Chapter 24 / Everlasting Memories


The flames flickered, dwindling in the night's embrace, and everyone had been asleep underneath the moonlight.

Sakura transformed into her filolial form, letting Motoyasu sink himself in for warmth. Raphtalia rested inside of the carriage while Eclair took herself into one of the sleeping bags with her sword nearby, just in case of emergencies. Ren was further away from the camp, sitting against a tree as he nodded off.

This was the scene that Naofumi groggily came to when he woke up in the middle of the night. It wasn't as if he couldn't sleep well, far from it, but as he was about to roll over to sleep again, he noticed that there was someone missing from the group.

Naofumi flung himself upright with his head darting around the darkness with scrunched eyebrows. Everyone else had been sound asleep, so he tried to call out without waking them up.

"Itsuki? Hey, Itsuki?"

There was no response.

His friend was supposed to be on night duty, keeping watch for everyone, so that they could sleep without any worries. Although the [Alert Shield] skill from Naofumi's [Two-Headed Dog Shield] could theoretically wake him up from any of the obvious threats, it wasn't a complete failsafe.

If there was any sort of problem, it would have taken a mere scream or shout to wake everyone else up, but that wasn't the case here. It was as if Itsuki had gone off by himself and being the concerned friend that he was, he was thinking of waking the others up to alert them of the disappearance.

If there was anybody that could track Itsuki down, it would have been Ren. If Itsuki had confidence earlier today that he could follow Ren, the inverse might have been the same.

However, Naofumi caught a glimpse of a few footsteps heading off into a certain direction.

If he remembered correctly, it was the same direction as to where Ren and Itsuki went off to after the sparring match. Two sets of footprints heading forwards and then two sets of footprints heading back, but there was an extra set of footprints that led away from the camp again.

Getting up from his sleeping bag, he quietly followed the tracks through the forest.

It didn't take too long for him to find himself near a cliffside of the forest. Sitting on top of a small rock, Itsuki had his legs crossed together as he looked upwards to the night's beautiful skies. It looked as if he shouldn't be interrupted, but it didn't change the fact that Itsuki was skipping on his job.

"I thought you were supposed to be watching over us."

"O-oh, crap…" Itsuki meekly turned around to the sound of Naofumi's displeased tone. "I didn't think you would wake up around this time."

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought about coming here to see the stars again while I was on night duty, that's all. There hadn't been any monster attacks recently while we slept, so I thought it might have been safe for me to head out here for a few minutes…"

"You just got here?"

"About five minutes ago…" Itsuki sighed. "I thought I would stay here for a bit longer before heading back. The trees make it difficult back at the camp to have a vision of the stars above."

"Don't you think that was a little dangerous? Patterns don't always retain themselves over the course of time, so you could have accidentally left us in that situation."

"Between [Alert Shield] and Ren's light sleeping, I think I could spare ten minutes away from the camp to relax a bit." Naofumi snorted a little at Itsuki's remark, being able to confirm what he previously assumed, as his friend continued. "Maybe it's a bit selfish of me, but I wanted to see the stars from this location again. I found Ren here and after that, I couldn't really get this place out of my head."

"This place? I mean, I knew you guys liked stargazing when you were younger, but that's pretty much the extent of what I know. Couldn't you do some stargazing when you aren't the only one alone? At the very least, you could have woken someone else up to take over for you."

"I suppose in retrospect, that would have been the right thing to do…"

Itsuki chuckled at the possibility.

"Did you wake anyone up to take over for me before you headed off? Or did you keep them asleep, thinking you would only be gone for a little while before returning with me?"

Naofumi bit on his lips from the cheeky response.

"Fair enough."

Itsuki looked over his shoulder to give a playful smile, catching Naofumi in those crosshairs.

"Do you want to spend a bit more time here? Now that I'm awake, I can take over your night watch shift for you." Naofumi glanced up to the skies, trying to see the same mesmerizing sights as Itsuki, but he wasn't much of a stargazer in the first place to appreciate any of it. "I mean, you could simply watch the night skies some other time."

"Perhaps, but it won't feel the same. This particular location on the cliffside reminded Ren and I about the place we used to visit to watch stars when we were children. I guess you can say I wasn't really staying here to look at the stars, but to remember the memories from my childhood. Back then, I would always try to find shooting stars with Ren, all in the hopes to make a wish to become a hero of justice."

"A hero of justice?"

Naofumi instinctively held onto the shield, gripping tightly around his arm.

"I guess I got your wish."

"I haven't done anything that would validate my title yet. If I can take down the villains of this world, then I'd finally be able to become that hero of justice that I've been striving to become. I want to punish the evil that suppresses the innocent and given the situation we're in, I'd say there's plenty of it."

Although Itsuki talked about it occasionally and Naofumi usually tried to tune it out, he never really took the time to consider the driving force of Itsuki's desire.

"Hey, Itsuki? Why do you want to be a hero of justice? Why do you want to protect the innocent from evil so much?" There was a bit of silence before Naofumi could realize how his second question sounded. "Uh, wait. That came out a bit wrong, but…"

"No, I understand what you're trying to ask."

Itsuki sighed heavily, not from the question itself or a dismissal of those questions. It was as if Itsuki had relapsed on the possible response and found it difficult to put into words. If that had been the case, Naofumi didn't want to overstep his boundaries. As Itsuki kept his gaze up to the skies, Naofumi tried to shift the question back into reverse, but his friend responded before he could act.

"Because I know how it feels to be on that side. I was bullied when I was a kid and I can tell you that it wasn't a great time. It was one of the hardest parts of my life."

"If you don't want to talk about it, you can leave it there."

"What if I do want to talk about it? What do we do then?" The gentle wind blew past, rustling Itsuki's hair a bit as he turned to Naofumi with a gentle smile. His golden eyes held onto a distant voice for themselves. "You asked about why I wanted to be a hero. That's the short answer."

"Wait, but…" With the gears turning, Naofumi couldn't help himself to inquire a bit more about the circumstances. "Weren't you childhood friends with Ren? Does he know about it?"

"Know about it?" Itsuki chuckled amusingly after repeating Naofumi's question. "Ren is the entire reason why I wanted to become a hero of justice in the first place. Ren was directly involved in helping me. If he hadn't been around, maybe I wouldn't be here either. Maybe I wouldn't have been summoned into this world. I would never even have met you or Motoyasu. "

Taken by surprise, Naofumi felt like he could only blink as a response. Ren was the last person that he could imagine being affiliated with any notion of idealistic heroism and justice. Not that he was saying that Ren was a bad person, but compared to how much Itsuki spoke about justice compared to Ren's non-existence dialogue about it, the disparity couldn't be any larger.

"I wasn't really expecting that."

"I didn't think you would."

Itsuki stepped off the rock, standing back up.

"If you want, we can return back to the camp. Maybe the short answers aren't exactly fulfilling for you. I'll tell you the full story of why I want to be a hero of justice once we get back, mostly because it's a bit of a long one…"

"If you're fine with it. Now that you mentioned that Ren was the reason why you wanted to be a hero, you've really grabbed onto my curiosity, much to the better of me."

"There's nothing wrong with trying to get to know your friends a bit more."

Now that Itsuki mentioned it, he didn't really know much about their past.

Itsuki started walking back to the camp, as did Naofumi. They came back the way that they came through, making their way over where everyone else had been still sleeping peacefully. With the only movements being the flickering flames in the middle, Itsuki took a seat across from the fire and prompted Naofumi to sit next to him.

He leaned forwards, gazing upon the flame. It was gently reflected in his eyes.

"I should probably start at the very beginning of it all…"

-/IV/-

When he was young, his parents thought he was naturally gifted. From the first instance of touching a musical instrument, it was as if he could easily sight read the music. Without much practice, he was able to play many of the difficult compositions available to him, stirring up melodies like it hadn't been a problem for him. For the child, it merely felt instinctive to understand music.

Although it started out with a simple piano, his parents eventually discovered that their child had an aptitude to play other instruments as well. From flutes to guitars, drums to saxophone, everything he picked up could be learned within the day or even perhaps the hour itself. It was to the extent to which one could mistake that he had known how to play that particular instrument for a while.

His brain certainly worked differently from other kids his age. While he showed off his skill, he was constantly showered with praise. Even his peers, neighbors and classmates, were struck with wonder and awe at the unreal talent of this young child, but that caused unhealthy thoughts to be born.

He was special. He was above everyone else.

His ego rose with the amount of attention he was getting, especially when he was admitted to a special arts academy for middle school. The child was thinking that more people would come to see how amazing his talent was, only for him to find that the type of attention awaiting for him had been not what he expected nor desired. Too much attention, especially for those who tried to flaunt it, would eventually bring about the wrong kind.

That was when he discovered the cost of trying to intentionally stand up front before the others, puffing out his chest as if he was better than them. It was impressive at first, but his classmates started to spite the child as he demanded more approval of his ability. Spoiled and misled into a supposed hierarchy, despite his grades not meeting the expected requirement of a student his age.

The more examinations he failed, the more he wanted to demonstrate his talent for the musical arts, but in turn allowed for the irritation of his classmates to grow. They didn't know much about his studies until one of them managed to catch a glimpse over the child's shoulder to see the truth for themselves. It was not merely a need for approval by itself, but also a desire to compensate.

And they found it hilarious and laughed behind the child's back, but it was aggravating that someone with poor grades was trying to step up to them. He would always rub his musical talent before them and one day, the glass finally cracked. A few of the students couldn't take it anymore and decided to take matters into their own hands.

"You really think you're still better than us!? Even when you can't even throw a punch back to us!? You're so pathetic, it's almost laughable!"

"No wonder he keeps trying to flaunt that skill of his! It's all he has!"

"What if we break those hands of his? He can't play instruments if he can't hold them!"

Two of his classmates grabbed onto his arms while another had been striking him with no space for hesitation. He genuinely wanted the victim to be hurt badly and even when he couldn't breath as if his lungs were collapsing on itself, they wouldn't move on until they were satisfied.

His punches were so strong, the attack caused his restrainers to slip on their grip, having the child fall onto the ground. The gravel pressed up against his back and his head, as if he was pushed down on a bed of nails. He wanted to stand back up, but a foot quickly flew over and pressed down against his wrist.

"Maybe if I break his hands, that would take that annoying voice of his away during class if he can't do the one thing he says he's good at anymore."

With a quick lift of his foot, it came back smashing down on the child's bone. It felt like it could shatter into a million pieces, but the attack wasn't done yet. One of the other classmates held down his movements by standing right on the palm of his hand while the other kept the child's shoulder from wriggling around. Once they were in position, the second attack slammed down.

And it simply kept going.

"Look at this loser! He's crying!"

With every stepping strike, it was as if his hand was screaming more and more, but that was simply the sound of his own child was trying to violently break free from the classmates' assault, but he wasn't strong enough to overtake them. In a three against one, it was almost impossible for the child to do so. All he could do was struggle meaninglessly as they did whatever they wanted to him.

At the end of it, the classmates finally let him go after attacking the same place for a minute straight. The child couldn't feel his hand anymore as he curled up on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. It hurt so much and they were laughing just as equally. They took his pain, using it for their amusement.

The child wasn't going to let those bullies get away with this.

Afterwards, he told his parents what happened and they followed up with a formal complaint, but the investigation returned that the bullies said that the child had hurt his hand during a game and kept blaming them, despite not having a direct influence of what happened. It was all false and the child kept making an uproar about their lies, but it kept spiraling downwards for him when everyone else in the class heard about what happened.

Their true colors showed, seeing it to be an opportunity to knock the self-interested child down a few pegs. They all supported the fabricated story of the assailants, whether directly or indirectly, causing the adults to wonder if the victim had been the one that was lying.

Even his parents started to believe those stories, thinking that he was only making it up to gain more attention for himself. He insisted that it wasn't a lie, but his desperation to get someone to believe him made him look more desperate for attention. No one that could stop it had bought it, leaving the bullies to do what they wanted.

He returned with a cast on his hand, but no one asked how he was.

It didn't stop at simply that. The incident must have flipped some type of switch inside of his bullies since it didn't stop at the physical beating. The bullying kept on going, all flying underneath the radar, showing just how much his peers hated him so much. The child that thought he was in the center of attention suddenly fell right down to being all alone.

It would always be framed as a group of adolescents having fun and while everyone else enjoyed that time, the child would always be the sacrifice for it. He hated it so much, but he didn't know what he could have done. The skill that he was praised about—that had now been the thing he despised the most, but it was the only reason why he was permitted to attend this academy in the first place.

His grades were dropping even lower, causing his parents to move him over to prep school, but none of that helped with his mental state. All he could think about was the unfairness he was delivered, but even he couldn't tell anymore. It was as the bullies told him. The child lost his own sense of self the moment he pushed himself away from the talent he prided himself now.

All he wanted was it to end. He didn't want any attention anymore.

His days of being bullied and his days of studying without results, he wanted it all to end.

Almost a year has passed since it started.

A rainy day happened upon the new school year, but he didn't want to return. He didn't want to go to that school anymore, but his parents thought it might have been for the best to stay there to help improve his talent, not knowing that he hadn't even touched his instruments the entire summer break.

As such, things went as he expected them to.

The child fell over on the ground, being soaked by the pelting rain. He could feel a scrape open up on his knee, but his pants had been so wet, he couldn't tell how much blood was coming out. All he could pay attention to was the bullies again, holding his lunch money.

"Why don't you beg for it back?"

With no able response, he was kicked backwards. The three kids laughed as they walked away, leaving the child underneath the rain. He would have ended up sick if he spent any more time there, but there was no energy left in his body. He didn't even want to go to class.

He decided it was worthless. He hated everyone there and likewise, they hated him. It was better for him to leave and once he got back on his feet, that was what he did. He threw his bag into a nearby trashcan and limped over to the school gates. The rain was getting heavier, but he didn't care.

Anywhere was better than that place of misery.

(Why did this happen to me…?)

The entire time, he kept asking that question.

(I thought I was supposed to be special, but… I guess no one cared…)

Warm tears dripped down from his eyes, stirring with the cold rain that had been the only thing that cared to get close to him. His nose sniffled, whether it was from his crying or his condition. Every step down the street had been heavy, but he didn't know where he was heading. Minutes might have passed or even an hour. Maybe even two or three. The child wasn't counting time, letting it slip right past him, but that went the same for his spatial recognition.

The child didn't realize that he was crossing a street until there was a loud noise.

He widened his eyes and turned to the noise, seeing a bright light getting closer and closer. A loud horn kept ringing in his ear, steadily becoming more deafening, as the rumbling of the ground shook beneath his feet. It took a moment for him to understand that he was going to die, being hit by a truck, but at the time, he thought it might have been for the best.

Maybe his classmates might have thought twice about what they did.

With a mere closing of his eyes, he decided to accept his fate, having the horn be the last thing he hears. If there was an afterlife, he hoped that he could finally be at peace. If there was a life after life, he hoped he could have a peaceful one. Even so, he was still scared and despite that, he held his breath.

Suddenly, his body was pulled out of the way.

He could feel a warm hand wrapped around his wrist at the last moment.

Falling away from the streets, he could feel his heart thumping through his ears. His body was shaking, but he looked up to figure out what happened during his shock. The truck drove right through where he was once standing, screeching the noise of its emergency brakes. It sweuved to the side a little, but it didn't crash anywhere, being able to stop right before it could hit a wall.

The child slowly looked between the truck and his own hands, trying to feel them for himself to see if he was still alive. As much as he doubted it, he could still feel his cold hands being pressed on by his thumb and hailed on by the raindrops. He didn't understand what had happened until he heard heavy breathing that was not of his own.

Right beside him, there had been another child around his own age. Those blue eyes brushed through his black hair, looking to see if anyone was injured by the potential incident. It didn't take any difficulties for the child to understand that he was saved by this boy, but questions started rising, especially when he had never seen this person before.

The words were merely choking up against the child's throat. Anything he wanted to say, it simply couldn't bring itself upwards. His head kept turning to where he was just standing with the realization sinking in that he was about to accept his death.

Now that he was out of the stray line, terror settled in as he started crying even more.

Now that he evaded it once like this, he wasn't sure if he could find any will to cross in an incident like that didn't know whether to thank this mysterious boy or not, but with a few sniffles being the only thing he could muster, he felt a pat on his back.

"... Uh-uhm." As if it was like he wasn't used to speaking, the boy spoke quietly, as the child looked over his shoulder with puffy eyes. "Are… Are you okay?"

"... I don't know."

"Is there anywhere that hurts?"

"... I don't know."

"O-oh, okay… I see…"

Being a bit tongue-tied by the meager response, the black-haired boy wasn't sure how to approach it until a sob emerged. "Why… did you save me…?"

"I mean, I couldn't just… stand there and watch you get hit, right?"

If the black-haired boy was one of his classmates, perhaps they would have simply done that, but it only built up the strangeness of this stranger in the child's eyes. The driver of the truck, after getting his bearings, hopped off to check up on what happened and while the child couldn't really speak much, the black-haired boy reassured that everything was alright.

Throughout all of that, the child could merely stare on the drowning pavement.

"It would… have been so easy if you didn't help me…"

The black-haired boy widened his eyes. "Wh-what are you saying?"

"You should have just left me. I… I didn't want to…"

"I don't understand." The child had been nudged lightly by the black-haired boy. "Nobody wants to die, right? Dying is scary. You can't do fun things anymore if you die."

"What fun things…?" The mental image of his untouched instruments faded into the harsh winds. "There's nothing left for me to have fun with."

"Are you being serious?" The nudge transformed into a tug as the black-haired boy practically forced the child back onto his feet. "C'mon! My house is close to here!"

Bewildered by the sudden transition, all the child could do was look at the black-haired boy. Disbelief stricken across his face, his mouth was left hanging open as the tears stopped to comprehend what was happening.

"Oh, uh…" The boy released his grip once he saw how he was forcing the child to come with him. He staggered a bit backwards, but kept himself close in case the child fell down, but his eyes panned away. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to… This is, uhm… I don't know what…" The boy grumbled to himself, scratching the back of his head.

"Why are you taking me to your house?"

"Because you're wrong! There are fun things! Like video games!"

The child stared at the boy blankly. He had seen his classmates bring handheld video games to class to play during the break, but the child was never close to anyone to be able to watch what they did on those machines. His parents never really brought him anything that resembled it, so all he could really do was hang his mouth open with no real knowledge as to what he should say.

However, there was a hand that was extended out to him.

Should he have taken it? At that moment, he wasn't so sure.

The child still didn't know how this person was and the rain made it a bit difficult to see his expression. He was even starting to get delusional, convincing himself that this stranger might turn his back like his classmates have done, so he simply wanted a clearer answer.

"Wh-why did you really save me?" he asked. "You're… hiding something else, right?"

Hearing the question again, the black-haired boy realized that the previous answer might not have gotten through to the broken child. However, it was still true. The black-haired boy did have another answer, but he felt a bit embarrassed to say it.

Faltering in his extended hand, he bit down on his lips.

"Well… A hero of justice helps save people, right?"

The child slowly widened his eyes as his tears stopped temporarily. He was trying to understand what the black-haired boy just said, glancing up to the flusterness.

"... Wh-what? Wait, who…are you?"

"Amaki," the black-haired boy answered shyly. "My name is Ren Amaki. And yours?"

"... Itsuki Kawasumi."

-/IV/-

"I didn't know you were bullied so much as a kid," Naofumi said, almost speechless to the heavy weight dropped onto his lap, "but if there was someone that kept bragging about their talents like that in my class…" He held his mouth, not knowing how to phrase it without hurting Itsuki's feelings.

"It's fine," he shrugged. "My parents and my peers really did spoil me, rotting my thoughts with the idea that I was someone special that deserved recognition. I don't hold anything against them though, mostly because they weren't intentionally trying to cause that to happen."

Itsuki's hand clenched tightly as he grunted.

"That doesn't change the fact that those guys went too far. Even when my ego got taken down and I became more quiet in class, they still kept bullying me. It was like they made it into their routine, regardless of how I changed. They weren't doing it because I was flaunting my talent, but they were bullying me because they enjoyed my suffering."

Itsuki grabbed a stray branch and tossed it into the fire for a kindle. However, he threw it much harder than needed, stabbing itself right into the middle as a low growling disappeared.

"I told you already," Naofumi said, patting his friend's back. "You don't need to continue if you're uncomfortable. I didn't really ask to inquire, you simply offered first."

"No, I'm fine. They're bad memories, but I feel at ease in telling you my story. This is the first time I've ever told someone about the bullying incident."

Naofumi's gaze slowly looked over to the sleeping Ren off to the side of the camp. His body was still leaning stiffly against the tree trunk, crossing his arms lazily along his lap. "I didn't actually think you were serious about Ren being your reason to be a hero. I thought it was something he inspired you to do, because he introduced you to stories about heroes of justice."

"That also happened, but I guess it's best to say the ideal was reinforced through that. He brought me over to his house later that day to dry up from the rain and to make sure none of us were getting sick. Afterwards, I was introduced to video games. In a way, it was what saved me."

"Ren doesn't sound like the same person as he was when he was younger."

"I guess people change with time," Itsuki laughed. His amusement dialed down quietly as he looked back to the childhood friend, sleeping quietly. "My parents were definitely mad about me skipping school like that and I never really told them what happened on that day, but every moment I had time to myself, I would head over to Ren's house to play."

"You made it sound like he was really shy and anxious all the time."

"Yeah, that was how I remember Ren during our first meeting. He was home-schooled as a kid, so he didn't get many opportunities to meet with other people his own age. I suppose that developed into that lack of confidence when he was a kid, fearing that he might say the wrong thing."

As Itsuki was talking about him, Ren's fingers moved a bit. It was as if speaking about him made him react negatively like that. Naofumi jokingly thought to himself that they should hold off on talking about Ren, or else he might wake up being annoyed.

"When we were children, Ren's eyes were usually bright when I came over to play with him. He was probably the only person, aside from my parents, that enjoyed my presence. In fact, maybe he was even more excited to see me, since everyday, he would show me something new. His family was rich, so he had quite the variety of video games stacked up on his shelf."

"Was that when you discovered Dimension Wave?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"Because Ren seemed to know a lot of Dimension Wave, but I never saw him borrow your copy. It probably meant that he already played it beforehand, right?"

Itsuki nodded. "Dimension Wave… Well, suppose it was the original game, Dimension Force, that was one of the games that showed me what a hero of justice was really like. They set off on their adventures, saving people from evil and defeating evil villains."

Naofumi knew he would understand his friend better if he had tried out the game, but despite liking a good story in his books, he never came around to playing Dimension Wave as Itsuki recommended a while ago. He did remember that the online reviews are critically acclaimed, so Itsuki wasn't the only person that loved it.

"In a way, I wanted there to be someone to save me like those heroes of justice saved innocent people. Even those who did wrong in their lives were rescued, showing that they were going to change thanks to what they went through. It hit too close to home, I guess."

"I suppose the bullying never stopped after meeting Ren."

"If only that was the case, it would have been so much easier, but over the next few months, Ren started to pick up on my suffering from school. He didn't have anything precise to bring it up, but even if he did, he wouldn't have known how to say it."

"That's a wonder," Naofumi chuckled. "Ren feels like the type of person that would say things straight to you without really pondering on it."

"Yeah, Ren became the person that his child version feared," Itsuki smirked. "Don't you notice that everytime Ren starts speaking to a stranger, it feels like he's coming off as a bit rude, cold, or blunt? Or even a combination of those?"

Naofumi recalled Ren's first encounter with his party members back in the throne room, as well as his first meeting with Erhart. Without thinking too much about it, he started even nodding along. In retrospect, it was incredibly difficult to argue otherwise.

"Anyways, that's when Ren had an idea to help me out without really pointing it out to me. After all, I haven't even managed the whole bullying problem to Ren at this point yet."

-/IV/-

"Where are we going?"

Itsuki followed Ren through a forest that was near Ren's house. When he arrived at Ren's house like usual, they played as per normal, but before he could go home, his friend told him to follow him for a little while. Their flashlights helped guide their way, but things were getting too dark for Itsuki's liking, so Itsuki was getting worried. However, Ren looked confident in his movements.

"To my secret place! I-I found it a while ago and I thought it might cheer you up…"

"A secret place?"

"It's just through here. It's a good place to relax by yourself… Though, I guess that isn't the case when… there's another person here…" Ren trailed off and stammered, trying to hold his own hands to calm his nerves. "I-I mean, it's still a good place to relax, even with another person!"

"What is it?"

"It's a surprise! Just wait a little longer."

"Couldn't we have gone when it was brighter?"

"It wouldn't be the same!"

It took a few minutes for Ren to find the place he was guiding Itsuki to. Even going off the beaten path, Itsuki was brought over to a cliffside with a railing on it. He glanced over to see the sight of the town, all for him to be amazed from. He had never seen things from that perspective before, having everything feel so small from that height. He knew that Ren's house was on top of a hill, but he didn't think there was something like this close by.

"Wow…"

And Ren was right when he said that it would have been better in the dark. The stars were beginning to emerge in the night, twirling in the backdrop of the city. Lights below illuminated the streets, while lights above scattered throughout the skies. It was absolutely breathtaking and Itsuki found himself frozen in awe for a few minutes, simply to take it all in.

"Amazing, right?"

"Yeah, it is…"

"Whenever I'm feeling down, I always come here to relax. Lately, I think you've been in the same mood, so I thought I would share this with you. Other than my parents, you're the first person I told about this place! No one else, other than my parents, knows!"

Itsuki walked up to the railing and held himself up to it. He couldn't take his eyes away from the scenery and Ren came up next to him, pointing up to the skies.

"Do you know about shooting stars?"

"Shooting stars?" Itsuki tilted his head. "What are they?"

"They're stars that fall from the skies!"

"Huh?" Itsuki flinched, being spooked. "Th-they do that? Isn't that dangerous?"

"They disappear before they can hit the ground."

"Oh, I… I guess that's good."

"It happens very rarely! It happens so rarely that people say that if you see one, you have to make a wish! I haven't been able to see one for myself, I want to! I have a wish I want to be granted!" Ren turned to Itsuki, laughing a bit. "Don't you have a wish you want to be granted?"

Itsuki thought about the circumstances he was experiencing at school. If there was something that could be wished away, it would have been all of that suffering. He wanted it to be all taken away from him, but the mere thought of that made him falter. It would have been nice for it to disappear, but if that happened, perhaps those who enjoyed the bullying would get away with it.

Would that have been something he could sleep soundly on?

He thought back to the games that he played at Ren's house and the stories that were foretold in them. It was where Ren got the notion of heroism and justice from, helping people out that needed them and as such, Itsuki adopted that perspective. Having those capable of evil be properly punished, rather than simply have the problems resolved and faded away in the wind…

He started to adore the protagonists and how valiant they were in their ideals, wishing that there would be someone like them to come save him from the bullying one day, but that was simply a fleeting dream. Defeating evil in a video game was easy, but it wasn't so simple in reality especially if the evil was directed to the person who desired it.

"Itsuki?"

Standing in silence, Ren called out to his friend.

"... Yeah. I have a wish I want."

"Then how about we try and find shooting stars every so often? It'll be fun!"

"Alright."

"Look, I even have a place over there where we can rest while looking for shooting stars." Ren pointed towards a nearby rock. It was big enough for the both of them to easily fit on. As Itsuki glanced over, Ren was already trying to tug him over to it. "C'mon, we can start today!"

Seeing his friend's excitement, Itsuki couldn't help himself to laugh a bit, genuinely. He didn't realize doing something like this would bring joy to his emotions, but perhaps it was because he was still having fun with his close friend.

"Are you going to wish to be a hero of justice if we find a shooting star?"

Ren suddenly asked that as sat down and were gazing up into the skies.

"Me? Being the hero?" Itsuki never even thought about being the hero himself. He always thought there would have been someone else that could save him. If he could have become one, it would have been nice, but he wasn't strong at all like those characters in those video games. "I… I don't know about that. I'm not sure if even a wish could fix that…"

"Isn't being a hero of justice cool and all? You can go kinda like…"

Ren hopped off the rock and pretended to act like he was one of the characters from the games they played together.

"I'll protect everyone from their pain, so that no one can suffer ever again! The only people that will face that cruel fate will be the evildoers who want to hurt others!" Ren grinned as he pumped his fist up. "Something along the lines of that?"

Itsuki's eyes sparkled as Ren recited the sentences.

It was almost as if he was really the person in that game.

"Wow, so cool!"

"I know, right!?" Ren extended his hand over to Itsuki. "Maybe you can play the hero for a bit and I can play the bad guy! I know you can be a hero of justice too, so you just have to do it!"

Itsuki shook his head. "I, uh, don't think I can pull it off…"

"Don't worry! As long as you have fun, right?"

Ren coughed to clear his throat once again before he struck a different pose, holding his hand to hide half his face. "Muhaha! No one can stop me! I'll conquer the world and keep everyone beneath my feet! Everyone will do what I say once my plan is complete!"

"You can't do that!" Itsuki said, trying to keep up with Ren's spontaneous acting. He leapt up on his feet, having the high ground on his friend. "I-I won't let—"

However, he got up too quickly and slipped on the rock. He fell backwards and braced for impact, but Ren acted just as fast and slid underneath his friend to catch him. A thud and a groan emerged and while Itsuki was about to apologize, Ren ended up laughing.

"I don't think heroes slip and fall like that…!"

"Yeah, I'm… I don't think I can be—"

"That just means you need more practice! If we try hard enough, maybe we can both be heroes of justice! We can both wish to be ourselves!"

"You really think so?"

"Of course!" Ren got up once Itsuki dusted himself off. Ren then extended his hand to pull Itsuki off the ground. "All you need to do is have strength! We can be stronger together! C'mon! Maybe we can even help out others in need as well!"

Little by little, Itsuki's encounter with Ren would change him for the better. He looked up to the cheerful friend, smiling at him as if he was telling him that everything was going to be okay. He grabbed onto his friend's hand, feeling the warmth against the cold life he once had, and we pulled up back onto his feet. Before he knew it, he had a smile on his face again.

A hope that he could grasp, seeing the light at the end of the darkest tunnel.

One day, perhaps he would be able to escape this hell of his.

And one day, maybe he could help others escape their own hell.

"Let's be heroes, Itsuki!"

-/IV/-

"You guys were so adorable back then," Naofumi said, smiling. "I would never have guessed that's how you decided to become a hero of justice."

"It was Ren's words that solidified my dreams." Itsuki leaned forwards to the fire, kindling it with a branch once more. "If Ren never said those words to invoke that hope inside my heart, I'd probably be fine with getting out of that bullying situation and that would be the end of that."

"You want to fight off villains and save the innocent because you were in their position of suffering yourself. After being propelled forwards by Ren's influence, that's how you were able to find that dream of yours."

Naofumi grasped his hands together.

"Were you able to fend off the bullying in the end?"

Itsuki gazed up into the night skies.

"I guess so. When I finally found the strength to pull myself out of the situation, it wasn't met very kindly. Ren did figure out what was going on and he didn't like any of it. It was because of him that the bullying stopped when he came by to confront them."

Itsuki smiled softly.

"I wanted to pass on what he did for me. Just as he saved me, I wanted to save others. I don't want anyone to go through what I went through."

There was still something bothering Naofumi about Itsuki's past. It hadn't been a concern beforehand, but as Itsuki talked more and more, the differences started to become more apparent.

"Ren was pretty cheerful when he was younger, wasn't he?"

"He was certainly shy at first, but it's just like nowadays. When you get to know him and become closer, he starts showing more of his actual personality. He feels more free, knowing that any of his social mistakes can be swept underneath the rug with friends."

"That wasn't what I was trying to get to."

"Hmm?" Itsuki tilted his head.

"The more you talk about Ren as a child, the more… I find it difficult that he was the person that helped stop the bullying, no offense meant. You said he was a shy person, right?"

"I'm not sure what you're trying to get at here…"

Naofumi pondered a bit, trying to phrase his curiosity.

"Was there something else that happened when you were kids?"

Itsuki stayed quiet for a bit, wondering what Naofumi could mean.

"I don't know if it's related to your question, but there's a time where Ren did change. When we were kids, it was after we accidentally came across a serial kill—"

"Don't you know it's bad manners to speak about someone behind their back?"

Both Itsuki and Naofumi jumped in their place as Ren's lackluster interruption scared them. They both turned around to see Ren, still resting in the sleeping position, with the exception that he had one eye open towards them. He looked a bit annoyed, growling a bit.

"O-oh, Ren! You're awake!?"

"Keep it down, Naofumi. Everyone else is still trying to sleep…" Ren grumbled as if he was like an old man. A sigh escaped him as he turned his dead-eye to Itsuki. "And you shouldn't be talking about me if I don't want others to know about it."

"Don't worry. Don't you trust Naofumi about your past?"

"It's not something I want anyone to know in particular…"

Ren turned his head away as Itsuki chuckled to himself.

"Ah, you're worried that I might go too deep into your chunni—"

A pebble flew right past Itsuki's face. Even though it wasn't meant to hit him, Itsuki still froze with a smile, slowly comprehending that his little joke stepped over a line or two. On the other side, Naofumi merely blinked in surprise, seeing the sweating reaction from Itsuki.

"Message received…"

Haphazardly, Itsuki shrugged. None of his gestures looked genuine, but Naofumi could tell that behind the whimsical attitude with his friend, he really did care, especially after knowing Itsuki's experiences when he was a kid. It looked more like Itsuki was having fun and if he looked at Ren, perhaps he was enjoying a bit of the banter as well.

"Anyways, I'll end things there, since you pretty much got your answer," Itsuki said to Naofumi. "You should go back to sleep. We still have to go through a few more towns before reaching the border, so we should probably get as much rest as we can."

"I'll take you up on that."

As Naofumi picked himself up to settle for the night again, he couldn't shake off what Itsuki was about to say. He couldn't exactly hear the end of it because of Ren's interruption, but it wasn't something he was going to be losing sleep over.

Sinking into the sleeping bag, Naofumi drifted off to sleep.

-/IV/-

"... Hey, Ren?"

"..."

"I know you're still awake. In fact, you woke up before Naofumi and I came back."

"..."

"You told me to not worry about what happened on that day we met that serial killer, but now that I'm thinking about it again, what exactly did happen on that day? I was unconscious for the majority of it and when I woke back up, it was at the hospital."

"Who knows? I don't really care about what happened that day, and neither should you. It's all in the past, regardless of what you want to see about it."

"Thinking back on it, that killer got the easy way out, being shot dead by the police and all. It got the bad guy off the streets and all, but it didn't feel right that he wasn't brought to justice beforehand. His own life was exchanged for many of them."

"Maybe. That's not our problem to think about."

"I know that, but since it crossed my mind, that's when you told me that I had to stop the bullying with my own two hands. I always thought it was a bit random how it came out, but—"

"I think you're reading too much into it. It was simply a realization that bad guys are only stopped with action, not wishes, after seeing the police deal with him. Leave me alone now, I need to sleep just as much as Naofumi here. It's a bit unfair that you're keeping me up."

"Right. Sorry."

As Ren got himself comfortable against the tree, Itsuki scratched his head in mindless thinking. He wanted to ask a bit more about it, but Ren always wanted to dodge his way out of the details concerning that incident. Though, it's not as if there was any meaning in doing so.

If Ren said to leave it alone, it probably meant that Ren knew just as much as Itsuki did. If not that, then… there was something Ren thought was unimportant for Itsuki to know. In either case, Itsuki merely, perhaps even blindly, trusted him on what he thought was best for the situation.

The night continued with the flickering flames, reflected in Itsuki's eyes.


[SKIT 099 : Things That Come Up]

[Naofumi] : "I feel bad that I never knew what you went through, Itsuki."
[Naofumi] : "All while you knew about my past."
[Itsuki] : "It was hard to avoid it. Your little brother comes to visit our apartment once in a while and after some time, it's a bit difficult to not hear some of the conversations that you have with him, especially since you don't really talk with him in your room, but rather in common space."
[Itsuki] : "There wasn't any opportunity for you to realize that there was anything going on in my past. That sort of thing doesn't come up often."
[Naofumi] : "It makes me wonder if Motoyasu has anything lurking in his past, but I suppose it would be rude of me to suddenly ask."
[Naofumi] : "Not that it would change anything, since Motoyasu would still be Motoyasu to me, regardless if I knew or not."
[Itsuki] : "Oh, but Motoyasu's past probably wouldn't be too interesting, considering his current mannerisms."
[Itsuki] : "If anything, I'm guessing his biggest problem might have been getting too popular with the girls that they would start fighting over him."
[Naofumi] : "Ha ha, I could definitely see that."