White smoke.
It tells a story. A story about the past, about our planet in the crossfires of an intergalactic war.
But the white smoke is gone. Its as if we erased the past, made it so nobody remembered.
But I do.
"Naota, you really shouldn't drink that."
I looked up.
"Why would you care?" I asked her.
"Because its sour. You used to not like sour things. I seriously sometimes think you're a completely different person than you used to be." Ninamori said. We were down by the river, with Masashi and Gaku.
"What, you mean since that kiss-kiss girl left? The one who liked Naota?"
"Yeah, and since Naota's wife left. Guess she couldn't handle Naota dumping her like that."
I didn't say anything. Mamimi had left to become a photographer, and Haruko went to chase after Atomsk. I don't know what happened to them. Its been two years since she hit me with that guitar, and all of those strange things started happening. Its very strange, my life. Miya-Jun went crazy. We haven't seen her since sixth grade. Kamon did a few more of those magazines, and we still haven't had anyone buy our Crystal Pepsi. Granpa still is the captain of the baseball team, and since Mamimi left he's been much happier about life.
I've seen Amaro sometimes. He's still got those eyebrows. Kitsurabami sometimes comes over. I think she still likes Canti, after realizing he is a very kind robot.
Except when he turns red. But that hasn't happened in two years.
I drank the last of my soda. Amaro says I should drink the sour ones.. I guess I want Haruko back. He said something about not drinking it. Maybe it had a connection. Im not sure. Im not sure about anything anymore. I stood up.
"I have to go. My brother is coming in a few hours to visit."
I don't know why he came back. Maybe to see what has changed. He has a new girlfriend, who he says is very strange, but he's in love. Maybe he left to escape Mamimi. I get the feeling he wasn't really her boyfriend, just someone she could talk to, someone who could take her out of her hellish life at home. Maybe he did like her.
But then why would he have two girlfriends while he was away?
And why didn't he come back?
After all of the people I looked up to left, my head started spinning with questions. Its like they left me to die here. To never go away like they did, and spend the rest of my life shrouded in confusion. It makes me want to go away. But I can't. I've got family here, and friends.
But someday, I will leave.
Later that evening, I had a dream. I grew a horn out of my head, like old times, and out of it came Haruko. She was glowing red, and I knew she had merged with Atomsk. She wasn't normal. Its like her lust for finding that faraway thing was gone. Now that she had it, she was all about destruction. I was useless, and I was blown away, like a piece of litter in the wind.
"Naota, come greet Tasuku."
I slugged downstairs and into the living room.
"OH MY GOD!"
Haruko was sitting next to my brother.
"Ah, we forgot to tell you Tasuku. Haruko-san used to be our old house keeper."
"I missed it here. Its such a nice coincidence that you're the older brother Takkun was talking about all the time.
"DON'T YOU FIND IT A BIT ODD THAT HARUKO WOULD JUST HAPPEN TO BE TASUKU'S GIRLFRIEND? AND WHY WOULD SHE BE IN THE U.S? AND WHY WOULD SHE COME BACK HERE? AND WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON?"
The yelling went on for quite some time. Haruko found her guitar. She was happy I kept it. A bit too happy, if you ask me. And, guess what?
"SILENCE, TAKKUN!"
The guitar came down upon my forehead.