"Shintaro, please pick up the pace, I have another performance tonight...! It's... just a birthday party, I know, but... That's what makes it so important! And I know it's not until tonight, but..." Momo groaned, continuing to half-drag her brother, an arm wrapped around his torso. "Big brother, please. It's not that long to the house, just show some sign of life."
Shintaro did so by a harsh exhale through his nose, akin to a horse's neigh (okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration), and attempting to walk a bit more. He didn't leave the castle injured, but after his... well, his life, crashed before his eyes in a split second, he didn't feel it was necessary to keep moving.
It wasn't even noon.
Momo wasn't that put out by this - Shintaro weighed less than her, probably. It was her worry for Shintaro that gave her an anxious edge. She hadn't seen him like this since before he and Ayano started dating. He had always been a pessimist, but she hadn't thought it was that bad until their father passed away. Then all of the depression bottled inside him came out.
Until he met Ayano. They started as friends, Shintaro actually a bit annoyed by her curiosity to a simple, jobless, commoner, but as time passed, they grew closer. Momo saw a spark in him, one that she realized she'd never seen before. Similar to the way the sky was always so clear and the sun shone almost too bright in the kingdom, Shintaro had found a reason to let his pain go to rest and start anew.
Now it was all gone.
No wonder he could hardly walk. She had only just realized this... she could hardly imagine the weight on his heart he'd known for his whole life.
"Sorry," Momo said suddenly, "I worry about you, you know? What with no job or- jeez, that doesn't make you feel any better, right? Maybe I should take your mind off it instead..."
Searching the radius of the town she could see, she started talking. "Like how the buildings are so intricate. Ma said back when she was a kid, everything here was made of paper!"
"She was joking." The first words he's spoken were correcting her knowledge. Typical.
"Of course it was!" Momo brushed off her naivety with a laugh, "But I don't think they worked so meticulously on the paintings in the square, I mean, look, that almost looks like a real guy over there, incapacitated!"
"That is a real person."
Blinking, she found that he was right. What the heck was she doing just standing here admiring bricks- there was someone dying on the ground! She dropped Shintaro and ran towards the figure.
Shintaro soon followed, pace quickening to... a walking speed. Typical.
Momo kneeled beside the man. He was so pale, even his hair was white! His clothes were unscathed, other than the dirt stains... which seemed natural, white clothes stained easily. If he hadn't had the black and yellow designs on his pants and neck warmer, she might not have noticed he was there.
"He has a pulse," Shintaro announced in a worrisome monotone, "and he's breathing."
"Good...!" Momo smiled before shaking the man lightly, "Hello, sir, are you okay?"
There was a slight pause before he blinked twice, eyes shining red as he came to awareness. "I... I'm awake."
"That you are! Can you tell me your name, sir?"
"...no."
"But, we just want to help..."
"...I... I don't know it..." And almost as if the conversation never occurred, he added, "...I'm very lonely..."
Momo could have sworn she saw a hint of pain in Shintaro's eyes for a second, and that's when she made her action plan. "Alright, sir! You're coming home with us! We'll take care of you until you can restore your memory... friend!"
"Ah... Thank you... uh..."
"I'm Momo, and that's my big brother, Shintaro!"
"Momo, Shintaro," The man smiled softly, "Thank you for being my friends."
/
The walk back home was in silence, but the moment they began settling in at home, the man began to ramble. The once quiet, desolate home with nothing but empty rooms was now filled with storytelling, like a child who had just come home from an amazing field trip. Their sickly mother had even come out, sitting in the corner of the dark green loveseat as if this man really was her son.
"...and in the dream, I think it happened while I passed out - I don't remember what happened before I passed out - there was a boy and a girl… I think they were ten… or twelve… they were friends, I think… they were talking and laughing, but not for a long time…" He paused, as if remembering something painful. "...ah, they...were killed…"
"Killed?" Momo called out in response, as if it wasn't just a dream. "How?"
Shintaro didn't want to hear about death, he didn't want to hear any of this, this friendship, these bonds that had ruined him from the start. He stood to walk away, before the man grabbed his hand. "...Shintaro," His mind switched gears in a second again, his voice unnaturally serious, "You can leave if you want, but...somehow, I have a feeling that this is important."
"It doesn't matter to me." Shintaro snapped, earning glares from his mother and sister.
"I understand," Despite Shintaro's rude behavior, he still smiled. And something about those words, the way he said them, made Shintaro sit back down again. Once more, almost as if it were programmed, the man continued his telling of the dream, "They were killed, I… it's… I could've sworn I remembered, but now it's all black…"
"Don't worry yourself over it, dear," Their mom cooed, "Your recovery thus far has been incredible."
The man's eyes brightened immediately. "...oh! My name! It's Konoha!"
"Konoha, huh?" Momo tried it out on her tongue, "What a cool name!"
Shintaro spoke up then, his voice still strained from all the emotions of the day, "Just Konoha?"
"You're just Shintaro, right?"
He pondered it for a moment. Without the bright future he had before him, without the woman who changed his life… Ayano… without Ayano… "...Yeah."