A/N: Pardon the delay! I've been on a long road trip since 10am, and as soon as we got to our destination, we had a sit-down dinner. I'd love to go over this chapter more since it's a favorite of mine, but I don't want to put off uploading it any longer.

While I recover from a food coma, please enjoy the mid-season finale!


[Chapter 15]: Wife


Previously, on Heartbreak Cure...

CRACK! Otonashi struck hard and sent a ball soaring sky-high.

"I don't understand it either." Ayato crossed his arms, watching Hinata snap out of some sort of daze at the sound. Then he turned back to face Yuri with a wry, half-hearted grin. "But I guess when someone really loves another, they can't stand to be apart from them."

Hinata backed up a few steps, raising his glove in the air. A pop fly to second was right within his reach.

"It makes them crazy," said Ayato, feeling an odd tug in his chest as Yuri stared at him almost contemplatively. "Like they won't stop running until they've finally found them again—"

"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"


Hinata's scream made them both jump. They spun around just in time to watch as something akin to a small human freight train barreled into him at an unimaginable speed, bringing both Hinata and his attacker to the ground with a gravel-skidding, ground-shaking crash. Hinata was all but eating dirt by the time Otonashi's ball tumbled past his head – and then his limbs were being seized in a relentless and powerful lock.

While Hinata was yelling in pain, Otonashi had doubled over laughing hysterically at home plate. His face was red from pent-up laughter that was finally being released, and he wiped tears of mirth from his eyes. The attacker tugging at Hinata's hair, face, and limbs didn't come as quite as much of a shock to Otonashi, so it seemed.

With a grunt of effort, Hinata escaped his lock, grabbed his assailant, and swiftly rolled them over so that he was pinning her down into the ground. His expression changed from shock to sheer amazement in a matter of seconds.

"Yui!"

"That's 91%," Otonashi reminded him through his continued snickering. He gasped for air in between hoots of laughter. "I saw her coming the whole time!"

Maybe Hinata would have yelled at him for it, but the look on his face showed quite plainly that everyone else but Yui had disappeared from the baseball field. He dipped his head down and kissed her furiously into the dirt as if they'd been separated for years. Yuri let out a low whistle, while Ayato rolled his eyes. What a show-off.

When they parted, Yui giggled and stroked his cheek. "Did you miss me?" she asked with an impish little grin.

"Of course I did!" said Hinata, his eyes still wide as they gazed into hers. He was grinning too, happiness splitting across his face as he began to laugh in disbelief. "What are you doing here? How did you know—?"

"I didn't," Yui said shyly, dazed but just as thrilled as he was. "I was just here looking for someone."

Hinata quirked a brow. "I think we'd have noticed or remembered if GlDeMo grew up in our town, Yui."

"Maybe they moved here while you were gone," Otonashi offered in her defense.

But Yui merely shook her head, dismissing it.

"I wasn't looking for GlDeMo." Her confession caught Hinata off-guard, and she took that opportunity to shift out from underneath him. She sat up and shook the dirt out of her hair. "I mean, I was at the beginning, but… then I realized there was someone else very special to me I wanted to find first."

Hinata sat up too. Noticing the soft pink that had colored her cheeks, he grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh yeah? Who's that?"

"Shiina."

Hinata's eyes flew wide open. Behind him, Otonashi and Kanade looked equally surprised, staring over at Ayato and Yuri to include them in their exchanged glances. This was too much of a coincidence!

"No way!" Hinata gaped at her, grabbing her wrist excitedly. "Us too! I guess great minds think alike."

"Implying either of them have great minds," Ayato said to Yuri, who snorted. But apparently Hinata was either too far away or too absorbed in Yui's presence to hear them.

On the field, Otonashi raised his hand to get their attention.

"So wait, you came to Kyuuya looking for Shiina?" he asked with a curious tilt of his head. "I didn't even know you two were close."

"Of course we were, you big dummy!" said Yui, who was beaming as Hinata helped her to her feet. She crossed her arms, reminiscing happily. "Remember that one day at the river? While you and Hideki were hanging around Angel, Shiina was the one who actually paid attention to me. We went fishing together and then we cooked together…" Frowning suddenly, she lowered her eyes. "I feel kind of bad that we never got to say goodbye."

"Mmm," Otonashi said, sounding eerily like his wife, but said no more on the matter.

"So you checked her house too, then?" Kanade asked.

"Yeah, a few minutes ago," Yui clarified. "She wasn't home, so I left my car there and went for a walk. Then I had a good feeling about the baseball field, like that's where I'd find what I was looking for. Instead, I found you!"

Hinata let out a short bark-like laugh. "Well, sorry to disappoint you," he said, and engulfed her in a tight hug before kissing her again. Yui grinned against his lips and, ever the lecherous one, gleefully deepened it as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Yuri looked less than impressed by the display. And although the reunion had been… charming, at first, Ayato had grown similarly unamused.

"Hinata, you already had lunch! There's no need to eat the poor girl's face," he hollered from the bleachers.

The couple broke apart, both parties turning sharply in the direction of his voice and simultaneously remembering that other people existed. Yui blinked twice, registering their faces. Her eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"Hey! Commander!" she said, waving. If she'd had that silly devil's tail in this life, it would be twitching excitedly. Then her eyes fixated on Ayato with a curious glint. "And… uh, guy whose name I don't know!" she finished brightly.

Ayato harrumphed, caring little for Yui's flippant greeting. That is, until Yuri tensed beside him.

"You don't know him either?" Frowning, Yuri cast a suspicious glance Ayato's way. "Why doesn't Yui know you?"

"She knows him," Hinata said, rolling his eyes. "She just never remembers his name since he kept introducing himself as God." Yui nodded enthusiastically in confirmation.

"So she doesn't know my name, and she had no idea we were in Kyuuya," Ayato deadpanned as the two couples on the field moved closer to the bleachers. Hinata reached out and stole two drinks from the road trip cooler, passing one to Yui. "Then what the hell have you two been texting to each other this whole time?"

Hinata and Yui exchanged furtive looks. Hinata cut his eyes to the side, taking a sip of his soda. Yui just grinned.

Connecting the dots, Ayato wrinkled his nose. "Unbelievable."

"Hey, hypocrite, I had to listen to you and your sick innuendos about Yurippe."

"Well, I know enough," said Yui, after a generous glug of soda. Her whole face lit up with intrigue; she leaned forward into Yuri's space, a fascinated gleam in her eye. "Yurippe, you actually married the God guy?"

"I'm really the wrong person to ask about this," Yuri muttered.

After setting down her soda, Yui perked up once more in realization. "Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right!" she said, bouncing on her feet. "You can't remember him at all, can you? Why do you think that is?"

Yuri groaned. "I really don't know…"

"Alright, Yui, leave the poor amnesia patient alone," said Hinata, draping an arm around her shoulders and herding her away from the bleachers. "Want to stick around and play baseball with us?"

"Play baseball with you at the place where it all started? Like you need to ask," Yui said, laughing as she wrapped her arm around his middle. "Sometimes I think we should've gotten married here."

Hinata slowed his walk. "Here? Get married on a baseball diamond?" He chuckled, but the idea seemed to appeal to him. "Could someone really do that?"

"Probably," said Otonashi, considering. "All you'd need is someone who can officiate it."

Hinata snapped his fingers. "Damn it—that would have been cool."

"Wait a minute." A hesitant Yui touched his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "What about Shiina? Aren't we going to look for her?"

"We'll find her, Yui." Hinata sounded faraway but sure of himself. "Or… you know, just wait her out. She's gotta come home eventually. In the meantime, we might as well get into the Kyuuya spirit."

"Just like old times," Yui agreed with a happy sigh. "I missed this place."

She, Otonashi, and Kanade followed Hinata back to the home plate to discuss positions. As soon as they got there, Hinata and Yui started squabbling over the role of batter, nearly biting Otonashi's head off when he wryly offered himself for the role to settle the argument. He backed off, sweating nervously, and grabbed Kanade's hand for safety.

A minute into their bickering, though, Otonashi was letting a grin slip through as Hinata seized Yui in a lock and had her screaming "uncle." The nostalgia seemed to be getting to him after all. Kanade giggled and whispered something in his ear, making him smile.

Ultimately, Hinata won the wrestling match but awarded Yui the role of batter anyway. She'd just gotten here, and he'd already had a turn. However, Ayato suspected some of it had to do with his underlying soft spot for his wife. After a great noisy cheer, Yui claimed her spot at the home plate.

"She sure missed Kyuuya," Yuri mused, digging a can of coffee out of the cooler. She popped the lid, but in fact looked more invested in the pink menace who was practicing her swing as Hinata jogged to the outfield.

"Hmm," said Ayato, partially agreeing but not quite.

Personally, he figured it was the present company making her happy right now. Otonashi had reclaimed his spot at the pitcher's mound, Yui was up to bat, and Hinata was standing in the outfield watching her. The only difference between this scene and the proposal that Otonashi and Hinata had told him about was that the fearsome so-called "Angel" now known as Kanade was standing close by as her catcher.

Of course, he had to admit there was something endearing about them reliving their Afterlife moment in their most cherished spot in this life. There was almost a magic to it.

"I miss Mizuzaka."

Ayato snapped to attention, focusing intently on Yuri. "You what?"

Did he hear that right?

"Noroi's nice," Yuri continued with a small shrug, absently stroking the can in her hands. "I feel safe there. It's just… Mizuzaka had its charms."

"What do you miss about it?" he asked. Any chance to dig into her subconscious he would take, however small it was.

"Well, for starters…" She guzzled her drink, then crushed it in her fist. "Its coffee tastes better."

He found himself smirking as she licked her lips critically. Even if he wasn't already aware of his coffee-brewing talents, he would have been able to see that now. Licking her lips after drinking coffee was a habit she'd had as long as he'd known her. If she did it slowly, she was savoring the taste. If it was only a brief flick of her tongue, the coffee was good but she just wanted it off the corners of her mouth.

"And," Yuri said, setting the drink on the bleacher behind her, "the storms are way more intense."

"They were intense," Ayato corrected. Despite himself, he grinned before adding, "And fun."

She threw him a strange look, and at once Otonashi's stern warning flashed through his mind. He cleared his throat and tried to look innocent, hoping his innuendo had been subtle enough that she didn't notice.

"Oh, right. Mizuzaka's going through a dry spell too." Ayato relaxed, but made a small chagrined sound of confirmation. "That's depressing."

You have no idea, he wanted to agree with her. On second thought, yes she did. But could she possibly imagine how unbearably dreary Mizuzaka had been, without… well… how miserable it had been these past few months?

Granted, it was sunny now and he didn't mind. He chanced a look at her out of the corner of his eye.

The weather hadn't improved, but his company certainly had.

"Okay, so Mizuzaka may not have storms right now," Yuri said, after Kanade called Yui's second strike – second? Perhaps they hadn't been listening. At least, he wasn't. Stretching her legs out a little, Yuri kicked back against the bleacher behind her. "But it does have my friend Ryou."

"And me," Ayato prodded with a smirk, confidently tossing his hair for good measure.

A pointed silence fell, and when he turned his head to gauge her reaction, she was squinting at him. What, no girlish sputtering? No pretty little blush rouging her cheeks? Her eyes were narrowed, but he swore he saw a corner of her mouth threaten to curve upwards. She was reading him again.

"You sure do flirt with me a lot," she said, raising her eyebrows. "For an ex-husband."

Ayato was floored. He couldn't seem to close his mouth. "Wh—I—"

"I get it. It's the amnesia, right?" Yuri fixed her gaze directly on his; he could feel her analyzing him. "You're teasing me, and it's like you're including me on this inside joke I know nothing about. I'm just," she paused, before finishing with a light, wry laugh, "trying to understand your motive here."

To be honest, he hadn't really thought about it. Other than making coffee for her this morning – which was purely experimental – most of these things just slipped out. Being with her again, on an operation like this, he felt lighter than he had in a long time. Playful, even. And maybe part of it was her amnesia. Making light of it made him feel better. It was like the fake-flirting they did in high school before he realized he had a crush. He couldn't help himself, teasing her when she was like this. Flustering her.

The voice in the back of his head murmured a reminder he hadn't heard since his school days:

"The thing about fake-flirting is that if it's unplanned, it isn't fake."

He thought back to the first time he told himself that. They were sitting just like this in their empty club room, and she was looking at him the exact same way she was now. A skeptical, curious twinkle in her eyes, her lips pursed in concealed amusement.

He averted his eyes, willing the warmth in his face to fade. "It's a coping mechanism, I suppose," he said, watching Yui and Hinata tag each other out. He must have missed the third strike too. "As long as you don't remember me, I might as well have fun with it."

"Hmm." A hesitant but acknowledging noise. She quieted then, a wise choice since she likely wouldn't be heard over Yui yelling some sort of threat about Hinata and foul balls as she moved to the outfield. Hinata shot back with a crack about her "killer guillotine" soccer move.

Then, after Otonashi ended the exchange with a suggestion that nobody try to kill each other in this life, Yuri spoke again.

"I think I can accept that. If you answer just one more question for me." When Ayato turned slightly and nodded for her to go on, she narrowed her eyes again. "What made us get a divorce?"

Ayato faltered with a slight grimace. For some reason, the prospect of answering that question unsettled him.

He was able to tell Otonashi without hesitation, but… telling Yuri herself? That it was divorce at first sight? What would she make of that? She might decide that if the Afterlife memories of him were so divorce-worthy, those memories weren't worth bringing back. And that he couldn't be trusted.

"Things sort of fell apart after the concert," said Ayato. That was the safest, truest explanation. "It was a mutual decision, but you didn't really want to see me after that."

"Oh." Yuri frowned, suddenly looking lightyears away. She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "There was just… a lot going on in my head back then. Everything got so… complicated, and so simple."

"Same here." Ayato chuckled, offering her a sympathetic half-smile. "An extra lifetime and a half… it's hard to juggle that, an identity crisis, and a marriage at the same time."

Another hum from Yuri, this one a bit more listless. "Otonashi and Kanade did it."

"We don't exactly have the same history between us." Seven years in this life was something, but it wasn't like it could ever compare to a love that originated in the Afterlife. Kanade and Otonashi were soulmates – heartmates, even. He and Yuri were… he didn't know what they were.

How could he know what they were when sometimes he didn't even know who they were?

"Now I have a question for you," he said. He was glad she hadn't pressed further about the divorce, but something else had been bugging him for a while.

"What's that?"

"Back at Hinata's old house, his brother suggested you were taken. By me." He saw her lips press into a tentative line, and her focus on the field heighten. "Why didn't you deny it?"

Closing her eyes, Yuri gave a noncommittal shrug. "I dunno, I didn't want him to hit on me," she said. Her features twisted in disgust. "Hinata's brother, trying to get with me? How creepy is that?"

Ayato laughed. He couldn't blame her there. In fact, he was rather pleased with her reasoning. "So instead, you'd rather be my wife?"

"Your girlfriend!" Yuri corrected, feigning indignation with a sneer. Turning to him, she waved her left hand in front of his face. "Please. He didn't see a ring on this finger."

He grinned back at her – well, well, well, look who's flirting now! –until something about her words resonated with him.

"Oh, right…!"

His eyes widening with realization, he immediately patted his jacket and pants pockets until he felt what he was looking for. He fished the band out of his right pants pocket and held it up for display. He could say one thing about sunny days – they gave the emeralds and amethysts an attractive glow.

Yuri stared at the ring, then at him.

"I didn't mean it literally," she said, smirking, but he caught her regarding the ring with noticeable interest. Not even the smack of a baseball against the core of the bat broke her focus. "You aren't proposing, are you? I've got a few reservations about marrying someone I just met."

"I'm not proposing, Yuri," he said with a scoff. "But it is your old engagement ring. I thought it might at least stir something in you."

He twisted it around in his fingers, as if showcasing it. Recognition didn't flicker in her eyes, but curiosity did.

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Yuri reached out and plucked the ring from his fingertips. Before he'd even processed its absence, she slipped the golden band easily onto her left ring finger and held out her hand to model it properly in the sunlight.

The ring fit like a glove, like a glass slipper finding its princess. The band hugged her skin, the amethysts matched her hair, the emeralds brought out her eyes. It looked as perfect on her finger as it did the night he asked her to marry him. Ayato's heart thudded in his chest as he gazed at her in astonishment.

It looked the same. It felt the same. It was the same – he knew that now. It had only ever been her. All this time, he had only been fooling himself. He'd been an absolute idiot, completely and utterly ridiculous, to think – to cling to the thought – that she wasn't the woman this ring had been meant for.

She was Yuri Nakamura, and he loved her. God, how he still loved her.

And she didn't remember a damn thing about him.

"Alright, so I'll say one thing about you." Ayato glanced up sharply, catching Yuri's grin. "You at least know my ring size."

Looking at her now, it felt like he'd been transported back in time. To eight years ago when he first glanced up into familiar sea-green eyes in this life and wondered how he knew them. To six months ago, when he stared down into those same beautiful eyes and remembered why. To just this moment, when Ayato Naoi was seeing Yuri Nakamura for the first time for the third time in this life, and he couldn't for the life of him understand how he could have possibly been able to gaze into her eyes like this and not want to kiss her…

"What are you doing?"

Her naturally commanding voice splintered his train of thought and made him stop dead; he hadn't realized that he was leaning into her like this. He'd brought his face dangerously close to hers, but far away enough to see tickled bemusement crinkling her features. He found himself, embarrassingly, a bit tongue-tied.

Yuri offered him a hesitant grin, but it wavered with uncertainty. "What, were you trying to hypnotize me?" Her clipped tone had an edge of warning in it.

Pulling back in surprise, Ayato stared at her dumbfounded with his mouth somewhat agape. To be honest he wasn't sure what to make of the accusation. He'd leaned in, completely lost in her eyes, and she thought he was trying to hypnotize her?

His stomach sank. Apparently she had forgotten his newfound rule: he didn't hypnotize people who didn't trust him.

She was still observing him warily, so he opened his mouth again to defend himself and put her mind at ease. But words failed — and a piercing crack rang out, ball meeting bat with a heavy smack that made them jolt.

"YUI, LOOK OUT!" Hinata and Otonashi shouted.

Out in the field Yui let out a shrill scream, directly in the foul ball's trajectory but too frozen in fear to flee. She threw her arms up in a vain attempt to shield her face but the blow was inevitable and Ayato almost didn't want to watch but he couldn't look away. It was like a car crash in slow motion, but it was coming.

And then something else was coming. Whistling through the trees and across the diamond faster than the baseball itself, barely touching the ground but kicking up a cloud of dust like Ayato had only ever seen once before out the student council window on a dark night. The figure shot across the field so fast he swore it broke the sound barrier and sent everyone's hair whipping around everywhere. Everything had gone from slow-motion to a dizzying blur of navy and dark blue, and Ayato barely had time to rub his eyes as the human jetliner roared past.

There was the harsh sound of skidding against dirt, a peculiar thunk, then all was silence. Flinching, Yui kept her semi-fetal position, but peeked out through her hands with a small, puzzled squeak. For the sickening blow had not come to her head. The ball had been intercepted.

When the figure stilled, the group breathed a collective gasp. It couldn't be…

Towering in front of her protectively, the savior stood with one arm folded across her front, clutching the foul ball in her other painstakingly wrist-guarded hand. Her long navy hair was still fluttering in the remnants of her own breeze. Her ruby eyes narrowed as she took in her spectators, but she particularly focused on Hinata, who had moved a few feet closer toward Yui in the chaos.

"I feel a strange sense of déjà vu," she said solemnly. Her gaze flicked to Yui behind her (who had unfurled and was standing stock still, mouthing the woman's name in disbelief), then back to Hinata. "After all these years, you two are still very dangerous together."

"Shiina…" Hinata took a few hesitant steps toward her. "You remember us, then?"

She looked perplexed and a little surprised at the question. "Of course I do. You two lived here, you went to my school. Three times now, I've had to save her."

It was too cryptic; she always had been. Otonashi moved closer too, scratching his head and coming up next to Hinata.

"But wait," he said, sounding unsure but hopeful, "do you remember — all of us?"

This earned him a curious glance from Shiina; a double-take, even. She peered over his shoulder at Kanade, who stared unblinkingly back at her. Then her gaze swept over to the bleachers, and Ayato saw her eyes widen ever so slightly upon noticing Yuri. Then she looked away, straightening her stance.

"I don't know your names. No." She shook her head, dropping the baseball from her grip so she could cross her arms. "I've lived my entire life in Kyuuya and I don't believe I've ever met some of you."

Otonashi seemed to deflate, as did Hinata and Yui. Personally, Ayato didn't see why they were so surprised. He couldn't picture the cool, isolated Shiina with technology; of course she hadn't heard the song.

"But," Shiina paused with a raised eyebrow, picking up on the group's chagrin, "maybe in… another life?"

Everyone on the field brightened at once. Beaming like the ray of sunshine his name described him to be, Hinata turned to Ayato with a wink and a thumbs up.

"I believe that's my cue," Ayato said, feeling smug as he stood up. He made a swift descent from the bleachers and sauntered over to the group that had collected in center field, with Shiina in the very middle.

Confident that Yuri was watching from somewhere behind him, he locked eyes with Shiina. Her stance was defensive, but past that, he saw curiosity.

"With your permission," he said courteously, "I'd like to help you remember that life."

Shiina stared him down quite intensely. Though he had never been deterred by them, her intimidation tactics always had impressed him. Finally, looking rather unperturbed, she gave him an affirming nod.

"Very well then. How are you going to do that?"

He merely grinned. It was time for him to do what he did best.

"Just look into my eyes," said Ayato, the telltale buzz in his head becoming a mere tingle, "and trust me."

Shiina's eyes opened, and so did her mind.


A/N: So ends the Shiina arc! I hope to pick this back up in mid-October, school permitting, which according to my Heartbreak Cure timeline would be the day after Iwasawa's infamous concert. The next half of this "season" will have more fluff, more changes, and more Battlefront bonding.

Thanks for following along this summer! I leave you with a little taste of what's to come.


Preview:

"You proposed to an amnesiac?"

"It wouldn't be the first time he manipulated her memories."

"I'm just wondering what else happened between us that you haven't told me."

"Something hacked her brain and rewrote her life God guy free."

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Do you have anything similar to that, but with long lost friends?"

"And what if I want to find him?"

"Naoi, your vote?"

[Chapter 16]: Connections.