Dear Merry,

Remember those 'certain things' I talked about in the last letter?

Well, they've popped up again.

Guess I should explain... Well, uh, how to put this...

They're trying to put me in an asylum.

I'm going with the crazies.

I mean, I knew it was where we'd end up one day, but just not this soon...

Oh, what am I saying. I'm scared, Merry. If I can't find a way out of this, I might actually end up going crazy. Please, I have no idea where you are. It's been a year since you disappeared. Have I ever told you how I feel?

That one day, we were walking. your mind was on something else, wasn't it? I was talking about the exam, while you just kinda zoned off. I now look back, and think you've figured something out, maybe. You were probably just planning.

That's when you suddenly stopped.

I turned around and stopped talking to see you clutching at your head with your hands.

"Renko... I-I'm sorry..." You outstretched your arms, and suddenly a web of small, paper-thin gap-like things floating in the air surrounded you.

"Merry?" I tried to walk toward you, but suddenly something pulled me back. I saw another of the gaps- that stupid nuisance, holding me back by my foot. It appeared to be stuck in it, almost like a hole in the ground, but instead it was in the air. I tried to pull forward, out of it, but I fell flat on my face. When I looked up, you were gone. I stood up to see my foot was free of the stupid hole-in-floating-space.

It was just all too weird.

It was what I was worried about. I was afraid that I would lose you. And I did.

I suddenly felt dizzy, tears prickling in my eyes. It was happening again.

...

Did you know, Merry?

Did you know that you saved my life?

Before you showed up at the University, I was a mess. I had a best friend, whose name I won't mention, but we were close. We did everything together, supported each other, so on, so forth, whatever. That was when one day, around a month before you arrived, she drowned after she fell through ice on a frozen lake. I was there.

I couldn't save her.

After that, all the other students at the university, always seemed to be staring at me. I felt like I could have saved her , but I knew I couldn't swim and I'd just end up drowning too. Everyone else thought I should have saved her, and that I didn't on purpose. I grew depressed. Thoughts of suicide crossed my mind, but I never followed through.

Then you showed up.

You stumbled in, like the lovable, creepy ol' friend I knew you as. You changed my life. With someone to rely on, I was back on my feet again, feeling like the Renko I was so many years ago. We grew to be so close.

But, with what happened a year ago, you became a complete stranger again.

I didn't know you.

I don't know you.

You were my best friend.

You are my best friend.

I just don't know what to think anymore.

Well, I guess this is a closing. I think I made my point. I won't write more letters, probably, this is getting too in depth. I'll be shipped over to the asylum soon, so I guess this is good-bye.

Your friend who will always and forever be your friend no matter what,

Renko Usami