Even if the Mind Forgets, the Body Remembers

Despite our brief argument, my day spent with Ruri – as well as a good night’s sleep afterwards – had served to reinvigorate me. Sunday came and went with me burying myself back into the remainder of the files left cluttering up my living room, and I managed to finish them off just in time for my triumphant return to class the next day.

Thankfully, I had no trouble finding my way back to the campus, following the map on my phone and even arriving early enough to track down my homeroom teacher in the teacher’s lounge and explain my situation to him properly.

Toyohisa Kita was a man with shaggy black hair and an eternally disinterested expression, who listened to my tale as apathetically as anyone had so far, not saying a word until I had finally finished my lengthy explanation. Only then did he hum thoughtfully and say, in a deep voice, “I see. I had been told you were coming back today, but nothing about the details. Finish turning in your papers while I go get everyone settled down for the day.” As he rose and opened the door, he paused and added, “Oh, and TK? It’s good to have you back.” The way he said it, in an absolute monotone, complete with a weak thumbs-up that his heart clearly wasn’t in, made me question the authenticity of his statement.

After divvying out my stack of papers to the various other teachers present in the lounge, I made my way to class, getting lost twice along the way before finally stopping outside the door that had inscribed upon its wooden frame, ‘2-2.’ Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I knocked on the door and waited.

Moments later, I heard Mr. Kita’s unenthusiastic voice call back, “Come on in, Mr. Miura.”

I slid the door open and entered, suddenly aware of everyone’s eyes as they locked on to me. I spotted Ruri in the third row with her friend, Kaori, sitting diagonally across from her in the second row. Yoichi sat nearly front-and-center, but beyond the three of them, I recognized none of the other twenty-five faces that stared at me in silent expectation.

Stopping next to where Mr. Kita stood behind his podium, I turned to face the class while he explained, in an impressively perfect monotone that gave away absolutely no emotion whatsoever, “Alright everyone, as you might already know, TK was involved in an accident about three weeks ago. And as you might be able to see, he’s still alive. So let’s all give him a warm welcome back, okay?” A murmur of assent rippled out across the class, and as they began to fall silent once again, Mr. Kita turned to me and asked, “Well, I think that should about cover it. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”

That should about cover what, exactly? I wondered, They already knew all that! Sighing, I bowed formally towards the class and said, “Sorry if I made any of you worry, but I’m fine, really! Also, I feel like I should apologize in advance, but as a result of the accident, I’ve sort of developed a case of amnesia…so, I’m afraid I don’t actually remember anything about anyone. Right now, I don’t even know your names.”

As shocked whispers spread across the room, Mr. Kita gestured to an empty spot in the back row, next to the windows, and said, “Go ahead and take your seat, and I’ll take rollcall.” I did so, returning Yoichi’s fist-bump as I passed through, and listened intently as each of the other students’ names were called. Soon enough, my head was spinning from the onslaught of new information, and I shook myself in an attempt to focus and commit them to memory.

Things went pretty smoothly up until lunchtime. Even with my prolonged absence, it seemed I had managed to not fall behind too far, if at all. The correct answers still came to me with ease, and I had no trouble with language arts, math, or science.

When the bell rang for lunch, the entire class leapt out of their seats and instantly clustered around my desk, everyone talking over each other in an attempt to voice the thoughts that had been burning in the back of their minds all morning.

The boy with light green hair sitting beside me led the boisterous crowd, immediately clapping me on the back and exclaiming over the chorus of murmured questions, “Welcome back, my man! Guess you really are as tough as you look, huh?” His attitude was unexpectedly familiar, and it took me a second to recall his name as Souta Ishizuka. He immediately turned towards the boy sitting in front of him, who had opted to remain seated with his face buried in his arms atop his desk, and kicked the back of his chair, calling, “Hey, Jin! TK’s back! Wake up and say hi, would ya?”

Jin Tachibana, I thought as I examined him, Come to think of it, he’s been sleeping all day! The boy slowly lifted his head and looked at me with a dopey expression, and I was taken aback by his unexpectedly pretty face and perfect smile, framed by silky black hair. “Oh, hey,” he replied with a yawn and a tired wave, before face-planting back onto his still-closed math textbook with a loud thump.

In the lull, the rest of the throng made their presence known, assaulting me with questions.

“What’s it like to have amnesia, TK?”

“I can’t believe you’re still so good at math, even after losing your memory. Guess honor students really are built different, huh?”

“TK, can you help me with my homework?”

Stunned by all the sudden attention, I froze, unsure of how to respond, or even who to respond to first. Thankfully, Ruri elbowed her way to the front of the crowd, grabbing me firmly by the arm and telling the others, “Come on, guys, it’s his first day back! Give him a break, would you? Besides, I’m taking him on a tour of the school grounds. You’ll all have a chance to talk to him later.”

As she dragged me away, a chorus of ‘aww’s followed us out into the hallway, where I could finally breathe once more. “Thanks for that,” I croaked to Ruri, who chuckled.

“You’re welcome. Honestly…I expected them to act like buffoons, but that was a bit excessive. Come along; I actually do want to show you around. With your memories gone, I’d wager you’d have a hard time getting where you want to go.”

I fell into step with her as she led the way through the school corridors, pointing out useful landmarks along the way. It took the better part of the hour we were allotted for lunch to circle the four floors and make our return journey to the classroom, with me struggling to wrap my head around the layout.

We had almost made it back to the classroom when a scream and crash from the floor above pulled me out of my thoughts, just in time to see a cascade of volleyballs bouncing down the staircase beside where we walked!

Without thinking, I grabbed Ruri and pressed her against the wall, shielding her with my own body as I was pummeled by the falling assault. It was only once the wave had passed that I looked directly at her, and suddenly realized what an intimate situation we were in, with our faces mere inches away from each other.

My mind froze as I stared into her wide blue eyes, the light smell of her perfume going straight to my head. This close, I could see my own reflection in those crystalline depths, feel the heat of her breath against my cheek. I tried to speak, but the words caught in my throat, and time seemed to stop as, slowly, my lips inched closer to hers…

“S-sorry, sorry! Hey, are you two okay?” A girl’s voice called from the top of the staircase, and I instantly pulled away from Ruri, shaking my head to dispel my daze. I looked up to see a short, slim girl wearing a tracksuit, her light purple hair tied into fancy drills bouncing as she hurried down the stairs. She was almost to the bottom when her foot caught and she tripped, sprawling forwards directly into me, and I barely managed to keep my footing as I caught her before she hit the ground.

She looked up at me with an innocent and confused expression, but before either of us could make any sort of remark, Ruri firmly tugged on the back of my shirt, and I ended up dropping the girl the rest of the way to the floor, anyways. She groaned and rubbed her backside before energetically hopping back upright and exclaiming, “Th-thanks, TK! Neither of you are hurt, right?”

I exchanged a glance with Ruri, who merely shook her head, and replied, “No, we’re fine. What about you? That could have been a nasty fall if I hadn’t caught you…umm…” I paused, struggling to recall her name. I knew I had seen her during the morning rollcall, which meant that she was in my class, but my brain was having trouble keeping up with everything that had happened.

“Oh, right, you mentioned that you had amnesia. Rika Maeda, at your service!” She waved a hand in front of her face and proudly declared, “And don’t worry about me, this kind of thing happens to me all the time! I’ve gotten pretty resilient over the years.”

“Rika is the class klutz,” Ruri whispered in my ear, “She’s like a magnet for bad luck. It’s best not to get involved, TK.”

“I see,” I whispered back, but looking around us at the scene of volleyballs rolling around everywhere across the thankfully empty hallway, I added, “But, it’s not like we can just leave her like this.”

Sighing, Ruri agreed, “Yeah, you’re right. Just…be prepared for anything. Like, actually, anything.”

She’s exaggerating. It can’t be that bad, I thought, turning to the girl and saying, “Rika, was it? Come on, we’ll help you get this mess sorted out.”

Her eyes immediately lit up, and she clapped her hands together happily. “You really mean it? Thank you, TK! And you too, Ruri! Now, just let me get the…cart…”

We all followed her gaze to the top of the staircase, where the cart she had been using to transport the volleyballs had managed to roll its way to the edge of the top stair. As we watched, it slowly made its way over, and tumbled down end over end straight towards us!

“Dodge!” Yelled a cheery voice from behind, and Kaori appeared out of nowhere, moving almost too fast to follow. She pushed both Ruri and I out of the way before jumping in front of Rika, deftly catching the runaway cart with one hand and stopping it in its tracks. She set it down carefully, Rika happily applauding her, while Ruri and I picked ourselves back up and exchanged a look.

Shrugging, Ruri said simply, “Kaori’s always been really athletic.”

That’s not just athletic, I thought incredulously, watching as the girl nervously rubbed the back of her head under Rika’s shower of praises. That’s borderline superhuman!

Together, the four of us managed to pick up the scattered balls, and Kaori agreed to escort Rika to the gym; after all, if there were to be any more mishaps along the way, Kaori seemed to be the best equipped out of all of us to handle whatever might arise.

Watching them leave, I considered Ruri, and the moment we had shared, flexing my hand absently as I thought, Even if the mind forgets, the body remembers.