A soft melody played consistently in the background as he fervently wrote his letter. His furrowed brows indicated that he was swirling in deep thoughts, and the constant scratches of a pen suggested that he had so many things to say. He paused for a moment to reread its content, frowning as he fixed some mistakes that caught his attention, and continued finishing the letter.
He gave a small nod of satisfaction to no one in particular, and put the letter in an envelope before he sealed it with a Hello Kitty sticker. He flipped the sealed envelope and wrote something on it, halfheartedly hoping that the person he wrote the letter to could read his writing. It was not the most horrible handwriting that resembled chicken scratches, but it was not the best either. It was legible at the very least, and he supposed he should be content with that.
"Oh crap, I'm going to be late," he mumbled under his breath when he noticed the time.
He placed the sealed envelope on top of the desk, and left the room to change out of his pajamas hastily. He glanced at the clock once more while he grabbed his belongings and left the house in a whirlwind of hurry.
As he rushed down the stairs, he realized that he finished getting ready in a span of three minutes.
"A new record... wow..."
"Sayuri-san, how are you feeling today?" Kirihara Akaya asked with a soft smile on his face.
He ignored the dull pain he felt in his heart when he handed a bouquet of flowers to his older sister, who grabbed the vase to change the flowers and the water.
"Oh, Akaya-kun, I'm feeling better. The doctor said I could be discharged by the end of this week. But I would like to know why you keep visiting me, though. Not that I mind, of course; because I rarely get visitors aside from my daughter, and you. Nevertheless, isn't it strange to visit someone you don't know? I can't help feeling that I know you more than I should somehow. It's strange, isn't it? I mean, we just met a couple of months ago."
The older woman at first beamed with happiness in her eyes, but it changed into a worried frown laced with confusion at the latter part of her remark. It seemed she is not conscious about the possible distress he felt from her statement.
Kirihara just gave a small smile in response even though he inwardly winced at Sayuri's statement. He resisted the urge to bite the bottom of his lips when the dull pain in his heart grew stronger, and chose to disregard it for now. Her remark hurt him, but he could not do anything other than ignore it.
"Ah, don't think too much about it, Sayuri-san," he heard himself saying it with a forced laughter that sounded fake in his ears. He then went along with the story he somehow managed to conjure up on the spot, "Just think of it as a random act of kindness. Ah! I have to get going now or else I'm going to be late to my work. I'll come by again, Sayuri-san. Bye!"
He gave a bow respectfully to the older woman, and then quickly made his way to exit the room. Once he reached outside of the room, he leaned against the closed door, and let out a long excruciating sigh. Yet again, he had failed.
"Akaya…" he heard his sister murmured with a distressed expression as she held a vase full with the flowers he had brought.
"Don't worry, Nee-san. I'm sure mom will remember me soon enough," Kirihara stated with a smile, which both of them knew was fake. "I'll keep trying, don't worry."
He had lost count of the amount of times he repeated that statement. They both knew it was a fruitless attempt, but that did not stop him from trying. Or rather, he did not want to stop trying, and his older sister simply let him continue as he wished.
"The doctor said that mom's retrograde amnesia is unique in that it is similar to selective amnesia. Her old memories are intact and she can encode new memories; but somehow, she lost all of her memories of you," his older sister pointed out with a deeper frown. "I don't want you to keep hurting yourself like this, Akaya."
Kirihara let out a long dejected sigh and inwardly winced for the second time in the past hour; only this time, he knew that his sister was right. He looked over to her for a moment, and remarked in an uncharacteristic quiet tone, "I know, and I appreciate the concern, Nee-san. I know that mom didn't really favor me, and that she wished that I was a better kid… It may be my selfishness, but I want to keep reaching out to her. At least until she discharges… I want to sincerely apologize to her for my past actions, but it seems this message will never reach to her."
His sister did not say anything in response as she choked back a sob. The younger sibling just gave her a small sad smile, as if to say 'I'll be fine'.
"I should get going or else I'll really be late to work," Kirihara stated, and gave her a half hug before he left.
Kirihara quickly adorned his work uniform, and left the locker room as he tied a black apron around his waist. He did not have a choice but to live abroad with his father for the last three years while his mother was hospitalized. He then idly noted that a couple of months had passed since he returned to Kanagawa Prefecture, and a few weeks passed by since Kirihara Sayuri woke up from her coma.
He shook his head to discard the depressing thoughts, and grabbed a pen and an order pad from the table. The owner of this café kindly gave him a job a few weeks ago to support himself. After all, by the end of this week, his mom would be moving back in to her home, and it would be awkward for her to see a 'stranger' living with her. Even though… this 'stranger' is… was… her son that she had no recollection of. Hence the reason why he moved out of his parents' house a couple of days ago, and is now living in an apartment near his new school.
'Ugh, stop thinking about it, Akaya!' he mentally scolded himself, and plastered on a business-like smile as he walked into the front of the restaurant.
"Akaya, can you take these to table 7?" the manager of the restaurant asked while gesturing to the dishes.
Kirihara gave a small nod in response as he pocketed the order pad and the pen in his apron before he grabbed four dishes in his arms. He nimbly maneuvered through the crowd, and placed the dishes on the assigned table.
"Enjoy your meals," he stated with a smile, earning squeals from the female customers of table 7.
With his business done, he walked away back to the counter while he heard several hushed whispers from some customers of 'how cool he was' and all. He was unsure which part of him is 'cool' as they had dubbed because in his view, he was just a waiter.
He finished his shift near midnight since there were more customers than the usual. This also meant that he and his coworkers had more to clean-up than their usual. On a happier note, his boss gave him an overtime for staying late, so he did not complain too much about the extra work.
Kirihara let out a yawn as he walked down the street and headed towards a convenience store to grab a bento for his extra-late supper. After much inner debate, he had decided on a chicken bento box and a spicy ramen packet, and grabbed a drink before proceeding to the counter.
"Would you like me to microwave it for you?" the cashier inquired as he rang up the cost.
The former Rikkai Dai student nodded in response, and took out his wallet to pay. He eyed at the numbers on the cashier before he took out the exact amount. The cashier put his bento in the microwave, punched in some numbers to heat it and rang up the amount. Kirihara put away the receipt in his wallet, which he stuffed in his pocket.
When the microwave dinged, indicating that its heating process finished, the cashier put the bento and the drink in a plastic bag. After putting some napkins and plastic utensils, the cashier handed him the bag.
"Thanks," Kirihara murmured as he grabbed his purchase and left the store.
He reached his apartment after suffering ten more minutes in eerie silence and cold air. The former Rikkai Dai student fished out his key from his pocket, and let out a tired sigh as he shuffled his feet. He paused in his mid-step when his right foot hit against a small box. He raised a questionable eyebrow when he noticed an awaiting package.
"What's this?"
Silence met his ears after he voiced the question, not that he was waiting for a response, so he grabbed the item, and closed the door with his foot. The item in the box turned out to be his school uniform for the school he is attending tomorrow… or rather, this morning since it was past midnight. He tossed the uniform back in the box, and went to eat his late meal.
"…and that concludes the opening ceremony. First years, and newcomers, don't forget to retrieve your schedule from the gymnasium. As for the second years and third years, you're free to do as you pleases; classes will resume as usual at nine o'clock. Once again, welcome to Rikkai Dai High School."
Kirihara Akaya knew that the headmaster is a jolly fellow despite sounding strict in the announcement. After all, he met the older man a few days ago to get permission to work… once he explained his situation. He watched as the older man bounced off the stage to exchange some words with other teachers.
He sighed while he idly watched the crowd hurried to the mentioned gymnasium. He opted to pick up his schedule around 8:30 or whenever the crowd died down so that he would not be a victim of a stampede.
He swept his gaze around the remaining students as he readjusted the weight of his backpack, and let out a smirk when he saw familiar faces of his former tennis teammates.
He was unsure if they noticed or recognized him since he changed a bit. For one thing, his hair was not curly like seaweed anymore.
'Hah, Niou-senpai cannot call me 'seaweed head' anymore,' he mused.
Kirihara briefly wondered how tall he was compared to his senpai-tachi now that he was around 180 centimeters… last time he checked a month ago. Yes, he hit a grow sprout and grew 12 centimeters since his second year at Rikkai Dai Middle School.
He checked the school clock and noted that he had a couple of hours before the classes resumed as scheduled. The former tennis player shoved his hands in his pockets, and glared at the growing crowd, 'Great, what the heck am I supposed to do for two hours? Wait around until the crowd died down? How boring.'
"I told you, I saw him around here," a familiar voice interrupted his trail of thoughts.
His seven former teammates loomed in his vision before he could mentally prepare for the encounter. Like him, they also matured and grew a bit – at least that was what he noted when he met them – but what caught his eyes were the tennis gears they held. It looked like they still played tennis, and were the regulars of the club.
"See, I told you, Hiroshi. I was right," Niou declared with a smirk, and greeted him the ever so gentlemanly with a, "Yo, brat. Long time no see."
"Nice to see you too, senpai-tachi," Kirihara responded dryly with his eyes rolling dramatically.
He noticed that his trickster-senpai looked the same as before in terms of appearance – the silver hair with a rattail. However, the more he stared at that mischievous smirk, the more he realized that Niou-senpai was the same prankster that the older male was previously.
"You've… changed," Marui pointed out somewhat hesitantly.
Like usual, the red haired volley specialist chewed on a bubblegum, and then blew a bubble with it. He somewhat relished on the fact that his senpai was six centimeters shorter than him, and decided not say anything about it… for now.
Kirihara shifted his footing before he remarked to the statement, "I believe time does to a person, Marui-senpai."
"How have you been Akaya?" Yukimura asked gently with a smile on his calm visage. "Will you be joining the tennis team again?"
With some difficulties, he ignored his former captain's curiosity laced tone and his thundering heartbeats. Tennis had been his passion but he stopped playing the sport ever since that day.
"It'll be like old times," Marui added as he popped his bubblegum.
Kirihara avoided the curious expressions, and inwardly let out a sigh before he gave his response. "I won't be joining the tennis team anymore. I just don't have the time anymore, especially with my work and all."
"What do you mean?" Jackal raised an eyebrow as he readjusted his tennis gear to his left shoulder. He then added in astonished tone and incredulous stare, "You work?"
"Well, I do need to pay the rent and survive somehow," Kirihara responded flippantly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "So yeah, I won't be joining the tennis team."
"Don't you live with your mom and your sister?" Yanagi questioned as he flipped open his notebook to jot down the data.
Kirihara shifted his gaze away from their inquisitive ones, and responded in a mumble, "I've been living alone for a few days now."
"Eh?" Marui uttered with furrowed eyebrows that clearly displayed his confusion, and asked jokingly, "Don't tell me you got kicked out."
"Yeah, something like that," the second year answered distractedly and did not continue to explain his situation.
His senpai-tachi looked at him with a mixture of shock and surprise at his answer, as if to say 'Are you serious!?' Kirihara did not say anything for a couple of minutes while he watched his former teammates tried to digest the new information.
"Don't think about it too much," he responded with a casual shrug, and added, "Anyways, please don't try to recruit me. I don't have time to play tennis anymore."
"But why…" Yukimura started his inquiry. However, his question died at the tip of his tongue when he saw a far-off expression on Kirihara's visage.
Kirihara quickly refocused his visions, and turned to gaze his senpai-tachi with a small smirk. "Things have changed… at least in my case, they have. I highly doubt it will return to as it was years before. Besides, I'm practically married to my work and the school now, so I don't have time for tennis. Unless… you want me to lose my sleep to play."
Of course, he was joking with his last phrase since he did not want to continue the conversation due to its seriousness.
"Does the school even let you work?" Sanada finally stated something since the conversation had started.
"Well, I did talk with the headmaster regarding my situation, and we had agreed to work out something. So don't worry about it," Kirihara answered in a soft tone that surprised them, and continued, "Seriously, you don't need to think that hard about it. Anyways, I'm going to go get my schedule, so I'll see you guys around."
He did not even wait for their affirmation and literally power-walked away from the group. He knew he was running away since he did not want his former teammates to find out about his situation. He knew that they would eventually draw a conclusion from their conversation, but he figured it was better for them to know later than now.
Kirihara stopped in his track, and finally realized that he was in line to retrieve his schedule. Since there were very few new transferred students, it did not take long before it was his turn. He glanced around the premise as if to familiarize the surrounding, and noticed his senpai-tachi had followed him and were waiting a few feet away.
His gaze landed on them for a couple of seconds, in which Niou had mockingly waved to him. Kirihara let out a sigh at their behaviors, and gave an amused snort when he silently wondered if they had been taking a page from Seigaku's stalking techniques.
"Name?" one of the teachers inquired as she glanced at him with her piercing eyes.
'She must be one of those strict teachers,' he inwardly cringed. He shifted his backpack and responded with a, "Kirihara Akaya."
He originally thought of changing his last name considering his circumstances; but in the end, he had opted not to do so. After all, he was still a Kirihara at heart despite all the hardships, and he still hoped that his mother would remember him one of these days.
"Have a nice day," the teacher commented listlessly as she handed him a piece of paper containing his schedule.
"…Thanks," Kirihara replied with a small twitch at her 'widely displayed' emotion, or lack thereof.
He walked away from the booth, and glanced at the schedule with a small frown. It consisted of the usual subjects that he had taken in junior high school, plus some new ones like music, and home economics. All in all, it seemed like the same curriculum as the one he had taken overseas.
Just as he was about to shove the paper in his backpack, something had caught his attention that made him double take at the schedule. He stared at it and stared at it some more, hoping that it was a trick of his eyes; however, that one line written in black ink did not change at all.
'Why the hell do I have advanced English in my curriculum!? Do they want me to fail or something?' he angrily thought with a frown, and finally put away his schedule.
"Akaya," a soft familiar voice interrupted his inner ramble of the unfairness of the school setting him to fail.
"Yukimura-senpai," Kirihara acknowledged with a nod, and waited expectantly for the older male to continue.
Even though he had just talked with them a few minutes ago, he briefly wondered why they were talking again. Not that he minded; but he had a feeling that his senpai-tachi were trying to force/talked him into being in the tennis team again. He would not put it pass them to do that, especially with Niou-senpai standing there with a devious smirk and mischief twinkling in his eyes.
He was very suspicious… not to mention, wary. They were planning something that involved him, and he did not like it one bit.
Awkward silence passed between the two as Kirihara wondered what Yukimura-senpai was going to say, even though he had a brief idea. He could not help but let out a small chuckle when he realized that his former captain still looked effeminate despite the fact that it had been three years since he last saw the older male.
In the end, Yukimura-senpai chose to say, "If you are in trouble, I'm sure we can help you." He was trying to be helpful even if he had no idea what Kirihara was going through.
"…Right… I highly doubt this is one thing you cannot help me with," the ex-tennis player responded with disbelief in the beginning, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at their puzzled expressions. "Unless you know how to reverse the time, I don't think you can solve this problem for me."
"What are you talking about?" Marui questioned with furrowed eyebrows as he chewed on his bubblegum.
Instead of giving a proper response, Kirihara just let out a mysterious smile that he knew his former teammates would not see on his face. He gave a shrug and said, "It's something you'll have to find out yourselves, and be detectives if you want to know."
'To be honest, I don't care if my senpai-tachi tries to find out about my situation. I suppose it will give me some form of distraction,' Kirihara thought with a grim frown, and murmured in his mind, 'Mom… I miss you… please remember me.'
"Akaya?" Yukimura questioned as if to prompt him to reveal everything.
"I have to go," Kirihara interjected as he turned away from their inquisitive gazes, and walked away.
A hand caught his wrist before he could fully walk away from the group, and when he turned around to see its owner, he realized that it was his former tennis captain. He gave a questionable glance when Yukimura-senpai placed another hand on top of the one he was holding, and said, "You're not alone, Akaya."
Kirihara pulled his arm away from his senpai's grasp, ignoring the frown on his effeminate senpai's visage, and gave a half turn to face the group. He then uttered out, "But I am…"