together with Yuhi, he will quietly watch over her from a distance.
Sumire suddenly sat up and let go of their hands. "It's hard to sleep in this mood. Ru, can I have a look at your photo albums?"
"Huh?"
"Since we are talking about memories, this would be a good chance to look at the albums."
This girl is so random. But, he supposes that is her self-defensive mechanism activating. She probably didn't know how to change the topic. Moreover, that last thing he said, perhaps she is self-conscious of it.
Mamoru stood up and walked over to his shelf, and he pulled out a few albums before bringing them over to Sumire.
For a moment, he paused to look at the girl sitting crossed legs on his bed. She wore a violet-colored hoodie, a yellow pair of shorts, and tank top. No, what stood out now was her legs- Mamoru felt his cheeks burn red again.
'I need to stop acting so weird. Ki will notice.'
But this is one of the main reasons why he kept himself busy for awhile. He noticed that the girl kept getting prettier and prettier. Before he knew it, he struggled to control his feelings for her.
"Ah, I knew you would have some."
He didn't take pictures often before he met Ki. So most of these contained photos of the time after he saw the girl again after their mini separation.
The moment he saw her again, he had already made his mind up that he would never leave her side.
Sumire laughed. "I can't believe this was caught on camera." She lifted the album up and showed a picture of a mini him struggling to climb the wall.
Mamoru averted his gaze, embarrassed. "I-I got better at climbing walls."
Actually, he cheated a little; he would use his sonic sound powers to boost him up a little. But Ki does not have to know that.
"Your parents were strange. Why did they have to make such a large wall? Did they think people would target them with bullets?"
No matter how strong he was as a child, climbing a wall that tall was tough on his small body. If he did not have his abilities, it would have been impossible.
"Hmm, I never got round to asking them. But it was quite an impressive fortress; even the birds wanted to stay away."
Not even a prison would have such large walls. If he thinks about it, perhaps Ki felt that way too. Perhaps she feels like she was nothing more than a bird in a cage?
"I always wondered, Ru, where did we meet?"
She placed her hand on the photo of when they first met again. 'Where she asks, in an inhumane institution that collected children with unusual abilities.' He can't possibly tell her that. He does not know why she lost her memories. But for him, this is a good thing.
He doesn't want Ki to remember anything regarding that place that treated children as tools.