Chapter 4: A Trip to Remember

"A beach trip?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah. You down?" Kibe asked, still typing on his laptop.

I fanned myself with an Uchiwa. The heat indoors was worse than the heat outside. It felt like a microwave was cooking me. I think the AC was out.

"I mean, yeah sure. It sounds like it could be fun," I answered exhaustedly.

Kibe smiled.

"Great!" He said, looking toward me briefly. He paused as if remembering something. His face turned serious, taking his hands away from the keyboard before speaking to me.

"Hey, just to let you know, Mami-chan will be coming on this trip," he explained.

I rolled my eyes.

"So what?" I asked, running the back of my hand over my forehead to wipe away the sweat.

Kibe rotated his hand around and gestured an expression with his eyes.

"So it's your ex. Are you gonna be okay with that?"

I felt a little offended, so I got eye to eye with him from across the table.

"Dude, I've told you before; we're cool, yeah? We can get along like friends."

He shrugged defensively. "Okay, okay, I'm just saying."

I set the fan down and reclined back into my chair, sighing.

"It's too hot man," I groaned.

"Yep, you know what that means? It's about that time."

I tilted my head sideways and looked at him. "Time for what?" I asked.

He smirked, turning his attention away from his laptop, and putting his elbows onto the table towards me, leaning in.

"Time for summer. That means it's time to pick up a girl or two's phone number before school starts back up," Kibe slyly expressed.

I rolled my eyes. "Dude yeah, good luck with that. I'm just trying to take it easy for now."

Kibe folded his arms, leaning back.

"Oh yeah? You taking it easy, huh. Well, I beg to differ," he smugly replied.

I glanced over at him with a brow raised.

"Huh?"

He cocked his head sideways. "You know what I'm talking about. That "neighbor" of yours," he said with finger air quotes around the word neighbor.

I shook my head again.

He doubled down.

"You're telling me you haven't made any moves on a hottie like that? Hot neighbor wants to come somewhere with the male lead? It's like the setup to a porno, man! You gotta take advantage of that," he advised.

God, how lame. I'd never known Kibe to be this immature. "Dude, c'mon, you already know it's not like that."

He shrugged and backed off. "Okay, I'm sorry," he expressed with a shake of the head. "But seriously man, I think you should go for it. If you want my opinion, it was so obvious she had a thing for you."

No, I really didn't want your opinion, but thanks anyway.

" Oh, really?" I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious, dude! What kind of neighbor goes with a guy to visit his grandma in the hospital?" Kibe said, growing more animated.

"I told you, her grandma stays at the same hospital," I reminded him.

"Oh come on man, you didn't see what I saw that day. She kept looking you up and down when you were talking. I'm telling you, she's totally into you!" Kibe professed. He'd pressed himself over the table again, elbows down, and leaning in towards me.

I frowned.

No Kibe, YOU didn't see what I saw that day, but I can't tell you about that.

I shook my head again and half-heartedly smiled, looking to one side of myself and waving my hand at him. "Alright man, stop breaking my balls here, I hear you," I said, waving him off.

Kibe sighed and slumped back in his seat. "I'm just saying man, don't miss your shot. I know what I know."

I scoffed. Yeah, and I know what I know. Sorry Kibe, but it's not what you think it is.

"Anyway, I'll let everyone know you're joining the group chat."

...

What?

"Group chat?" I asked, both curious and concerned. I hate the idea of secret group chats among friend groups. It gives me conniptions.

Kibe nodded, eyes still on his laptop. "It's just the group chat for the people who are coming to the beach."

...

"Oh," I said, somewhat embarrassed.

Kibe smiled and looked at me sideways. "What, you think we had a secret group chat?" He poked.

I darted my eyes off to the side. "Nope," I sheepishly replied.

His smile grew. "I mean, we do, but that's beside the point," he said sarcastically.

That made me laugh. "You jerk," I chuckled.

I got home from school, practically melting under the intense supervision of the sun. This summer was blistering. It was hot enough to melt the rubber off your shoes.

As I walked up the steps, I heard a familiar girl's voice.

"Oh, hey neighbor," I heard as I walked up the steps.

Once I reached the top I looked to my left and saw a bespectacled young beauty in a blouse and skirt outfit.

I half-smiled and gave a wave. "Hey neighbor," I reciprocated with exhaustion.

Chizuru leaned back against the railing as I approached. She had a very mild and relaxed expression on her face, as she typically did.

"You look like you just ran a mile," she said with an unenthusiastic, yet harmless delivery.

I looked at my shirt. It was damped slightly in sweat.

"Ahh man, It's just the heat today," I groaned.

She removed her glasses and placed them into a glasses case she had pulled from her bag.

"Welp, it is about that time isn't it?" She asked as if stating the obvious.

To pick up girls? That was the first thing that came to mind from me and Kibe's earlier conversation.

I leaned against the wall to the right of my door and looked at her.

"What, you mean summer?" I decided to ask.

She nodded affirmatively.

Yeah, figured she wouldn't be talking about the same thing that Kibe was talking about. That's such a guy thing to think about.

I decided to ask her a question. "Do you have any plans for what you'll do over break?"

She looked at me. She looked like she was hesitating to answer, but then nodded.

"Some friends of mine from school are planning a beach trip," she replied.

Whoa... some coincidence that is.

"Eh, really? Some friends of mine were planning the same thing."

She looked at me with a curious expression now.

"What beach?" She asked.

"Uhh, Shimoda, next week, I think," I replied.

Her eyes widened.

"That's where we're supposed to be going next week..." she said, looking off to the side.

"Whoa, really? That's cool, maybe I'll see you there!" I said with excitement in my voice.

Chizuru however didn't share the same enthusiasm. She seemed uncomfortable and worried. I quickly changed my tone.

"Hey, I- I won't interfere with your trip. We can act like we don't know each other if we see one another," I said, waving my hands back and forth.

Saying that out loud made me realize how sad that statement was. I lowered my head a bit, looking at the ground as I thought.

"No, it's fine," she firmly replied.

I looked up at her. She was looking away from me, sporting what appeared to be an embarrassed expression.

"If you see me, or I see you, we'll say hi... and tell them that we're neighbors from next door," she meekly offered.

My eyes widened.

"Really?" I asked, not expecting a response like that.

She looked up. She met my gaze with that stone-serious expression on her face again. She stood up attentively from the rail.

"Just make sure not to use my rental name, and don't bring anything up to anyone about my job! Remember, friendly neighbors, that's what we agreed on!" She commanded.

I held my hand up in oath and nodded nervously. "I- I understand! Friendly neighbors," I acknowledged.

After a second of staring at me, she threw her hands back to her hips and sighed.

"Sorry, I gotta stop doing that."

I lowered my hand. "It's okay, I get it now. I understand how hard this must be for you." I paused for a second and then smiled. "I'm happy we're being friendly with each other now, though.

She gave me a light smile at that. "Yeah, same. Thank you" she replied.

After a second, she shook her head and sighed. "Augh, alright. I'm going inside, I gotta start packing and getting ready for the trip. Cya," she quickly blurted out, making her way towards her door.

"Oh uh, okay... bye!" I said awkwardly.

She opened her apartment door, walked inside, and shut it behind herself.

I let out an exhausted sigh. I shuffled my feet back towards my apartment door and clicked open the lock with my key. I swung the door open and stepped inside, taking my shoes off and throwing my book bag down.

*bzzzt*

I felt my phone vibrating. I went to pull it out of my pocket. Some new notifications had popped up on the screen.

Kibe: "yo guys i just added kazuya"

Oh, the group chat for the beach trip.

Kuri: "sup kaz"

Unknown Number: "hey kazuya this is imai!"

Unknown Number: "what's good kazuya this is sasano"

Wow, hello to you guys too.

I was beginning to type my response to everyone when someone else said hi.

Familiar Number: hi kaz-kun!

My fingers stopped. That number... isn't that Mami's number?

I looked back into my contact book real quick to try and see if I could find her... but her name wasn't saved anymore.

...

What the?

I slid back into the group chat.

Me: "hey y'all! mami, did you get a new phone?" I asked.

I sent the message and waited about ten seconds for a response.

Familiar Number: "no? this is same number i've always had," she replied with an emoticon smiley face.

My brow furrowed. There's no way I didn't save this number, I had to have saved it for sure, I'd called her before on it.

I started to text my reply.

Me: "huh, that's so weird, your number must have glitched out on my phone's contact list."

After a second, she responded.

Familiar Number: "oooh that's so weird oOo"

Although it was odd, I decided not to follow up any further than that. I didn't think it was a huge deal to lose a number randomly, (I didn't understand technology after all, so it's totally possible that I goofed up and lost the number somehow,) but I know I had her saved under 'Mami My Girlfriend' when we were dating. I knew it for a fact since that was the number I'd see when I'd gone to call or text her many times before

Whatever. I shrugged it off.

The day of the trip comes. We'd taken a three-hour car ride from Nerima to Shimoda. All of us were packed into a medium-sized van. All in all, it was a total of seven college kids on a trip down to the beach. Myself, Kuri, and Kibe were in the second to last row of seats. Mami was a seat behind us with one of Imai-san's friends giggling, showing each other videos from Twitter on their phones from what I could tell.

I was reminding my parents through text messages about the times to come and feed the fish when I heard a shout from the front seat to the left.

"Oh wow, guys look, It's the beach!" Imai-senpai shouted.

We looked outside and saw white, coastal sands and long stretches of water around the corner of trees we passed.

We'd made it to Shimoda.

We got to our destination; a popular hotel called the Kurofune. It's a decently priced (well, in the sense of a seven-way split between college students) hot spring hotel and restaurant combo situated right next to the beaches of Izu.

"Hey guys, I'll go get checked in, we got rooms 714 and 715," Sasano-senpai said, pointing toward the receptionist's desk as he walked with the luggage.

"Okay, we'll go get changed in the changing rooms and meet back in ten," Kibe replied, pointing his thumb down towards a hallway directed for getting dressed and showered.

The girls were very giddy and excited to have finally made it down to the beach for the vacation.

"Oh my gosh! Let's go get changed, Mami!" Imai shouted, grabbing Mami's hand, about to rush her down the hall.

"Ohh- just a second! I'm gonna head to the bathroom but I'll meet you down there in a second."

Mami gave a wave to her friends and entered the lady's room. I mindlessly spectated her as she left for the restroom, not even noticing I was looking.

Suddenly, I felt an arm wrap around my neck.

"Can't take your eyes off her, huh?" Kibe chided.

I twisted myself out of his grip.

"Dude, stop, I just looked and saw her okay? I already told you, it's not like that, we're just friends."

Kibe smugly grinned "Yeah, you keep saying that a lot lately. Just watch where that'll get you if you keep pretending every girl just wants to be friends."

Kibe was seriously starting to get on my nerves now, but I tried not to let myself say anything that would show my frustration.

"Alright, man, just please stop," I said very affirmatively.

Kibe shook his head and shrugged. "Okay, okay, I'm done I swear, I'm just teasing," he said with a giggle.

I rolled my eyes and walked off to the changing room with Kuri, with Kibe not too far behind me.

...

Hot.

Very hot.

We had walked down the sand trail and set up shop on a nice little spot right in front of the ocean. Everyone was fooling around in the water at this point, having fun and splashing each other with the nice... cool... water. I, however, was sat on a beach chair perched underneath one of our umbrellas, melting like a popsicle, and almost ready to jump into the water myself with no regard for anything else. Yet despite the temptation to do so, here I was, waiting for my sunscreen to dry.

Damn, why didn't I just apply inside like everyone else?

...

I need some water...

I got up and headed for the cooler. That's when I heard a familiar, angelic voice to my right.

"Heyyy, Kaz-kun! You're thirsty too?"

I pulled a water bottle out of the cooler and looked to my right.

"Oh, Mami! Yeah, I'm melting over here," I chuckled, twisting the cap off of my drink. Mami bent down to grab a soda out of the cooler.

She giggled, "Well, you wouldn't be so thirsty if you came down and played in the water, y'know," she replied in that sweet way that she often does.

I don't think that's how that works, but I wasn't going to correct her.

She walked over to my right and sat down in a lawn chair across from the table we'd set up for drinks.

I'd shrunk back down into my chair as well, obscured by the shade. I chugged down the ice-cold water before sighing.

"Yeah, well, I guess that's my own dumb fault for not doing what you guys did and applying sunscreen first before I went out," I said exhaustedly, slumping further into my seat.

She giggled softly. "Don't be so hard on yourself, you're not dumb whatsoever," she assured.

Sweet as always, I thought.

She sipped her drink and sighed happily. She then turned her head my way.

"Are you enjoying it here?" She asked. The way she said that sounded like she was concerned I wasn't.

I looked at her for a second, then nodded with an alleviating smile. "Oh, yeah, of course! This place is great, I'm gonna enjoy myself with you guys out here while I can," I said, quickly trying to reassure her.

She didn't say anything for a moment and then smiled at me. "Mmm, that's good! I was worried you might have wanted to be away from me is all," she admitted.

I felt my eyes widen a bit. "Oh no! Of course not, like I said before, I'm more than happy just being friends and I'm also happy we could agree on that," I explained adamantly.

Another long pause, her smile somewhat dampened at that. I took another drink.

"I heard that Kibe saw you out on a date with another girl," she quietly admitted.

I choked on my water. I started coughing silently.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Mami said hands held out in front of her as if not sure what to do.

I pounded my chest a bit before taking a slow, deep breath.

"He told you what?" I said weakly in between coughs.

Mami pushed her hair back behind her ear shyly, looking to one side of herself. "A while back, we had a drinking party and Kibe came by talking about how he ran into you on the streets with some girl. He'd said that it looked like you were on a date," she replied somberly.

I felt a twitch in my face at that. I groaned and shook my head.

"That jackass," I griped, "that pisses me off he said that to you guys. I'd told him before that she was my neighbor and we were visiting our grandmothers in the hospital," I vented.

Mami perked up with a concerned expression on her face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! He never explained that part to us," she admitted.

That made me even more upset. He's painting some stupid narrative about me to his friends and to my ex-girlfriend? What the hell is wrong with him. I'd unintentionally crushed the empty water bottle in my hand out of frustration.

At that point, I could tell Mami noticed how angry I was. She quickly tried to rebound the conversation.

"I-I'm sorry, Kaz-kun. I shouldn't have brought it up," she expressed, putting her hands together and keeping one eye shut. She paused and slumped her shoulders down, looking to one side of herself.

"I guess I'm..." she paused. I looked at her. She held a somber expression. She looked back up at me and smiled, her eyes closed.

"I guess I'm relieved that it wasn't true," she said, one hand behind her head, eyes still closed.

I felt my heart slam against my chest. Did she still have feelings for me? I guess that would make sense, but... would it? I thought we agreed that breaking things off would be best... why is she acting like this?

"Y-yeah," I replied with a stutter, "it's not true, she's a neighbor of mine," I said, casting my eyes away from her and looking down at the sand.

From the corner of my eye, Mami lowered her head. I could tell she was concerned at that reply. The anger I'd felt previously was gone.

"I was just thinking about... us, y'know?" She shyly admitted, clasping her hands together and looking down at the ground.

I watched her from the corner of my eye, my heart still thumping in my ears.

"When Kibe said that, I got kind of sad. It reminded me of all the good times we had together," she expressed.

Yeah. The times we had together were great. We didn't do a lot together, but she was always happy and smiling. I looked down for a moment and thought some more.

It's just that... you were always so distant, Mami. It felt like you always kept a gap between us so as to not let me get too close. It felt like your heart wasn't in it, and I could see that.

She got up, walking towards me. She squatted down next to my chair and looked me in the face. She was dangerously close now. She looked like an angel sent from heaven. It felt like I could fall for her all over again...

And then she said...

"Remember when we went to Disneyland together?" She smiled.

...

Huh?

That shook me back to reality. All the fluttering feelings I'd felt before were starting to be replaced by an unknown but familiar fear. My eyes adjusted to meet hers.

"Or that time we went to the Skytree? Or the Tokyo Dome City?"

...

What?!

My eyes widened. What was she talking about? We never-

"Oh and that time we decided what to name our first child! That was so dumb, wasn't it?" She said, cocking her head to the side in embarrassment.

...

Fight or flight kicked in.

"What?!" I said with a panicked tone.

Mami looked at me with a surprised expression. She must've seen the look on my face too, as she looked somewhat worried now.

"Y-yeah, that time we were at the diner. We agreed on Maya. One character from each of our names, that's what we said, remember?" She said with concern in her voice, getting caught up in some of her words as she explained.

Goosebumps. I felt paralyzed.

No... we never did anything like that. We never went to Disneyland, we never went to the Skytree, and we never went to the Tokyo Dome. I mean, we'd talked about going to those places before, but we never went there. We agreed it'd be too much for our first few dates together. And kids? Who talks about kids one month into a relationship? That never, ever happened. No way it did.

I jumped up out of my seat. When I stood up, I felt my knees buckle slightly. It felt like my whole world was rocking and shifting.

Mami looked horrified. She held her hand out as if to catch me.

"Kaz-kun, are you okay?!" She said with great concern in her voice. Everyone from our group playing in the ocean looked over at us.

There's no way. This is too much. My grandma was also saying weird things I couldn't remember, but I blamed that on the sickness, but this? There's no way. There's absolutely no way I could forget this.

I readjusted my posture. "Y-yeah, I just-" I stumbled past Mami. She stood up with me, holding her arms out as if not sure whether or not to catch me.

"I just need-" I fumbled with my words as I walked nowhere in particular. I just needed to...

My head was tingling. Everything felt brighter. The sand stung my eyes to look at, and the noises all felt louder than they were before.

"Bathroom," was all I could say next. I staggered up the beach. I thought I could hear Kibe and Kuri shouting my name behind me but it didn't register in that moment. I just walked off.

I was in a dimly lit bathroom with wet floors. I was dry-heaving into a toilet. My body was convulsing and shaking. It felt like I'd just been poisoned or something. I stared at the water in the toilet bowl. I vaguely saw my own reflection.

"What the hell," I whispered to myself, my body convulsing and shaking.

None of that made sense. I don't understand why that impacted me the way it did, but I'd never felt so blindsided in my life. This feels the same way I felt when I'd walked home from the train station the day I and Mami broke up.

I tried to think back. I remember the days I and Mami spent together well. In all the time we'd dated, I'd never taken her to any of those places. I DAMN sure didn't talk about a kid with her. She had to be lying, right? But that doesn't make any sense, why would she lie about that?

My head spun trying to think. It only made my stomach upset. I tried to get to my feet again. When I did, my knees trembled. I felt a twinge of anger and smacked my legs out of frustration.

"C'mon, walk," I whispered angrily to myself.

I slowly started to make my way out of the bathroom stall door. I walked over to a sink and ran the faucets. I splashed cold water onto my face. My teeth chattered as I groaned helplessly. My throat felt dry and my hands felt clammy.

I looked up at the mirror in front of me. I was pale faced. I shut my eyes and tried to breathe in and out to calm myself down.

Then I heard someone walk into the bathroom.

"There you are, dude, are you alright?" A familiar and concerned voice asked. I looked to my left.

It was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. Kibe.

He held a worried look as he crossed his arms, examining me.

"Mami said you looked like you were gonna be sick. She asked if I could go check on you," Kibe said apprehensively.

All I could do was shake my head.

"I'm fine," I shakily exhaled.

Kibe walked a little closer now. "Are you sure, man? You don't look fine, do you want me to get you anything?" He asked.

For some reason, the more Kibe talked to me, the more upset I got. I could only think about all the stupid shit he'd said to everyone. The more I thought about that, the more irrationally angry I got. I tried to get Kibe to back off.

"I said I'm good, I just need some time alone man, please," I said, turning my head further away from him. Please take a hint dude.

"Dude, I'm worried about you, we all are, and Mami especially. You really had her panicked. I can call a doctor if you want me to," Kibe persisted, stubbornly holding his ground.

"Will you knock it off," I snapped.

I could see him freeze and his eyes widen. He shook his head and got on the defensive.

"I'm just trying to help, what's your problem?" He shot back angrily.

I pushed myself up off the sink and looked him in the eyes.

"Help?! I don't need help from you. You told everyone including Mami- no, especially Mami that I was on a date with that girl when you knew that wasn't true!"

Kibe froze for a second, his face softened but he quickly rebounded and shook his head, lowering his brow.

"Is that what this is about?" He said as if the thought of it was stupid.

I rolled my eyes. The nauseous feeling I had earlier was replaced by adrenaline towards this confrontation.

"Dude, if you want me to apologize, I will, I didn't realize it would upset you this much," Kibe defended, hands out to his sides.

"You were telling some stupid fucking lie to everyone after I told you and Kuri that day what I was doing," I sternly expressed, waving my hand off to the side.

Kibe kept his hands out in a shrugging motion as he spoke. "Dude, I'm sorry, alright? It's not that big of a deal, calm down," he argued.

I felt a seething anger bubble up in me at that. I got more animated now.

"You don't get to decide if it's a big deal or not, because I say it is! You had no right telling anyone my business like that, especially not my ex-girlfriend," I angrily explained, pounding my fist into my palm out of frustration.

Kibe threw his arms up in the air and shook his head. "Okay, well, I don't know what you want me to do, because I said I was sorry," he combated.

I waved him off. "Whatever man, just leave me alone, and stop saying stupid shit to our friends about me," I shouted, leaning back over the sink.

"Okay, fine, whatever man, I won't talk to anyone about shit, bye," he snarled, storming out of the bathroom.

After about five seconds, the anger I'd felt before shifted back to a sickly feeling. I shook my head and groaned. "Shit," I quietly whispered. I gripped the sides of the sink.

After about ten minutes, I stumbled out of the bathroom. The sun blinded my eyes as I readjusted to the light. I groaned as I rubbed my face in my hands.

Damn it, I didn't want that.

I decided I didn't want to go back to the beach to face everyone so I just decided to walk the boardwalk. I held my hands inside my shorts pockets, head facing the ground as I walked nowhere in particular.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket. No new text messages or notifications. I shook my head and sighed, shoving my phone back into my pocket.

I looked up now. I was in a vendor section of the beach where people were selling food. I looked around and saw a couple of seats nearby. I decided I wanted to get out of the sun for a second and lay up underneath the shade.

I pulled out a seat in a fairly empty section. I looked around as I sat. A few patrons were enjoying some cold refreshments and treats from the nearby stores. A couple of kids were enjoying some ice cream nearby, a few adults were drinking something that probably had alcohol in it.

I was just about ready to lay my head down and rest when I heard something.

"Hey, you okay?" A soft, feminine voice called out.

I poked my head up and looked behind me. A familiar bespectacled young lady was standing behind me. She had a sun hat on top of her braided chestnut hair. She was modestly dressed, carrying a white cloth bag and wearing a light blue polo shirt, white shorts, and some blue flip-flops.

My eyes shot open.

"Chizuru? What are you doing over here?" I asked, shocked by her presence.

She looked to one side of herself. "I came to get some shaved ice for the girls," she explained.

Shaved ice? Like a snow cone?

She held that same calm expression on her face that she always does. She walked over to my table.

"Are you okay? You look pretty miserable," she asked, crossing her arms as she got closer.

I stopped to think for a second about everything that just happened before I replied.

I started shaking my head.

"No, I'm not okay. Something is seriously wrong," I admitted.

She lowered her brow and walked over to the other side of the table. She pulled a chair out and sat across from me.

"What happened?" She asked.

I shook my head and looked to my side, trying to figure out where to start.

"Uh, well, I got into a fight with my best friend," I explained.

She crossed her legs underneath the table and folded her arms again. She allowed me to go on.

"It was over him telling our friend group that you and I were on a date that day we went to the hospital."

She sighed and shook her head. "That's pretty frustrating. They said that even after you explained to them what you were doing that day, huh?" She said in agreement.

I nodded and continued. "But that's not the part I'm most worried about," I added.

She looked back at me.

I took a deep breath in before continuing. "Remember the ex-girlfriend I talked about?"

Chizuru nodded.

"Well she came along on this trip, and she started telling me about some things that really bothered me," I professed, clasping my hands together on the table.

She cocked her head. "Like what?" She asked curiously.

"Well, she started talking about the trips we'd been on before, like going to Disneyland, the Skytree, the Tokyo Dome, right?"

Chizuru slowly nodded, "Right?" She said, dragging out the word as if trying to follow along.

I shook my head as I looked at the table. "Well, she talked about them so fondly... but here's the thing, we never went to any of those places."

She just looked at me with a confused expression on her face, not sure what to make of that. "What do you mean?"

I leaned into the table. "I mean, we never went to any of those locations, but she was talking to me about them like we had. She even said that we once talked about what we would name our kid if we had one," I continued.

Chizuru recoiled at that, exaggerating her blinking. She held her hands up and shook her head. "Whoa, that's crazy talking about kids when you just started dating," she expressed.

My eyes lit up. "I know! That's what I'm saying, I don't think I would've ever done something like that. Something isn't right, I feel like I would've remembered that conversation," I defended myself.

She leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms again. "Well, here's the thing, you said you had trouble remembering some of the things you did a few months ago, so maybe this is just another one of those situations," she offered as an opinion.

I shook my head. "No, because that was only over the course of when I'd fallen ill to when I'd woken up and first met you like I said, remember? It was only that period of time that I have trouble remembering. Everything else before that I remember, and I swear to you I would remember something like that," I argued, gesturing with my hands on the table.

Chizuru shook her head and looked to the side. "I don't know," she said, before looking back at me. "So what does any of that mean, then? You think she's lying?" She questioned.

I shook my head again. "No, I don't think she was lying... but that's just another thing that doesn't make sense to me anymore."

I sat forward in my seat and sighed, clasping my hands together underneath the table. "I'm tired of brushing these changes in my life off, and I especially won't let this one go. I gotta figure this out," I confirmed.

Chizuru nodded, looking to one side of herself again. "Well, I hope you can figure it out. I can't really offer you any advice on something like that," she explained, starting to stand up from her chair.

"Where are you going?" I asked curiously.

She looked back at me. "I'm going to get some shaved ice, do you want to come?" She offered.

I looked at her for a second and thought...

What is shaved ice?

"Uh, sure. I'll go along," I answered.

I stood up with her and walked down the boardwalk, following behind her.

Hello, hello, hello!

I'm back again!

After I released chapter three, I really got into the swing of writing again. I decided to push on for chapter four and keep up the momentum! Despite my best intentions, life sidetracked me into other things, so I'm sorry for the wait.

Things are getting really interesting now. Looks like Kazuya's world isn't exactly the same as he remembers, yet what could this mean for him?

I guess we'll see what happens in part two of this arc!

Love, love, love y'all,

- Ady Art