Chapter 6: Photos
She closed her eyes and gripped the sides of my arms as she leaned in towards my lips. Just as our lips were about to meet, adrenaline surged through my body. I involuntarily took two steps back, breaking Mami's grip on me.
"Wait!" I said in a flustered panic. I raised my hands defensively.
Mami's eyes widened, as if she had just snapped out of a trance.
"Eh?" She murmured in disbelief.
"Wh- what were you trying to do just now?" I stammered, my heart pounding in sync with my racing thoughts.
"Why were you-" I choked on the response. A million thoughts raced around in my head and I couldn't hedge a bet as to which one would surface first.
The glisten in her eyes was slowly dimming, as if returning back to reality. She returned her hands to her side and lowered her head to avoid eye contact. An uncomfortable expression rested upon her face.
Then, a thought won the internal race for first place.
"W- why were you trying to kiss me?" I managed to get the words out.
Mami's face turned up towards mine ever so slightly. Her eyes met mine briefly and fell away all the same. She lightly shook her head.
"I..." she lingered in the dead air for a short period. She bit the lower portion of her lip and grimaced.
All of a sudden, my brain became a super computer in those brief moments. I was making lightning fast connections to certain events throughout the day. One thing stuck out in particular, as if I'd just found the answer to a complex mathematical equation.
"Th- that conversation on the beach earlier today... was that really just you making small talk?"
She didn't answer my question. She instead deflected by asking a question of her own.
"Did I make you hate me because of this?"
Her question took me by surprise.
"No!" I answered truthfully. "But," I continued, my hands fidgeting nervously, "doing something like... 'that' could be risky."
I vaguely indicated what 'that' meant by bringing my fingertips together, a crude gesture of... well... 'that'.
Observing her reaction, I noticed the vacant look in her eyes that I had seen earlier on the beach, slowly returning.
"Is it because you're dating Ichinose-san now?"
...
?!
My eyes widened, and I shook my head. "What? No, we're not dating."
Mami's eyes tracked back to mine. She studied my face as if she was looking for something.
"But you were on a date with her, right? She's that neighbor you were with, isn't she?" She said, making full eye contact.
"H- how'd you know that she's my neighbor?"
She delayed her answer briefly, looking off to the side and finally breaking her stare. "I asked her."
Ding. Another connection finally completed.
"You're asking about this because of what Kibe said at the drinking party, right?" My guard lowered slightly as I felt I understood where the confusion was coming from now.
Mami kept her eyes away from mine, but she nodded.
I sighed shakily and set my arms down. "Kibe was exaggerating details. We went to visit our grandparents at the hospital. It wasn't a date; we were never, nor are we currently, dating." I definitively explained.
No reaction from her. She maintained a strong poker face, revealing nothing. Only her words would provide clues.
"Oh, I see," she said warily. "But you do like her, correct?"
My head recoiled at the question.
"W- what do you mean like her? I just met her not too long ago, so-"
Mami stepped forward.
"You do, don't you? She's pretty after all. You can be honest with me!" Mami said, more in a demanding way than a comforting way.
Her questions were startling me. I'd never known her to be this pushy.
"Wh- what is up with you, Mami?! No, not in that way!" I said defensively, fumbling with my words yet again.
Mami paused. I think she realized she was being a bit aggressive because a look of surprise swept over her. She took a step back, averting herself from me entirely.
"Sorry, never mind." She said quickly and dismissively. She grimaced as she turned away from me.
"不公平なあ"
She muttered something that I didn't quite hear from where I was standing.
I leaned in a bit closer to her.
"What'd you say?"
She flicked her head back in my direction. Her face was morose.
"Sorry, Kazuya-kun. Please forget that this happened. I shouldn't have behaved in such a way."
"Eh? Uh, I..." I didn't know whether to say sorry too, or to accept her apology.
She began to walk on.
...
Wait... that's it?!
She pushed the curtains aside and walked back to our table.
"Wh- hold on a second!" I shouted.
If she did hear me, she never came back.
I was left completely stunned. The comedown of the adrenaline rush left me with an anxiety spike of returning to our group of friends immediately.
I planted my back against the wall and slid to the floor. My legs felt heavy.
What just happened?!
Mami almost tried to kiss me. So... she still has feelings for me? I thought she said that she agreed with me when it happened.
Wait... maybe she felt pressured into agreeing to the breakup!
I ran my hands through my hair as my mind raced.
When I'd broke up with Mami, I did it because I felt like we were incompatible. It felt like the right thing to do for the both of us.
But maybe... was I wrong?
...
No... I think that I WAS wrong!
I think I framed it in a way that didn't give her any room to communicate her feelings to me. I just said I thought we should break up and that was that. We didn't even talk it out before I made the selfish decision to break up with her. Maybe she didn't feel the same way I did after all.
Now, due to my selfish actions, she's putting up a front, trying to conceal her true feelings and act like everything is okay.
If that's the case, then...
...
Anxiety churned in my stomach.
It probably took about a minute for me to regain my composure. I eventually pulled myself back up the wall and onto my feet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
I didn't feel great, but I somehow found the resolve to come back to the table.
I took hold of the curtain with one hand and flung it back. When my eyes adjusted to the sudden light, I looked across the room, noticing that it was only the GUYS left at the table.
Dumbfounded, I walked back towards them. Their attention was directed at me as I approached.
"Oh, Kazuya, there you are!" Kuri said, setting his now empty glass down. Kibe looked at me curiously.
"Dang Kaz, you're not sick too, are you?" Sasano-senpai asked with genuine curiosity. He was slouched back in his seat with his phone in one hand.
I rubbed the back of my neck. "Uh, sick?" I asked.
I glanced around the table. Yep... no girls.
"Where did everyone go?"
Sasano-senpai sat back up in his chair and sighed, setting his phone on the table.
"Well, Chizuru-san said that she wasn't feeling well, so her, Shinbo-san and Kawanaka-san paid for their drinks and walked her back to the hotel." Sasano-senpai said with a stretch.
That's... odd.
"Chizuru wasn't feeling well?" I asked with curiosity. She seemed fine throughout the day, though...
Sasano-senpai leaned back into his chair with a nod. "Yep... oh, and then get this, a little before you walked out here, Mami said that SHE wasn't feeling well either. She just walked out the door and Imai-san and Shimae-san went to follow her after they paid.
My heart sank deeper. Mami just left on her own?!
Kibe watched me skeptically. I could tell that he suspected something was awry. I chose to try and ignore him in the moment.
Sasano-senpai grunted as he looked around. "Everyone just got sick outta no where. Kinda makes me think we shouldn't eat here, y'know?" Sasano said, leaning back once again and shoving his hands into his pockets underneath the table.
"Yeah, that's true." Kuri remarked, looking over towards Kibe. "Should we go?"
Kibe didn't do much to agree to anything. He only shook his head. His eyes were glanced down towards the floor. "Mmm-mmm." He vocally shrugged off the question.
Sasano-senpai looked back up towards me. "Say, you were in the bathroom a while too, Kazuya-san. Plus, you look kinda pale. Are you okay?"
I realized I'd been unconsciously nodding my head at the questions being asked. Once I stopped, I looked down at the floor.
"Mmm... yeah I'm okay... but if everyone else left, we can-"
Just before I could finish speaking, our chef for the night came around the corner holding the paper containing our orders we had placed. We all looked at him simultaneously.
"Okay, let's see, so ten people then, so first I got-" He stopped, turning his head towards the four of us before looking around at the empty seats. He looked back at us in confusion, but then he chuckled.
"What happened? You guys lose your dates?" He asked.
We all just looked at each other, smiled, and laughed.
We decided to stay and have dinner. I didn't eat much though; my appetite was shot after the bathroom incident. As we walked back up the road leading to our hotel, I noticed Kibe kept observing me from the corner of his eyes.
When Kuri and Sasano spoke up about the restaurant to each other, Kibe leaned over towards me.
"Something happened with you and Mami back there, didn't it?" He asked nonchalantly.
I recoiled at the abruptness of the question. Kibe is so good at picking up on social abnormalities with me, but sometimes I forget that.
My face was the visual indicator needed to just keep staring me down like a cop interrogating a suspect, waiting for them to crack and confess. I regained my composure and looked at him, speaking at a medium volume as to where the others couldn't hear me.
"What made you guess that?" I asked, genuinely curious as to what made him deduce such a thing.
"Well for one..." he began, looking off to one side as if to recall every event like it was mapped out already. "Mami walked to the bathrooms shortly after she noticed you did, she came back looking miserable, didn't even wanna stay for dinner, and then, wouldn't you know it, you came out looking like you'd just seen a ghost."
...
Well alright, Detective Conan...
Though his description of Mami looking "miserable" was concerning, I gradually smiled and shook my head which made Kibe take notice.
"So am I right?" He asked.
I looked at him from the corners of my eyes as my head was lowered. "Nah, you're on the money... but I was just thinking you could be solving murders, y'know?"
Kibe muted a sarcastic chuckle. "Y'know, it's funny, the way Mami looked? I wouldn't be surprised if I did have to solve a murder."
I lightly knocked him on the shoulder. "Don't joke like that dude, I don't wanna die," I laughed.
Kibe reciprocated a laugh of his own, but got serious again shortly after. He turned a bit more towards me. "No, I'm serious dude, what did she say to you back there?" He asked with genuine curiosity and concern.
Well... it was more so what she DID, but...
I shook my head and sighed. "It was a lot man... but I don't know if I should say."
He leaned forward a bit to have himself better in view. I looked more directly at him.
"Dude, I'm your best friend. I know I messed up around Mami before with the jokes, but I promise, I won't tell anyone or make any jokes to anyone... you can tell me. Honestly."
In truth, I believed him. This moment made me pause for consideration and realize just how much I appreciated Kibe, not only as a person, but as a real friend. When he makes a mistake and realizes it, he's pretty good at owning up to it... most of the time.
I looked at him and heartily smiled. "Thanks man, " I said, "but I'll save it for when we get back to the hotel. You're probably gonna wanna sit down for what I'll tell you."
Kibe nodded and straightened himself out again. "Jeez, OK. That sounds bad, but for sure, we can talk once we're ba-"
"Oi, what're you guys doing back there? Confessing your love for each other? Pick up the pace." We heard Sasano-senpai shouting from further up the hill. We both looked ahead in surprise. Kuri and Sasano had somehow slipped away from us as we'd been walking.
"Eh?!" We both said in befuddlement. We lightly jogged to meet back up with them quicker. Once we regrouped, Kibe retorted back to Sasano-senpai.
"Hold up, what'd you say just now?! Confess? To who? Him?! You think I'd wanna date a dude as butt ugly as Kazu-chin?" He said, almost serious sounding, but I knew he was messing around.
Either way, I shot back a look of disgust towards Kibe. "What?! You think I wanna date a short stack like you? It hurts my neck just looking down at you for too long!"
"What'd you say?!" Kibe shouted, butting his head into mine. We growled at each other.
"Your lanky ass with that hair color makes you look like a chode!"
...
I couldn't tell if this was a joke anymore.
"This is the part where they passionately make out in front of us." Kuri adding fuel to the fire, I see.
Me and Kibe both spun our heads towards Kuri. "Shut up, four eyes!" We said at the same time.
Sasano-senpai and Kuri spun around laughing with one another. We all walked back together cracking jokes at the others expense.
We walked past the sliding doors of our hotel. Sasano-senpai waved a goodbye and headed up to our room first. Before Kuri got too far ahead of me and Kibe, he turned around to ask a question.
"You guys headed back up yet as well? I mean, all jokes aside, you looked like you were talking about something serious." He said, pointing at the both of us.
Me and Kibe looked at him together. I waved Kuri off with a smile. "Ah, we'll probably just be a minute."
Kuri nodded. "Okay then, no problem. I'll see you guys when you get back up to the rooms."
We nodded in response and Kuri waved goodbye as he headed after Sasano-senpai. He shouted to hold the elevator for him.
Me and Kibe looked at each other. Kibe sighed and walked over towards the seats in the lounge. As I followed him, I noticed two familiar girls sitting in two out of the six seats arranged to face a small glass coffee table.
Shinbo-san and Kawanaka-san.
They both turned their heads up to face us, curious at to who just walked up to them. Shinbo-san quickly smiled when she recognized us.
"Oh! You're Chizuru's friend! Hi, hi!" Shinbo-san said enthusiastically, double waving her hands back and forth.
I awkwardly waved back, as did Kibe.
"Uh, hi y'all," I replied.
Shinbo-san quickly responded after our greetings. She put her chin into her hand and rested her elbow on top of her knee; her legs were crossed one over the other. "So sorry about leaving early at dinner, but Chizuru got really sick all of a sudden."
I waved off her concern. "Oh, no it's totally fine. How is she right now, though?"
"Oh, she actually has a thirty-eight degree fever right now. She's resting it off, but we just came down here to grab her some waters from the vending machines for when she wakes up." Shinbo said, sitting up straight and placing her hands around her cloth bag sat next to the seat.
Whoa! So she really is sick then. Wouldn't have guessed that.
"Oh man, Chizuru has a fever? That's awful... especially on her vacation," I sympathetically replied.
Shinbo-san waved her hand back and forth. Kawanaka-san watched the conversation go on with a light smile.
"Oh I know, but don't worry! She's in good hands. Hopefully, with us taking care of her, she'll be able to get back out there before our trip ends!" Shinbo-san optimistically declared, her fist held tight and confident in front of her.
Afterwards she relaxed and set her hand back to her side. "But what about you guys? How was the restaurant? It looked like a really cool place," Shinbo-san asked, sounding remorseful over not getting to share dinner with everyone.
That's when Kibe stepped in. "The food was good, but honestly, after you three left, the other girls in our party had to leave as well. It ended up being just us guys enjoying a meal there."
Kibe laughed. "Actually, we only ended up staying because the chef asked if we lost our dates for the night."
Shinbo-san reacted with a mixture of surprise and laughter.
"Ehhh! Really?" Kawanaka-san finally spoke, smiling.
"That's actually so funny! But the other girls ended up leaving too you said?" Shinbo-san asked for clarification.
Kibe nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, honestly, one of the other girls in our group started feeling weird too, so they took her back to the hotel."
Shinbo-san and Kawanaka-san put their hands over their mouths in surprise. "Oh my gosh, really?!" Kawanaka-san asked with genuine concern.
"I hope whatever Chizuru had didn't transfer over to whoever it was in your group as well," Shinbo-san worriedly replied.
I shook my head. "Well, honestly, we don't know what happened, but I imagine we'll just take it easy for right now and play it by ear," I said, seizing the chance to hop back into the conversation.
Shinbo-san nodded. "Mmm, good idea" she agreed. Suddenly she stretched and looked at Kawanaka-san. "Well, we should get back to our rooms in case Chizuru needs us," she said with a nod. Kawanaka-san and Shinbo-san stood up from their chairs and collected their things.
"Take care! Hope to see you again," they kindly fare welled.
"You as well." Me and Kibe both said in different ways as they walked off.
After they went towards the elevators, we both looked at each other and sighed, walking over to the vacant seats and plopping down. As we sat and relaxed for a moment, Kibe kicked his right foot over his left leg and hung his arms on the back rest, cocking his head to one side as he looked at me.
"Okay," he said as if to start a meeting. "What happened?"
He was starting this like a therapist would begin a session with a client.
I only shook my head and looked to one side. "Uh, well..." I lingered, unsure of where to even begin. I decided to just start with the events of what happened in the bathroom.
"Basically, she came up to me out of nowhere and tried to kiss me."
Kibe's eyes went wide. "You serious?!" He said, enunciating each syllable to emphasize his shock.
I nodded and continued looking off to the side. "Yep... although, I rejected her advance... which I don't think she liked."
Kibe put his thumb under his chin and rested his index finger on top. "Yeah, I'll bet. That's wild, though! Did she say anything to you after that?"
I looked at Kibe directly now. "She asked me if it was because I was dating Ichinose-san." I said, shrugging my shoulders. I felt more unpleasant the more I remembered.
Kibe groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh no... she said that because of what I said, huh." He said regretfully.
I waved my hand to soothe is guilt. "Don't beat yourself up about it anymore, man," I said reassuringly.
Kibe gave a disapproving nod. "No man, this is because of my big fat mouth. Now I'm afraid she'll turn into the crazy ex who killed my best friend." He bemoaned. I knew he was half joking, but honestly, with the way Mami looks and acts sometimes, I get where he's coming from.
I chuckled. "Nah man..." I paused. My smile faded as I thought about the stuff she'd said on the beach.
Kibe furrowed his brow. "What're you thinking of now?" He asked, attentive as always.
I looked up at him and then off to one side as I spoke.
"She said..." I hesitated. If Kibe hits me with anymore bomb shell revelations I might get shell shock.
Kibe leaned into the conversation. "Yeah?" He urged me to go on.
I grimaced. "Did I ever mention any of the dates me and her went on?" I asked, praying to hear a no.
Kibe looked down at the floor in recollection, his fingers holding his chin as he thought. He returned with a nod.
"Well, I remember the Disneyland one. I was pretty jealous of that."
I closed my eyes and shook my head as I leaned forward in my seat. I rubbed my temples and groaned.
So even Kibe has heard of at least one of the dates that Mami mentioned. Guess that means it really did happen. And yet, why can't I remember this?
Either something is wrong with me, or I'm the star of the most messed up reality show of all time, and this is just entertainment for a cruel and invisible audience.
I rested my hands on the top of my kneecaps, sighing shakily. "Yeah," was all I could say.
Kibe shook his head in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
I drearily looked up at him. "You're gonna think I'm crazy, but... I don't remember taking a trip to Disneyland with Mami."
Kibe blinked and then shook his head. "Really?" He half pointed his finger at me. "It happened not that long ago. You showed me the pics."
...
WHAT?!
"W-what pics?" I nervously asked.
Kibe's face shifted to confusion. "The... ones from your photo roll?" He said with rising intonation at the end of his sentence.
Urgently, I reached for my phone from my right side pocket. It trembled in my hands as I unlocked it and scrolled down to my photo roll. The adrenaline was back. I started scrolling down. Everything looked normal until I...
I got to the month prior to when I fell ill.
There were dozens of photos and pictures saved that I didn't remember... all from around the time before I got sick. Nothing looked familiar.
I couldn't find the photos of Disneyland that Kibe was talking about, though.
Out of sheer morbid curiosity, I went to look at the recently deleted photos tab to see if there was anything there. I scrolled up, my hand still trembling and my heart pounding in my ears.
...
There they were. The photos from the date in question. They were of inside what appeared to be Disneyland Japan, outside one of the park attractions. Mami was smiling by herself in a few photos, and then smiling with me in the rest, taken by some unknown third party who was likely asked to take the picture for us. It all looked so alien to me. It didn't feel real.
My heart thumped. The shaking intensified the more I scrolled and found pictures I didn't recognize. Some dating back farther than when I lost my memory. I looked up at Kibe.
Kibe, who'd had his jaw rested on his fist, now became alert of my appearance. "Kazuya? Are you okay? You're really pale," he asked with concern.
My eyes traced back over all the photos. It's like my entire gallery had been altered. At a certain point, I lost my grip on the phone and it fell to the floor. I brought my hands to my head to pacify myself.
"I- I don't-"
"K- Kazuya?!" Kibe jumped out of his seat. He rushed to my side and put his hand on my shoulder, squatting down to better see my face.
"What's wrong with you?" He urgently asked.
My breathing was rapid and my heart was throttling. My vision was tunneling. I felt sick.
"Kazuya!" Kibe pleaded, holding his hand tighter on my shoulder. "C'mon man, talk to me!"
"This- I don't- It doesn't," I couldn't say what I wanted. I knew what I wanted to say, but it just wouldn't come out. I just kept fumbling with the same words.
"Kazuya, just breathe man, It's cool. I'm here with you. Just breathe." He reassured me.
"Ju- just give me... give me a sec," was all I could say.
Kibe paused. He hesitated to leave my side immediately, but he eventually nodded.
"Okay," he acquiesced.
Kibe looked at the ground, took my phone, and set it on the table. He got up and sat back down in the seat closest to my left. He put his fist to his cheek and just watched me like a concerned onlooker.
A minute.
I think it was a minute that passed before I was able to speak again. I held my chin in the palm of my hand as I gazed at my phone on the table in front of me. My thoughts were scrambled.
There's got to be something wrong with me. Amnesia? Memory loss, surely, right? That's the only way this makes any sense. It has to be. I've gotta go to the doctor and set up an appointment when I get back home.
I heard an intentional cough to my left. I turned my gaze towards Kibe. He held his hands up and shook his head.
"Dude... what just happened?" He asked.
My eyes drifted back towards my phone resting on the table. "Kibe," I began. "I'm really worried I might have had significant memory loss." I admitted in frailty. I looked back at him for his reaction.
Kibe folded his arms, kicking one leg over the other in his chair. His perturbed expression didn't cease. "Seriously?" He questioned, sounding more so like he was genuinely asking rather than skeptical.
I nodded.
Kibe put his chin between his index finger and thumb as he thought, still maintaining eye contact. "Why do you think that?"
I maintained a gaze upon my phone. "When you mentioned the photos of my date with Mami and I saw them in my photo roll, it was like I was looking at them for the first time." I said, dipping lower into a hunch.
Kibe didn't say anything so I continued.
"The dates that Mami and I went on, there were certain events my family members would mention I had no memory of, and even text messages in my phone, all of it was unfamiliar."
Kibe looked down for a moment to think. "When did you start feeling this way?"
I paused to think. It happened around the time after I broke up with Mami and fell ill, but I think Kibe would recognize it better if I mentioned the time I said I was sick and stayed home from school.
"Remember that time I said I stayed home from school because I was sick? But you said I'd came to school and I told you I couldn't remember?" I asked, holding one hand to the side as I spoke to Kibe.
Kibe thought to himself, narrowing his eyes as if trying to remember what I was talking about. Suddenly he snapped his fingers and pointed at me.
"Oh," he exclaimed, "you mean when Kuri was there with us too, yeah?"
Oh yeah, Kuri was walking with us too that day.
"Yeah." I confirmed to him, nodding my head.
Kibe leaned back into his seat and folded his arms, an intense look of surprise rested on his face. "Yeah, I remember now. I remember because of how odd it was you'd said that... wow, that was a while ago too. So you're saying that you think the cold might have had something to do with it?"
I grimaced and shook my head. "I don't know what to think. Right now, I just know that something is definitely off about me and it's freaking me out," I said, holding one hand over the other to stop the mild shaking.
Kibe looked down as he nodded. "Yeah, I don't doubt it. I did think that was odd how you'd said you stayed home because you were sick, but I'd literally seen you the day before acting completely normal."
I shook my head. "Yeah... and I thought I was sleeping off a cold the entire time."
We both paused momentarily to think to ourselves. Kibe spoke up thereafter.
"Well, honestly... I'm glad you told me about this, but I agree that you should probably go get this checked out," Kibe advised.
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah... first thing after this trip is over is to go see a doctor," I admitted, releasing my hands and laying them back onto my lap.
"But," Kibe continued, "try not to let it ruin your trip while you're here. I mean, I know that's probably hard to do now that it's gonna be on your mind, and y'know, rightfully so, but..." Kibe trailed off, as if not sure how to bounce back with a positive reassurance.
Looking at him, I could tell he was struggling to continue with that, but nevertheless, it made me laugh. Kibe looked up and held his hands out in front of him. "Okay, no wait, the thing I was trying to say was-"
"Nope, too late, you failed the speech check," I joked.
Kibe cracked a smile and sighed, letting his arms fall into his lap as he leaned back.
"I don't know," he said, looking off to one side. "I still feel kind of guilty about saying that stuff to Mami. I feel like it's my fault she's been causing you so much stress." Kibe flattened his lip and shook his head.
I looked at him and waved my hand dismissively. "Nah man, you don't have to feel sorry for what happened." I paused to think more about what I wanted to say. "You're not responsible for why I feel this way or why Mami... felt the way she did," I said firmly. "In truth, I think part of the issue with her is my fault."
Kibe half smiled as he nodded. He laughed drily. "Mmm, thanks man." He stopped to think before he looked at me with a serious expression. "What I meant to say just a second ago... was that you aren't having to face whatever you're going through on your own now. You got me... and hell, if you wanna tell Kuri, I'm sure he'd be there for you too. If you wanna check in with me to update me on what you learn or get my opinions on anything, you just let me know," he said with a reassuring smile.
...
That... almost made me tear up.
"Y- you'd really do all that for my sake?" I asked in slight disbelief.
He shrugged. "Of course... that's what friends are for, isn't it?"
I blinked. An emotional smile snuck its way onto my face. "Thanks man," I said, my voice almost cracking.
I really couldn't have asked for better friends.
Kibe nodded in response, and his smile reciprocated. Then, he stretched his arms out and stood up.
"Alright, enough of this sappy shit," he said, the bend and strain from his stretch mirrored the effort in his voice, "how about we call it for now and head back up to our rooms?" He said with a sigh, finishing his decompression as he asked the question.
I nodded in approval, mimicking his stretches as well. "Yeah, let's do it... it's been a long day," I yawned in exhaustion. I didn't even realize it till I stretched but my body felt heavy from everything that had happened today.
Kibe dryly laughed. "Yeah, you and me both," he deadpanned.
"Kuri, stop jerking off in the bathroom, I need to brush my teeth!" Kibe loudly vocalized as he banged on the door a few times.
"What the hell, dude! Stop! I'm not jerking off, I'm brushing my teeth too!" Kuri shouted in a fluster.
"You've been brushing your teeth for like eight billion years now." Kibe remarked sarcastically.
"Don't be dramatic! Plus the sun would've exploded by then, we wouldn't even be-"
"Ahhhh shut up, shut up, shut up! Just hurry it up. I'm trying to go to bed!" Kibe groaned, running his hands down his head in annoyance.
I looked over at Kibe near the door and softly chuckled at hearing their conversation from my place on the tatami. I scrolled through my phone as it charged in the outlet next to me. Sasano-senpai was softly snoring with an eye mask on at the far side of the room.
I picked back up where I left off reading.
'Acute memory loss: Commonly known as amnesia, this usually happens because of a sudden illness, injury, or other events that disrupt your memory processes.'
I sighed heavily through my nose. Sudden illness, huh? That sounds about right.
I paused to think a little longer.
Acute memory loss, though? I don't know if I'd personally classify my memory loss as "acute." It seems to stretch back pretty far.
...
I closed out of the browser and put my phone on my chest, momentarily resting my eyes as I thought to myself.
Man, it's been a crazy day. I've never been more ready for bed than I am now. I definitely need a reset to get my mind away off thinking about this situation.
I began to close my eyes. I held them closed for a moment, but another thought entered my mind that made me reopen them.
I'll have to see Mami again tomorrow, huh?
...
I guess I'll confront her when I have the time to do so. I hope it won't be awkward between us now...
Hi again!
Sorry for the long wait everyone. I can't say it won't be the last, but I will make an attempt to put these out more frequently! I got inspired to write again after I picked the manga back up! I've had enough time in between this chapter and the last chapter to think of new ideas for how the story will progress further!
Fun fact: Did you know that there's a Kanojo Okarishimasu live action adaptation? I just recently learned about this and I watched it as well. It's actually not bad! The casting choices (for the most part) were good! Kazuya's actor and Chizuru's actress were good, Sumi and Mami were pretty spot on, but I think the pick for Ruka wasn't a great one (she was too tall!)
Anyway, that also inspired me to write again, as well as giving me ideas for things I could implement into this fan fiction going forward!
That's all I had to say for now. See you next time!
- Ady Art
