Erm sorry for the lame names Kip and Tami.^^' They were the first ones to come to my mind so well, that's what the ended up as!

Chapter Three – Memories

When Meroko woke up again, she was back in her bed inside Ochiai's house. Looking over at the clock she saw that it was 10 in the morning. She stretched, got out of bed, and walked out of her room to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ochiai," she mumbled to him.

Ochiai quickly turned from where he was sitting at the table with his mother. There were two others with him – a boy that seemed a few years younger than Ochiai and a girl, a bit older.

"Good morning, Meroko!" he said to her, smiling. "We were just going to have breakfast. Ah, and this is my brother and sister, Kip and Tami."

Meroko sat down at the table in between Sarina and Ochiai. She smiled at Kip and Tami. "Good morning. I'm Meroko."

Kip grinned. "And you're onee-sama's girlfriend, riight?" he said jokingly.

Tami rolled her eyes. "Ignore Kip. He's a loser. It's lovely to have you here, Meroko-chan."

Kip had deep black hair in a short cut. He had many freckles over his pale skin. Tami was tall, taller than Ochiai, and had black hair tied in braids. And they all wore glasses.

As they ate their breakfast – scrambled eggs – Meroko suddenly pointed off into the corner of the room. "What's that thing?" she asked.

Ochiai looked over to where she was pointing. "You mean the TV?" he asked.

She gave him a weird look. "TV? What's a TV?"

"Here, I'll show you." Ochiai grabbed the remote for the TV and turned it on. "You see? You can watch programs on it."

Meroko stared at the TV in amazement. "Whoa, it is so cool!" On the TV, a boy was playing a guitar and singing with a band. He looked like he was really enjoying himself. "Who's that boy there?"

"His name is Takuto Kira," Ochiai told her. "He's an amazing musician. He used to be in a band called Route L, but he started his own career now. His wife, a girl named Mitsuki, is also an amazing singer."

Meroko stared at the TV, and then glanced up at Ochiai. "Takuto? Mitsuki?"

A sudden flash brought another memory to Meroko's mind.

-Meroko: T...Takuto... Mitsuki... I'm not complaining about my new life, but I really do miss them. I wish I could be with them, you know Jess?

Meroko woke from her strange flashback. That girl who looks like me again, she thought to herself. And she was talking about Takuto and Mitsuki. I wonder...

Ochiai waved his hand in front of her face. "Are you alright? You seem confused."

Meroko shook her head. "Uh, no... Different things keep bringing images to my mind. They are all of a girl that looks sort of like me, and two other people. The ones I told you about a while ago... They showed up again just now, and the one girl mentioned two people named Takuto and Mitsuki and how she was missing them. It's very strange."

"Hmm." Ochiai put his hand on his chin, deep in thought. "That is quite strange indeed."

Sarina smiled from over at the table. "Don't you worry, Meroko. You may stay here for as long as you like. Even if that means staying until you get your memory back."

"Are you sure?" Meroko asked, again shocked by the family's kindness. "But what if I never remember everything?"

Smiling, Ochiai put his hand on her shoulder. "Then you can stay forever."

"Thanks so much!" Meroko smiled. "So, this Takuto person... uh, could you tell me a bit more about him?"

"Sure," Ochiai said, nodding. "Well, Takuto, as I said, was in a band called Route L. He was really young at the time, but apparently he disappeared one day. He was gone for a really long time, and then he just suddenly came back. He started carrying around this little doll shaped as a cat that was really important to him, but no one knew why."

Meroko gave him a look. "A doll shaped like a cat?"

"Yes, I know, it's strange," Ochiai said, nodding in agreement. "Well, he met Mitsuki a while later. Or they knew each other before. I'm not really sure exactly, the whole story is always told differently. Mitsuki had a doll too, only her's was shaped like a rabbit. They spent a lot of time together and now they're married. They're quite famous as musicians. Many of their songs are about a dear friend of their's who it seems they lost some time ago. I can show you some of their music if you'd like."

Meroko nodded. "Alright. Could you show me one of the songs about their friend? I wonder if that friend could possibly be that girl that looks like me that keeps appearing in my memories. She said that she misses Takuto and Mitsuki... so maybe they miss her too, whoever she is."

"Sure." Ochiai got up from the table and walked over to the closet. He took a CD out of the closet and put it into a small CD player, then flipped through the songs. "Here's one. It's called 'We Miss You Much.'"

The song started to play, a melancholy tune fluttering through the air, the lyrics echoing in a chorus of Mitsuki and Takuto's voices...

"Wow, this singing is amazing..." Meroko closed her eyes, allowing herself to be drifted into the music. "It reminds me of something... I don't really know what... I can't remember."

"I hope you remember," Ochiai said to her.

Really, though, Ochiai didn't want Meroko to remember. He knew that if Meroko remembered, she'd have a reason to leave, but deep down in his heart Ochiai didn't want her to leave.