A/N:Hey guys! Just updating here and passing on that there will not be the 50+ chapters like Light for this one. this is going to be short, quick and hopefully finished before December. Hahaha, I expect too much. Let me know what you think! Thanks!~

2.

Some days would be spent helping Yuu with his homework.

Because Nene had left, off to do things and get their father to leave them alone (or whatever her excuse was, Akari had enough siblings to know when one just simply felt wholly inadequate and didn't know what to do about it), she would take on the duty of being the younger boy's friend. Not that it was a duty, really, just something new.

It wasn't the same as that former time, no longer always accompanied by the staccato echo of fast feet against a sidewalk and bright, determined laughter, ready to face a new disaster.

It was much quieter, much more got done, but yet it felt like nothing changed. He was still a little shy, still wielding a great deal of justice. He seemed to notice too, because he would look at the space next to Akari with some befuddlement. Was something supposed to be there? Was someone?

She tried to ask, found the words trapped in her throat, and fell silent.

"Akari-san?"

She offered him a rice ball. "Yeah?"

He took it, fiddled with it, then sighed. "Are you okay?"

"I..." She would think, whenever this question was asked, very seriously about it. Was she okay? Was something wrong? "I... don't know. I feel... weird."

"I'm not a girl," he said automatically, and she laughed.

"Not that kind of weird, Yuu-kun."

Yuu shook his head. "Is it like something is missing?"

She nodded, grinning. "Like there's a hole and no one tried to hide it." Akari stopped, looked at her hands. "Yuu-kun... did we really win that fight? Are we still here?"

Yuu looked at his math paper, at her, and then at the empty space. "... I'd like to hope so, Akari-san. I really would like to think we did." His fingers kneaded against the plastic table. "If we didn't, though... how would we know?"

"How would we even know if we won?"

Akari rested her forehead against her palms. "I don't know." She paused, as if admitting this to a fellow student and former General of an army will destroy her standing in some unholy ranking. "I'm rather scared, Yuu-kun."

He, to what must be both of their surprise, placed his hand on hers. He must have been trying to be comforting, but it failed with how much his hand shook. "So am I."

She didn't care what anyone said, there was nothing soothing about being scared with someone else.

Why don't we remember?

"Well, because you don't want to."

They looked up, heads whipping around towards the study lounge doorway, but all they see is a student walking past, headphones in his ears, humming to himself.

He was nothing, a nobody. No recognition, heck his uniform signified he was at the wrong school in the first place.

Akari slumped back in her chair, head throbbing, eyes burning suddenly.

Then it vanished, and a new pep filled her system. "Come on, you can't distract me anymore. Let's do this so we can get out of here."

His face wore a puzzled frown, before exasperation took its place. "I wasn't trying to distract you!"

"Sure you weren't! Just like my brothers, honestly..."

"Hey!"