"Hiura!" Asuto's shout reaches Ootani, who begins taking the stairs three at a time when she hears it, only to find a half-conscious Hiura, a worried Asuto, and a stressed Tatsuya.

"What happened?"

"Hiura had a fever when he woke up," Asuto explains. "He insisted on getting up anyways, so I stuck next to him in case he needed help."

"Kazemaru has a fever too. He couldn't even get up today. Something might be going around."

"I-I'll get fever meds for both of them," Ootani stammers, and runs back downstairs, completely forgetting why she'd come up in the first place, while Tatsuya helps Asuto carry Hiura back to his room.

"I can walk," Hiura protests faintly, reminding Tatsuya of Kazemaru.

"Can you now." Tatsuya raises an eyebrow. "Then what was that just now?"

Hiura looks away from him, pouting. They pass Tatsuya's open door, and Tatsuya glances at it, wondering if it would be okay to leave them and check on Kazemaru.

"Hey, Asuto, do you mind-"

"Go check on him! I can handle Hiura." Asuto flashes a sunny smile.

"O-okay…" Tatsuya absently wonders how Asuto could read him so easily, but drops the thought a second later when he steps into his room.

Still a fever. Tatsuya sits down on his own bed across the room, idly watching Kazemaru.

"Hiroto…?" Kazemaru's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. The other stares at him with dazed eyes. Tatsuya looks away first.

"...I'm not Hiroto. He's probably downstairs by now."

A faint frown crosses Kazemaru's face. "You're… Hiroto…"

"I'm Tatsuya."

"No… you're Hiroto…"

Tatsuya gives up. Arguing with a feverish and absurdly stubborn Kazemaru is not a fun way to pass the day.

Somebody knocks, and Tatsuya calls, "Come in." Anna peeks inside.

"I brought some food for you two, and medicine. Ootani told me you needed it."

Kazemaru watches her carefully. As Anna hands the tray to Tatsuya, he dares to ask, "Who are you?"

If Anna had still been holding the tray, she would've dropped it. "I-I'm still Mikado Anna, Kazemaru-san…" When Kazemaru shows no signs of recognition, her shoulders slump. "I'm one of the managers…"

"One of the managers..." Kazemaru blinks, and frowns again, trying to remember. "What about… Fuyuka? What happened to her…? Natsumi?"

Poor Anna looks hopelessly confused.

"You should rest, Kazemaru, I think that's the fever talking," Tatsuya says briskly as Anna quietly escapes.

"What…? Hiroto, she's not a manager…"

"Anna is definitely a manager," Tatsuya promises.

Kazemaru stares at him suspiciously.

"She's a manager," Tatsuya repeats, slightly exasperated. Kazemaru narrows his eyes, and Tatsuya narrows them back. Another brief staring contest occurs, before Kazemaru huffs and rolls over, going back to sleep.

And only then does Tatsuya realize he's forgotten to make Kazemaru take the fever medicine Anna had delivered.

Ten minutes and an extremely grumpy, uncooperative Kazemaru later, Endou arrives to rescue him.

"You should take a break. You realize you've been in here all morning."

"But I-"

"If you end up getting sick too, that's no good." Endou kicks him out before he can protest that argument, and Tatsuya obediently stays out of the room, glancing over his shoulder once before heading down the hall to Hiura's room.

Being sick makes Hiura milder and quieter, preferring to read or talk with Asuto and Mansaku instead of sleeping. Kazemaru, on the other hand, is very unhappy about being trapped in bed and, when he has energy, very vocal about his displeasure, but for the most part, he seems too tired to snap at Tatsuya, despite having a strange insistence on calling him "Hiroto," even after his fever finally begins to abate.

What's most worrying, perhaps, is that Kazemaru doesn't seem to recognize several members of Inazuma Japan. Case in point: when Kidou comes to visit a few days later, Haizaki trailing him, Kazemaru takes one look at Haizaki and tilts his head. "Kidou, who is that?"

"Who, Haizaki?"

Kazemaru looks puzzled. "Which school is he from...?"

Haizaki's face shows surprise for a second. Kidou, however, maintains a perfect poker face. Tatsuya is willing to bet that it won't change this entire conversation, as insane as he can already tell it's going to be. "Kazemaru, you already know Haizaki."

"No, I don't."

"You definitely met each other while you were playing for Teikoku, because Teikoku played Seishou Gakuen, and Haizaki is also on Inazuma Japan."

"...I played for Teikoku…?" Kazemaru looks at Tatsuya uncertainly, who is nodding, trying to confirm it. "When did this happen…?"

"Wait-" Haizaki bursts out, and his fists are clenched. Kazemaru stares at him uneasily as Haizaki leans forward. "Are you seriously telling us you don't remember this?"

"You played for Teikoku from when Raimon won the Football Frontier and was broken up to become a reinforcement committee up until just before Inazuma Japan was formed," Kidou replies evenly.

"That's… not right…" Kazemaru pales, looking more confused than ever. "Raimon wasn't disbanded, I left, before Inazuma Japan, I played for Dark Emperors…" He winces at the name, and just the words on his lips trigger a deluge of memories. He lets out a slow breath and a tiny voice in his head whispers, You betrayed them- but another part of him hisses that it can't be real - and he can't decide which to listen to. Neither? "Wh… where's Sakuma? He'll confirm that I didn't play for Teikoku…"

Tatsuya shares a glance with Kidou, and both can tell that neither knows what Kazemaru's talking about at all. "Sakuma's back at Teikoku, like always."

"Wait, no… Sakuma's part of Inazuma Japan… isn't he?" Kazemaru searches their faces for confirmation. "Isn't he?"

"Sakuma was a candidate, but he wasn't chosen."

"When did H… Haizaki get chosen for Inazuma Japan…?"

"At the same time as you." Kidou's frown is barely perceptible. "Kazemaru, you really don't remember?"

Kazemaru hunches over, averting his gaze. "This is all wrong…"