Yuu Otosaka was the unsung hero of all children with abilities in the world. Children who were unwittingly saved from a life of being a test subject. The quest almost cost him his life. Almost cost him his sanity. But the memory of a promise kept him whole. A promise with a woman he no longer remembers.
It was the day he was discharged from the hospital. She asked him to accompany her to the hospital gardens, a place where they can be alone. He looked at her who was standing in front of him looking detached as she usually tried to be. But he has seen it. He has seen her brightness, her charm. Nao Tomori so full of life it's bursting at the seams. She was standing a few steps away from him, her back turned. He smiled. He wanted to close the gap and hold her in his arms.
It felt weird at first, wanting to hold, wanting to kiss, wanting to be one with a woman whom he has no memory of. She said he had promised to be her lover when he returned and at first he was skeptical. But the heart does not forget and no matter what memory of Nao he lost, his feelings remained. He had closed their gap already and he was already reaching for her hand when she suddenly spoke.
"Let's break up."
Yuu stilled. "What?"
Nao turned. Her face was emotionless. "You heard me." She stated, then added, "don't look so surprised. You should have seen this coming from a mile away."
Yuu remained silent, shocked from her words. Nao continued speaking, "nothing's going to change anyway. I'm still going to be your and Ayu's friend. We keep on doing the things we usually do. We just end this farce of a relationship."
And that was Yuu snapped.
He snarled angrily which startled Nao as she has never heard him emit that sound before. Understandably so as Yuu Otosaka has never fallen in love before Nao Tomori came into his life. "How dare you? How dare you call our relationship a farce? Our promise? How dare you belittle the one thing that kept me sane as I endured those hellish days plundering abilities? The one thing that kept me going and you call it fake?"
Nao looked him in the eye, "you don't even remember if you made that promise with me. You could have made it with Yusa and I could be just lying to you. You gobbled up everything I said without second thought and that was how you lived your days. I became your girlfriend because I told you that was how things are supposed to be. Not because you wanted it to." Nao said, her voice cracking at the end.
"You told me before that in another timeline, I saved you and that was how you fell in love with me," she continued, "I couldn't remember a thing you were saying and now, you can't remember it too. You can't remember our promise to be together. Now tell me, Yuu, can you still call our relationship genuine if it we both can't even remember the things it was built upon?"
She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears that threatened to fall. When she found out that he had forgotten about her, she felt so much regret. She should have told him. She should have told him that she loved him too before he left. Should have told him her true feelings. But she was scared. What if he never comes back? It was better to bottle up her feelings and pretend it doesn't exist.
When he came back, she allowed herself to feel once more. Allowed herself to love. But as days passed, with every smile he gives her, she feels like she's just deluding herself and he's just indulging her desperation. She's not the Nao he fell in love with. That Nao exists in a different timeline. And he's no longer the Yuu she remembers. A person is shaped by his experiences and memories and they are both no longer the people who came to fall in love with each other. A different Nao. A different Yuu.
Suddenly, she felt his arms wrap around her. His face was buried on her shoulder and she can feel the dampness on her sleeve from his tears. She let him cry on her shoulder and caressed his hair soothingly.
"Hey," he whispered, "if I tell you I love you, honestly and truly do, would you still leave me?"
She stilled, heart beating fast at his words, "probably would as that's obviously a lie."
She felt him pulling away from her, just enough such that he can look at her face. She stared right back. His expression was serious.
"It's not a lie." He said before closing the gap between them and kissing her.
It was their first kiss with each other. With anyone, for that matter. It was awkward and they both didn't know what to do but the warmth in Nao's stomach urged her to wrap her arms more tightly around Yuu.
"I love you, Nao." He whispered against her lips.
"I loved you before," he continued as he raised his lips to meet her forehead.
"You saved my life," he kissed her nose.
"Both in an alternate timeline where Ayu died, and in this timeline where I almost turned into a monster," he kissed her right cheek.
"Our promise kept me going. You kept me going," he kissed her left cheek.
"Because, Nao, the mind may forget, but the heart never will," he said with a smile as he kissed her again on her lips. She kissed him back and for a few minutes, everything was right in the world.
"I love you, Nao. I don't know if my heart remembers to love you or I learned to love you again but I love you. Don't break up with me. Please." Yuu said.
He watched breathe in sharply, somewhat in shock. Then her features melted into a smile which she tried hiding by smirking arrogantly, "hmp. But what if I still want to break up with you? You're not a very romantic guy, you know. Girls want romance."
Yuu smiled, "then I'll learn how to be romantic. Then I'll sweep you off your feet. I'll never stop, Nao, and I'll eventually wear you down."
She pretended to look troubled at first then smiled, "in that case you leave me no choice." She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes so that her nose touches his.
"I love you, Yuu."