章 98: I'll Never Forget What I Have
"What's this?" Arata walked up to the only desk with a bag still hooked onto it. He recognized this, it was Erina's bag.
But what caught his eye was what was on this desk. It was an envelope with his name on it. He figured that this was what she wanted to give him, but where was she now? Maybe she went to the bathroom and wasn't expecting him here yet?
Since that appeared to be the most probable action, Arata felt it was best to just sit at her desk and wait. There was no plan on taking a look at what the contents of this envelope were going to be, until she got back.
At least, that was his plan. However, the temptation to look inside grew the longer he waited. He attempted to convince himself not to look inside. Then again, this was meant for him. So surely she couldn't get mad at him for looking at something that he's supposed to get.
Then again, it might ruin the surprise she was planning for him. This battle in his mind was starting to affect his physical actions. As Arata reached his hand back and forth, debating if he should sneak a peek. Should he? Should he not?
Finally, he gave up to his own desire. Arata picked up the envelope and opened the flap. Since it was in an envelope, the assumption that it was a letter wasn't a bad one. But that meant he wasn't prepared for a plethora of photos to fall out onto the ground.
"Tch, I hope she won't get mad at me." He crouched down to start picking them up. Why was this the stuff she wanted to give him, Arata wondered.
Just as he was about to begin the cleanup, what he saw on them gave him pause. The first one that caught his eye, a picture of him with everyone on the beach.
"Hmm?" He picked it up and studied it further. It showed what he was up to during Summer break. For some reason he was unsure of, Arata felt something stir in him. Quickly taking advantage of it, he scanned for another image.
Found one. On it, was a picture of the production he was a part of. He remembered what Erina told him at the theater, that he played a major role.
"That's right, I… I played Demetrius. And she was Helena." That memory, it came to him. Wait, he remembered it? Quick, another one.
The May Dance, it was coming to him. He won… No, they won. They shared a dance together.
"I didn't answer, but I guess I'm fine with you." Those words, he remembered that he said those words. Arata said them to her, when they were sharing a private dance.
"But I guess you make for a fine second choice." What? He knew he didn't say that. Was Erina the owner of those words? Arata struggled to piece together his memories. No, he couldn't give up now. He felt it, getting closer now.
Without a seconds hesitation, he picked up a photo that was face down. When it was flipped up, it revealed him standing besides Erina.
"You never really know what you have in life, until you take the time to see it." That voice in his head, he recognized it immediately. Hine… This was taken on that mountain, when he was with her and the elderly.
This picture, he remembered now. Everything, the blackmail, the manipulation, their arguments… And the fun they had.
"Erina…" He said her name quietly to himself. When they took this picture, he was thinking of her. Because, that made him happy. "Erina!"
He sprung up from the ground. Where was she? Where was everyone? Taking a glance outside, he spotted her walking off the school ground. Yurime was with her. Arata didn't know why she was leaving, nor did he care.
In an instant, he hastily gathered the pictures on the ground. Then, along with her bag, Arata rushed out of the empty classroom. There was only one location he had in mind.
"Oh shoot, he's still going to expect to see you, right?" Yurime asked her, remembering that Arata had already read the note. "We really shouldn't just leave him hanging like that."
"You might be right." Erina relented from her self-loathing. "I'll just tell him that it was all a misunderstanding."
"Maybe it's not too late to tell him the truth." Yurime had a change of heart. After thinking over it, she wondered if their lives had truly been worse off with the decisions they made.
"No, I think this is for the best." She replied. The worst part about this, was definitely going to be when she met up with the rest of the gang. After bragging that she had something special for them, it was going to be a massive disappointment.
She turned around, but for a second. Erina hesitated. Could she really face him right now? The feeling of guilt washed over her.
"Maybe I'll just message him on his phone." She muttered. At least, that was going to be her plan, until she noticed something missing as she went for it. "Oh no..." She had forgotten her bag during her breakdown.
"You don't have your phone?" Yurime noted the panic coming from the other girl. "Then, I guess I can go get it for you." She offered, along with being the one to break the news for her.
"Erina!…" That's what she was going to do, but a yell grabbed their attention. "Erina! Erina!"
"Arata?" She looked at the source, puzzled. Arata was rushing towards them full force, yelling out her name. He had her bag and the envelope in his hands. For a moment, she was scared. Why was he acting so emotional?
"Erina!" She learned why in no time. In his rush, he nearly was unable to stop before running her over. But it was part of what he wanted to do. Arata leaped up and embraced her, causing the two to fall to the ground. The photos dispersed and scattered from the collision.
"What are you doing?" She asked, conversed with this behavior. Was he mad, happy, excited. What was going on?
"I remember everything." Her eyes widened from his declaration. Did he see the pictures? "Everything, every single thing we did. I remember it all." Arata tightened his grasp on her, she could hardly breath.
"You mean then…"
"I'm back." Hearing him say that, the two could hardly contain their tears. This was the happiest thing either of them had heard in their lives.
"This is so awesome." Even Yurime was moved from hearing this. Finally, things were back to normal again.
"So…" Once the two got back to their feet. There was one question that was still bugging Arata at this point. "Why were you leaving?" That question brought her back down to earth.
"Well, I was just…" She was unsure how to word this. Now that he knew everything again, it was hard to explain. "It's just, those pictures." She pointed to them, now laying across the ground. "Were they really good memories?"
"You're still feeling bad over the blackmail?" He understood what she was meaning. While Arata might know why that was so hard to move on from, he also knew that what he got was much better from it.
"She… I mean, we were just worried if that was really what you wanted." Yurime spoke for her. "That maybe you might've been better off as if that never happened."
"Well, I guess you could say that I wouldn't go out of my way to do all that stuff." He thought over the more public displays of work he did. If it wasn't for the blackmail, then he'd certainly just avoid them. "But… it's not like I hated doing them or anything."
"Really?" The girls said in unison. It might not sound like the truth, but he didn't regret doing any of the stuff he got shackled with during the last six months.
"Yeah, so how about the three of us just put that in the past. It doesn't matter anymore." He buried the issue.
"Thanks…" Erina was grateful to hear that coming from him. A huge weight was brought up from her shoulders.
"Hey, now that you got you're memories back." Yurime had one final question before they could move on from this little event. "Do you know why you lost them in the first place?"
"How I lost my memories…" Arata put a hand under his chin, and tried to remember what happened that fateful night. "Aww…" He turned his head down in sorrow as he realized what caused it.
"What?" The girls looked on at him with concern. "Did something really bad happen?"
"Kirua lost!" He said, which caused a lot of confusion. They had no idea to what he was referring to.
"Kirua, have I heard that name before?" Erina asked. It sounded familiar to her.
"I told you about her before." He explained. "She's that anime character I really like, you know, the figurine." The looks of concern were replaced by deadpan eyes. This boy really lost his memories over an anime character?
Tracing back to that night. Arata was really hyped for the final episode of 'Mad Love'. He was certain that the yandere character, known as Kirua Omine, was going to cinch it. Unfortunately, the show decided to throw in a twist and left her with an utterly broken heart. He was just so distraught from seeing it, that his brain went into overdrive and deleted his memories with the show.
That also had the side effect of removing all of his memories during the time when the show was airing. Which coincidentally, the first episode dropped around the same time as when he got blackmailed.
"So you got amnesia, because of an anime show?" Yurime wasn't sure what to make of what she was hearing.
"Hey look." Arata got defensive. "I've been following the series for ages now. You'd get attached too."
"I guess it doesn't matter now." Erina couldn't help but laugh at such a silly reason. She was just happy that this wasn't a permanent ordeal.
"Where are the others, anyway?" That reminded her, she had told everyone to go wait for her at his favorite ice cream shop. Before everything went down, she was confident enough in the picture plan working. So that they could all enjoy his favorite desert when he regained his memories.
"You shouldn't keep them waiting." Yurime was about to leave, but Arata stopped her.
"You aren't coming?" He asked. She hadn't planned on joining them. After all, she's not close friends with the group. She hadn't even spoken to Yuriko since they were kids. "You should, I saw that you helped with this plan." He knew that some of the pictures had come from her.
"You really should." Erina grabbed her hands. "It was your plan after all, so you should get some reward." Yurime had a small smile from hearing their offer.
"Okay, I will."
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