The school chimes rang through the building as afternoon-classes finally ended and many students cheered at the sound of their torment coming to a stop. The rain clouds that gathered at the start of the afternoon had accumulated again and began drizzling rain onto the streets of the of Mitakihara. Many students had to run out of the school with their bags above their heads to avoid the getting wet, while others waited for their parents to pick them up. Only a few had stayed and waited for the rain to stop.
In the school lobby, there were plenty of students standing around chatting to each other as Narita and Homura were waiting for the boys. Homura quietly sat down on a bench far located far from the people in lobby while Narita stood next to her with a few umbrellas in her hand. Smiling down on the timid girl, Narita spoke, "How are you feeling?"
"I-I'm fine," she replied, rubbing her hands together for warmth. The bag of files that she had brought with her to school this morning was sitting between her legs. The girl was visibly uncomfortable being surrounded by a handful of strangers, but she didn't fret and she kept her focus on the glass ceiling of the school building. Homura watched rainwater ran on the ceiling overhead as it didn't look like the rain was getting weaker or stronger.
In the back of Narita's mind, the school nurse was still pondering about that thing that black ooze earlier this afternoon. The mark on her finger was gone but it kept bothering her in the back of her head. Narita tried to keep the thought away, and unless she found more of whatever that was, taking care of Homura was what mattered right now, "If there's anything you need, just tell me. I'll be right beside you," Narita ran her hand through Homura's long, raven hair and smiled.
"O-Okay," Homura nodded like a listening child.
Minutes pass and the four boys seemed to be taking their time. Only until most of the other students had left, did they finally arrive. They walked down the spiral stairs in the middle of the large lobby and headed towards the two with their bags after Takuya had spotted them in the corner. All except Takuya and Tateyama look drained of their energy, and the boys' faces and uniforms were dirtied with what looked like cream and cake frosting. In Hideki's hand, there was a small, colorful box decorated with a small, red ribbon.
Narita placed the umbrellas down and Hideki placed the box in her hands, "What's this?"
"It's a cake!" Takuya chirped with enthusiasm.
"We – or I, actually – thought it would be a good idea to bake one for Akemi," Mamoru boasted, bringing an open hand to his chest.
"Actually, it was our idea," Hideki reminded him with a scoff, "We thought we'd make one for her, so we kinda borrowed what they had in the school's cafeteria," he scratched his cheek, wiping off some cream that was on his face and licking it off his fingers, "I just hope we don't get in trouble for that. We did leave a bit of mess. Or maybe a big one."
Sighing at the possibility of Minami scolding the boys again for another mess they made, Narita then chuckled at their generosity and thoughtfulness, "Thank you very much, boys, it's a nice gift. I'm sure she'll love it," she unzipped her handbag and placed it in a small compartment between some of her things. She turned to Homura, who was still staring up at the rain falling on the glass ceiling, "Homura, these will be the four boys that will take care of you when I'm not around. Why don't you greet them?"
The raven-haired girl quickly turned her gaze to them, a part of her face hiding slightly behind her bangs. Homura's held her hands to her chest, looking shy, and the girl did her best to voice an audible, clear greeting, "H-Hello."
Takuya gave an ear-to-ear smile and he skipped towards her to introduced himself, "Name's Takuya. Fujimaki Takuya! Nice to meet you!" he beamed, his radiant energy almost taking Homura off-guard as she looked at the other three.
Tateyama calmly gave her a nod of acknowledgement and stuffed his pockets with his hands. He covered up the side of his face that was hidden underneath his hair with a hand when he felt Homura trying to peer underneath them, "Tateyama. Ikezawa Tateyama. Pleased to meet you," his only visible eye stared off elsewhere as he voiced a blunt greeting.
Meanwhile, Mamoru had placed his bag down on the floor and outstretched his hand for a handshake with his other hand behind his back. He gave her his usual smug smile and formally introduced himself, "Tezuka Mamoru. A pleasure to meet you, Akemi. I hope we can all get used to each other soon enough."
The shy girl looked to Narita as a puzzled look came to her face and the older woman nodded as if she knew what Homura was asking without even saying anything. Hesitantly, Homura complied and shook hands with the green-haired boy before quickly retracting her hand and shifting her eyes to Hideki. He gave a friendly wave and a curly smile and Homura did the same, remembering him from what he did this afternoon. Her less timid reaction raised a few brows.
"Hakamichi Hideki. Well, call me 'Hideki' if you like, I don't really mind," his words earned a raise of a teasing stare from Mamoru and a giggle from Takuya. Hideki tried to keep his cocky smile from breaking and added, "Well. Enjoy the cake. I hope we can be friends," he let out a nervous laugh which made Homura chuckle for a moment. Hearing her like this made him feel a bit more happy instead of seeing her all scared and terrified.
"Now then," Mamoru fixed his collar and hustled his bag over his shoulder, "Shall we go? Tomura must be waiting for us at his school."
Out in the rainy streets, it was the usual way back home for the boys except that had one extra person with them. Rain drizzled down on them and trailed off the edges of their umbrellas as cars drove past them in a hurry to get home. Homura was quiet, still getting use to the presence of the boys. Behind her, Takuya and Mamoru were busy chatting about something while and Tateyama and Hideki were discussing about a competition arriving in a few weeks. Homura stood beside Narita as they walked and held onto her hands as they shared an umbrella.
The group entered a small part of the city that was located near the school. It was a small block with a selection of shops, bakeries, restaurants, in the middle was the park Mamoru and Takuya had said to have visited yesterday, and near it was the small-preschool that Tomura attended. In the distance, a grim-looking and abandoned opera house and the cemetery could be seen. They were located near the road that lead to their middle-school from the residential houses most students around here lived in.
They went to Tomura's school first, and inside the the clean, white halls of the preschool, the place was empty with only a few teachers here and there. All preschool students attended classes in the morning, but for Tomura, it was different. He and a few other disabled students were to go in the afternoon for classes that suited their disabilities and to avoid any possible discrimination and bullying from the other students. But today, Tomura had changed his mind on this.
Outside the principal's office, Homura and the boys were waiting with their dripping umbrellas beside them. Inside, Narita was busy discussing with Tomura and the School Principal.
"So, you've decided to take morning classes from now on?" asked the old, wrinkled principal, tapping his pen on the table. The man was a small, plump person who sat in his big chair and often gave small coughs between sentences. He had a few a canisters of medication on his table and a cup of steaming coffee, "What made you change your mind, Tomura? I heard no complaints on the classes' quality from any of the other students."
"I do not have complaints at all, sir. But, I don't want to be given special treatment anymore just because of my disabilities," Tomura explained in his usual mature voice with his chin raised high, "I would prefer to attend normal classes from now on. I never really needed the special ones, anyway. I only want to be given what I need, not what I want, Sir."
The principal smiled at his attitude and coughed into his fist. For a preschooler, Tomura was well-matured and prim, which was jarring considering his older brother's more active and messy attitude. The Principal looked to the woman sitting on a chair next to Tomura and inquired, "Well, Narita, as his guardian, is there anything you want to add?"
"Actually, no," she replied, patting the boy beside on the head, "I would be fine with him attending normal classes from now on. Makes it easier for me to send them all to school and if Tomura wants it, I don't mind at all," both her and Tomura bowed when the Principal ended the meeting and excused them. Narita stood up and helped Tomura with the door, "Thank you for your time, Sir."
"No. Thank you, Narita. It's been a while since you transferred to that fancy middle-school. We've been missing the way you'd treat the kids and their injuries, since you always had a way with them. Have a nice evening," the principal gave a small bow and turned his chair around to face the window behind him.
As Narita wheeled the boy out of the small office and into the white corridor, the boys were having a small chat with Homura. The creaking of Tomura's wheelchair attracted Homura's attention and she looked up at the young boy at her side. She stared at him and the stumps that were his legs for a few seconds before the young lad greeted her kindly, "Hello, Akemi. How are you?" He did not seem to mind her staring at all.
"This is Tomura, Takuya's younger brother," Narita introduced him to Homura with a hand gesture.
Standing up from her chair, Homura gave a quick nod that was a bit too fast as she greeted him. It was a bit too quiet to hear, but Tomura knew what the intent was and returned the greeting. Homura's face turned red when her stomach let out a loud, embarrassing grumble, drawing a chuckle from the young brunette, "Well, I think it's time for us to eat," Tomura said with a smile.
A few minutes later, the group had walked to a small diner in the corner of the block. It was the usual place for them to eat and it wasn't crowded like most restaurants as a bell above the doorway rang occasionally to signal a customer's arrival. On the counter, there was a small radio that filled the cozy atmosphere with the strumming of an acoustic guitar and the whistling of a woodland pipe. The group placed their dripping umbrellas near the doorway to dry and sat down on the wooden chairs at an empty table with their bags set aside.
Sitting on her righ, Hideki kicked his feet up in the air, placed them on the table and leaned against his chair, folding his arms around his back to relax. Across the table from Homura's seat, Tateyama had took out his laptop and typed away on it with Narita sitting on Homura's left. Further down the long table, Takuya was playing a simple game of tick-tack-toe in a notebook with Tomura as Mamoru watched the younger boy constantly outsmart his older brother who cried dramatically in anguish with each defeat, then laughed and continued with the next match.
"Can you boys please decide what you want to eat first before you play?" Narita asked in a deadpan tone as she was deciding what to order from the menu, "Don't blame me if I don't hear you or get your order."
"Please," Mamoru said, "Just the usual."
Narita sighed, flipping the pages of the menu in her hand, "It's like you boys eat only one type of food. That's not healthy of you want to stay fit, you know. Eat some vegetables, too, once in a while," she glanced over to Homura and saw her eyeing the colorful box of cake sitting on the table. She decided that Homura already knew what she wanted to eat and settled down the menu to call a waitress over.
Homura heard the sounds of footsteps behind her and looked to see a woman with long black hair heading towards them. She did not recognize her due to her loss of memory of course, but she was the same woman she had seen outside the school auditorium this morning. She still had that unusually happy smile plastered on her face when she went to them with a notepad and pen in hand.
"Welcome to the Shanghai, may I take your order?" she greeted them in a cheerful tone and looked up from her notepad to notice on who was she serving today, "Oh, Akira! So nice to see you!" she beamed and was about to hug the school nurse before stopping herself, realizing that she was at work right now.
"Hey Tsukii'," Narita handed her the menus when she was done reading and leaned back in her chair. She had took off her lab coat and placed it in her bag at her feet, revealing the suit she wore underneath, "Just get give us the usual for the boys and black coffee for me, please," she looked at the box of cake on the table and leaned forward to pass it to the waitress as well, "Oh, and would you mind serving this to this girl over here? Thanks."
"Of course, 'Rita!" she wrote down an extensive amount of food on her note pad and carefully took the cake box, "Is there anything else?"
"You mind handing me a newspaper?"
"Of course!" she closed her notepad, bowed and then looked over to Tateyama before leaving, "Tateyama, have you taken your medicine, yet?"
"Yes," he replied, almost groaning when he did, and Tsukuyo nodded once more before walking away. She didn't seem to notice to tone of his voice and merrily headed off to pass the orders to the kitchen.
Homura was curious about the two. They didn't really look related at all, but she chose not to ask anything about them and instead distracted herself by twiddling with her fingers. Looking up, Homura got a bit curious again and peered closely at Tateyama as he typed. She could notice the dark circles under his only visible eye and moved her gaze to the side of his face that was covered by his white hair. She managed to make out some trace of faint scarring underneath, but Tateyama seemed to have noticed her staring and covered the face with his hand again.
She looked away, voicing a small apology, but Tateyama wasn't offended.
"It's fine," he said, continuing to type away on his keyboard.
Beside Homura, Hideki nudged her in the arm and tried to wave off the concern she was showing, whispering, "Don't worry. He's used to people staring. Just try not to do it, alright? He has a bit of an issue with it along with some other stuff" his advice got a diligent nod in response, "Right. Try not to worry about him. He's more friendlier than he looks."
After a few minutes, Homura's cake was placed in front of her along with some canned soft drinks and a cup of coffee for Narita. She looked at the small desert placed on her table and felt her mouth water a bit. Homura gulped as it was small, pink, cake covered in with red frosting and cream. There was a strawberry placed on the top and the cake overall was a bit crudely-made. Although it felt... familiar to her, for some reason. The brown tea of Early Grey that was served with it only made it even more so. Homura ended up staring at the cake blankly for a few minutes because of this.
"Is something wrong?" Narita asked, sipping her coffee mug.
"N-No. Thank you for the food," she took up a metal teaspoon and took a small bite out of the cake. It was good, to be honest, but still lacked in some areas. She wasn't very picky when it came to food, so Homura savored every cream-filled bite in in her mouth and washed it down with some tea.
Hideki looked at her eat the small treat with a satisfied look on her face and asked, "How's the cake?"
"I-It's nice," she took another fast bite and ended up choking a bit. Narita calmly patted her on the back without looking as she read the newspaper.
"Slow down," Hideki advised, chuckling, and turned to Tateyama who was pretty much the only one at the table that wasn't talking. Mamoru and Takuya were having an energetic discussion about plastic models down the table, but Tateyama seemed to be busy with something on his laptop. He usually did end up talking with them when it came to that subject which was odd, "You're still working on that?"
Tateyama said nothing and instead gave a deep nod, his gaze fixed on his laptop monitor.
Curious, Homura slowly got up from her seat and sat beside Tateyama who didn't seem to mind her presence there. Hideki was busy checking out his music player to see Homura taking a small look at the laptop screen. Wondering what was so important, Homura saw some medical information mainly regarding something about the heart and cardiac problems. But what caught her attention was a picture of a young, happy Tateyama, standing between two adults in a small picture frame on the bottom right of the screen, "Are those your parents?" she asked with innocent curiosity.
"Yes," he paused before he answered, his serious tone preventing Homura from asking any other questions as she went back to her seat and cake.
With most of their talking now passed as their topics ran dry, food was finally served in a short amount of time as plates soon covered the table surface. A wide variety of meals were placed on the table, ranging from cuisine that looked western, middle-eastern and of course some local dishes. As the boys dug into their meals, Homura had already finished her cake, satisfied by its taste as she sipped her tea quietly like a timid mouse. Mamoru and Hideki were calmly eating their food in contrast to Tateyama and Takuya who wolfed down whatever was on their plate with reckless abandon.
"So, Akemi," Mamoru spoke up from his meal as he sat furthest from Homura. He set down his utensil to tent his fingers and place his elbows on the table, "Pardon me if I am intruding, but, is there anything you remember at all after your accident? Do you perhaps retain even a bit of your memory?"
"Ummm..." Homura played with her fingers and looked down on her empty plate, "I remember... having a promise... or something..."
Mamoru smiled with a bit of curiosity, "Can you remember what was it?"
"I... I don't know..." Homura looked lost as she tried to remember. Clutching one side of her head, she closed her eyes in an attempt to focus.
"Mamoru," Hideki cut in and swallowed his food, waving his spoon disapprovingly, "I don't think it's a good idea to ask if she couldn't remember anything-"
"Actually," Homura sat up straight, speaking clearly and more loudly. Her eyes were wide with realization as she seemed a bit happy as well, "I remember my parents as well... vaguely... but... I remember how they looked like," there was silence from the two, and Homura looked at them, "What's wrong?"
Hideki shook his head and went back to his meal, absentmindedly biting down on his fork, "Oh, it's nothing."
"It's nothing of your concern, Akemi," Mamoru wiped his mouth with a napkin and went back to his meal, too. They both were quick to skip around the question and shurg off her concerns. Wondering what was wrong with them, she looked at Narita for answers, but the school nurse seemed to be troubled by the contents newspaper she was reading, "Is there something wrong?"
Narita placed the newspaper on the table, turned it around and showed it to them, "It just says here that there's been reports of people going missing around the city. It's been going on for a while now. No evidence of anything at all. They just-"
"Disappeared," Mamoru finished her sentence with a grim tone and leaned forward on the table, "My father noticed this as well. He told me it's occurring in more than just Mitakihara, even in Kazamino city. A friend of his disappeared a few days ago, too."
"Creepy," Hideki commented with a shudder.
Again, the feeling of familiarity occurred in Homura. She rubbed her forehead and felt the scar that ran down the side of her head. It was the only thing that had not healed and remained from her accident. Running her fingers down on it, she looked at Tateyama again and saw him putting a business card in his pockets. Strange, Homura recognized those sort of things. Vaguely remembering what they were used for, it was something that tend to be used when people visited the graves of the deceased. Often people close to them and as a sign of respect.
Later, the rain outside had finally stopped and the boys had finished the remains of their meal. Homura was now waiting outside the diner for the rest in the wet streets, looking up at the sky with her bag slung over her shoulder. The others came out and Homura followed them as they all headed to the residential area, leaving the small block in a strange silence. But when they reached the part of the road that was near the cemetery and opera-house, the group came to a halt, to Homura's confusion.
"What are we doing here?" she asked the school nurse as they stood at the cemetery gates. The gates looked ominous and were tall as a long fence ran around the perimeter of the cemetery. She clung onto Narita's arm and kept a small distance from the looming gates, as they stood behind the boys that were waiting for Narita and Homura.
"Dammit, I forgot to tell you about this," Narita cursed under her breath. Seeing how Homura felt uneasy around her, she raised a hand and comforted her with a pat on the head, saying, "Homura, if you don't want to go in, I could stay here with you if you like it. It's just that... the boys visit the cemetery every month or so. It won't take long, don't worry."
Homura looked back at the cemetery and hesitated slightly from the thought of entering a place where the dead rested. But, in a way, she felt like she was being drawn to it by some force. The cemetery felt so familiar to her and the gates, although ominous, looked distinct. Her fingers fidgeted and Homura shook her head. She released her grip on Narita's arm and stepped towards the waiting boys, "I-It's alright. I'll come along. I... want to go inside."
Narita gave a nod of affirmation towards the boys and they headed in first. Opening the gates, Homura went in last with Narita staying behind at the gates. Homura looked back and saw her taking out a cigarette from her pockets before lighting it and inhaling in some of the smoke. She puffed it out and a small cloud of smoke billowed into the air. Homura looked ahead again followed the boys into the cemetery.
Like any ordinary cemetery in Japan, rows and rows of headstones were everywhere as the sunset's light reflected off their marble surfaces. Plants surrounding the gravestones had been watered well by the cemetery caretakers and the shrine built nearby had its lanterns dimly lit and shaking from an approaching gust of wind. It was both an eerie and calm place to be in as this was the place where people came to rest once they had finally passed on. Either from a tragic accident, or by old age, all came to be placed here after their remains had been cremated.
Homura felt like she had been here before. She looked at the rows of gravestones around her as she walked, each bearing the ashes of the deceased with pictures of them sitting next to offerings and other forms of respect placed by their loved ones. Some had been clearly cleaned by their visitors and made sure no dust sat on the memorials of the deceased. The flowers and other forms of lush greenery were plentiful, but did nothing to ease the gloomy atmosphere of the cemetery.
The boys were silent, no sound was made except for the creaking sound of Tomura's wheelchair and their shoes stepping on wet grass and soil. Walking ahead, the boys then split into their own separate paths, heading for specific gravestones as Homura watched before exploring the cemetery by herself out of sheer curiosity. She paced between the rows of headstones, looking at the offerings that had been put on each of them. Some gravestones even had a small PC installed that showed pictures and data of those that had passed.
Outside, Narita puffed a cigarette as she leaned on the fence. While she herself honestly rarely smoked, she had one for every month to calm down her nerves from all the stress building up within her. She mostly did this whenever the boys visited the cemetery, as she found it to be the best place to do. Watching the smoke from her lips flow in the air, Narita looked across the street at the abandoned opera-house. It's door handles were chained together and its windows were boarded up for years.
Back inside, Mamoru and Hideki knelt in front of neighboring graves that were place by each other's side. On both of the tall headstones, the names of their parents were visible on their marble surface. The engraved names of their fathers were highlighted with red ink to show that they were still alive, while the names of their mothers were not and had been left as a dull, flat black. They both knelt in front of their graves in a silent prayer.
Tateyama took out the card from his pocket and placed it in a box that hung over the gravestone in front of him before clasping his hands together and bowing. Takuya and Tomura were having a quiet discussion with each other in front of a gravestone that was far from Tateyama's. Neither names of the boys' parents were painted in red for both Tateyama, Tomura and Takuya as a gust of wind blew by.
Done with her cigarette, Narita dropped it to the floor and stepped on it to extinguish the bud. The bright sparks dulled underneath her foot and Narita looked back in the cemetery to see Homura standing still in front of a certain grave. The girl was frozen, her back was turned to her so Narita could not see her face and the school nurse began to worry. Concerned, Narita immediately entered the gates and went up to her. Once she had reached her, she placed a hand on Homura's shoulder and shook her, "Homura, is there something wro-?"
Narita's eyes widened as she looked at the headstone they stood in front of. Homura's eyes were fixated on the names engraved on its surface as they bore the surname 'Akemi'. It couldn't have been a coincidence. Narita had read Homura's personal file back in school and saw the same names inside it. The first and last names were the same and there was no doubt about it. Narita felt Homura hold her hand as neither could say anything.
Homura could barely remember her parents and she didn't know what to feel about something she could not even remember. She couldn't remember anything about them except for the fact that they were her parents. In a hushed, cracked tone, she asked, "D-Do you know how they died?" she tightened her grip of Narita's hand, a small tear trickling down Homura's cheek.
The older woman stuffed a hand in a pocket and pulled Homura into a soft embrace, "No," she replied softly, running a hand through her hair. Although she did still remember every detail on how Homura's parents had died in the accident years ago, she could not bear to describe it. Wrapping both her arms around Homura, she could feel Homura crying into her chest, "I'm sorry. But I don't remember at all. All I know... is that they would at least be happy to hear that you are still alive right here, right now."
In the distance, the gathered boys looked on at Homura and saw Narita trying to comfort the girl as she cried. While they understood what it was like to lose a loved on, they didn't know what it was like or could not bear the pain of forgetting one. After all these years, they had never forgotten their own and always tried to honor their memory. Deciding to give Homura a moment, they all waited outside the cemetery for them.
A few minutes later, Narita and Homura finally came out of the gates with Homura's eyes sore red. Wordlessly, the group headed for the residential areas again as the sun finally set and the moon now up in the night sky. On the way to Narita's house, Takuya and Tomura waved at Hideki, Mamoru and Tateyama as they left for their own houses that were nearby. Homura was quiet the entire trip back, and all of them had decided to leave her be for a while. Holding her hand tight, Narita looked up at the night sky and her breath was visible in the cold air.