A/N: Thank you to Yoyumi Kishozaki for your reviews, I too agree that it is quite sad when stories are discontinued, especially because a lot of them that I read was great. Although mine may not be as good, I will definitely finish my story, and hopefully, my skill will increase each story I write. Thank you once again, and enjoy this chapter!
Yoshiki's Apartment - Yoshiki's PoV
"*Yawn* What time… is it?" I check my phone that I left on the counter next to me. "8:34… I guess I'll get up, and get breakfast ready before we go shopping."
Ayumi was still sleeping next to me, so I quietly got out of bed, and went to the kitchen. The last couple days were hectic. Out of all the things that happened, the one that surprised me the most was when Ayumi said she liked me as well. After a while, I decided to make pancakes. I make the pancake mix, and I start to cook them when I heard Ayumi:
"Yoshiki? What are you doing?"
"Ahh, good morning, Ayumi, I'm just making breakfast before we go shopping, the funeral is… tomorrow."
"*sniff* Y-Yeah, our friends… they're dead… because of me."
"Ayumi…"
"They're dead because of that stupid charm I had them do! Only if I didn't trust the instructions from first glance, everyone would be alive, my sister would be alive, we wouldn't even be in this predicament!"
"Ayumi, it's not your fault! You couldn't have known that the blog was wrong, you trusted the one who put up the blog, and it's her fault for betraying you. You meant for the best with the charm, right? Did you know that would happen?"
"...No"
"Did you want something like that to have happened?"
"No…"
"See? You have nothing to be blamed for, you only wanted to make another memory before Suzumoto left, you meant for the best. You didn't know that would happen, so no one blames you, but you. Please, stop blaming yourself, Ayumi. It hurts me that you're going through this pain and I can't do anything about it."
"...Sorry, Yoshiki, you're too good to me."
"Ayumi, it's fine, you don't need to apologize, just promise me that you won't blame yourself, that's all I want."
"I promise."
"Good. Now, let's eat so we can go on our first… date." I say, and I blush.
"O-Okay." Ayumi says also with a blush.
We both quickly ate the pancakes that I made, and got ready to leave. We left around 9:34, which leaves me about 5 hours before we need to get back to my apartment and go to work. We held hands, and walked to the mall.
"Yoshiki, let's go to that shop!"
"Alright." I chuckle.
"Ooh, let's get this!" Ayumi holds out a cute shirt and pants with cats and dogs.
"You want that? It does look cute, I'm sure you'll look… cute in it, not that… you won't look cute in other clothes… uhh… nothing, never mind." I stutter out blushing.
"Hehe, Yoshiki, thanks. And yeah, I want this."
"Alright, here, give it to me, let's look for other clothes that you want."
"Okay!"
I was glad that Ayumi sounded happy, at least for now. That was all I wanted for today, for Ayumi to be happy. As long as Ayumi is happy, then I'm happy. After shopping for another hour, Ayumi chose many shirts, pants, and other articles of clothing. At the end, we went to the cashier to pay for the clothes.
"The total will be 53,250 Yen."
"Okay, here-"
"Yoshiki! Are you going to pay for the whole thing?"
"Of course, today's my treat for you."
"No, you don't need to do this because of me, you've done so much for me already!"
"Ayumi, I insist, I can't have the love of my life pay this much on the date I have planned."
"O-Okay… thanks."
"Here you go."
"Thank you for your purchase, you two make a cute couple." the cashier giggles.
"Heh, thanks." I blush.
"..."
"Ayumi, cheer up, today's for you, don't be sad…"
"..."
"...I'm sorry, Ayumi, maybe… I shouldn't have proposed this idea."
"No, no, I'm enjoying this, but… I just feel bad and sorry, I've been so mean to you, but you are still kind to me. I'm sorry for everything in the past."
"Ayumi, it's fine, don't be sorry for the past, let's just move on, and keep those… hurtful memories with us, but not dwell upon them."
"...Thanks, Yoshiki."
"It's nothing, how about that pasta shop over there for lunch, Ayumi? How does that sound? I'm pretty hungry after all that shopping."
"Yeah, that sounds nice, and this time, I'm paying, I don't want you to pay for everything today."
"...Fine, let's go." I reluctantly agree with Ayumi.
Stubborn as always, Ayumi, but… that's one reason why I like you, Ayumi, stay like this Ayumi, I like you most when you're yourself.
"Yoshiki?"
"Huh? What?"
"Hehe, lost in your thoughts, Yoshiki? I was calling you for the last minute." Ayumi giggled.
"I guess…"
"So, what were you thinking about?"
"N-Nothing!"
"Really?" Ayumi looked at me with a suspicious look.
"Y-Yeah, what should we eat?" I hastily change the topic.
"Hmm… this chicken alfredo pasta sounds nice to me."
"Really? I was thinking that, too!" I chuckle.
"Well, I guess we are ready to order, then. Excuse me?"
"Yes, are you ready to order?"
"Yes, we will have two chicken alfredo pasta."
"Will that be it?"
"Yes."
"Please wait a moment until the food is done."
"Thank you."
"So, Ayumi, do you think meeting Satoshi this weekend to try to get him to remember us be good?"
"Yeah, I think it would be a good start. Hopefully things will turn out well."
"Mhm, hopefully, it does."
"Here is the food you ordered, enjoy!"
"Thank you!"
After the food arrived, we both ate in silence, without major talk. The only times we talked while eating was only stuff like, 'This is good,' or 'We should come back next time.' By the time we finished eating, the time was 1 pm.
"The food was good, let's go, Ayumi. Are you sure you want to pay?"
"Yeah, I insist."
"Okay…"
"Here you go, here's the money for the food."
"Thank you, come back again!"
"Hey, Ayumi… we have about 1 hour until I need to go to work. Want to quickly drop off the clothes and go to the park?"
"Sure, let's go, Yoshiki!" Ayumi said, skipping ahead.
"Heh, Ayumi, wait up!"
I quickly caught up with Ayumi, and we started to walk to our apartment. We walked hand in hand silently, just enjoying each other's presence. I always dreamt of this moment, where Ayumi and I was alone, and was just enjoying the moment. After we got to the apartment, we dropped off our bags inside, and we walked to the park, but we saw three people that we haven't expected to see.
"Is that…?"
"Yeah, that's Satoshi, Nakashima, and Yuka. I guess they're here before Satoshi has to go to work…"
"Want to go say hi-"
"Hey, Yoshiki!"
"Yo, Satoshi, what are you doing here?"
"Nothing much, just taking a small walk with Naomi and Yuka. Who's that with you?"
"Oh, she's Ayumi, my girlfriend."
"Shinozaki?"
"You know her?"
"No, I don't think so, this is my first time seeing you. I don't know why, but that just popped up in my mind for some reason. Maybe we met before?"
"...Yeah, we did… we met before… not sure if you remember."
"Hey Satoshi, who are you talking to?"
"Yeah, big brother, did you make new friends?"
"Ah, Naomi, Yuka, this is Yoshiki, you know, my partner at work."
"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Naomi Nakashima."
"And I'm Yuka Mochida, Satoshi's younger sister!"
"Nice to meet you two, I'm Yoshiki Kishinuma and this is Ayumi Shinozaki."
"Yoshiki, do you think we should invite those two to our apartment for the weekend also?" Ayumi whispers to me.
"Hmm… that may save us a lot of time, and we can see all their responses." I pondered and said. "Say, Nakashima and Yuka-chan, do you two want to come to my apartment this weekend? Satoshi already said he was going to come, so do you want to join us?"
"Yoshiki, is it fine if we join you?"
"Of course, Satoshi. Might as well tell you where my house is. My apartment is straight down this road, and you'll see a beat down apartment with two stories. My room is on the second floor, and the number is 2-04. How does 10 am sound?"
"That's fine with me and Yuka, but what about you, Naomi?"
"That should be fine."
"Alright, that's a date, then."
After we set up the date of when we should meet, Nakashima called over Satoshi and Yuka, saying that they have to talk about something. So, we split up, and we went to the bench nearby, and we were just enjoying the breeze until I had to go to work.
Park - Satoshi's PoV
I didn't expect to see Yoshiki come to the part, especially with a girl, hand in hand. I wondered if they were in a relationship, but I decided not to ask, instead, I just called him over to the bench I sat watching Naomi and Yuka play.
"Yo, Satoshi, what are you doing here?" he asked me.
"Nothing much, just taking a small walk with Naomi and Yuka. Who's that with you?" I replied, then asked about the girl next to Yoshiki.
"Oh, she's Ayumi, my girlfriend." he answered. So, there's my question answered, they were indeed in a relationship. Then, a name popped in my mind after Yoshiki said her name.
"Shinozaki?"
"You know her?"
"No, I don't think so, this is my first time seeing you. I don't know why, but that just popped up in my mind for some reason. Maybe we met before?" I wondered how the name popped up in my mind.
"...Yeah, we did… we met before… not sure if you remember." she said, and I was trying to think of when we met, maybe when we were younger?
"Hey Satoshi, who are you talking to?" Naomi said, while walking with Yuka towards us.
"Yeah, big brother, did you make new friends?"
"Ah, Naomi, Yuka, this is Yoshiki, you know, my partner at work." I introduced Yoshiki to them.
"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Naomi Nakashima."
"And I'm Yuka Mochida, Satoshi's younger sister!"
"Nice to meet you two, I'm Yoshiki Kishinuma and this is Ayumi Shinozaki." Yoshiki introduced himself and his girlf
They seemed to talk about something, when a memory popped up in my head. Before I was able to talk about it, Yoshiki spoke up.
"Say, Nakashima and Yuka-chan, do you two want to come to my apartment this weekend? Satoshi already said he was going to come, so do you want to join us?"
"Yoshiki, is it fine if we join you?" I asked after he offered that.
"Of course, Satoshi. Might as well tell you where my house is. My apartment is straight down this road, and you'll see a beat down apartment with two stories. My room is on the second floor, and the number is 2-04. How does 10 am sound?" Yoshiki proposed after giving us the address to his residence.
"That's fine with me and Yuka, but what about you, Naomi?" I asked Naomi.
"That should be fine."
"Alright, that's a date, then." Yoshiki confirmed.
After he confirmed the date, I was about to ask Naomi and Yuka something, when apparently Naomi had the same thought.
"Hey, Satoshi, Yuka-chan, can we talk privately over there at the tree?"
"Uhh… okay, there's still about 45 minutes before we should get going." I replied, wondering what it was about. I told Yoshiki we were going to talk about something, and walked with Yuka to the tree Naomi pointed at.
"Naomi, what is this about?"
"Well, I don't know, it was weird, but after they said their names, a memory popped up in my mind."
"You too? I had that too, it was weird."
"Big brother, Yuka had a memory also."
"Hmm… this is weird, hey, want to say what your memories were about?"
"Yeah, sure, I'll say mine first."
-Naomi's Memory-
"Class rep, what's wrong?"
"Huh, oh, Nakashima-san, it's nothing."
"Is it about Kishinuma-kun again?"
"Huh…? How'd you know?"
"Oh, nothing, it's just that he somehow just knows how to get you angry."
"Yeah, he was tardy today, and to top things off, he didn't even do his work that he was supposed to do. And then, he gave some excuse of why he didn't do it. I can't believe him."
"Haha, that sounds like Yoshiki alright."
"Satoshi!"
"Mochida-kun!"
"Hey Naomi, hey Shinozaki. Anyways, Shinozaki, don't go too hard on Yoshiki, I can't say too much because it's about his personal life, but let's just say, he doesn't have that much time to work on school stuff."
"Huh? Why?"
"Can't say, if you want to know, then ask him yourself."
"Okay, Mochida-kun. Well, let's go to lunch, guys. Everyone's waiting for us."
-End of Naomi's Memory-
"Hmm… according to your memory, it seems they were our friends before. I wonder what happened. My memory goes like this:
-Satoshi's Memory-
"Hey guys, do you guys want to go to the haunted house that the class next door is doing?"
"Sure! Naomi, let's go, if you get scared, Mochi can come save you!"
"Seiko…"
"Yeah, let's go! Shige-nii, let's go together!"
"Hmm…? Oh, sure, if you want to go, Mayu, I assume it's fine, but shouldn't someone stay back with the class rep?"
"I'll stay, you guys go, I'm not that interested in those type of things anyway, I'm sure it won't be that scary anyways."
"Of course Kishinuma will stay if Shinozaki is." Seiko snickers.
"I-It's nothing like that!" Yoshiki says flustered.
"Or are you scared, Yoshiki?"
"Am not! But hey, at least I won't grab a girl's chest when you get scared, Satoshi."
Naomi and I blush.
"Yeah, Mochi sure likes to touch these!" Seiko says while squishing Naomi's chest.
"S-Seiko!" Naomi tries to pry off Seiko.
"Enjoying the view, Satoshi?"
"N-No! Anyways, you coming or not, Yoshiki?"
"Nah, I'll stay back, if more people come, it sure as hell will be busy, and someone ought to help Shinozaki."
"Kishinuma-kun, I'll be fine, just go. I don't like it when people go out of their way for me."
"O-Okay, if you say so. Guess I'm going then, let's go, and hurry back."
-End of Satoshi's Memory-
"Huh, so they were in our class? And… they were friends with… Seiko… *sniff*"
"Yeah, it seems like it. But, I wonder what happened between us, why can't we remember much about them, because if they were friends with us, we should… at least have more memories with them…"
"Yeah, it's weird. Yuka-chan, want to share what memory popped up for you?"
"Okay!"
-Yuka's Memory-
"Big brother!"
"Yuka? Why are you here?"
"I came to drop off your umbrella!"
"Ah, thanks, Yuka."
"Satoshi, you never told us you had a little sister!"
"Ehh? I haven't?"
"Nice to meet you all, I'm Yuka Mochida. Thank you all for taking care of my big brother!"
"So cute!"
"Heh, Yuka, you sure love your big brother, don't you?"
"Yes!"
"Huh, Kishinuma-kun, you know her?"
"Yeah, I have been at Satoshi's multiple times, that's how we know each other."
"Naomi, a new contestant for Mochi has arrived, is it fine to be so relaxed right now?"
"Seiko, I don't know what you are talking about." Naomi says squishing Seiko's face.
"Mmph!"
"Everyone, the time is late, let's go home!"
"Ehh? Yui-sensei, shouldn't we clean up this mess first?"
"Shinozaki, I thought we were supposed to do that before playing around."
"But…"
"We can just do it tomorrow, it's late already. And, Suzumoto, it's such a shame you have to leave."
"I-I'm going to miss all of you *sniff*."
"Suzume, this school will not be the same without you."
"You aren't moving too far, right? We'll all visit you during break! I sure will have more scary stories to share by then!"
"You sure love those, don't you?"
"You have a problem, Kishinuma-kun?"
"N-No…"
"You guys, thank you, I'm glad I met with you guys."
"Mayu, stop crying. Smile, let's take one final photo with all of us together."
"Count me in."
"Me too!"
"Yeah, let's all take a photo together!"
"3… 2… 1… Smile!"
"Morishige, send that to me!"
"Me too!"
"Okay, I'll share it with all of you."
"Now, everyone, let's go home, the time is late!"
-End of Yuka's Memory-
"Big brother, does this mean… they did… the charm with us?"
"I'm not sure, that was what happened right before we did the charm, but I don't know."
"This is confusing, but maybe going over on Saturday will clear out some of our questions."
"Yeah, we sure will have a lot to ask on Saturday."
"It's strange, if they didn't do the charm with us, then what were they doing there? If they did, then why don't we remember them?"
"Hmm… I don't know. Well, we should get going, I have to go to work soon, so I'll walk you guys home before."
"Alright, let's go."
"Yoshiki, we'll be going, see you at work!"
"Yeah, we were going to go also, see you at work!"
Third PoV
After their quick 'meeting' at the park, the two groups went separate ways, and went to their respective homes. Satoshi and Yuka walked Naomi home, and Satoshi dropped Yuka off at their house before going to work. Yoshiki and Ayumi walked to the apartment together, and they put away the clothing they bought before going to the park. Yoshiki then left for work, and at work, both Satoshi and Yoshiki worked hard for the day, and at the end of the day, they cleaned up, and at 9:15, they parted ways to go home. Now, the five friends that got split up went to sleep, as there was a long day ahead of them tomorrow.
