Vol 5 Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The Protagonist of This Story is…

When she had finished lunch with her friends and was on her way back to her cla.s.sroom, Enjouji Shino spotted the silhouettes of Nagase Iori, Inaba Himeko, and Aoki Yoshifumi in the courtyard. They were uppercla.s.smen belonging to the Cultural Research Club.

Shino found an excuse and sent her friends back to the cla.s.sroom without her.

I should go and talk to them.

She thought that, but her feet would not move, as though they had sprouted roots into the ground.

If I stay here, without moving, maybe they will notice me –— Shino thought, gazing off towards her three fellow students. Since they were quite a distance away, Shino could not hear a thing they were saying.

It was always like this for her: holding onto this kind of feeling, placing herself in this kind of position.

But today, Shino’s footsteps grew heavier and heavier because of something else.

Just as Kiriyama Yui, who belonged to the same Cultural Research Club as those three laughing together, walked straight past them.

Usually, Yui would join them and their conversation.

But she only gave a small nod of acknowledgement, and pa.s.sed them with her friends.

As though they were heading in completely different directions.

As though they were not friends at all, and merely familiar with each other’s faces.

Seeing this, Nagase’s expression became lonely. Inaba looked unusually despondent. But Aoki looked as though he had been cornered.

The uppercla.s.smen who normally sparkled with energy today exuded a heavy, acerbic atmosphere. Their bond that had once been the envy of many others had disappeared without a trace.

Their bond had not been severed — it had completely disappeared.

As Yui and her two friends walked towards Shino, their conversation reached her ears.

“Hey, Yui. Did something happen with your club? Are you arguing with those people from the Cultural Research Club?”

“It… It’s nothing, Yukina. Nothing’s… happening at all.”

“That’s so~ suspicious~, you’re clearly avoiding Iori and Yaegashi and the others in cla.s.s as well.”

“You’re imagining things… Yeah. Hey, don’t worry about it… Please.”

“Since you’re pleading like this, Yui, I can’t help but… Aw. If there’s something bothering you, you’ve got to let me know… ‘kay?”

The girl met eyes with Shino. Shino had seen her before; she remembered her as someone in track and field, who had made trouble for the team during a marathon.

The girl seemed to notice Shino as well; she displayed a white smile reminiscent of a toothpaste commercial. Shino felt slightly moved.

But Yui—

—merely glanced at Shino, then turned away as though she had lost interest.

Without breathing a word.

Without waving.

Even her face was placidly dispa.s.sionate.

It was as though they were not even acquaintances; merely pa.s.sersby on a busy street.

—

Earlier that day, Yaegashi Taichi and Kiriyama Yui had lost <their>.</their>

<their>Why exactly had they lost them, and what had induced such a change? No one had done anything. But the reality that everyone needed to face was that Taichi and Yui had suddenly keeled onto the floor and developed retrograde amnesia.</their>

<their>Memory loss normally warranted rushing to the hospital for treatment— But Inaba-senpai and the other three decided that there was no need, since the memories that had been lost were very limited, and— although they didn’t mention it— the three of them seemed to know the reason behind it all.</their>

<their>The two had forgotten — the existence of the Cultural Research Club, what had happened in the Cultural Research Club, the human connections that had formed in the Cultural Research Club… and so on and so forth. Everything that had to do with the Cultural Research Club had been utterly scooped clean from their memories.</their>

<their>In other words, they still remembered everything, except the Cultural Research Club. So Taichi and Yui’s daily lives were not affected in any way.</their>

<their>Even if the other three in the Cultural Research Club had lost that certain degree of familiarity with those two, they were in the same year together, and they had at least greeted each other several times, enough to call each other their acquaintances. Therefore, although their fellow cla.s.smates felt a little strangely about the whole thing, no one noticed any memory loss.</their>

<their>But Shino and Uwa Chihiro, whom they only knew through the Cultural Research Club, had been completely forgotten.</their>

<their>It was something that couldn’t be helped.</their>

<their>Shino recalled the situation update given to her by Iori, Inaba, and Aoki.</their>

<their>Taichi and Yui themselves were unaware of their amnesia.</their>

<their>To them, they had never even