Hi guys! Sorry for the late update! I was busy with my entrance exam into high school. But now that I'm here, let's get started.

Now, enjoy!

Extra: I was supposed to update a day ago, but I got into a game called "Mystic Messenger" and spent all of my time watching all the endings it has except the one I got on YouTube. Please forgive me… ;w;

Chapter 3: Memories

"I'll save you."

Ayano said with a smile on her face as she held Taro's chin with her hand. Her fingers gently traced the curves of his face, which sent shiver down his spine.

"I'll save you from that temptress, Taro. And after that, we can enjoy our dream life we planned out from that time far long ago…"

"Huh…?" He said confusedly. "What are you talking about again….?"

"Oh… I forgot…" She straightened up her body. "I forgot that you have forgotten that sweet time."

Looking straight and deeply into his black eyes, she started sadly.

"You said you'd always be my friend."

"Leave her alone!"

A little 8-year-old boy with short black hair and black eyes said strongly at a brown-haired boy and the other blond-haired one standing in front of him. Behind him was a little girl with short black ponytail with black eyes and she was looking at the other two boys fearfully. Tears could be seen in the corners of her eyes.

"What do yow know? Get out of our way!" The brown-haired boy said.

"No! You've bullied her enough! Go away!" The black-haired boy still had his strong tone.

"I said GET OUT OF OUR WAY!" The brown-haired one yelled as he stepped forward and gripped the black-haired boy's T-shirt.

"TARO!" The girl shouted. "No! Please! Let him go! He has nothing to do with this!"

"Hmm…" The blond boy stared at her for a while and said the brown-head one. "Hey, you know what? Just let them be for now. I don't really want to deal with them now."

"But… alright." The boy with brown hair sighed and let go of Taro, the black-haired boy, making him fall down to the ground. "I'll let you go for now. But don't think that we'll never come back!"

With that said, the two boys left. The girl quickly knelt down to Taro with a worried look on her face. Zhe touched his face. "Oh my god, Taro! What were you thinking? You could have been beaten up!"

"Ayano…" He said while getting up with her help. "I can't stand looking at them bully you."

"But… you could have gotten hurt… just because of me…"

"Don't mind that, Ayano." He smiled at her. "Because I will always be your friend, I will do anything to protect you and make you happy."

His gentle smile seemed to comfort her. She wiped off her tears and smiled back.

"Thank you, Taro."

"That we'd get married when we both got older."

"Surprise!"

The 10-year-old Taro said as he put a white sheet of cloth on top of Ayano's head from behind. Ayano yelped as she was surprised. She then turned around and pouted at him.

"Taro! What was that for?!"

"I want you to be my bride!"

Her pouty face was immediately replaced by a surprise look. "W… what?"

"I want you to be my bride when we grow up!" He still had that happy smile of his on his face while she still remained surprised.

"Taro… that's very sweet of you to say that but-"

He quickly cut her off. "No! I mean it, Ayano! I want to get married with you in the future!"

"But… what made you say this so sudden?"

"My mother just showed me her wedding photos with my father. She said that if I have a person called 'life mate', who you love with all of your heart, then you will be in a thing called 'marriage' with them! You're the person I love the most other than my parents, so I want to be a marriage with you!"

"Taro…"

"And about this white cloth…" He touched the purely white cloth and trailed his fingers down her soft hair. "In a wedding, the bride puts a white long piece of cloth to enhance her beauty in her happy day. Just by looking at you with this white cloth makes me want to see you in a beautiful wedding dress."

"Taro… I…" Blushing, she stuttered as she gently held his hand. She then smiled at him happily.

"Ayano… in the future , I believe that we will get married when we get older."

"I don't know if you said that because your mind was still innocent or because you truly meant that." Ayano said while maintaining eyes contact with him. "But I'm sure about one thing… It's that… I've never heard those words before, you made me long for something more. I kept waiting for that day, our wedding day… But then…"

"Taro… Taro…"

Ayano sobbed into the bedsheet as she knelt beside an unconscious Taro. Taro was in the car with his father, but suddenly drunk driver drove his car right into theirs and they got involved into a car accident. The father and the son were now in the hospital. His father had woken up now and was quite okay, although his head and his body were still aching. But the son, Taro, had not yet woken up. Both his mother and his childhood friend Ayano were very worried for him.

"Taro… Please don't leave me…" Ayano said as her tears stained the blanket.

Suddenly, she and his mother heard a groan. They both looked at him and saw that his eyes were fluttering opened. "Urg… My head…"

"Taro!" His mother shouted happily as she hugged her son tightly. "Thanks God. You're finally awake!"

"Mom…?" He asked. "Wh… where am I? This isn't our house, is it?"

"You're in a hospital, my Taro." She replied. "You was in a car accident along with your father. But don't worry about him, he's fine now."

"Taro! I'm so glad that you finally woke up! I thought you were going to pass out forever!"

Hearing her voice, he looked over her. She was expecting a hug with him, but he just stared at her instead. He kept staring until he finally spoke up.

"Who are you?"

"What kind of question is that? I'm Ayano Aishi, your friend!"

"Ayano… Aishi…?" He had a very confused tone.

"Taro! Can't you recognize me?! I'm your friend, your neighbor!"

"Wh… I… I don't know you! Mom! Help me! I don't know this girl but she keeps claiming to be my friend!" He hugged his mother more tightly as she and Ayani held a confused face.

"Missus Yamada…" The doctor said as he opened the door and stepped in the room. "Apparently, your son's physical condition is quite fine. He has some scratches, but they will be okay if they are treated carefully. But the hit was too hard so…"

"So what, doctor?!" Ayano urged. "Please tell me!"

"… he has lost a large part of his memories."

"W… what?" Said Ayano.

"He still can remember his very closed one like his family. But about the others like his friends… I'm afraid he had forgotten about them."

After about a month in the hospital, Taro could finally go home. But at his old place, he couldn't remember any of his friends or others, including Ayano, which made her extremely sad. About four months later, Taro's family had to move away from Hokkaido, where they were living, to Tokyo because of his father's work.

"Goodbye, missus Aishi…" Missus Yamada said as missus Aishi and Ayano came to say goodbye to the family. "I hope you will be fine here."

"Thank you. I hope you will go well at the new place too."

"Thanks. Oh, and Ayano…" Missus Yamada knelt down to the little girl. " I'm very sorry about Taro…"

"It's okay… I understand." Ayano answered with a sad tone.

"I hope that you will be able to move on with him and do well here."

"Thank you, missus Yamda."

After that, the car and the truck went away to the distant as Ayano and her mother waved goodbye to the family.

Years passed by, Ayano now was a new college student. Although she still missed her childhood friend, the marriage promise that they made together, she still had to move on. She kept studying, and studying… She worked so hard so that she would get into a good university and also forget about him completely, the two things which she had both successfully achieved.

Today was the day she went to the apartment to check the room she rented and meet her roommate. As she reached the room, she knocked on the door and a voice from inside answered her.

"Coming!"

Her heart raced. This voice… Why did it sound so familiar with her?

The door opened and she couldn't be more surprised. Standing in front of her was a tall man with short black hair and a pair of sparkling black eyes. She couldn't believe it anymore. It was Taro Yamada, her childhood friend who was also the person she tried to forget before. Although she had forgot about him now, but seeing him here suddenly brought memories back to her mind... beside the part when he had an accident.

Seeing her there, he smiled. "Hello. I'm your roommate, Taro Yamada. What's your name?"

That was when the cruel reality struck her mind.

"That was when I realized I failed to forget about you. I tried to, but I couldn't anymore like I used to. So I tried to enjoy the time when we lived together at college. I then hoped that we would get together, not like we promised before, but like two roommates getting together. But then..."

Ayano paused to look at Osana, who was tied into a column. Her look seemed to be different from the one when she looked at Taro.

"... she tried to steal your love."

It was noon. Taro and Ayano were having lunch in the canteen of the university. They still had classes in the afternoon, so they decided to eat there instead of going back to their apartment.

"So... how was classes today?" Asked Ayano.

"Well, nothing's special actually." Taro answered while still munching on the sandwich. "How was yours?"

"Today, my Math teacher-"

"TARO!"

Ayano was cut off by a very high pitched yell of a girl from behind. They both turned around to see a girl with orange long twin-tails that had yellow shade at the tips, reached her knees and were tied back by two pink ribbons with white polka-dots. She looked very angry and was running toward them.

"Oh, hi Osa-"

She cut him off like she did with Ayano. "Taro! Finally, I found you!"

"Huh? Why are looking for me?"

"You don't remember?! You promised to have lunch with me, yet now you're having lunch with this girl!"

"Oh, really? I'm sorry, I forgot. Hey, why don't I intr-"

"You baka! You'll have to make it up to me! Now GET UP AND GO WITH ME!"

Not waiting for him to finish or say anything else, she dragged him away far from Ayano.

"Hey, Taro."

"Yes?" Taro looked over Ayano, taking his eyes away from the books he was reading. The light of the room shone through the room along with the moon outside the dark sky.

"Um... Who was that girl at lunchtime?"

"Oh, that orange-haired girl? Well, she's Osana Najimi, my girlfriend and also my childhood friend."

The words "girlfriend" and "childhood friend" seemed to pierce through her heart, breaking them into pieces. "Gi... girlfriend...? C... childhood friend...?" She stuttered.

"Yeah. When I first moved from my old place in Hokkaido to my new place in Tokyo, she was the first friend I made. I was very shy then, so once she became my friend, we got close very quickly. I spent my childhood with her from kindergarten until high school! She confessed to me in high school, which I accepted. I didn't regret that. I think we have a very strong bound between us. And don't mind her if she was rude to you at lunchtime. She's sometimes like that but sometimes she's really nice."

"Oh... I see."

Taro kept on telling Ayano about his memories with Osana without knowing that Ayano had so many feelings inside her.

She was sad because not only he forgot his memories of her, but also someone replaced her as his childhood friend. She was hopeless because despite all of her effort, she couldn't have him. She was angry because someone dared to steal his heart, taking away her only chance to fulfill her wish of being together with him!

She wanted to keep him away from any girls that approach him and make him hers. Forever.

She wanted to kill any girls that came near him or preventing her from being with him.

And that included Osana Najimi.

Plot twist: Ayano is Taro's actual childhood friend.

DUN DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN!

But anyway, thank you so much for reading this chapter (this took me more than 4 hours. WTF?) I hope you enjoyed it. Leave a review and I'll see you again soon. Bye!