A/N: This is probably the longest thing I've written thus far, and it's only been one chapter. Anyway, I'd just like to warn that this fanfic takes place after the canon ending, and contains major spoilers for any non-manga readers. Also, I'm using GotWoot's anime translations for names, so Yuno's nickname for Yuki is "Yukkii", and Muru Muru is Mur Mur.
Disclaimer: Mirai Nikki/Future Diary is the property of Esuno Sakae. So are its side stories, Mosaic and Paradox, as well as its characters. I own nothing.
FALLEN STARS
CHAPTER I – Endless Eight
And you don't seem to understand
A shame you seemed an honest man
And all the fears you hold so dear
Will turn to whisper in your ear…
[The Realm of Causality]
Gasai Yuno slid out of the makeshift change-room, taking a moment to inspect herself. She'd let down her hair, and was wearing a lace black dress that neatly hugged her waist. It'd taken her days to decide on the outfit - after all, tonight was a special occasion. It was her second Happy End.
"Yukkii, how do I look?" she asked tentatively.
Across from her, Amano Yukiteru smiled. Clad in his usual jacket, zip-up turtleneck, and cargo shorts, he was almost pedestrian compared to Yuno. "Like a Goddess," he replied, as they shared a kiss. When they pulled away, her cheeks were blushing.
"You know, you didn't have to get so dressed up."
"I didn't overdress—" replied Yuno, shaking her head, "you underdressed. Though," she added with a wink, "I wouldn't mind if you'd underdressed some more…"
Yukkii jumped back. "D-don't say those kinds of things!"
"Why not?" asked Yuno. It was an earnest question. She and Yukkii had already been 'bound together' hundreds of times (two hundred and sixty-two to be exact; she'd kept track in her diary). "I don't see how this makes you uncomfortable, especially when in bed you're so—"
"Alright!" shouted Yukkii. "I… just feel weird talking about it here, like Deus is somehow watching us."
"You're such a child, Yukkii!" cried Yuno, failing to suppress a giggle. Worrying about Deus like he was some monster in a closet… he'd always been like this. Even after ascending to godhood, Yukkii was still Yukkii.
"L-let's just go!" As Yukkii said that, a wooden door materialised in front of him. It looked as if it went nowhere, but when he turned its handle, a verdant landscape of rolling hills appeared.
Yuno grabbed onto his arm in reply, half-dragging him through the door. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to miss the stars!"
X/XX XX:XX [Undefined]
The boy, who had been lying slumped over in a chair, slowly opened his eyes. Brushing back his bangs, he examined his surroundings.
About twenty-five desks and chairs were neatly arranged in rows facing the front of the room. It was well-lit despite the lights not being on, as an entire wall was devoted to windows that let in the sun. Another wall was plastered with motivational posters, and chalkboards occupied the last two. Off to the side were a small bookshelf and a teacher's desk, the latter of which was completely buried under papers. It seemed familiar.
A classroom.
He looked out an adjacent window. The sky was flushed with salmon pink and fringed with deep purple. The sun, hanging low in the sky, gnawed at his eyes.
I have to get home—
As he finished that thought, he realised that he had no clue where "home" was, or why he was in a classroom in the first place. He tried to recall the faces of his parents, and found that he couldn't. He tried to recall the faces of his friends, and found again that he couldn't. He tried to recall himself.
Who am I?
It was as if he had come to a mental roadblock, his identity locked behind an impenetrable wall.
What he was sitting on. A chair. Underneath his feet. The tiled floor. Hovering above him. Fluorescent lights. His name? No idea.
He was as empty as the classroom.
He took a deep breath and assessed the situation. In all likelihood, he had amnesia, wherein certain memories, such as those of common objects, had been left untouched, but others, including those of people, were entirely forgotten. It sounded like the setup for a bad mystery novel. Suddenly, he felt the urge to laugh.
His head didn't hurt – odd, considering amnesia was usually caused by brain damage. If he didn't have brain damage, then why did he have amnesia? And if he did, why couldn't he feel any pain?
Who am I?
He had to get home, wherever it was, and piece everything together. He would find a phone and call 119. The police might have already received a missing child notice from his parents, and even if they hadn't, or he had no parents, the station would still be better than the classroom. People didn't get amnesia without a reason.
There was no phone in the classroom, so he would search the main office. But as he stood up to leave, he heard a faint ringing noise, growing louder and louder until he was on his knees, clutching at his ears.
WAIT!
The word screeched in an endless loop. He remained completely immobilised by it, and plugging his ears made no difference. It was as if the noise came from inside his head. So he waited. It wasn't like he had much of a choice.
After what seemed like an eternity later, the noise stopped, and a burst of smoke, accompanied by multicoloured streamers, poofed onto the desk in front of him.
"Sorry I'm late! I've just been so busy recently!"
The smoke cleared to reveal a short, tanned girl with catlike features. Her hair was done up in twin buns that unfurled themselves to become twin ponytails, and her outfit, outlandish to say the least, was slightly reminiscent of that of a genie's.
Maybe it was a dream.
"Trust me, it's definitely not a dream," remarked the strange girl, as if she'd heard his thoughts. "Anyway, hiya! I'm Mur Mur, servant to the God of Causality, and you're Akise Aru."
"Akise Aru…" the boy muttered, even more convinced that it was a dream. Still, the name sounded familiar.
"Geez, you really have forgotten everything. It's your name, your name!"
"But how do you know that? How can I trust you?" he asked, his head still pounding.
"Well," – and here Mur Mur paused dramatically – "it's the hair! It's so white, you see! There's no doubt about it; you're definitely Akise Aru."
He glanced upwards at his hair, which was, oddly enough, a pearly white.
"As for trusting me…" Mur Mur fumbled around in her pockets, producing a small, untitled notebook. "This is yours," she said, handing it to him.
He opened it, and found the name "Amano Yukiteru" in a nearly illegible scrawl that took up the entire first page.
"Yeah, sorry about that," said Mur Mur. "I lost the original and had to fill this one out all by myself."
"Then it's not really mine." He flipped through the notebook. "The rest of it's blank."
"Like I said, I've been busy! You should just be grateful that I filled this much out. It's all you need, anyways. Doesn't 'Amano Yukiteru' trigger any fond memories of yours?"
"No, not really."
"What about warm, fuzzy feelings?"
"No."
"…Homosexual tendencies?"
Silence filled the air.
Mur Mur stamped her foot in an act of frustration. "Well, it should. Geez, give me something to work with here!"
"So what am I supposed to do with this, then?" He asked.
"I'm not sure. I thought you'd remember everything when you saw it. I don't even know why he brought you here like this." Mur Mur paused, deep in thought. After a few moments of imitating The Thinker, a light bulb flashed over her head.
"Aha!" she cried out in triumph. "I think that if you find this Amano character, you'll regain your memories."
"Why's that?"
Mur Mur put a finger over her mouth and winked at him. "It's a secret."
And with that, she vanished, his cries of "Wait!" in vain.
Who is Amano Yukiteru?Why does he have my memories?He didn't know if she was telling the truth, but still, he wished he'd asked her more.
It was all so bizarre.
At least now he had a name. Akise Aru… He could go to look it up in a phonebook to see if he had any family, although he doubted he would find anything. Mur Mur had mentioned someone, a male, "bringing him here like this". Could it have been the one who took his memories? Amano Yukiteru? She seemed to know more than she let on. It would be near impossible to track her, given her evident supernatural powers. However, it seemed to have been part of her duty to meet Akise. He was certain that he would see her again, and when he did, he intended on getting the truth from her. For now, the only course of action would be to track down Amano.
Akise briefly checked the notebook again, finding nothing new. He'd gotten nowhere near what he'd wanted, but it was more fun that way. It would be a mystery.
7/20 19:42 [At the edge of Sakurami City]
Yuki had always wanted to go stargazing with his family.
The tiny pricks of light scattered through the sky were his friends, in a way. They were his hopes and dreams, and every once in a while, he would look back up to remind himself that they were still there. That they were still possible. That his parents would forgive each other. That his life would have meaning.
Then the Survival Game had started, and Yuki's innocence, along with his hopes and dreams, shot away. The promise of stargazing that his parents had broken would never be mended, and for a long time, Yuki couldn't face the stars. When he saw them, he saw despair.
At that time, he had nothing except Yuno to keep him sane. And then, Yuno—
He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think about it – his parents were alive now, right? Yuno was alive now, right? Everything was okay. His hopes had come true. Even if it was a different him who'd gone stargazing with his parents… His parents were alive. Yuno was here. Everything was okay.
And so, Yuki could face the stars again.
"Yukkii, I'm cold." Even with his jacket around her, Yuno was freezing. The night was unusually cold for July, and a chill permeated the air.
"..Yukkii?"
"Oh, sorry." It felt like he had been here before… was it déjà vu? Yuki shook his head. He'd been standing next to a half-assembled telescope in a daze, staring at the stars. "I was just… thinking."
"Yeah." Yuno gave him a half-hearted smile. Of course stargazing would bring back the memories of his parents. Of course he would be hurt. She'd thought that she would've been enough for him, that she was all he'd needed... but it wasn't true. Of course it wasn't. "Yukkii, maybe we shouldn't have—" a gust of wind interrupted her, making her shiver.
"Here." Abandoning his telescope, Yuki came behind Yuno and wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace. They sat there, cuddling, as the stars shot by. "Everything's okay, Yuno," he said, after a moment, "but I think you might be the one who's underdressed."
Yuno laughed, relieved, and the stars laughed with her. "But if I wasn't, then we wouldn't be cuddling right now, would we?"
"No, we'd be cuddling, just like this."
"So sure of that?"
"Yeah." His hand found her cheek, and slowly, he tilted it back until his eyes met hers. They found warmth in the embers of each others' eyes, and then, their lips met too. For that one, magical moment, Yuki forgot everything. His eyes, closed, were oblivious to the world. He and Yuno floated, losing themselves in each other, in the sweetness of each others' lips, in the shelter of each others' hearts. It was an eternity, but eternity was too short.
"I thought we were stargazing," said Yuno, tracing her finger on Yuki's chest, "but I don't mind this, either."
"Well, I saw stars." A broad grin was plastered on Yuki's face. Yuno, not sure of whether to laugh or roll her eyes, just kissed him again, a sigh on her lips. "Hey, we can still go stargazing!" He said, pointing to a large, bright speck in the sky. "There's Jupiter."
"That's a planet, Yukkii."
"Okay then, what about—" Yuki paused. He watched as Hercules lost his club and fell from grace, and as Draco simply faded from existence. One by one, the stars were falling.
"Yuno…"
They looked up at the blank night sky.
The stars were gone.