AN:

1# Just in a School Days mood for some odd reason. Just needed to get this mental itch out of my brain.

2# Does anyone have a solid idea of how this story would progress? Want to know if I give too much away or too little.

3# Read my other stuff if you found this interesting. Those are probably better than this.

Pre-Chapter 1:

How did it come to this?

What had to have happened for the events to have transpired as they did?

I've lost everyone. All of my friends... All of my classmates... My own mother... Gone.

There was only one thing left in my life, and she was the one that had taken the rest away from me. She took everything away from me just so that she could take me all for herself. She wanted me above all else simply because I was the only thing in her life. Against all reason, I was the center of her world. I cannot for the life of me remember what I had to have done to have caught those dead eyes in the first place. They had always been zeroed on me even before I met her. It was flattering and very appreciated since she had come to me just as I was noticing her.

Goddamn hormones.

Chapter 1:

I'm so late!

Taisuke, if I get detention for this, I'm so going to kill you! I never should have let him and Otome into my room for one last summer celebration! The bastard changed the time on my alarm for shits and giggles. As much as I complain about having to wake up so early for something as monotonous as school, I would not take his interference in my attendance with good humor.

I had to cease my raging monologue as the train station came into view. With rough and unpracticed movements, I roughly took out my wallet in mid sprint and manage to find an open lane to scan my id. While I had successfully managed to get the green light from the machine, I tripped due to the small doors for the counting machine being too slow (at least for my purpose) and went sprawling into the stairs. The fall was quite painful. Silver lining, I needed to go down this set of stairs anyways in order to get to school. Now all I needed to_

"Doors Closing!" the intercom said for a very brief moment before the train sped off.

Goddamn it...

Should I even bother going to school now given that I was going to get lectured about being tardy and/or given a detention? I could pull off an injury given that I might have dislocated something with that fall. Too bad the excuse was because I was going to be late. If it had been for any other reason, I might have been okay. Can't even lie about the reason given that I have a pretty pathetic poker face.

I could only sigh out, "Well this royally sucks," as I picked myself up off the floor.

As I was dusting myself off from the fall, a feminine voice asked, "Makoto?"

"Yeah it's me, Otome. So that asshole got to your alarm too...?" I responded to the only girl who called me by my first name. Problem was that her voice was completely different, which should have been a dead give away that I was not talking to Otome from the moment the girl spoke to me. I really shouldn't have been surprised that the girl I was speaking to was someone else. However, the person I was talking to was a complete stranger.

Unlike Otome, this girl had long velvet hair that appeared to glisten. Beautiful white skin that revealed no blemishes. Her eyelashes were long and dark, accentuating her eyes. I wish I could simply describe more about her features since my measly description could not describe the person's beauty, but I simply did not know how to describe her as my brain was rapidly trying to process my situation.

"Uh... Not to be rude, but who are you?" I asked hesitantly. I may have been a bit dense with matters regarding the opposite sex (according to Otome), but even I knew that asking that particular question to a girl who might have been on a first name basis with me was absolutely one of the dumbest things I could have done. Well that and staring at those gigantic breasts that we currently swaying in front of me (I guess Otome was right about me being a bit too much like Taisuke at times).

"You don't remember me?"

Aw shit. This beautiful girl was going to cry, and I had not way of stopping that since I honestly had no clue as to who she was. Come on think! Where could I have met a girl like her before?! I pretty damn sure that if I was on a first name basis with her, I would know who she is. For crying out loud, she is pretty much the prettiest girl I have ever met!

"I'm really sorry. I honestly... Please don't cry! If you could just give me a hint, I might remember! Please, I'll do anything to make you smile!" I desperately said as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"Makoto, it really is you. You're really here with me," the stranger cried before embracing me tightly. She had wrapped me in a bear hug that was, to be quite honest, a bit painful due to how strongly she held me. It wasn't a hug people gave to people that they haven't seen in a long time. It felt as though she was desperately trying to ensure that I was here to stay. In an odd way, it felt rather heartwarming.

Not knowing what to do, I simply wrapped my arms around her gently to stroke her back under her long hair.

"I'm sorry that I don't remember who you are..." I hesitantly started as I tried to assemble a reasonable to broach the question on my mind, "... I truly am. I really wished I could since you seem to hold me so dearly..."

"It's okay, Makoto. You may not remember me, but you're here with me. That's all that matters now."

"But I feel really bad about forgetting something that is obviously so precious to you."

The girl gently pulled her face away from the side of my head so that she could look into my eyes before replying with, "Don't. You did nothing wrong. It was just wishful thinking that you would remember, but now that we are together again, we can make new memories. Memories that I expect you to remember."

"But... You obviously held those memories of us so dearly. I can't help but be curious as to what they were. Because if they were so precious to you, maybe they were something that meant a great deal to me in the past."

"We made promise to marry each other when we were old enough," she hiccupped over what I assumed to have been joy over my interest in our history.

A promise to marry each other. Explains so much as to why I was caught with my pants down. Definitely sounds like a promise two little kids would make to each other. Such a meaningless promise from a period that I would have too little recollection of. So I had no real reason to feel like a total douchebag being that it was a simple promise between two kids that didn't know any better. Why would she have been so worked up over such a promise? A question to ask later at a much later date. Inquiring any further now would have just been insensitive of me.

"I see... May I know that name of my future bride," I asked jokingly with a small chuckle.

"It's Itou, Kotonoha and don't you forget it, Mr. Itou, Makoto," she said with a brilliant smile.

"I... I... see..." I stammered. How could I not? With a line like that combined with the ecstatic expression on her face, I felt a small bit of me fall in love. It didn't help that her face was so close to mine with her warm breath tickling my senses. I'm not even sure that I could blame hormones for what I was starting to feel for this girl given the situation.

"Even if you do, I'll always be right next to you to remind you. No matter how many times, I'll always find a way."