"Y-Yes?"
"I should really hurry out of here, even though he is so concerning and kind, there is just something negative spreading from him to me. It's scary. He is scary." The girl is a bit scared and shares her fear with her thoughts.
"It's 2:00 AM in the morning, and it's really dark outside. It'd probably be the best time for strange people to be on the run, and judging by your looks, you're not even over eighteen yet." Yuki shows his concern by speaking words of advice.
"Being honest, I don't feel even the least bit of concern from the end of my nerves to the start of my emotions. I just don't want to get involved or get asked questions by people if something happens to her after she leaves from here." Yuki thought to himself. "I don't want any heads turning to me just because the incident happened after she left my place."
"You're right… But you might want to sleep now and wouldn't my presence bother you?" The girl hesitated to accept Yuki's kindness again.
"It's fine." Yuki said with no hesitation.
"As far as my still learning mind can comprehend, this is formality?"
She sits down again, but this time with her feet out of the Kotatsu Table's blanket. It'd be rude to get comfortable in a stranger's house like that.
"D-Do you mind if I take off my delivery cap? It's a bit uncomfortable to wear almost all of the time."
"No, I don't."
The young girl pulls both hands backward as she loosens the cap's control strap and pulls off her hat.
She gently puts her cap on the table and ties her hair to form a ponytail. The half sleeves uniform shirt gives anybody a chance to look at her bare light arms. She has soft, white, milky skin, and her long dark silky hair stretches to her waist. The dark obsidian eyes and the perfectly cut dark curls and bangs on her forehead give a beautiful sight enough to consider this appearance no less than a Goddess's. A reddish color fade always remains on her face teeming with admirable beauty. Her blush was that of a rose's bloom. Each picture of her was lavished with loveliness. She carried a gentle manner in her voice... She is beautiful and pretty, but most importantly… she's adorable!
Yuki's eyes are distracted by the ID card glued in her chest pocket; a name is written there as… "Yuhara Shiina, am I right?"
Yuki recalls her name after learning it from her ID card.
"O-Oh! Y-Yes, that's correct." Shiina feels a bit shy. Is she uncomfortable in this environment? "My name is Yuki Kazahana." He introduces himself to make her more comfortable for his upcoming conversation. "T-That's a nice name, Mr. Kazahana." Shiina complimented.
"What's so amusing in names, Shiina?" Yuki replied.
"I... I love the sound of names tuning in my ears, as long as I can keep remembering such wonderful names, I'm happy. I don't want to forget these names, the fact they remain polished in my mind until they rust, is what is amusing." That was the first thing in Shiina's mind.
Silence once again enters this lonely room of two people. Looks like Shiina only replies and doesn't talk on her own; perhaps she is timid. But, this silence makes the air feel cramped for Shiina. Breaking the silence, Yuki finally gets to the point.
"Say, Shiina."
"H-he's still calling me from my first name… I-isn't that strange…" Shiina thought so,
"Y-Yes?"
She replied immediately but was still hesitant enough to stutter.
"Why's such a young girl like you working overtime, especially a night shift. It makes me curious, as it's a dangerous task right there."
Yuki asked straightforwardly, going personal, unaware and not knowing how the other person would feel, comfortable enough or uncomfortable to answer it.
"What is your reason for living this hard for something, Shiina? What makes you work this hard? Why can't I find it, is there something I can find to aim for, like you, too?"
"If there can be something similar between us..."
Yuki bargained to himself.
"He's asking me a question concerning my work schedule… Should I tell him why I am doing this, why am I working overtime…? I mean, isn't he a stranger to me. We don't know each other properly, nor are we close…."
Shiina chooses to have a discussion with her thoughts first. "But… I still feel like telling him why am I doing this, I feel like telling him more than he asked about, I feel like spilling out all my problems and frustration."
"After all, nobody has ever asked me about my situation or problems. Nobody's ever done a favor of letting me cry on their shoulder like friends do to each other…." Her mind thinks along.
Shiina recalls her past. "But this time when I'm asked for it, I don't want this opportunity to go…."
"I'm… a high school student. But I part-time at retail store and do deliveries for it so I can properly raise my little brother who I'm living alone with. I'm the one who pays our daily expenses." Shiina said with shyness as she has never revealed her problem reasons with somebody else except for her little brother.
"But why do you live alone?" Yuki asked.
"Maybe she's just an orphanage trying to live their life independently, but it might be too much load to do it while raising a kid too." Yuki guessed in his mind.
"In the end, it's nothing of what I expected--"
"When I was nearly the age of 10, my mother suffered herself to death after being seriously mentally ill. It was when my younger brother was 4 years old."
"My father had passed away shortly after Yuuta, my younger brother, was born..."
"When I was born, to ensure a healthy and safe body, many scans were performed on me," Shiina states calmly.
"Everything was fine until they discovered a disorder."
"I really don't care about this all, I regret asking it." Yuki instantly regretted.
"After all, it's only just a miracle to find somebody as similar as me--"
Yuki regretted asking the question after he learned there was nothing he found similar to Shiina. But suddenly, his eyes open wide, and the conversation turns unexpected! He gets a hold of himself and returns to his normal state with cold, icy stares.
Shiina grips her palms tightly and she hesitates at first, but plainly speaks…
"It's just a matter of time."
"Sooner or later…."
"I'll forget my memories."
"I'll forget this life, and all the moments I've ever had with anyone or anybody."
"Let it be this second, this day, this week or this year or even after several years, it will take just a fraction of a second of me forgetting everything."
"My mother took her life after getting mentally disturbed from this too… Why not me though?"
"Why am I still alive, am I not sad enough about myself?"
"After her death, I just couldn't talk to people, I couldn't make any friends."
"What if they leave me like my mom too? What if they think I am a liar? What if they consider me an attention seeker…?"
Her iris started shining with twilight as the salty water slipped down her soft pink cheeks and met at her chin.
"A-after all, is there even a point of being with someone who is just going to forget you in the future? There's no meaning to give any efforts to a bond that will cease to exist soon…."
"E-even if I hide my problem, my anxiety would never leave me… W-What if I'm always awkward? What if I'm always going to faint, what if I'm always negative… What if my smile isn't bright enough?"
"And then there is Yuuta I have to look after! What if my disorder is the reason for his lousy upbringing?! And what if I let his burning potential go to waste, not being able to fulfil his needs?!"
Shiina gently covers her mouth and nose with both hands; she turns faint red due to the crying. Her dark irises carry isolated happiness in the patience of finally achieving freedom. Shiina rubs the back of her hand on her eyes and wipes off her tears.
"W-What if I forget him too…?"
In the thoughts of Yuki... he speaks as they go,
"Hm…"
"Family…"
"And friends…"
"Such theatrics never took an effect on me, I am nor sad nor disturbed. I've always failed to understand such feelings. Do I comfort this girl? Or do I let her cry?"
"Love? Care? Comfort? Why're people so desperate to sense these feelings… What's so special in them?" Yuki fails to understand… He questions himself in his world of thoughts.
"We're both having a medical condition, which is something similar I can find."
"She knows how to feel. And that's why she craves for it. But, I don't know how to feel, and I crave to know that."
"We're both just in different worlds, but with the same motives. The only difference between me and her is…"
"I've finally given up."
"Say, Shiina."
"Do you have a dream?"
Yuki has a question to ask, and Shiina has an answer to reply. She looks at him in surprise with the sudden question, which is confusing.
"Y-Yes…" Said her little and shattering voice.
"Do I have a heart?" Yuki questions himself in his mind, as Shiina answers in the real world.
"I've always wondered that." Yuki's thoughts.
"I want to treat myself as a human too..." Shiina bargained.
"Was I ever really helpful?" Yuki's thoughts.
"I want to live a normal life too! I want to make friends," Shiina's voice.
"In all my life, have I ever felt something for somebody else?" Yuki's thoughts.
"Go on dates like others!" Shiina's voice.
"It was this moment." Yuki's thoughts.
"I want to get praised, I want to help my friends in need, and I want to support people I love too!" Shiina's voice.
"For the first time that I wanted to help somebody… Is it true that I have feelings too?" Yuki's thoughts.
"I never asked for this lonely and utmost regretful life! I want to be happy like others too!" Shiina's voice.
"That's right… A lonely life which is full of regrets, isn't that the life I tried to escape from just a few hours ago?" Yuki's thoughts.
"It's my final decision." Shiina's voice.
"Before losing all my memories…." Shiina's commitment.
"Before I die…." Yuki's commitment.
Shiina raised her voice slightly a bit more with an addition of frustration and desperation in her faint fragile sound; she was genuinely requesting something from her heart. Her face was full of red with her embarrassment, but her soul felt uplifted and light. She has finally broken down the giant boulder of worries on her shoulders.
"I want to experience and make the Best Memories of my Life too!" Shiina wished,
Yuki's lips finally opens as he speaks the words Shiina longed for.
"In that case, Shiina." he insisted.
"Allow me to become your first friend, to not lead you to a life full of regrets." Yuki fulfilled.
"Unlike me, who was going to end my life tonight… I don't want somebody else walking on the same path again. That's why…." He thought in his mind.
"To carry out my job for you as a friend, and to care about you as someone who cares."
"I don't even care if she died the next day, but as long as I am alive, it is because I will keep on living to support a life which still has the opportunity to live. This is all an act, for the better good." The reality revolved in his thoughts.
"Shiina."
"Let me help you,"
"By joining your journey."
"Then, I'll help you... make the best memories of your life."
"It's my promise."
"I'll continue this life of mine, for the sake of yours," Yuki has a commitment which he locked in his mind.
Yuki looks at Shiina. She couldn't help but tear up while smiling like a maiden from heaven, her face gave the relief anybody else would ever wish for, and her eyes couldn't express happiness more than anything else. Her tears were overflowing with mixed emotions. Did somebody finally understand her? Was she waiting for these words all of the time? Does somebody actually care about her? She's delighted.
"I'm so glad." Shiina said while her tears overflowed with happiness.
And that's how the story starts!
Shiina's disorder: Forgetting all her memories sometime in the future.
Yuki's disorder: Unknown.