At first I wanted to go back and rewrite the previous chapter… But then I decided to do it rather in the form of flashbacks. I hope you don't mind it. J

In this chapter, I am trying out new formatting of the text… Honestly, I don't like the looks of it, and I am not used to it… So be sure, to tell me, which one you think is better, I will be really grateful.

Hiro rubbed his tired eyes, which had dark circles under them, from not sleeping enough for the last two weeks. Because it was already two weeks since he and others from the band discovered the horrible truth that they all somehow forgot about Shindou Shuichi.

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD," Fujisaki was making a really good impression of Sakano and started freaking out as soon as he woke up. But it was expected reaction after finding out, that they somehow miraculously forgot the existence of a person, as if they never met. Which was just ridiculous.

Hiro could now clearly remember his and Shuichi's meeting on the first day of high school, how they both got into trouble for being late and on top of that dressed inappropriately. Or how Shuichi got into fight with some guys who called him weird. Or how Shuichi discovered Nittle Grasp and later they made Bad Luck. And many other things.

But now… somehow he wasn't even sure it was true. It felt like a dream. Really bad dream. One he never should have woken up from, but at the same time, wanted to wake up really badly. It was really weird.

Hiro looked around and was sure, it wasn't dream. Because dream couldn't be shared by so many people, could it? Maybe hallucination. Hallucination, that they once knew a guy named Shuichi. Hiro laughed bitterly. What was he trying to come up with? His thoughts were getting more and more ridiculous. Of course Shuichi was real. Hiro sighed and looked over at Suguru, who was still freaking out.

Truth to be told, it was starting to get annoying. Sure, the members of Bad Luck were used to Sakano's tantrums, but this was different. They had a lot to talk about, but in this conditions, they couldn't even think much less to form some kind of plan.

Tohma walked up to his cousin and with that calm smile of his, slapped him. Suguru immediately stopped, staring at the blonde in shock. "Please, calm down, if you freak out, it won't help," Tohma said calmly. Then he turned to K, who was white as sheet, "We have to find Shuichi. I believe you have some contacts that could help?"

K ran his shaky hands through his hair. Then he nodded, "Yes… Yes, I think I do."

Hiro looked around the table. They were sitting in a café, where they all met, to report they progress. But like the week before, there wasn't much to report. They just couldn't find any clues.

"Not even my contact in CIA could find and trace of him" K sighed, "It's like he disappeared form the face of the Earth."

Noriko banged her fist on the table, making all other party members look at her, "That's just ridiculous! One can't just disappear like that! This is all weird!"

"But he did," Hiro said, "And not only that. I was at his house, but it just wasn't there! All neighbors were there, but his house was gone…"

Everyone looked even more confused. Now, missing person could be understandable, but missing house. "You mean, it was torn down?" Suguru asked.

Hiro shook his head, "No. It seemed as the houses on both sides moved closer to each other. There just wasn't any room left on the place, where Shuichi's house once stood."

Everyone gaped at him as if he was crazy.

"It's my fault," came Ryuichi's quiet voice and everyone looked at him. Even since they remembered about Shuichi, Ryuichi seemed the most affected from them all. Most of the time he was just sitting quietly, looking forward with blank eyes.

"Why do you think, it's your fault, Ryu-chan?" Noriko asked gently.

"Because it is," Ryuichi said, "I was taking up his place. I took away his sparkles…"

Tohma put his hand on Ryuichi's shoulder, "Of course it isn't your fault, Ryuichi-san. And when we find Shin- erm Shuichi-san, we will find out, what is going on."

Suddenly Ryuichi stood up, making all others jump, and yelled: "Shuichi!"

Tohma sighed, "Yes, yes, Shuichi. But Ryuichi-san, sit down and don't make a scene."

"N-no! Shuichi!" Ryuichi pointed at something outside the café.

Everyone looked the way Ryuichi was pointing, and there he was. Shuichi was standing on the other side of the street, in front of Music store. He was dressed in blue jeans, black shirt and red haori. His outfit looked kind of out of place, with the traditional coat, but then again, this was Shuichi. Hiro saw him dressed stranger than this. Shuichi was grinning while holding some CD, which he presumably bought in the music shop. But then he stuffed the CD into his bag, turned around and broke into sprint.

"After him!" yelled out Tohma, but it was unnecessary, as everyone was already on their feet and running outside of the coffee shop. Fortunately with Shuichi's unusual hair color, he was quite easy to follow, even in the overcrowded streets of Tokyo.

They followed him at a certain distance, because they didn't want him to know they were there. This way Shuichi could lead them wherever he was heading, before they confronted him. How could he be just walking around? And where was he going? Back to his kidnappers or something? But then again, he was smiling before, not like a person, who was forced into anything.

They came to a quieter part of the city, when Shuichi finally slowed down. The pink haired man stopped in front of a rundown building. He looked around, as if to check, if someone was looking, and then he disappeared into the building.

Noriko let out strangled sound. Just now, Shuichi didn't go through any sort of door, or climb into window. He just walked into the wall and phased through it.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Yuki asked, voicing everyone's surprise. Slowly they all walked to the same building, cautious, not to be seen by strangers.

"It was somewhere here," Mika murmured and touched the wall. Suddenly she felt strange sensation, as if she had gone through warm water and then she was standing in dim lit bar.

The barman looked at her, "Hello, table for one, sweetheart?"

"Err, no," Mika shook her head, wanting to quickly leave this place. But then she realized, that somewhere here should be Shuichi, and she should get others and look around. So she smiled as sweetly as she managed, "My friends are coming. So we would like table for ten." As soon as she said that, others one by one came from the wall behind her.

"Big party, huh?" the barman grinned and showed them to their table, "And what are you having?" They quickly ordered, ignoring some murmurs from the barman, like "Fire Whisky" or "Butterbeer". They were probably just some local names for the fun.

"What is this place?" Tatsuha asked curiously, "I never heard of this bar…"

"Forget the bar, where is Shuichi?" Yuki started to look around. After a few seconds he spotted the mop of pink hair, on the other side of room. "There," he pointed.

"Is that really him?" Noriko asked.

"It should be," Hiro said, "There is his sister Maiko."

Tohma looked at others, "So should we go there?"

Shuichi plopped down on free chair beside his sister.

"You are late, where were you?" asked Maiko.

Shuichi just shrugged, "I stopped by a music shop. And I brought something for Naoko-chan." After that he pulled out the CD, he bought on the way.

Naoko squealed, "Oh my god, I was looking for it everywhere, thank you!"

Shuichi smiled at the blue haired girl.

On the other side of the table was sitting another of his friends, Akatsuki Kei, a guy with shoulder long hair and red eyes, who raised eyebrow at Shuichi. "I thought that CD was sold out in wizarding shops?" he said, "You went through muggle one's until you found it, didn't you?"

Naoko elbowed him quickly, "Shut up! I am grateful that Shu-chan went through all that trouble for me."

Kei rubbed his stomach, "Itai! How can bruthish woman like you become goddess? Aren't they supposed to have grace of a princess?"

Naoko's face went red and all others laughed at them.

"You two act like a married couple," teased them Mikazuki Takumi, a guy with redhead with golden highlights. His forest green eyes looked between them, as if trying to figure out, if there really was something between them.

The last of their little group, Sakamoto Kyoko, twirled one of her black pigtails around her finger, with calculating look in her eyes. She was always curious, and always knew almost everything. She even knew, that Takumi had a bit of a crush Naoko. She also knew, that Naoko and Kei were just childhood friends and nothing more. She had to hide her smirk, as she thought about a little matchmaking game, she will probably soon play with those two.

"Anyways, I can now tell you the big news!" Naoko exclaimed.

Everyone looked at her. "So you were finaly made apprentice of someone?" asked Takumi.

Naoko nodded with a big grin on her lips, "I will go to Kyoto. Can you believe it? I will become apprentice of Shizuka-sama. She is tending to one of the bigger shrines that are in Kyoto. The family in charge of the temple is running it for more than 10 generations. They are called Uesugi's, I think…"

Shuichi, who was just then sipping from his butterbeer, spat it out in shock and started to cough.

"Shu-chan, what's wrong?!" Naoko exclaimed worriedly.

"N-nothing," Shuichi shook his head, "Just surprised that you were appointed to such good place… Congratulation!"

Naoko grinned again, and thanked him.

"Well, we are all slowly going for our dream carriers," Kyoko started, "And what about the Miracle Boy? You do remember, that I have appointed big interview this weekend, right? Because the whole wizarding world wants to know about the comeback of the Miracle Boy and his intentions!"

Shuichi sighed, "Yes I remember… And don't call me that. I know… I will have to explain all the mess I created, right?"

Maiko, who noticed, how sad Shuichi have become, quickly interrupted: "Hey guys, did you know, that Shu wrote a new song?"

"Maiko!" Shuichi hissed.

"Aw, shut up, you know, you miss singing," Maiko glared at him.

"So what? I won't sing again. I will become auror and that's it," Shuichi glared back.

"Noooo," Naoko whined, "I was your big fan, Shu-chan. Sing it to us, pwueeeaaassseee?"

"No," Shuichi answered determined not to give in to his friend's whines.

"You know what? There is karaoke stand at the podium… So, I will sing first, so you don't have to feel stupid, and then you sing us your new song, okay?" Naoko said, but didn't wait for Shuichi's answer, and started to drag him towards the podium.

People started to notice them, and there was some whispering.

"Look, that's Shindou-sama."

"Oh my god, he REALLY is back!"

"Shuichi-sama, it's honor to meet you…"

Once they reached the podium, Naoko grabbed the microphone, which was on a stand, tapped it three times, to activate the magic in it, and said: "Hello everyone! You know the little guy here? Well… he said, that if I sing, he will sing too!"

Before Shuichi could protest, there was some applauding from the audience. Apparently more than few witches and wizards followed his muggle singing carrier, and wanted to hear him again.

Naoko quickly waved at some music instruments behind her and started to sing slow song:

Sono yume wa kokoro no ibasho
Inochi yori koware yasuki mono
Nando demo sutete wa mitsuke
Yasuraka ni saa nemure
Myakuutsu shoudou ni negai wa okasare
Wasurete shimau hodo mata omoidasu yo

Kono utsukushiki zankoku na sekai de wa
Mada ikiteiru koto "Naze" to tou bakari de...
Aa bokutachi wa kono tsuyosa yowasa de
Nani wo mamoru no darou mou risei nado
Nai naraba

Ano sora wa setsunai no darou
Maiagaru hai to shinkirou
Atatakai kotoba ni kogoe
Hitoshirezu saa nemure
Nebatsuku gensou ni nageki wa kakusare
Chigitte shimau hodo mata karamitsuku yo

Kono utsukushiki zankoku na sekai de wa
Tada shinde yuku koto "Mate" to kou bakari de...
Aa bokutachi wa kazamidori tobesu ni
Shinjitsu wa uso yori kirei ka douka
Wakaranai

Moshimo bokura uta naraba
Ano kaze ni ho wo age
Mayowazu ni tada dareka no moto e
Kibou todoke ni yuku no ni

Kono utsukushiki zankoku na sekai de wa
Mada ikiteiru koto "Naze" to tou bakari de...
Aa bokutachi wa kono tsuyosa yowasa de
Nani wo mamoru no darou mou risei nado
Nai naraba

It was really nice song and Naoko wasn't all that bad either.

She quickly handed the mic to Shuichi, who looked around at the expectant faces and sighed.

"Fine, but just this one, okay?" he said and stepped onto the podium. He was starting to get nervous. Sure, he was used to perform in front of people, but somehow this felt different. He pulled his wand and without a word he waved it above the instrument, which floated up and started to play music, which he already knew by heart. He turned back to his audience. Shuichi closed his eyes for a second, to concentrate, took a deep breath and started to sing.

Kimi ni aitai yukitai Ikareteru BRAKE wa tomaranai
mou dare ga tometemo
jyoushiki no FENSU ni buchi ataru tabi ni
tsuyokunaru kara
kabe o nori koete kasoku suru I CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU

No, it wasn't different. It was the same. He was on a stage again, and it felt amazing. He really missed the feeling of performing. Of showing his feelings and thoughts to the crowds. He was getting into it so much, that he started to dance, as if she was on a big stage in a concert, and not on a small karaoke podium in a bar.

kokoro kara suki da to ii kireru dare ka ni
nandemo deaeru darou?
Isshun no jinsei kimochi o nuritsubusu
hima wa nai hazuda ze

hijyousen o tsuki yabutte SAIREN ga nattatte
modoranai furikaeranai

kimi no soba ni yukitai itoshisa no ACCEL fumi nagara
AH ude o nobashite
tachiirikinshi no mirai demo kitto suberikomun da
kimi no me o mitsume tsugerunda I CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU

Most of the people were already on their feet and cheering him on. It really felt more like a concert. Which only made Shuichi sing with even more enthusiasm.

daremo mina jibun no iru basho o sagashite
hashiri tsuzukeru kedo

Ore wa itsumo kimi to itai hokano doko ittatte
taiyou noboranaisa

kimi o dakishimetai yo kono mune no KLAXON tomaranai
AH kimi o motomete
setsuna sa no SUPEEDO wa genkai sunzen hi o fukisousa
kabe o buchi yaburu jounetsu de I CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU

Kimi ni aitai yukitai Ikareteru BRAKE wa tomaranai
mou dare ga tometemo
jyoushiki no FENSU ni buchi ataru tabi ni
tsuyokunaru kara
kabe o nori koete kasoku suru I CAN'T STOP LOVIN' YOU

Shuichi panted, as the music died out. His face was red, but he was happy. This was, where he was supposed to be. He… wanted to feel the energy again. Yet he swore to himself, that he won't sing again. That he would go back to his studies, and become auror, just like he was expected to do. Because singing meant remembering Yuki. And he didn't want that.

Shuichi quickly put the microphone back on its stand, as if it burned. As he walked back to his seat, many people congratulated him and asked him for more. Shuichi just thanked them and politely declined, saying he was thirsty, and maybe some other time.

Finally Shuichi sat down on his seat.

"That was amazing, Shu," Maiko hugged him, "I knew, you will come to your senses and continue singing!"

Shuichi raised eyebrow, "Continue? I already told you, that this was only one-time thing…"

Maiko opened her mouth, but Kei was quicker.

"Hmm… a love song?" he grinned, "Already falling in love with some pretty witch?" His features started to shift, thanks to his metamorphmagi powers, until they settled in familiar face, with golden eyes and hair. Kei smirked at Shuichi, "Or more precisely… missing someone?"

He didn't have the time to duck, as Shuichi's fist landed on his face, causing him to fall to the floor. He screamed in pain, but Shuichi only smirked, "Serves you right…" Then he stole Kei's firewhiskey, as he now needed something stronger than his butterbeer.

"Hey, that's mine," Kei whined, his face still shifted, as he climbed back to chair, and froze.

"Was," Shuichi corrected him and took a deep gulp from the glass.

And then from behind him came a deep smooth voice: "Shuichi?"

Shuichi for the second time that day spat out his drink. He quickly spun around, his eyes widening in deep shock, and managed to whisper: "Yuki…"

Few days ago, I got question about the Tachi-Shuichi incident... if that happened or not. So I will just copy here my answer J:

well... to answer question... he did... Tachi did "that" to Shuichi... because even though Shuichi is wizard, he is/was so loyal to Yuki, that he rather let himself be attacked than cause him any problems...

as for why didn't Shuichi just deal with Tachi with magic... because it is too complicated. Even in the canon Harry Potter, memory spell weren't all that dependable. Remember in the 4th book, that Camp guy that had to be obliviated really often, because with the wizards there, he just kept being suspicious of them and again and again came too close to the truth? Or the Ministry woman, who knew about Barty Crouch Jr. but was obliviated, under the torture remembered all?

Well, Tachi is the first case. If Shuichi made him forget some things about himself, so he wouldn't attack him on that night, Tachi would keep being jealous about Shuichi, and would come to the same conclusion (that he has to deal with Shuichi through Yuki) again, and it would just drag itself for a long time, until either Shuichi gave up and just let it happen... or Ministry of Magic would notice this problem and make a move, probably relocating Shuichi, so Big Secret wouldn't be discovered...

So... the attack definitely happened... it's just that Tachi doesn't remember it now (only Shu does)

Hopefully this makes some sense...? XD

Any further questions are welcomed, and I will try to answer them to my best ability J