I open my eyes and sit up, and I find myself in a strange place. I recognize nothing as I look around. I have no memory, yet I know this world is foreign to me. I decide to have a look around and see if I can figure out what happened to me. I get up and brush myself off. I notice I'm in alleyway, so head to the main street. When I round the corner I bump into someone. "Ahh, sorry," I say. He gets back up and shakes his head "No, my fault, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, I'm Akihisa." He holds out his hand and I remember what that gesture means, so I shake his hand. "I'm, um," I struggle for moment. "I don't remember my name, sorry, I actually only just woke up right before we bumped into each other." Akihisa laughs and puts his arm around my shoulder. "Well," he says, "I'm meeting a couple of friends, you should come along, maybe we can help you remember who you are." I agree and go with him. We come to an open area surrounded by buildings where I see it's completely abandoned except for a small group of people. I don't understand, but for some reason this seems unusual to me, as if there should be more people than just this one group. I shrug, figuring that it's just my memory loss, and follow Akihisa to the small group. "Hey guys." Akihisa says as we make our way over to the group. A very pretty girl with a pony tail walks up to me, looks at Akihisa and asks "Who's this Aki?" He grins and rubs his head and says, "Actually, I don't know, I ran into him on the way over. He doesn't remember his name." "That's a shame, well I'm Minami, it's very nice to meet you." She takes my hand and starts introducing everyone to me, "This is Mizuki, our very own genius. The tall one is Yuuji, and the girl on his arm is Shouko. We're still waiting for two more people, they'll be here shortly." I start to feel overwhelmed and force a smile. "Excuse me," I ask, "but is there a restroom I can use?" Akihisa points to a building and tells me to follow the signs and I run in. I stand in front of the sink trying to calm down. None of this is right, I don't belong here, this place seems off for some reason. I shake it off and calm down. It's just nerves. I take a deep breath and step out of the bathroom and run into someone. "Damn it, sorry, I should've watc-." I stop mid-sentence, taken by the beauty of this person I just bumped into. He's the most beautiful person I've ever seen. Wait, someone the beautiful must be a girl. So why am I so sure that he's a guy? I shake my head and try to continue speaking but can't. He gets up and puts out his hand to help me up. I take his hand, and I can feel myself blush. He laughs and with the most beautiful voice I've ever heard he says, "You must be the new guy, I'm Hideyoshi." Breathless I stammer, "I-I'm Alex." "Give me second Alex, the rest of the group moved on since I know where we're headed, they told me to bring you with. I have some business to take care of, then we'll be on our way 'kay?" he says, then flashes me the most dazzling smile I've ever seen. "Uh-huh." is all I can manage. He goes into the restroom, and I try to process what just happened, when suddenly I realized that I remembered my name. I try to pull more memories, but nothing else would come to me. "Well, at least I know my name now." I mutter to myself. Hideyoshi comes out, "Ready to go?" he asks me. I nod and follow him out. "So you remembered your name? Akihisa told me you couldn't remember." I nod, "Yeah, I guess bumping into you must've jogged my memory a bit." He laughs and my heart skips a beat. "What the hell is wrong with me, this is a guy, stop reacting to him. Just think of that beauty from earlier, what was her name? Min- Minami! That's it, just think of Minami."
We arrive at what looks like a movie theater, but I don't see anyone working. "You sure this is the right place Hideyoshi? It seems kind of abandoned." He nods, "Yeah, we're in the that theater, let's go." He grabs my arm and pulls me into the theater. Minami stands up and waves us over, even though there's no one else in the theater but us. "Hey, so you met Hideyoshi, this is the other guy, Kouta." I shake his hand, "Hi, I'm Alex." Everyone looks at me and my face gets red. "I kinda remembered my name when I bumped into Hideyoshi." Akihisa laughs and says, "That's great, now we have something to call you other than mystery guy." We all take our seats and I end up sitting between Minami and Hideyoshi for the movie. By the time the movie ends it's already night. Everyone says their goodbyes, and it's decided that I'll stay with Akihisa because he lives alone. "I don't want to be an inconvenience, I can just stay in one of those buildings, no one's there." Akihisa laughs "Don't be weird, It's no trouble at all, I have lots of space." His place is indeed very spacious and I notice that he has quite the collection of video games. I get the nagging feeling that this isn't right, the place should be smaller. I shake away the feeling, and set up in the guest bedroom. I fall asleep quickly, after all, it has been a very strange day.
...
I wake up to strange explosion sound. I look around and see nothing is out of place. I look over to my night stand and see my prized possessions, my complete Dvd and Blu-ray collection of Season 1 +2 of Baka to test to Shoukanjuu. Beside them is the complete set of manga. Relieved they are unscathed, I go downstairs to see what the commotion is. There are several distortions in the air around me, some no bigger than a dime, others the size basketballs, in random spots. On the wall, the ceiling, floating in mid-air. I make my way to the living room to see a single distortion, as big as a double door. The air crackles around it and with curiosity I walk up to it-
...
"ALEX? ALEX!" I wake up to Akihisa shaking me and yelling my name. "What, what do you want?" I reply in a daze still not fully awake. "Come on" he says, "hurry up and get ready, it's gonna be a day for just us guys, I invited Hideyoshi, Kouta and Yuuji, But only Hideyoshi can make it, Shouko is forc- er, taking Yuuji on a date, and Kouta said he's busy." I mumble under my breath, "Yeah, probably with some stupid Mission Impossible Baka thing." "What?" Akihisa shouts from the door. "Um, nothing..." I reply. "Huh, I wonder where that came from." I try to think about where that might have come from, but my memory just isn't working with me. I change into some extra clothes Akihisa set aside for me, and we head into the garage, which seems extremely out of place. "Why do I feel like this shouldn't be here?" He has a bunch of bikes and tells me to pick one. "It'll be your bike." he says. I look at him with shock. "You mean it, for the whole day?" I ask. He laughs and tries to catch his breath. "No," he says "to have, just pick one out and it's yours. I don't need all of these, and since you don't really have anything, you could use a bike to get around." "Wow, thanks." is all I can manage in the face of such generosity. I pick the only blue one, It's also the biggest one he has. It has a second mini-seat in the back for a passenger; with a metal basket and a light in the front. Despite so many attachments, the bike is light and sturdy, clearly built for speed and commuting. "Phew, I was worried you were gonna pick my favorite." Akihisa says as chooses a red BMX bike. "Let's go, we're meeting Hideyoshi at the park." We tear down the street, trying to outdo each other, and we make incredible time. Hideyoshi is already there waiting for us, in an unusual outfit. He's wearing a cute blue half-jacket over a skin-tight black tee, a bow in his hair, with a mini-skirt and some strappy heels. His face is completely red. We stop and Akihisa starts gushing over Hideyoshi. "I knew it, I was right all along, Hideyoshi is a girl, and you're showing your true self." Hideyoshi grumbles, "I'm a guy, Yuuko is making me turn down a love letter for her or she's going to burn all my drama costumes." Hideyoshi starts glaring at Akihisa "Let's just go, when we get this done, I have a change of clothes." Hideyoshi turns and looks at me, "W-what?" Just then, I realize I've been staring at him this whole time. My face becomes flushed and I look away, "N-Nothing, it's just unusual to see a guy wearing girls clothes." I look around and notice Hideyoshi doesn't have a bike. "Where's your bike Hideyoshi?" I ask, and he says, "I don't have one, I usually just stand on Akihisa's spokes when we have to go anywhere with bikes." He looks uneasy at this thought as Akihisa is looking at him strangely. "Um, w-well, my bike has a back-seat, you can ride with me if you want." I offer nervously. Hideyoshi flashes me a smile of gratitude and I can feel my face get hot and my heart rate shoot to dangerous levels. "Just think about Minami, she's a cute girl, you like her, Minam-." I lose all ability to think as he sits side-saddle on the back and wraps his arms around me. He holds on tight and rests his head on my back to keep the wind out of his eyes. "Ok, I'm ready." he says, and my brain barely starts to function just enough to get the bike moving. Hideyoshi tells Akihisa the name of the guy he has to turn down and I follow Akihisa to the house. After Hideyoshi finished there, he changed into some normal street clothes, a red tee with simple jeans and sneakers. "Ok, he's dressed in normal attire now, stupid heart, why won't you settle down?" He gets on back of my bike again and holds onto me, "Ok Akihisa, where to? I'm free for the rest of the day now." Hideyoshi asks. "I was thinking an arcade and some karaoke, what do you guys think?" Akihisa responds. Hideyoshi nods and I manage an "Uh-huh." Suddenly, Akihisa's phone starts to ring and he answers it. When he finishes, he looks at us, "Sorry guys, that's my sister, she's coming in for a visit. It completely slipped my mind, I need to go meet her. It's going to take all day to just get out there." he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the house key and tosses it to me. "I won't be home until tomorrow morning, probably really early, so just remember to leave the key under the mat so my sister and I can get in." "Sure, no problem." I reply. Akihisa speeds off, leaving Hideyoshi and me alone. Nervously I say "Do, you still want to hang out, I know I'm not Akihisa, but we could still have some fun." Hideyoshi smiles and nods in agreement, "Yes."
It was a great day. We went to the arcade, karaoke, ate out, went to a lake, watched theater, and so much more. It was the best day of my life, I think... whatever, I don't care, it was such an amazing day, I never want it to end. We stop at a convenience store to pick up some food for dinner and I pick up some groceries to replace what I ate at Akihisa's place. We eat and talk, it's as if we've been friends for years. We finish up and I jokingly say "Alright, your turn to give me a ride, I've been doing the hard work all day." His face gets red. "Hideyoshi, it's okay, I'm only kidding, I'm happy to do the pedaling, really, it's no problem." He shakes his head, "No that's not it, I.. I don't how to ride." I look at him in surprise. He looks down in embarrassment. I stammer "W-well, I could teach you, if-if you want." He looks up at me with a look of gratitude, "Really? You'll teach me how to ride? D-don't you think I'm weird?" I reply, "No, why would I think that? Lots of people never learn to ride, and if you don't have a bike, when would you have learned? Alright, get on." I hold the bike by the seat and one handlebar to keep it steady as he gets on. I realize how close we are, I should let go of the handlebar but I don't. "Ok, start pedaling." I tell him, and we're on the move. I know I should let go, so he can ride on his own, but I can't. I want to stay like this, with him, for just a bit longer. Before I know it, we're at the end of the block, and Hideyoshi decides he's had enough practice for the day. He gets off slightly exhausted and sits down on the sidewalk. I see him sitting there, glowing in the evening sun and my heart decides to have a competition with light to see who's faster. I suddenly realize why I didn't let go of the bike, and why my heart wants to play roadrunner. I love him. He turns his head and looks at me, "What's wrong?" "N-nothing" I stammer and sit down next to him on the sidewalk. "Um, Hideyoshi, d-did you have fun?" I ask. He gives me a puzzled look, "What do you mean?" "I meant... was today fun, and the bike thing? Did you have a good time?" He smiles at me, melting my heart and says "Yes, today was a lot of fun." I suddenly found it very hard to breath, my face got red, my heart raced. I couldn't control myself, I embraced him, "Hi-Hideyoshi I-." I stop, realizing what I was doing, this is wrong, I can't alienate the only other friend I made besides Akihisa. What would he think of me, confessing my love for him? Besides, how could I love him, he's a guy. I was so confused. "Um, Alex?" Oh no, I never let go, I-I don't want to let go. I want to have him in my arms, I never want to let go. "Sorry, it's just, today was so great, I didn't know how else to thank you." I release him, and look down at the ground, "Sorry if that was weird." He laughs "Not at all, who doesn't like hugs." he says with a warm smile. "What is happening to me? He's my friend, not to mention a HE. What is wrong with me, stop it, get control of yourself." "Are you alright, you seem kind of nervous." Hideyoshi asks me. "Um yeah, I mean, no, I am nervous, I didn't want to ask this out right, but, can I date your sister?" "That's a good excuse to be nervous, plus, If I date his sister, then it's not wrong, she's a girl." Hideyoshi looks at me quizzically, "How do you know about my sister?" I freeze, how did I know he has a sister, no one said anything. "Uh, Akihisa, he told me you have a twin sister, and that she is incredibly beautiful." I quickly make up. "Oh. Well, yes, I do have a twin sister, but she's not as much fun to hang around." Hideyoshi warns me. I ask again, "Sooo, may I have your permission to date your sister?" Hideyoshi's face drops, but only for a second, I barely saw it, but he's showing his winning smile again before I can say anything. "Yes," he says, "you have my full permission." We start heading back to his house as it starts getting dark. We're about halfway there when I stop the bike. "What's wrong?" Hideyoshi asks me. "I just need a rest, I'm a little tired." I lie, and we go sit under a tree on the side of the road. "Hi-Hideyoshi... I need to say something, and I don't expect a positive response, but please hear me out. I-I love you Hideyoshi, you are the most incredible person I've ever known. I feel drawn to you and I don't know why, everything you do only pulls me in faster." Hideyoshi looks at me with great shock, "Alex... I'm a gu-." I cut him off, " I KNOW, I KNOW YOU'RE A GUY, but that doesn't change my feelings, I still love you, I don't how or why, I mean, I get the feeling that I'm not gay, but for some reason I love you. You, Hideyoshi Kinoshita, as you are. I don't care that you're a guy, I just know that I love you and I want to stay by your side." Hideyoshi just sits, not speaking for a while, the suspense killing me. Finally, after what felt like years, he looks at me with tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry."
