Some strange changes were occurring in Hiro, Daichi noticed.
His friend, who was normally so bright and friendly, seemed to have acquired a gloomy cast. There were bags under his eyes and a troubled frown on his face, and every so often he would just turn his head, furrow his brow, and stare into space. He had begun cutting class more and more frequently, and when he was present, he would doze off.
At first Daichi was unsure whether to pry or not, but when the symptoms lasted for more than a week, he knew he had to at least express concern. When asked, Hiro just smiled thinly and said he was fine. Daichi knew something was up, but it wasn't like Hiro to lie, even about his own condition. He stepped off the subject until Hiro was completely absent from school one day.
It would have been enough for Daichi to assume that Hiro was sick and just leave it at that, but damned if he wasn't at least going to call the guy first. Hiro was a light sleeper, so when he didn't pick up his phone after three tries, Daichi got suspicious. He called the house phone, only to have Hiro's mother tell him that Hiro wasn't home.
So he wasn't home, he wasn't picking up his phone, and a quick call to Io revealed that she hadn't seen him either. Something was obviously very, very wrong. Initially, Daichi felt panic rise in every inch of his body, but he was able to calm himself enough to try and think out where Hiro might be.
Ah, there was one spot. Hiro had taken to visiting a certain ice cream parlor quite frequently. It was no secret that he had something of a sweet tooth, so maybe he'd slipped out for a treat.
Lo and behold, someone in a distinctly familiar bunny-eared jacket was visible through the window. The hood was pulled up, making it a bit of an uncertainty as to who it was, but really, who else had a jacket like that?
Daichi barged in with minimal hesitation and blurted out, "Busted! Found you, Hiro!"
There was a rattling as the hooded figure dropped his plastic spoon on the table. Slowly, he turned to face Daichi, revealing that he was, in fact, Hiro (and that Daichi had avoided an embarrassing mistake). "Hey, Daichi," Hiro said, nonchalantly picking up his spoon and taking another bite of cookies and cream ice cream.
"So this is where you disappeared to," Daichi said, taking a look around the place. "Is this how you're dealing with exam stress?"
Hiro shrugged. "Not really?" It wasn't quite a "sort of," but it was definitely more than a "no."
"Careful. You don't want to be fat for graduation. Wait till you actually get into college to gain your 'freshman fifteen', okay?" Daichi grinned a cheeky grin and held one hand up in that signature gesture of his.
"Ha ha, very funny." Hiro gave his friend a light swat. "I'll be fine! Besides, my friend from Osaka always makes sure I get a good workout when she visits."
"Oh, I know who you're talking about! The dancer, right? What was her name... Hanako?"
"Hinako," Hiro corrected. "Anyway, what're you doing here?"
"I was looking for you and trying to figure out where you fell off the radar to, that's all." Daichi's gaze drifted over to the cases where all the flavors were displayed. "And I wanted to talk to you about a few things, too."
If Hiro had perked up when Daichi had entered, that perkiness faded when Daichi mentioned his purpose for coming. "Can it wait till I at least finish my ice cream?"
"Sure, sure. I guess it's something we're best off discussing in private, anyway. Maybe I'll get something too, while I'm here."
From there, Hiro fell silent despite Daichi's attempts to talk with him. When he finally finished his ice cream, Hiro just about slipped out without Daichi. Daichi caught up, though, and he walked with Hiro back to his house. Hiro didn't even say a word to his mother when he walked in and led Daichi up to his room. Daichi stopped to say a quick "Hi, Mrs. Kageyama" before Hiro dragged him upstairs by the scarf.
Hiro sat down on his bed, finally taking his hood off. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something in private. What is it?"
"Um... well... you've been acting kinda weird lately. You seem tired all the time, and that's not like you." Daichi scratched his head, trying to think of anything else he'd noticed. "I don't know. You just seem kind of... I guess the word would be listless? I'm worried about you."
Hiro sighed heavily and looked away. "I've had to do a little thinking. Imagine that you and a bunch of friends did something incredible, but you're the only one who remembers any of it."
"Where's this coming from, Hiro? You're not making any sense." Daichi rifled through his mind for anything he could possibly have forgotten and came up empty-handed.
"Daichi, I want to tell you a story. It's kind of a long one, so I want you to be quiet and listen. Save your questions for the end, okay?" Daichi opened his mouth to speak, but Hiro's raised hand stopped him.
It was then that Hiro told the story of the eight days, how the twelve demon tamers united to defeat the Septentriones, how they were split and then reunited by Hiro's words, how they approached the godlike Polaris and fought to reset the timeline.
Daichi could do nothing but stare at Hiro in shock until the tale concluded. There was an uncomfortable silence in the air for a minute after Hiro stopped speaking. "Wow, Hiro, just wow. You're saying that all these people... that dancer and her pianist friend, that boxer that's in the news, those JP's people... we were all friends, and we stopped the world from being erased?"
"That's right." Hiro looked down into his lap. "You don't believe me, do you?"
Daichi couldn't help it. There was no way he could believe any of this. "Well... you're either an up-and-coming novelist or you've snapped, Hiro. It's just... the world being erased? Aliens destroying Japan? Me, coming anywhere near a god? I don't know where you came up with all this." And yet, Hiro's descriptions seemed too vivid for something he could have made up.
"It's my memories. I kept them after the reset. It's how I knew who Io was when we met at the subway. And there's little influences here and there. People who never met before are friends now."
"I don't know, Hiro..." Daichi put one hand to his head. "Even if this all really happened, there's no real proof of it. I'm sorry. I just can't believe this actually happened."
"I see." Hiro looked up, and his gaze was solemn. "Even if you don't believe me... you don't think I'm crazy, do you?"
"Truth?" Hiro nodded for Daichi to tell the truth. "I'm even more worried now. I'm not sure if you're really all right upstairs anymore. Something is stressing you out and making your mind go in weird directions."
"I think I get it," Hiro said. "I see how it is. The world itself should be enough of a reward, but I'm not happy. I told you this story because I thought you'd support me. I guess it's too much to ask for a crazy person like me, huh?" His right hand clenched into a tight fist. "So that's it. I go through eight days of hell, only to end up with something that'll get me put in a psych ward. That's it."
Suddenly, Hiro raised his voice, anger radiating from him in all directions. "That's what's 'stressing me out!' I saw people die and nearly died a bunch of times myself. I saw people go into chaos. I saw the world get swallowed up by a freakish void... and I have to bear the burden of my memories all by myself!"
"No, Hiro, no! You don't... if something's making you feel this bad, you shouldn't have to go through it alone!" Daichi was finally getting a sense of his friend's pain. He could comprehend the quality of the despair, if not the source of it.
"Save it. You don't believe me, anyway, so what's the use?" Hiro said, his gaze seeming to grow distant. "Just leave me alone."
"Hiro, I don't think leaving you alone right now is a good idea!" Daichi had to raise his hands to block a pillow being whipped at his face, a gesture that would have been funny at any other time.
"Daichi, leave me alone." Hiro turned his head to the side, avoiding Daichi's eyes.
Sensing the gravity of the situation, Daichi slowly began to back away. "I'm sorry," he said one last time before exiting.
Hiro didn't come to school the next day, either. However, he was not completely incommunicado this day; Daichi received a text telling him to meet him at the ice cream shop. He did as he was told and found Hiro in the same place as before, enjoying three scoops of Rocky Road this time. "Hey, Hiro," Daichi said, taking the seat next to him.
"Hey, Daichi," Hiro said back, looking at Daichi with tired eyes. "Glad you came."
"How are you feeling? Did you get any sleep last night?"
Hiro shook his head. "About yesterday... I'm sorry I went off on you like that. But you understand why, right?"
"I think so." Did he? Daichi still wasn't entirely sure.
"Well, that's better than no." Hiro firmly planted his spoon in his ice cream and focused his full attention on Daichi. "I think I understand what I'm feeling now. It's grief. Everyone might be alright now, but the fact is that I still saw some pretty terrifying stuff... and I still lost something."
Daichi had a feeling he knew the answer, but asked his question anyway. "What did you lose?"
"Experiences. Eight days worth of experiences, good and bad, that the world or even my old friends won't know about. I think I've got a right to be sore about that, don't you think?"
"Yeah. I think I can see where you're coming from now. If everyone forgot eight days I'd spent with them like that, I might go a little nuts, too." That might have been a gross oversimplification, but it was true.
"What's more… I was able to stay strong and stable back then because I knew people were depending on me. I guess, now that the pressure's off, the danger we were all in is finally sinking in. It's all catching up to me now." Hiro closed his eyes, as though focusing on a thought, then opened them half-lidded. "It probably doesn't make any sense for it to be all coming back like this, but… maybe that's how the mind works, huh?"
"Do you mean like that Post-Traumatic Stress thing that you hear about every so often?"
Hiro shrugged. "Could be. Of course, now that none of those things have happened, what I have might just be crazy person talk."
Now Daichi put his hand on Hiro's back. "You're my best friend, Hiro. I'll always have your back, even if everyone thinks you're crazy. Even if I don't remember what we did together and it's hard for me to believe, I'll still support you and try to understand what's going on. I know what you're feeling is real, no matter what the other stuff around it is."
Finally, Hiro smiled. "That's what I like to hear. I knew I could tell you about all this. Thanks, Daichi."
"You're welcome! What kind of friend would I be if I just left you when you were going through this kind of stuff?" There was a beat before Daichi continued speaking. "I'm going to help you through this. Let's just take this one step at a time. And that first step is… are you gonna finish that ice cream, or can I have some?"
Hiro gave Daichi a light elbowing in the ribs. "What happened to not being fat for graduation?"
"Ow! Oh, come on. What's a kilogram or two between friends, huh?" Daichi rubbed the spot where he had been elbowed. "But seriously, one step at a time. We'll get you through this. I'll bring in Io, too. And maybe your other friends could help. The new-old ones, I mean."
"I like that idea. Maybe I'll give Hinako or Airi a call tomorrow." Airi would probably give him a friendly chewing out, but perhaps Hinako would be up for a real chat.
"I still can't believe you got their numbers in one go after the concert, man. How did you do it?"
"I told you. There's little influences everywhere. Maybe that helped. Or maybe I'm just that charming." Hiro's grin took on a mischievous twist.
"Oh, and I'm not? Geez, way to shoot me down, Hiro!" Despite himself, Hiro couldn't help but laugh at Daichi's reaction, and Daichi found himself laughing, too. "That's the Hiro I know! Not the shooting-me-down part, but the part of you that's got a sense of humor. We're already making progress."
"Progress is good," Hiro said, nodding slightly. "Maybe I'll get over this after all, even though it's not just something you 'get over.'"
"Hey, any step towards getting you back to your old self is a good one. I'm not saying you have to give up your memories. You just can't let them bring you down," Daichi said.
"You've got a point. Time isn't going to go backwards again. I can only go forward from here." Hiro clenched one fist in somewhat exaggerated determination.
"That's the spirit!"