TOMORROW REMEMBERS WHAT YESTERDAY FORGOT: Back To Square One

After the incident where he threw baby powder towards the chief, they were awkward when inferring about his school later, and Ialan took a week to regain Fuego's trust again. But things went alright ever since. Like his two previous schools, he had no luck, and he needed to be there for at least a month before he could transfer out again.

It’s his first week in this new class, 3rd year of highschool. Everyone's older than him. As usual, all members of the class are humans. And he tries to keep his mouth shut to avoid interaction. Yeah, your typical anime introvert, I get it. But he doesn’t really want anyone to get close enough to get a grasp of his secret life.

At lunch, Ialan was thinking of Lena again. Trying to calculate and guess where she could be. His luck hasn’t waned at all when it comes to looking for her. There’s an hour and a half of lunch break, so he decides to roam outside the school. He always takes his school bag with him, or the mean guys might just pry on his belongings while he’s gone.

He remembers the place he and Lena first met when they were kids. It's a bit far from the school by foot, but he still decides to walk there. On the way, he sees a burger stand. It’s the one where Lena always wanted to eat back in the past. But as homeless kids, they never had the money to afford even a single burger. Ialan is surprised it’s still standing there after 7 years. He looks at the prices, they have drastically gone up. Adding up over 300 rands in some. Since he has lunch, he decides he doesn’t have to buy himself a burger because it would be a waste of money.

He proceeds to explore the streets they used to run on, the spots they hid for shelter, the small alleys between buildings they sneaked into. Many have changed ever since. Ialan clearly remembers. But there’s still the essence of children’s innocence, and the concerning poverty of the place.

He turns to the space behind a pharmacy and beside an abandoned restaurant, a small alley and the perfect hiding spot. It’s been seven years, but he certainly remembers that there is a small square dent on the wall that’s designated for garbage bags. Now, it seems they don’t dump their garbage there anymore, but now the way is cluttered with junk and old rusting metalwares. Yet he’s close to the square dent, the place he recalls as the most peaceful place in the world.

As he approaches, he hears someone weeping. A girl his age sitting inside the said square dent on the wall, face buried between her knees and chest, arms around protecting her. She had bruises on her skin, and uneven cuts on her hair. Her school bag was treated like a children's sketchbook. The handles are also tatters. She also had a few too many band-aids on her.

But most of all, she has this nostalgic light brown hair that slightly curls, and a familiar weep, an aged voice from his memory.

There's no doubt. This girl is the one Ialan had been looking for. His long lost friend, Lena.

“Le–...” before he could call her, she lifted her head and saw him, her eyes lifted up, like seeing hope. She gripped on his pants, unable to stand up.

“Ialan…” she sobbed, tears flowing endlessly.

“Save me—......!” she pleaded.

Ialan quickly took off his cotton vest and wrapped it around her. He crouched on her level and comforted her by patting her back, “Hey...” Still, she cried.

Ialan’s head is being flooded by questions. Does she still remember him, after all? If that’s the case, then he’s glad… but the state she’s in, he can only confidently guess she’s being bullied. There’s fresh blood on her arms, old bruises on her face… she’s really weak, and her ugly crying almost made Ialan miss the sound of her rumbling gut. “Are you hungry?” he asked while continuing to pat. For every second, she wiped her face and swallowed her sobs, but it was pointless.

“They took my lunch…” and sobbed more.

Ialan hastily took his unopened lunch and gave it to her. “Here. I already ate burgers earlier, so you can have it,” She hesitated for a second, but gobbled it the second she got a grasp on it. Is it her first meal of the day?

It started raining lightly.

After a while of silence, Lena has finished half of his lunch, and has calmed down a bit. “...You okay now?” Ialan gently asked. He’s even shocked his voice can actually sound that soft.

Lena just nodded weakly, gripping on Ialan’s vest around her. She started shivering, maybe because she’s feeling weak, or the light rain… or maybe both. “You can wear it. Or you might get a cold.”

She gently placed down his lunch, then slowly, very carefully put on his vest over her uniform, so that she wouldn’t touch her hurting bruises. Then she picked back up the food and started eating again, this time slower. “It tastes good…” a few tears escaped. “And your vest is really warm… cotton…”

Ialan gave a little smile. Out of all possibilities of them meeting again that he’s thought of, the goddess of luck still gave him an unexpected one.

“Thank you, Ialan… for being here for me…” she ate the last bite of his lunch. Now he’s gotta make sure his stomach doesn't make a noise. “And yesterday, too…”

That’s when Ialan finally understood the mingling odd feeling in the air. Yesterday? they never met yesterday. And there’s no way Ialan could have forgotten. He can narrate everything that happened in his yesterday in every detail. Not a part where he meets Lena. This is the first time they met in seven years. What could she have meant by “yesterday”?

“I am sorry, Lena…”

“...‘Lena’...?” She didn’t recognize the name. So it was just a nickname? So she really forgot, in the end? That’s… still sad. He had false hope. But how? Ialan thought quickly and got a glance on her school ID, partly showing ‘Raia’.

“...Raia! …I mean…” ‘Raia’? He's never heard of that name. He’s sure he called her ‘Lena’ all the time 7 years ago. He tries to play it cool, “I’m really just forgetful… your name is tricky to pronounce too…” Also impossible that he’s been talking to a different girl who just happened to resemble her. He is positive this is the ‘Lena’ he knew. Although they have grown for the past 7 years, she still resembles the face Ialan could never forget.

Lena…or rather, Raia looked at him slightly concerned for a few seconds, before replying, “You really are forgetful… like you said yesterday,” as he thought, it was really odd for her to speak to him like it hasn’t been 7 years…
She’s changed. She’s always been timid, but now more timid than before.

“Right… It’s about yesterday, L-... Raia. I… kinda hit my head last night and my memories about yesterday are unclear… Can you tell me what happened again? I might be forgetting something I shouldn't have.”

Raia softly laughs. Oh, the relief it caused Ialan. “You sure are a ditz… I’m glad we are alike. Then, we can be good friends…”

She hugged her knees closer to avoid the raindrops, “Yesterday… I ran here. from my bullies……” Her voice lowered. So it’s true about the bullying. “Then you appeared in just a short while. We talked a bit about what happened the other day… and… I-I’m sorry, I can’t quite really remember anything that happened the other day… I just remember we talked about it yesterday. Oh, and you also said the same thing. You asked me to explain “what happened yesterday”...o-oh, you had some band-aids and gave me some. I wonder why they are gone now…”

She looks at her smooth left elbow and right lower leg,all bruiseless. “I wonder how they heal so fast. Maybe I removed them when they healed. N-Not that I remember…you also m-mentioned that my hair was so awfully cut. But look, they’re gone now. So quick, right? Grew so fast…”

Ialan does not understand what she is saying at all. But he still decided to listen. At this time, classes should be continuing. But he doesn’t care. He lets her speak, and he sees she’s enjoying telling.

“You also kind of said ‘we met yesterday, remember?’ and I replied, ‘I do remember’, but even though I said that, honestly right now I don’t remember we met at all. Maybe the yesterday me remembers… but the me now have forgotten, unfortunately. W…We were here! the same spot… You said I was your first friend so you had to visit me again…”

“...Do you often stay here?” Ialan had to ask.

“I’m not sure… I think I have such a bad memory that every day, I end up forgetting everything and remembering only yesterday. See? All I talk about is what happened yesterday. No matter how hard I try, I can’t remember the things that happened before ‘yesterday’. I don’t even know how I lived this far. Oh, and didn’t you already ask this too yesterday?”

“Y…yeah, I did. I remembered just now. haha,” It was a heavy uneasy feeling. A feeling like he has to think really hard outside the box to understand what’s really going on.

“Ah, isn’t this talk kinda weird? I keep saying ‘remember’ and ‘yesterday’ again and again,” Raia laughs as before.

Despite the massive confusions and uneasiness Ialan is burdening, Raia was still able to lift his spirit, just like the old times. She’s in tatters herself, but still able to shine like a sun, in Ialan’s eyes. Even when she doesn’t remember… She’s still who she is, after all.

Raia gently tugged on his uniform’s sleeve and scoots closer. “I’m glad you came… like you promised. I was worried you completely forgot, because you came late… I– honestly, I was scared you wouldn’t come, and instead they’ll find me…”

“I’m sorry…” he gently patted her back again when he sensed she’s on the verge of tears. “By ‘they’… you mean those who vandalized your school bag and bruised skin?”

She nodded solemnly. “They call me ‘creepy’, ‘alien’, ‘witch’ and many horrible stuff….” Ialan slightly flinched when she mentioned witch. “I don’t know what I did to them. Yesterday, I told the teachers, but they never did anything about it. I can’t tell my parents either… I can’t feel their presence at all. Not even a memory from last night…” she didn’t notice tears started flowing once more. Only when Ialan wiped them for her using his sleeve. “Thank you…” sniff, “You are also my first friend, Ialan. You’re not weirded out by me, unlike everyone else. I’m glad you’re by my side. I hope you’ll stay that way.”

Ah. She said this before. Seven years ago. He bet she doesn’t even realize.

“You’re my first ever friend, Ialan. You don’t avoid me like everyone does. I’m glad you’re by my side. I hope we’ll still stay together and play and be friends forever!”