-Prologue-
It was a cool moonless night when it all began. The sky was clear save for an occasional cloud drifting aimlessly across the moonless sky. The only light came from a dim street light a few meters away from where an unlucky girl had seemingly met an unfortunate end.

"My apologies Miss," a green-garbed man wearing a striped hat knelt next to a young lady in an alleyway. She lay face-down on the hard asphalt, surrounded in a growing pool of her own blood.

Brown, unfocused eyes attempted to focus up at the man. Her thoughts struggled to recall what was going on, but they, like her vision, and already weak pulse, were fading.

Rustling through a pocket, the strange man pulled out what looked like a fallen star. The material gleamed a depth-less blue hue, "I guess this will work out for both of us," a slight smile crossed his face as he placed the light on the girl's back. It glowed brighter for a few seconds and then seemed to melt into the girl, rippling through her school uniform into her body.

Loud running footsteps suddenly came around the corner. "Zezuri!" A female voice exclaimed in horror-stricken recognition, stopping dead in her tracks. The newcomer was a tall blond girl with straight hair freely falling below her shoulders. Without even comprehending the presence of the man in green, she rushed to the side of her fallen friend. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead," she muttered over and over, trying to find a pulse in her wrist.

Nothing...

Nothing...

There. A sigh of relief escaped the blond.

"She'll be fine."

The new girl jumped; she could have sworn that there hadn't been anyone else here before she'd run to her friend's side.

"She's fine," the hat-wearing man repeated his statement, "Though, I think they stole her wallet."

"Huh?" The girl was still preoccupied with the knowledge that her friend was alive.

"She was mugged at knife point, clearly," he continued, sounding oddly cheerful, "But don't worry, she wasn't hurt all that badly."

A gravely puzzled expression crossed the girl's face. There was such a large puddle of blood around her friend, where else could it have come from? She was beginning to think-

"Hey now, don't go thinking I did this," the man cut off the blond's thoughts as he dug into another pocket, "I figured something like this would happen..." he muttered.

Suddenly, he thrust something into the girl's face."Don't worry! You two won't remember a thing!"

"What the heck are you-" began the blond, but she was cut off by a loud click and a large cloud of dust. The world spun about and then all went as black as the new moon.


-Chapter 1-

A loud buzzing noise filled the ears of a teen-aged girl sleeping on a thin mattress. The sound had awoken her from a rather deep dreaming state, yet as she rubbed sleep from her green eyes, she found herself unable to recall even a trace of it. Airi Citnalta was a tall seventeen year-old, standing at 5'6" (167cm), and in combination with her blond hair and green eyes, stuck out like a flamingo in a parade of penguins here in Karakura, Japan.

"Eh! Zezuri! We're going to be late!" a brief glance at her phone's clock was all that it took to send Airi running for the dresser.

"But it's summer... I just wanna sleep," moaned her roommate from a bed on the other side of a screen divider. Zezuri, also 17, was a year Airi's junior in school, but only a few months younger in reality. Her late winter birthday was the cause of the disparity. Shorter than her blond friend, Zezuri Okinami was around 5'4" (162cm), and with wavy brown hair and brown eyes, she blended in far better. Then again, being 1/8th Japanese certainly helped; Zezuri's grandparents had arranged the trip for the two friends and were even paying for their small apartment as a pre-graduation gift.

Airi grabbed a clean skirt from a drawer, "I don't want to be late on the third day!"

"It wouldn't kill you to be late for once in your life, you know..." the other girl muttered under her breath and marched in a dream-like daze to the bathroom as a blond blur sped on for the kitchen. Zezuri let out a sleep sigh, her friend really needed to learn how to relax; the apartment was only a block from the school and there was a whole hour before the warning bell even sounded.

After pouring herself a bowl of cereal, Airi had opened up the small refrigerator to find they were completely out of milk,"Hey, I thought you were going to the the store last night?"

"I thought I did," Zezuri called from the bathroom. The door opened and the brunette stepped out, toothbrush in hand, "But... I don't remember actually getting there..." she paused to brush her teeth, "Maybe I dreamt it?"

The blonde made a face and poured the cereal back into the box before scanning the meager contents of the cabinets for something else to eat.

Zezuri shrugged and resumed brushing her teeth. Something tugged at the back of her mind, she could swear she had left the apartment last night to go to the corner convenience store last night, yet at the same time, she wasn't so sure.

Upon leaving the bathroom, now in her school uniform after a quick shower, Zezuri went back into the bedroom to pack up her school bag, "Hey, have you seen my wallet?" she asked Airi, realizing it wasn't among the supplies in her bag.

"I thought you always left it in your bag," replied Airi from the kitchen, now cleaning her dishes.

"Yeah, usually... but it's not here," Zezuri dumped the contents on the floor to emphasize her point.

Airi peaked into the room, "I didn't see it in the kitchen, but I'll check."

Zezuri stood and began to inspect the room. She lifted her mattress, not there. On the dresser? No. In the dresser? Nope. Under the dresser? Still no.

After exhausting the areas to search in the bedroom, she sank to the floor.

Muffled footsteps on the tatami mat floor hailed Airi's entrance.

"Any luck?"

The taller girl shook her head, "We'll have to look for it later, we've only got ten minutes before the first bell," seeing the discouraged expression on her friend's face, she added, "Don't worry, I'll cover lunch."

Zezuri smiled weakly, "Sure," she nodded at Airi's offer and packed her bag. What was it she couldn't remember? Could the forgotten store trip have something to do with her missing wallet too?


Despite their initial excitement at studying in a foreign setting, the two girls had quickly felt out of place when all the students were speaking Japanese. Airi and Zezuri both were able to understand the majority of what was said, but it would still take getting used to nonetheless. The summer heat only added to the girls' discomfort.

"I still didn't memorize my class number..." Zezuri said trying to spot her homeroom while taking out a piece of paper she had written the room numbers for her classes on, "Oh! It's right here," she waved to Airi as they began to go their separate ways.

Airi suddenly turned around as she heard her friend squeak in surprise before she entered the classroom. Zezuri had been plowed over by a boy with orange hair.

"Sorry about that!" he shouted, barely looking back at her.

Airi ran to Zezuri's side and pulled her out of the way before she was trampled by a few more running students, following the boy who had rushed by a second ago.
They were an odd group; a big guy with dark skin, another guy who was tall, skinny, and wore glasses, followed by a large chested girl. But it was all a blur to the two girls who stared in confusion as the gang rushed past.

"Did they all have to go the bathroom?" Zezuri asked, frazzled.

Airi helped her up as she dusted herself off, "I don't think so," she replied.

Zezuri entered her classroom to find it was as if no one else had noticed or cared about the commotion just outside a minute ago. "I guess kids in Japan do this a lot," she thought.

Classes proceeded as usual; homeroom, math, and gym for Zezuri while Airi tackled chemistry and history. Finally, the bell sounded and Airi and Zezuri met for lunch in the schoolyard. Zezuri was still mulling over the missing memories from last night. None of the pieces she recalled seemed to fit.

Airi and Zezuri began a conversation about how their classes were going, when the orange haired boy from earlier approached them.

"Hey... Sorry about earlier. I, uh, had something to take care of..." he tried apologizing. "I hope you aren't hurt or anything. But I guess you're new here, I'm Ichigo Kurosaki." he still sounded embarrassed, not used to apologizing to many people.

"I-I'm Z-Zezuri, and... it's alright... I-I'm okay." Zezuri stammered.

Ichigo smiled, glad that she was not hurt or upset, and walked away.

"Well, that was interesting..." remarked Airi, "looks like someone might have a crush on you," she jabbed her friend in the side.

"W-what?"

Just then the bell signaling the end of the lunch period sounded and the two had to split ways for afternoon classes.


The final bell could not come soon enough, thought Airi as she stared out the window in a daze. The afternoon heat was making her head fuzzy and she had given up on paying attention, the teacher just droned on about proper grammar in English in a monotone and half the class had fallen asleep already. To have this class after gym was just cruel.

The heat outside was causing ripples in the air, Airi noticed as she stared closer. The school's gate looked like a mirage as the heat attempted to sear away at it. But wait, something caught the blonde's attention. She squinted her green eyes. Was that a man with blue hair standing outside the gate all dressed in white?

She looked back inside for a moment and then looked back out the window. The man was gone. "Well, it is hot enough that I could be seeing things... and the sprinklers might be on on the other side of the gate... I guess it could have been a mirage..." Airi reasoned silently, "Oh well... now how much longer until I'm free of this class?"


The school day finally came to an end as the long-awaited bell finally rang. Airi bolted out of her class and down the stairs where she met Zezuri outside of her classroom on the second floor.

"Didn't melt away?" joked Zezuri.

Airi's forehead was dripping with sweat, "It's like 10 degrees warmer up there..." she moaned, "I reeaaallly want a shower..."

"Yeah, but we've got to go to the grocery store first," Zezuri could not get the missing events of last night out of her mind even despite her accident in the hallway from this morning.

Airi groaned, "I forgot about that... let's make it fast..."

The two girls exited the building and the school grounds, unaware that they were being watched by a silent figure standing behind a tree.

"I really hope you can find your wallet."

"Yeah, me too."


After returning to the apartment laden with enough groceries to last a week, Airi ran for the shower while Zezuri returned to looking for her wallet.

She searched the whole kitchen and the bedroom before finally giving up again.

The brunette gave a big sigh and flung herself on her mattress. Feeling something under her pillow, she sat up and curiously lifted the bag of fluff. "What the heck?"

"What's up?" asked Airi, now showered and feeling a bit more refreshed, despite the lack of air conditioning in the apartment.

"My wallet," Zezuri held up a bright pink case decorated with a white cat that contained her money, school ID, and visa in it.

"How did it find its way back?"

Zezuri opened it, "All of my stuff is still in here too..." she was puzzled.

"Hey, what's that piece of paper on your bed?" Airi pointed to a folded piece of paper that fluttered in the slight breeze from the open window.


Chev and I decided that since it's been four years and we're hopefully much better writers, that we'd attempt this story again. I know right now it sounds nothing like the original, but we had some plot holes that needed major filling in. (The biggest two are here) Anyways, we hope you enjoy! Review please! ~Airumel