30 seconds of death
Never in his life has he thought that the key to his past was in front of him the whole time. Sakaki was the key, and probably the only key to his past. What didn't make sense was this, why didn't Sakaki tell him in the first place. None of this would of happened if she just simply told him. He was happy and at the same time mad at her, but now that he thought this through, it would be likely that he wouldn't believe her.
Suddenly, her childhood friend starts to fade away in front of him leaving him alone.
"Sakaki!" He yelled.
"Please don't be mad at her, she didn't tell you because she cared about you. You can recreate those memories and create more memories with her, please!" A tear starts running down her cheek. It wasn't caused by sadness, but by joy.
"I'll do that, but I don't think I might remember when I wake up." He said in a low tone.
The environment around him transitions to a whole different one. This time, the setting was a bright and beautiful one. When he looks around him, there was an angelic scenery, it looked so peaceful and relaxing. It looked as if this were heaven because there were orbs of light floating around. The main question he had in mind was where exactly could he be.
A voice is heard from behind.
"I see that it's been a long while since I last met with you."
Rono turns around and finds a big yellow cat facing him. It had its hands behind its back. There was another figure beside it, it was undoubtedly a man. He was facing behind him, he had a white suit and white pants. Again, he also looked familiar.
In the real world...
The whole time when Chiyo and the Sakaki residence were staying over with Rono at his hospital room, he never woke up. Sakaki and Chiyo were getting more worried than they should be. Four hours had passed since they visited, it was 1pm already, it was about time for lunch.
"Any of you hungry?" Asked Sakaki's father.
Everyone nods, stomachs are grumbling inside the room.
"I guess we should go back home and eat something there?"
"Yeah...let's do that." Sakaki answered sadly.
Sakaki's father turned off the television and everyone gathered their belongings in the room to leave. Before leaving, Sakaki received a call.
"Huh, who is it?
She takes out her phone, opens it up and it is said that the person calling is Yomi. She answers the call.
"Hello?" Sakaki said.
"Sakaki?"
"Yes?" She responded back.
"I'm sorry for what happened yesterday." Yomi said.
"No need to apologize Yomi, it's fine."
"Where are you at?"
"I'm at the hospital with Rono, I'm going back home to eat lunch, why?"
"Is it okay for me, Tomo and Osaka to visit you over at your house?"
"Sure, but let me ask my parents first."
She covers the microphone of her phone, turns around to her parents and asks them. Since Sakaki has been having a tough time during all of this, the least they can do is at least cheer her up.
"Sure thing." Her father said.
"Thanks!" Sakaki said.
She uncovers the phone's microphone and speaks again.
"They said yes."
"Alright, can you send us your address by text?"
"Sure."
"Great, we'll see you soon!"
"Bye."
She closes her flip phone and walks with her family along with Chiyo. Before leaving the room, she looks at Rono's sleeping body once again.
"I'll be back Rono, please wake up, for our sake?" She said quietly with a smile at the end.
She leave the room and makes her way out of the hospital. When they all made it to the car, they get inside and put on their seatbelts.
"I hope Rono wakes up soon." Chiyo commented.
"I do hope so." Sakaki said.
Her father turns on the engine, looks at side mirror to check if no one was behind the car, drives the car out of the parking lot and then drives off to the street. During the whole way of going home, something changed in the city. Back then, the side walks in Tokyo were sometimes empty. Usually, any busy city would be crowded with people. Now it was back to that, more people filled the sidewalks.
Did the city get more crowded because that killer got arrested? Chiyo thought.
It took longer than expected to get back home, there was a bit of a traffic jam during the way home. After entering their neighbor hood, they see Tomo and Yomi in front of her house. As the car got closer to the house, they both wave at them.
"You can all get in the house, I'll park the car in the garage while you're at it!"
"Thank you hun, I'll be in the kitchen if any you need me." Said Sakaki's mother.
They all get out of the car except for her father to greet Tomo and Yomi, while Sakaki's mother went inside to cook up lunch.
"Hello Sakaki." Said Yomi.
"Yo." Said Tomo with her hand up.
"Nice to see you again Sakaki." Osaka said.
"Hey Yomi, hey Tomo, hey Osaka." Sakaki's greeted.
"Hi miss Yomi, hi miss Osaka, hi miss Tomo." Greeted Chiyo.
"Oh, you brought the little runt with ya?" Tomo commented.
Chiyo gets annoyed by Tomo's statement for her.
"She came along with us to the hospital."
"How nice of you Chiyo!" Yomi said.
"It was the least I could do." She said with a blush on her face.
Yomi chuckles.
"So how's Rono condition?" Yomi said with a concerned face.
"He's fine, but he hasn't woke up since last night." Sakaki said with a depressed expression.
"At least he's not dead right?" Tomo commented.
"Now's not the time Tomo." Yomi said.
"It's okay, I am glad that he's alive." Sakaki said.
"Same here." Chiyo said.
"We should probably get inside, I want to meet your parents too."
"Me too!" Said Osaka.
"Okay." Sakaki said with a simple answer.
The Azu-group walk inside the house and into the kitchen to greet Sakaki's mother.
"Hello Mrs. Sakaki, it's very nice to meet you." Said Yomi, Tomo and Osaka while bowing down.
"Nice to meet you too!" She said with a happy tone.
Next was Sakaki's father, he recently finished parking the car in the garage, and so he returns. He opens the door from the garage and find the girls in front of him.
"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Sakaki." Said Yomi, Tomo and Osaka while bowing down once again.
"Nice to meet you too girls! Go on and make yourselves at home."
"Will do!" Tomo said.
After two greetings to Sakaki's parents, they go to the living room and sit on the couch together. At the one end of the couch, Osaka is tired out.
"Are you seriously tired already Osaka?" Asked Yomi.
"Uh huh." Osaka said with her eyes closed.
Yomi sighs, then she moves on.
"Anyways, have you been doing fine Sakaki?"
"Im fine, I'm just...depressed."
"I see." Yomi said.
"You said you met Rono when you were both little kids, right?"
"Yes we have." Sakaki responded.
"Can you tell me how you both met?"
"I'm want to know too!" Chiyo said.
"Surprisingly, I also want to know myself too." Tomo said.
"Also I!" Osaka said.
"You all really want to know?"
They all nod.
"Alright let's begin."
Sakaki's clears her throat before she starts to share her cherished memory.
"In all my life, I've been always alone. I would always play by myself at the park, at one point I tried making friends, but they all denied. It was either because they saw me as a 'scary' person or they just didn't want to be my friend. After all of their denials, I spent my time alone at one of the pair of swings. Because of that, it's also what made me get verbally bullied from kids of the park I was at. They made fun of how tall I was, how I scared the kids away and how I was the lone wolf of the park."
"Those kids sure are mean huh?" Tomo commented.
"All of that soon changed when he came up to me." She said with her eyes looking down at the floor. She smiled on how she enjoyed that memory.
"I was sitting on one of the swings when it happened. He was the first to ever talk to me, at first he looked afraid as he was talking to me. I soon found out why as he continued to talk. it was his first time trying to make friends with someone, I was nervous at first but happy at the same time. I never would have imagined that someone like him would spent time with me. It was the happiest moment in my life."
"Then it soon disappeared when he moved to America." Yomi said.
"Exactly." Said Sakaki.
"So you're saying that he was your first and only friend at the time?" Tomo asked Sakaki.
"Yeah."
"Interesting, what did you two do?" Tomo asked again.
"We would mostly play at the park, have sleepovers and sometimes go to any festivals." Sakaki answered.
"You sure are lucky to have a male friend." Said Tomo with her arms crossed.
"I guess." Chiyo said.
"Looks like you had it tough with his absence during all these years, haven't you" Yomi said.
"Yeah."
Yomi wraps both of her arms around everyone.
"Don't worry, if anything goes wrong, we're in this together, got it?"
"Yeah." Said Chiyo, Tomo and Osaka.
"What about you Sakaki?" Yomi said.
"Yeah, we're in this together." Sakaki replied.
"Alright!" Yomi said.
All of them went silent for a short time until Tomo asked Sakaki a question.
"Hey Sakaki, you said that Rono spent the night at your house two weeks ago, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did you find anything weird after taking a shower?"
"Like what?" Sakaki questioned her.
"Like if any of your panties got covered in like, what should we call it? White stuff."
Sakaki gave a long and hard thought about what she might of meant. After giving it some thought, she finally knew what she meant about the word 'white stuff'. She immediately blushed very hard causing her face to turn pink. Tomo laughs at Sakaki's reaction.
"Tomo, stop reading those kind of magazines!" Yomi yelled.
"What does she mean by 'white stuff'?" Chiyo asked Yomi.
"No no no, don't listen to that numb nut Chiyo!"
"Is it like mayonnaise?" Chiyo said.
This made Tomo laugh even more than she did before causing her to fall to the ground.
In Rono's mind...
"Wait, I remember you in one of my dreams!" Rono asked.
"So you remember your past after all huh?" The yellow cat said.
"Not exactly, all I remember is Sakaki."
"And?"
"I..don't remember what I did with her all of those years. But more importantly, what's going on with my body?"
"As of now, you are in a deep slumber. Recently, your friend Sakaki came to visit you in the hospital. I heard that they left to eat lunch."
Rono gasps at the sudden visit.
"How can I wake up then?"
"I'll tell you later, right now, we have matters to discuss, along with him." The yellow cat points to the figure behind him. The figure then turns around and reveals his face to Rono.
"Hey, it's been a while." He said.
The figure looked exactly like Rono, but he had an angel-like glow around him and was transparent as a ghost.
"W-why do you look like me?" Rono said.
"Let's say, I'm you're...subconscious. I control your every emotion, action and dream."
"So you're the one responsible for my amnesia!" Rono said angrily.
"Actually, it isn't, I listen to every word you say everyday. Even when your just a little kid."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying."
The subconscious turns around and sighs before he reveals the true reason.
"You were the one who commanded me to erase those memories." He said.
Rono gasps from his response.
"No, that can't be true." Rono said.
"That's to be expected from you."
At Sakaki's house...
After the Azu-girls chatted for a while in the living rooms, the food was ready, Sakaki's mother let everyone know about it.
"Kids, the food is ready, come over here and eat up!" She yelled from across the kitchen.
"Okay!" The girls said.
"Ha ha ha, I'm going to be the first one at the table!" Tomo said.
She runs to the kitchen hoping to be the first on the table. To her surprise, Sakaki's dad was already there sitting in one of the chairs!
"Ah what!" Tomo complained.
"Hello there!" He waves at her.
Everyone arrives in the kitchen and sit down by the table where the food was at. All of the girls stood there in awe on how delicious the food looked.
"Well, dig in." Sakaki's mother said.
Before eating, everyone had to say:
"Thank you for the food!"
At that, everyone ate in peace. In the end, everyone got stuffed with the delicious food. It was so good, that the only leftovers were the rice!
The visitors would then help Sakaki's mother out on cleaning the dishes and the table before they went off to leave to their homes.
After the chores, Yomi, Tomo, Osaka and Chiyo left the house minutes ago. Right now, Sakaki's main objective for today was to make Rono a bento for lunch. That is, if he does wake up from him deep slumber. She would help her mother cook up the food for his lunch by first cooking up the scrambled eggs, until it was fully cooked she rolls it up and places it in the bento. The rice was already prepared from the lunch they all had. All they have to do is steam the veggies before placing it in the bento.
"Okay, it's ready." Sakaki's mother said.
I hope that he'll like it. Sakaki thought.
Back in Rono's mind...
"Why would I wish for memory loss, that isn't like me!" Rono said aggressively.
"That's what I thought you would say too. Why don't you ask that to yourself, you got what you wanted!" Said the subconscious.
"I don't know because I don't remember a thing about it nor of anything about my past! Can't I have my memories back since you're the one who controls my thoughts?"
"It doesn't work that way, after I delete a memory, it is permanently deleted, which means it's gone for good, never to be recovered."
"That can't be true, there has to be a way!"
"There isn't."
Rono was halfway into crying.
"There's absolutely no way that I would wish for any kind of memory loss, even if it meant forgetting one thing!"
This made the subconscious of Rono sigh.
"Still don't believe me huh? You're lucky I have this memory saved with me."
The subconscious lifts and puts out his hand towards Rono's direction. This gave a blue mist from the hand, it then hovers towards Rono's head and then sinks inside Rono's brain. This is made him have a long and forgotten flashback. It made Rono the most shocked in his life.
Flashback to the day he had to leave Japan...
It was a very chilly night in Tokyo. The starry sky and the full moon is what made the scenery better. It was late night for the the Takayama family, everyone was exhausted from the constant packing. Rono was about ready to set his bags into the family car. Ronin was moving the last boxes from the house to the moving truck. Aiya was cleaning the empty house before moving to America. It all seemed to be going fine, but for Rono, he began to have mixed emotions. He was furious at his dad for making him move to America with him, he was also sad because he had to leave his house and his first and probably the last friend he wI'll ever have. Yesterday was the day the he said his last goodbye to Sakaki, it was of course the last time they would ever see eachother's faces again. This was the most devastating moment he ever had to experience.
When they finally placed the boxes inside the moving truck and placed their luggage inside the Van, Ronin turned on the engine and began to drive the car to the Tokyo airport. From their, they went inside the airport, left their luggage on the space stock, checked in with their passports and entered the airplane. When the family sat on their seats, Rono's father asked his son a question.
"Hey Rono, are you excited to go to America?" He said with a smile on his face.
Rono stood there in silence, he never responded to him. All he did was stare at the back of the seat in front of him.
"We can have a fresh start in life, you're going to a new school, live in a new house, go to different places and even have a chance to make new friends!"
The last part is what made Rono snap.
"I DONT WANT ANY NEW FRIENDS, I JUST WANT SAKAKI!" He yelled with tears now running down his face.
It caused a scene that made everyone look at the family. Rono jumps out of his seat, runs away from his family and runs to the plane's bathroom.
As soon as he gets inside, he locks the door, sits down in the corner now breaking down with tears.
"Just why, why, WHY! Why is this happening to me, why do I have to leave Japan and my friend behind!" He said hitting the wall with his fist.
"I-I can't suffer like this, t-the more I t-think I about her, the m-more my heart suffers." He cries even more.
I can't take this anymore! He thought to himself.
"I WISH I WOULD FORGET ABOUT EVERYTHING!" He yelled.
Silence filled the air, everyone in the back of the plane heard the loud yell. Without knowing, Rono's wish actually came true. He forgot about his time in Japan a day later. During the whole eight years he spent in America, he felt less emotions than he felt before. All he did was study, study and study, nothing else, not even making any friends during his years of grade school or middle school. Once again, he was the lone wolf of the school and at home. He barely spoke to any of his parents, he spent the whole time in his room either reading or studying.
Flashback ends...
Rono now shocked, cries from his long forgotten memory. That was the main reason why he lost his memories all along, all because of his selfish wish. Now he felt that all of that, was his own fault, he would feel ashamed of waking up and encountering Sakaki again. He didn't want to wake up again.
"I know what you're thinking." Said the transparent version of Rono.
"You probably don't want to face your family, nor Sakaki again, do you?"
"How'd you know?" Rono asked.
"I'm your subconscious, remember? I know your every action and thoughts you do." He pointed his finger at Rono.
"Yeah, right." Rono said.
Right now, Rono sits down with his legs crossed and observing the ground looking depressed. Without knowing what to do next, he just stays there. His subconscious observes the depressed Rono, he walks up to him and sits down beside him with his legs crossed too.
"Wish I could give you back your memories, too bad there's no way in recovering them again."
"It's okay, I don't feel like waking up anyways." Rono said.
"What? You do know your friend is waiting for you to wake up, right?" His subconscious said loudly.
"Nah it's okay, she can just forget me, she has the girls after all."
"What about your parents?"
"They can just have another child."
"That's nonsense, they can't even forget you for even a second Rono! They care about you, even Sakaki's friends are worried about you!"
"Yeah and how do you know?
"Father told me, he knows everything!"
"You mean that giant yellow cat over there?" Rono pointed at the yellow cat.
"Yes."
"Anyways, what did I ever do to Sakaki?"
"What did you do? What would I expect from a person who has amnesia. When you two were little kids, you always accompanied her, you always played with her, you always cheered her on, you always made her smile. In other words Rono, you changed her life, if you never existed, who knows what she could be doing now! She might still be bullied from those kids from the park. If only, if only you knew, you would understand!"
"Well, too bad, I lost my memories with her, I'll probably wake up without remembering a thing about this."
Rono's subconscious sighs.
"You're hopeless."
"If I may interrupt, I have something to tell the both of you!" Father exclaimed causing the two boys to look at him.
"I may have the solution of recovering those lost memories of yours."
"Really, what is it!?" Rono said.
"This process may take a while, but it'll be worth it. However there's a downside to it."
"What's the downside?" Rono asked.
"Death, you will be dead for a short while. Here's how it goes. There are three stages, the first one is high heart rates, after that you die. During the second stage, your soul will be released for thirty seconds out of your body, you'll be able to see what is currently happening out outside your body. Finally the last stage is the part where you get resurrected with all of your memories back as if they never disappeared."
"Well, it's better than nothing, but are you sure that it will give me back all of my memories back?" Rono asked the yellow cat.
"I am positive."
"Alright, let's do this."
"As of now, let me prepare process before we commence. So, sit tight."
Rono does what he is told and waits for him until he activates the method. As for Sakaki, she is in her father's car along with her mother to deliver the lunch and the 'get well' balloons to the sleeping Rono. They were hoping to see him awake somehow during the day. What they didn't know is what was going to happen next and what they'll experience.
I hope you wake up soon, I don't want you to leave me, not again, please. Sakaki thought.
Moving right along, Sakaki and her family checks in with the receptionist and walks all the way to the room where Rono was in. Before they enter the room, Father was about ready to activate the '30 seconds of death' process.
"Are you ready Rono?
He breathes in and out and hopes for his memories to have a return.
"Yes, you may start."
"Affirmative, sub-Rono, give him the red glowing orb!" Father said.
"Yes sir!"
He walks up to Rono and gives him the red orb. The orb looked like a ball filled with red glowing gas, it was a small size to fit in the palm and the sensation of the ball would feel warm who ever was holding it.
"What do I do with this?" Rono asked.
"This Rono, is the key to start the process, in order to begin, you have to crush that orb in your hand."
At first, Rono wasn't sure of this. He had doubts that he would get his memories back when he wakes.
"Rono." Said Rono's subconscious.
He looks up to him as his name was called.
"Do it for Sakaki, she needs you. I know it." He said.
"I'll do it." Rono said.
"Excellent, now, behold the power of resurrection!" Said Father.
Rono crushes the red glowing orb in his palm easily causing the red glowing gas inside it to cover his entire body as if it were consuming him. Right as the gas gets up to his neck, it slowly crawls up to Rono's head. He accidentally breathes in the gas surrounding him. Immediately, the gas glows the brightest it ever can causing sub-Rono and Father to cover their eyes from the brightness. All of the bright red gas rapidly gets inside Rono's mouth all the way to the bottom of his lungs. As it ended and all was inside both of his lungs, he falls to his knees and inhales and exhales constantly. He puts his right arm on his heart area and feels his heart beating to its fastest. All of a sudden, images of Sakaki as a little girl appear in his head. One particular one that he finds surprising is the one where it has Neko-san in Sakaki's arm.
I'm coming back Sakaki, coming back as the Rono from back then! Rono thought.
After a few heart beats, his whole body falls to the ground and fades away to the real world.
Sakaki and her parents were three feet away from the door, a certain event awaits for them. Finally, Sakaki was first to touch the door and open it. She felt that something bad was happening, so she listened inside the room from outside the door, and heard rapid beeping. It turns out that it was the heart monitor that was beeping fast.
"Sakaki!" Her mother said.
She slams open the door with the bento in hand, slides away the curtains and looks at the heavily breathing Rono.
After a few beeps, it stops, this means that Rono has passed away.
"No..no...Rono!" She runs to his body and shakes him.
At this moment, Sakaki's parents come inside and the first thing they both saw was Sakaki shaking Rono, the second thing they saw was the fact that the heart monitor stopped.
"Rono!" Sakaki's mother exclaimed.
"No, no way." Sakaki's father said in shock.
Sakaki's mother runs to his body and her father runs out of the room to get some help and let the nurses and doctors know that someone has passed away.
"Rono, Rono, Rono!" Sakaki yelled as tears start developing in her eyes which now results to her crying out of sadness.
Meanwhile, his spirit blooms out of his body now in a glowing cyan colored state. During the process, he feels relieved, nothing was in his way, there were no worries and no noise. That was the only time he felt truly relaxed since forever. Soon, it ended in an instant. When he opens his eyes, he finds himself floating above his body, he looks down and finds Sakaki and her mother crying, beside his own corpse. Her father is nowhere to be found.
"Sakaki!" He said out loud.
Rono tries calling them, but there was no answer. He was now a pure spirit. Ten seconds have passed, one specific memory came into mind. Right as Sakaki continued crying, he at last remembered the last time he encountered Sakaki from his childhood.
"Sakaki, you really do care about me. I still don't know how I changed your life though." He said.
Ten more seconds passed and it triggered another memory in his mind. This time it was about him with Sakaki along with the cat with Neko-san. He finally remembers more about Sakaki's love for cats. He was the one who made her get over her fear over pets.
"He he he, so that's how you got to loving cats."
At five seconds that passed, the last and most important memory appeared once again. This was the memory when he first met Sakaki, he was a naïve kid when it came to talking to random people. He remembers that he was the first one to start with their first conversation with the words saying:
So..what's your name?
His eyes widen in shock as he remembered.
"We really we're friends! I remember now!"
He looks at Sakaki with a sad face.
"I promise that I'll never leave you again, especially when it comes to my friends."
The last five seconds pass finally, he is now able to return to his body.
He hovers over to his body and hears a voice saying something to him.
"Welcome back."
Before going back to his body, he looks back and finds Father behind him.
"Thanks." Rono smiled, the big yellow cat fades away as Rono entered his own body again.
After seconds, the heart monitor starts beeping again. Sakaki and her mother stop crying and look at the heart monitor. They look back at Rono again, he slowly opens his eyes and breathes for some air. The moment he opens his eyes, he finds Sakaki in his sight, she is the first person to be seen by Rono after death.
"Sakaki."
"Rono." Sakaki said as she sobs.
She immediately hugs him tightly, he hugs her back.
"You never hugged me this tight ever since the last time we last talked to each other at the park." He said with a tired voice.
Her eyes widen in surprise as she heard him say those words.
"Rono, you remember!" She said.
"Yeah."
She smiled when he confirmed it.
"I'm very sorry that I left you back then." Rono apologized.
"It's okay, it was for the best. Your father needed that job." Sakaki forgived him.
"It's not okay! You don't know how hard I cried when I got on that plane!"
This was the first time she heard that someone cried for her. He was the one and only boy who cried for her.
"I-I'm glad...that you..remember again." She said as she sobs and starts crying tears of joy on Rono's chest.
"There there, no need to cry, I'm alive." He starts crying a bit too.
They both cry a bit longer and then stop. Rono notices her mother watching them.
"Oh hello Ayano!" He said.
"Wait, how did you know my name?" Said Sakaki's mother.
"Like I said, I remember again."
"Do you know my husband's name?" She asked.
"It's Yuudai."
He really does remember? She thought.
"So now you remember your past?" Ayano asked.
"Yep, every thing." He replied.
"I'm glad, welcome back Rono." Sakaki said with one last hug.
"I'm glad to see you all again, it's great to be back." Rono said with a smile on his face.
