DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the POT characters nor am I affiliated with the franchise.
Chapter 3: Lost Memories
I felt a wave of exhaustion as soon as I arrived at the airport. I was walking around like a dead zombie until someone caught my attention.
"Hana! Hana-chan!" A familiar voiced called me.
I quickly snapped out of my snapped out of my zombie state and hugged my obaa-chan (grandma). Her name is Sumire Ryuzaki, she's a teacher and the coach of the tennis team in the school that I'm going to be attending. She is also my grandma on my dad's side. She's aged quite a bit since the last time I've seen her. New wrinkles around her temples have formed and some underneath her eyes.
"Oba-chan, I've missed you so much," I almost broke into tears and hugged her tighter.
"You've grown into such a beautiful young lady, I bet you will be a catch at Seishun," she winked at me.
My cheeks turned rosy pink from the compliment. "Onee-san!" I turned to see that Sakuno greeted me as well.
"So you're learning more Japanese, eh?" I giggled. Since my dad was Japanese, he enjoyed teaching us the language and the culture of the country. Both Sakuno and I can speak fluent Japanese, however, Sakuno is a lot better than me at it since I still struggle with choosing suffixes such as "chan", "san", "kun" etc.
"By the way where's da-oh I mean outo-san?" I asked.
"He headed for a flight to Germany last night. Your Ojii-san had some important business things to discuss," Obaa-san replied.
"Oh I understand"
My grandfather or Ojii-san in my mother's side is a wealthy businessman who owned several first class rehabilitation centers around the world but mostly in Germany. My Okaa-san/mom is the next heir to these huge corporations. My Otou-san is one of my Ojii-san's most trusted personnel in his company. Someday, he is hoping that Sakuno and I would take over as well.
"I'm going to take both of you home now. Hana I know you're very exhausted so you should definitely rest up," said Oba-chan.
"Arigatou," Sakuno and I said unison.
Few hours later, we finally arrived home. Oba-chan's house was the one that we used live in when I was little. It brought back some really good memories. I wish I never left I thought to myself. The house was traditional inside and out. A gorgeous Japanese garden was located outside which I admired.
"I never wanted to move out because I had a feeling you guys will always come back," Oba-chan smiled. I carried my luggage to my old room. I noticed that nothing changed at all. All my books were neatly arranged on a shelf and few of my old toys were still scattered on floor. On the bed, I noticed my neatly folded Seishun Gauken uniform. It consisted of a green plaid skirt and a light green jacket with a pink bow. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed how cute the uniform looked.
I noticed a teddy bear on my bed that was holding a birthday card. I started reading that message that it contained.
Happy Birthday Hana-chan! Thank you for being my best friend. I hope that you will have the best birthday ever.
Inside the card, there was a picture of myself and a boy identical to the one that I saw in my dream. I started to ask myself who that can be. It's weird because I absolutely don't remember having him as a friend before. What is going on?! This is getting weird I thought to myself. The more I stare at the picture; flashes of memories start to return. My head started throbbing at the thought of it. I went up to Oba-chan to get more information.
"So you still don't remember? After all these years...hmmm," she looked at me with concern.
"What do you mean?" I was befuddled.
"Well, when you were little an incident happened. Someone accidentally pushed you down the bleachers from a park nearby. Your head suffered from quite a bit of damage causing you to have temporary amnesia. Most of your memories were recovered. I guess that part of your childhood was affected by the damage that the amnesia cost. We never told you about the incident because it might trigger even more trauma if you tried to remember it," Oba-chan explained everything.
"Wow... I never knew such thing even happened. I can't believe I just found out now. But that still doesn't answer who this boy in the picture is?" I asked frantically. "I need to know more,"
"That boy right there was your childhood best friend. You two used to be inseparable. Playing tennis till sunset used to be both of your habits. Both of you showed so much promise at such a young age. His name is Tezuka Kunimitsu, the current captain of Seishun tennis club," she said proudly.
I was left in shock, I guess he was the first person to help me unlock my potential in tennis. It also explains why tennis is the only sport that I gravitated towards. I wonder if he still remembers me too. Our paths are about to cross again. Will we resume the friendship that we had before? I certainly hope so...
