Shintaro went over everything in his mind. His suit (which Kenjirou had graciously lent to him last-minute) was clean, not a wrinkle in sight as it attempted to compliment his figure. This was far from an easy feat, so Shintaro had to protect the condition of said clothing with his life. His hair was, for once, relatively healthy, with little to no tangles. Momo seemed to have an easy time getting ready as well... at least she wasn't screaming every few minutes about an outfit malfunction. Everything was falling into place, making recent events even more surreal. Maybe he was dreaming, and when he awoke, he would be at Ayano's wedding instead of her funeral.

Letting his mind wander as he stood there, a pained noise was the only warning he received before a man walked into the room without any pants on, tie around his neck as if he'd been strangled.

"Eh-" Shintaro floundered, "Konoha, what are you doing?! Put some pants on!"

Konoha blinked in response, a pensive expression settling into his features. "I... don't know how."

If only Ayano were here, she was the one who fixed these types of problems. Shintaro counted backwards from ten before slowly continuing. "You don't know how to put pants on?"

"I never said that..." Konoha seemed genuinely confused. "I don't understand," he gestured at himself, "all this."

Of course. That made more sense. He couldn't help but release a groan nonetheless. "Right… you've never had to do something like this, have you..." Shintaro approached the other, running his hands over the clothing to smooth out some of the wrinkles that had been created.

His hands floated seamlessly to quickly fix the collar of Konoha's shirt. "Hey, Shintaro," Konoha had an unreadable expression on his face, "This is nice."

Shintaro looked up quickly, hands frozen on top of Konoha's tie, an eyebrow raised in utter disbelief. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, that probably sounded really strange," he backtracked, a sheepish smile on his face, "You just remind me of someone who made me really happy."

Using any excuse to get the conversation away from such an awkward situation (for Shintaro, at least), Shintaro queried, "Did you remember something?"

Konoha slowly shook his head, "Ah… no, I haven't… but this feels nostalgic. I figured someone else must have taken care of me as kindly as you do."

Shintaro wanted to laugh - he was the least caring person in the world. "I'm sure your parents treated you well. ...Anyway, now that this is all taken care of, go put some pants on, and please don't tell anyone this happened."

"Yes, sir!"

As Konoha left, Shintaro could've sworn he saw something flash before his eyes. There was something a bit nostalgic about all this to him, too, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

/

The reality of the day was finally setting in as Shintaro entered the chapel of the castle. Momo lead the four of them to their seats on the front row (Konoha included - although he remembered nothing of Ayano, Shintaro knew she would welcome him with open arms). He was to go to the altar and speak about his fiancée not too far from now, tell of everything he loved about her that he was to live without for as long as he breathed, she was gone gone gone gone gone g-

"Big brother!" Momo harshly whispered, "Quit spacing out, you're supposed to watch for your cue!"

He didn't acknowledge hearing her but Momo knew he had; they had been with each other all their lives so it was easy to recognize slight changes in body language. She left him to his thoughts now, trusting him with a simple task… though with the attitude he'd fallen back into, she wasn't sure if it was right to trust him.

Kenjirou opened the ceremony and everyone, including the hazy-eyed fiancé, dropped to their knees in respect. After a moment of silence, everyone was invited back to their pews as the service began. Shintaro remembered this from his father's funeral (although it could hardly be called one, considering they didn't even have enough money to rent a room to hold a service - they hardly had enough money to get him properly buried), he knew what was going to happen - people would cry, give insincere apologies, completely transparent, disgustingly fake sympathy and drawn-out stories for the sake of a heartfelt day. Shintaro despised funerals, he despised death. Then again, who wouldn't?

Noticing Kenjirou gesturing towards him, Shintaro stood before bowing to the King. After being released from this position, he made his way to the pulpit to begin his speech. He hadn't written one. He knew the gist of a funeral's speech and would have no problem with this (aside from the fact that public speaking was his worst enemy). Clearing his throat, Shintaro put his mind in auto-pilot before beginning. "Good afternoon. I- er, I'm… Ayano's fiancé." You were her fiancé. "Thank you for allowing me to be here. I certainly don't deserve it. I… I didn't deserve Ayano in the first place. She was like an angel, someone like her deserved so much better. But she chose me. A foolish man like me… I've… been blessed to know her. She did everything simply from the kindness of her heart, she never complained, I don't think there was a single person she disliked. Ayano was beautiful in every sense of the word. Her voice… her flowing hair… her bright eyes…" Looking out into the crowd, he only saw Ayano. Everyone in the crowd was her, if he reached out she'd certainly grab his hand and whisk him away, whispering in his ear none of this is real. "Ayano… Ayano… Ayano…"

He saw that flash from earlier, like a bright light dashing across the room. Shintaro blinked, taking a breath in to compose himself. He couldn't do it, he could only see her, feel her, hear her, but she wasn't here. She has to be here. She can't be gone. "...Ayano…!"

Shintaro wasn't sure how long he'd stood there, but now he someone had an arm around his waist, leading him down the aisle as Kenjirou apologized to the onlookers. Everything seemed muted, he couldn't quite feel his feet on the ground. Maybe this is a dream. I'm watching myself go through the motions of some fever dream. Ayano will wake me up, I'm sure of it.

"Shintaro…" He blinked again, now inside one of the castle's many public restrooms, "...hey, Shintaro. Please say something."

"I… I don't want to," Shintaro muttered, realizing that this couldn't be a dream if he constantly opened up his eyes to see a funeral, to see all the fake sympathy, to see Konoha, the sign that this had in fact happened and Ayano was never coming back. Konoha surely had nothing to do with this but he couldn't help the resentment rising in the back of his throat.

"All you've said for the past five minutes is Ayano," Konoha informed him with no particular emotion, "I'm glad you've come to."

Shintaro didn't reply. He simply looked to the floor with such a sullen expression that anyone in close proximity would drop into a dark depression as well.

"I didn't know she was your fiancée," Shintaro was about to comment on Konoha's stupidity before he remembered he had amnesia, "You must feel really helpless. Like you're drowning, and no one can - or no one will - take your hand."

Since when had Konoha become so articulate? It made Shintaro want to pull his tongue out so he couldn't voice Shintaro's feelings so well. "You- You haven't even known me for two weeks! Quit acting like… quit acting like you understand! Everyone does this! 'Oh, I'm so sorry, Shintaro!' Well, guess what?! You can beg and plead but she isn't coming back, my reason to be here isn't coming back, Konoha! What the hell am I supposed to do?!"

As the echo of Shintaro's cries reverberated across the walls, the two remained silent. Shintaro could feel the regret starting up inside him, a feeling he hated but could never get rid of.

Konoha opened his mouth, but only a sob came out.

"K- Konoha-" Shintaro was speechless. He didn't expect him to cry. "I… I usually don't lose control like this, I-"

"I'm sorry," Konoha said as Shintaro attempted to find something to say, "I'm sorry this happened. I can't say anything to help you. I… I don't know what to do, but I want to help you…"

Shintaro wanted to cry. He sounded like Ayano.

"Quit it. Don't say things like that," Shintaro sniffled despite himself, tearing up. "Don't…" He didn't know what he didn't want Konoha to do, but whatever it was, it needed to stop.

But when Konoha wrapped his arms around the shorter man, and Shintaro reciprocated the action, he figured it out.

"Stop… stop caring about me."