Who...are you? The face of that woman burned in her mind, but Nozomi could not remember her name.

"What's wrong?" Eli asked. Nozomi looked up. Everyone had gathered in the room—the living room of the Nishikino summer home, which was steadily becoming the usual spot for μ's hangouts and get-togethers—and they were all staring at her, eyes full of concern, "Are you okay, Nozomi? You've been spacing out since you got here."

She gave them a reassuring smile. "It's nothing, just...I saw a girl working at a maid cafe on my way here. She had short, light brown hair and brown eyes. She looked like she was only in her early 20s. I know I've never seen her before, but she felt familiar somehow." She absentmindedly played with the deck of tarot cards in her hands, her brows furrowing. "She reminded me of someone I used to know, someone I spent a lot of time with, and until just now I couldn't remember who it was. I did, though...her face, at least. I still can't remember her name, and I feel horrible about it."

"Oh, that person!" Rin piped up. "It was...um...who was it?" She scratched her head. "I-I can't remember either, but I know who you're talking about! She had friends, too. There were nine of them, just like us." The rest of the group murmured their agreement. At least that meant Nozomi wasn't crazy or making things up. They all knew who she was talking about, and each had their own person they'd shared a bond with.

"I can't remember their names," Maki said. "Not even the woman I spent so much time with. We used to be so close, we were almost inseparable. So why can't I remember it...?"

"But it definitely happened, right?" Nico asked with a small voice. "I can't remember her name, but that person—all of them, the time we spent together was real, right?" She stood up and looked at each of them desperately, as if she could find the answer in their eyes. "That was real, wasn't it? Everything we did together with them, everything we worked for? It wasn't some...illusionary crossroads, or something, right?!"

Kotori walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, I'm certain they were real. The days we spent together with them were—are real. Even if we've gotten caught up in our lives now, even if we don't know their names anymore, we still have these memories. They're proof of the connection we shared."

"But..." Umi said. "Is that all we have left of them? They must be busy with their own lives too, but I want to have more than just memories. I don't think we ever even thanked them for all their help. We couldn't have gone anywhere near as far as we did without them."

Nozomi looked down at the pen sitting in front of Umi. "Then, why don't we write them a letter?"

"I don't—Where would we send it?"

Nozomi tapped her chin with her finger. "Even if we can't give it to them physically...I think it'll reach them, somehow."

Eli smiled at that. "It's spiritual, isn't it?"

"Exactly!" Nozomi grinned. "It's almost time to start, so I say that for now, we celebrate everything we did—all 18 of us—and then later, we'll send them all our thoughts and feelings." Everyone agreed to that. Maki went to grab the snacks they'd brought, Nico and Kotori following to help her, while Hanayo set up their live compilation DVD (a gift from their friends in Honoka's class). Soon enough, their usual festivities of the anniversary of their final performance were underway.

Honoka grinned as she held up the piece of paper in her hands. It had taken five hours and countless attempts—the floor was littered with crumpled pieces of paper, the corpses of false starts and misspellings and frustrated scribbling—but finally she was finished. It was short, but in these few words she had poured out her heart. Just then, a soft knock came from the door. "Honoka," Kotori's voice floated through, "are you ready?"

"Just finished, actually."

"Great! Come on, everyone else is done." Honoka quickly read over her letter one last time, then neatly folded it up and ran out the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting~" Like Kotori had said, the rest of the girls were gathered in the living room.

Eli shook her head. "Don't worry, we haven't been waiting long. I think we all had a lot we wanted to say, more than we could put into words."

Honoka nodded. "Right? I wish we could find them and sing to them. It'd be a lot easier to express my gratitude that way."

Umi held up a bottle with her letter in it, a beautiful piece of stationery folded elegantly. Honoka was sure the writing within was even more beautiful and elegant, enough to make hers look like it was scribbled out by a little child. But as long as that person understood her feelings, then it would be fine. "Don't worry," Umi said. "Like Nozomi said, I'm sure our feelings will reach them, somehow. It may not be perfectly worded, but after all the time we spent together, I'm sure they'll remember how we think and how we talk."

"Even though we can't even remember their names?" Hanayo asked. The room fell silent at that.

"Oy," Nico said eventually. "There's no use getting down about that now. So we can't remember their names, big deal. We remember them, and the time we spent together. That's good enough, isn't it? Good enough to write these letters, at least." She grabbed the empty bottle on the table and moved towards Honoka, holding the bottle out to her. "Let's go, Honoka."

The leader looked at her for a moment, and grinned. She took the bottle from Nico's hand, stuffed her letter inside it, and shut it tight. "Nico's right, guys. Names or not, I'm sure they'll be happy to get these letters. So let's go give it to them!"

The nine former members of μ's lined up on the beach, watching the sun rise as they always did on this day. None of them ever said a thing, but they all thought of the same moment, that day they spent together here years ago. It was the day they had gone from schoolmates who all happened to have a similar goal and a similar interest, to a real group of friends. As the sky yawned with a pale orange, Honoka looked at Nozomi. "Is it time?"

"...Yes."

Honoka nodded. She reared back, and hurled her bottle as far as she could. The other eight did the same. Honoka gazed at the nine bottles carrying their earnest feelings out into the sea. "Please find your way to our dear friends!" She yelled, and bowed with eyes shut tight. Eight voices echoed her.

When Honoka stood back up, she opened her eyes to nothing but sea and sky. "They're gone," she said.

"The ocean can't have carried them away that fast," Maki muttered.

"Then...they disappeared?"

"Spiritual, isn't it?" Nozomi whispered.

To you, wherever you are!

It's been a long time, hasn't it? So long, I've forgotten your name, ehehe. I'm sorry. You probably remember, but I'm a pretty forgetful person. I think if you were here right now, you'd tell me, 'So clumsy. As expected of you!' But you'd say it with a smile, and you'd still believe in me. You always believed in me.

I wonder what you've been up to these days? Whatever it is, I hope you're happy doing it. Me, I've started getting ready to take over Homura. It's a lot of work, but it's fun. And sometimes I get customers that recognize me and ask for an autograph or something! It's kind of embarrassing, honestly. I'm no idol anymore, though I do still sing and dance when I get the chance.

Do you remember what today is? It's the anniversary of our last performance together. I didn't get a chance to say it back then, before you disappeared and my life continued on. So here's me saying it now: Thank you. Thank you for walking with me, for helping me reach as many people as we did. Thank you for the time we spent together, the story we realized together. I want to hear your voice again. I hope we can meet again someday. No...we'll definitely meet again someday!

Yours,

Honoka

Honoka inhaled the ocean air. She felt relieved and happy, as if this was something she had always needed to do, but never realized it until now. She was about to turn back towards the house, but just then, Nozomi called out, "Look!"

She was pointing out at the horizon. There were nine bottles floating in the water, coming in with the tide. "Did they come back?" Rin asked.

"No." She had no proof of it, but somehow Honoka knew. "These are different letters. They're not from us. They're..."

"They're for us." Nozomi finished. "Our friends sent us letters too."

Honoka couldn't wait for the tide to slowly bring the bottles to shore. She took off running, almost falling on her face as she bent down to pick up the first bottle. The rolled-up paper it held was orange. To Honoka was scrawled neatly on its outside. She popped the bottle open and started to read.

Can you believe it's been two years already? ~μ'sic Forever