A/N: Based off of this: avielelloy ~.~ tumblr ~.~ com~*/post/91062667579/nozomi-im-sorry-i-couldnt-remember-anything

Everything was supposed to be like a dream come true. They gave their best at their last live concert – the final stage of Love Live. Their family, friends, and fans had supported them like no other. They were to celebrate their success, go home, and rest. Go back to their school days like normal school girls, and finally graduate.

But fate decided to have a slight twist of its own. Maybe it was to be expected at such a crowded area. Maybe the staff was in a rush. Maybe they lingered in the area for too long. Maybe it wasn't really anyone's fault, just a sheer unfortunate coincidence.

And yet…

All Eri could do was blame herself as she cried at the side of the hospital bed where her best friend laid, unconscious.

"We were just really careless."

"It could have been any of us."

"It's not your fault."

It's not your fault, her friends repeated. But it was. She was the only one who saw. She was the only one who noticed. She was the only one who saw everything happen. Or rather, it was only the two of them who noticed. A careless security. A loosened screw. An ominous creak. That was all it took for her friend to know what was imminent. But it took more for herself. A gasp from her. A frightened look that piqued her curiosity. And… a rush and a push.

Then came down the lights, blinding everyone. A thundering crash echoed in the stadium, deafening those near. And during those milliseconds, the seconds that felt like hours, Eri saw. Eri saw that small smile… that typical assuring smile of hers. Despite what was coming forth, despite what she knew was to happen in mere seconds, her violet haired friend smiled and whispered. Her heart was pounding too loud in her ears to hear but she knew by instinct. It was only natural what she would say.

"Thank god (よかった)."

The ex-student council president came by to her friend's side every day, after school. With the Love Live competition out of the way, there were no practices so her schedule was naturally free. Partially it was out of guilt. But it was also out of hope. She came everyday, hoping that a miracle would happen. She hoped and wished even more that on one of her visits, her ex-vice student council president would wake up with that all-knowing smile. She'll tell Eri that it was just a brief moment like a dream. A really bad dream that she'll say it will not be repeated. Except days, and weeks passed, but the dream was getting harder to bear. It was turning to a nightmare that Eri wished to be woken out of.

She squeezed her friend's hand, willing to wake up. She needed her friend to tell her she was worrying too much and that everything will be fine. She needed her to tease how much of a fool she looked like crying this way. She needed her.

The girls visited, but only Eri still came to her side every day. She still appreciated their company when they did, of course. Much more than the whispering nurses of this hospital. Every day, she heard the nurses whispering as they walked by the room.

"That poor girl."

"She's done everything."

"It's heartbreaking, really."

Eri would get angry with them if she could, if it weren't rude to do such. But she stayed still at her place, letting Nico – the one other visitor of the day – help her tend the bed.

"You know she'd have a fit if she knew how much blame you were putting on yourself."

Eri couldn't muster up a comment. She just looked the other way, though she knew Nico wasn't even looking at her. But she had to. It was embarrassing enough to let her sniffles be heard. It was embarrassing enough that she knew Nico was right.

Graduation was just a little more than a week away, but they had yet to leave the room. As Eri washed up her friend's face with a wet cloth, she wondered. Had she really done everything? Perhaps… but that was not a reason for her to give up. Not after what this very girl she was tending to had gone through before. She stuck by Eri's side all these years, no matter how stubborn and closed up Eri was. Eri owed it to her. She sighed as she put the cloth away. It was getting late and she was expected for dinner soon. Quietly, she packed up her things. But when she was ready to go, she gave one more glance at her. Millions of thoughts passed in Eri's head.

'Dinner can wait,' she thought.

She took a hold of one of her hands and started to sing. As Eri closed her eyes to reminisce all the memories they had made as she sung, she didn't notice a pair of emerald eyes opening.

Of course, everyone came running to the hospital as soon as they heard the news. But their joy was brief. The goddess who had created μ's, the goddess who had held Eri's heart did not engage in their happiness. Rather, she distanced herself.

"Nozomi?"

She called softly with fear unknowingly clutching her heart. Her fear grew when her only answer was a lost, and guarded look that Eri recognized seeing on the very day they had first met.

It was memory loss the doctor informed them. Her name, her family, her school… Nozomi remembered them all. All but the eight friends she had held dear to her heart. All but Eri.

Eri couldn't tell if this pain she felt in her heart stung more than what she felt when she saw Nozomi's battered body under the heavy lights weeks ago.

They both hurt.

Five days before graduation, Nozomi was finally fine to leave and attend school. Granted, she still had bandages plastered over her face, and unseen medical tapes wrapped all over her torso. But Eri was there. Eri told her of what had happened and who she was. Eri helped her when fan girls of Nozomi abruptly approached them and wished for Nozomi's wellbeing, all the while the said celebrity could not even grasp the very idea why she had fans.

They visited the club room, the school rooftop, and the student council room. Eri took her everywhere where they had memories together. Not just as part of their school idol group, but as the pair they were.

They visited the chairwoman, the mother of one of their members – Kotori Minami. In time for graduation, they talked and reminisced the many times Eri and Nozomi had frequently visited her office as student council president and vice president. Nozomi was polite and engaged in the conversation. But Eri was on edge. Nozomi's smiles never reached her eyes.

Two days and two bandage patches left. A visit to Akiba with the girls and a date at the parfait café occurred.

Though they already stopped by this room earlier that week, Eri only found it fit to look at their performance videos in the student council room. The room that served as the solitary space they needed.

"Is that really me singing and dancing?"

Nozomi asked incredulously, still finding it hard to believe the girl she was. 'She still is,' Eri corrected herself all the while she was adjusting to Nozomi talking in the standard Tokyo dialect. She absentmindedly wondered when and why Nozomi talked in the Kansai dialect. Nonetheless, Eri told her friend how much amazing she was with an affectionate face. She complimented her singing, her dancing, and much to Eri's own surprise, even her teasing.

"You were particularly skilled at groping the girls' breasts."

Eri giggled when Nozomi blushed. It was nice to have the tables turned for once.

"Did I… did I ever do it to you?"

Eri was caught off guard. And now Nozomi giggled slightly as she blushed. How did this girl take the ball back into her court so easily? It must be her nature to tease, Eri noted. But now that she thought about it…

"No, you never did."

When Eri looked up as she answered, she momentarily forgot how to breathe. Nozomi was looking at her so intensely. It was a look that she knew. It was the same face Nozomi had whenever she fell deep in thought amidst a conversation with Eri. A look of longing, a look of something more… Then Nozomi blinked. The twinkle in her eyes disappeared.

"I wonder why."

She commented quietly as she turned to look out the window of the council room. While Eri looked at the all too familiar back of Nozomi, she swore something had happened there.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"I'm sorry… that I couldn't remember, Ayase-san."

Formality. Aside from the guarded look and Tokyo dialect, the formality was a clear sign that Nozomi couldn't remember the times they spent together. The memories they shared.

Eri wasn't sure what she felt first: the sting in her eyes, or the sting in her heart. But she forced herself a smile, making it seem as reassuring as she could.

"Don't worry about it."

She swallowed a lump in her dry throat.

"Toujou-san."