Shiratori Haruto

“Mom, what’s happening?” I frowned doubtfully. I sat on the backless chair beside my mom’s white hospital bed. Sunrays were coming in from the window in front of me, on the other side of the bed.

My mom turned her head right towards me, seriously looking into my eyes. “Dear, maybe you don’t know because… you’ve lost your memories.”

I gulped in. “But why am I being interrogated like a criminal?”

“Because you were lost.”

“Huh?” My eyes frowned doubtfully. “Lost?”

“You’re not interrogated like a criminal, son, you’re rather being treated like a victim.”

“But, where had I gone?” I asked. “What happened to me? Why was I gone? Where to? When? For how much time? And how am I back here? Why are my memories lost? What did I do back there?”

My mom looked at me, opened her mouth, and exhaled out breath. “You have a lot of questions which can’t be answered right now, just because you should have been the one answering them.”

My lips opened a little. But, no voice came out of my mouth. My lips trembled a little for a bit as I closed them again. “So… So many questions are there, and… I can’t answer even a single one of them.” I tilted my head a little down in despair.

“Haruto, why are you getting sad over this?” My mom asked. “It’s not your fault, is it? You’re hiding nothing, and are speaking everything truthfully with good intentions in your mind. That’s just what you were supposed to do, and that’s what you’re doing. Why are you sad over this, then?”

“All of this… is confusing, mom,” I said, my head still tilted down.

“What’s confusing?”

“This situation.”

There was a moment of silence between the two of us as my mom continued to glare at me, a little shocked, a little worried. She sat on her bed silently for a second, turned her head to the front, and replied to me, “That’s just it is right now, dear. But don’t worry, everything will be alright soon enough.”

“I don’t remember what was happening here before I had come in, but I can just feel that… it was something mysterious. And… me not being able to remember anything just adds up to the mystery.”

A pair of pigeons flapped their wings on the other side of the window as they landed on the window frame outside. The sunrays were coming into the hospital room directly, lighting everything up. With a smile on her face, trying to act normal, my mom replied as she looked into the infinity in front of her, “Yeah, it’s mysterious. We don’t know how you were lost, and how you came back here.” She then turned her head to me. “But, you’re back with me again. That’s what I wanted. This case and all these mysteries… they all can go wherever they can for all I care. I just wanted you back.”

The pigeons sitting outside cooed a little together for a second, and then flapped their wings again on top, and moved them up and down, flying away.

***

“I was back home, but as I returned, the situation was so much stressful, pal! Well, that was bound to happen anyway, with so many underlying mysteries. The worst part about all these mysteries was that there was no theory which could have explained things like it made some sense. But, those few days gave me an insight as to what I’m supposed to do next.”

“I’m gonna try to remember it all—the days of my days at Chizu, and the days of my disappearance.”

***

Takemura Itsuki

My eyes were half-open as I looked towards the little open window-like structure on the ceiling of the carriage. I was lying on the wooden ground of the carriage. My legs were straight, kept beside Ichika, who had her back up on the wall. Her feet were beside my head. On my right was the open door, and on my left was the white and pink top of Airi, who was driving the horses connected to the carriage. “Yesterday night still feels like—”

“Don’t talk about it, Itsuki.”

There were the voices of little cicadas everywhere. The wooden wheels of the carriage made noises due to friction as they moved on the uneven road unoiled. We drove through a narrow passage between thick trees and forest on both sides.

My head was still tilted up towards the little opening which gave way for the light to come in. As I looked at the blue sky surrounded by white clouds, I said, “It’s over, at last.” I turned my head to the right, at the black ankle-length boots of Ichika. “All that fun we were having until now… all that innocent practice we were doing… and that little life we had there… it’s over, at last.”

“Things are bound to get over. Change is the paramount rule of life,” Airi said as she continued driving the carriage. She then turned her head to the back. “Some are good, some are bad. You too came in here from your real world. That was a change too.” She turned her head to the front again.

“Being philosophical, huh?”

“We’re taught to cure mental illnesses too during our training as a medic, along with the treatment of wounds and the defense.”

“Good for you. How I hope they also taught you how to not say shitty things and being cringe.”

Airi sarcastically smiled. “Haha, nice joke.”

“Stop it now. Let me sleep,” Ichika said, her head tilted down and her eyes closed.

“It’s twelve in the afternoon. It’s not a time to sleep now.”

“What else am I supposed to do then when I’m up? Dance?”

“Nah, we only have one carriage, and we won’t like it to destruct it down.”

“Pfft!” Airi laughed. “Ahahahhaa!” She covered her mouth with her right hand.

“Shut up,” Ichika replied with a smile.