ACT III - Forever Forgotten

The next day, our homeroom teacher announced that Yuujin had gotten into an accident and that he'd rest at home for the time being. He didn't mention anything about his memory loss, but I could see that his dear friend Reo Kajimaru was intensely shocked at the news. Murmurs of curiosity and pity filled the class. I tried to pay no mind to them: It was none of my business, not at all…

News must have traveled fast, as all his close friends paid a visit to our class during lunch break, even Seiten-senpai! They all surrounded Kajimaru. "He's not answering my calls or texts!" cried the blonde one. Michiru, was it? She was the childhood friend of Yuujin, and her special item was her shoes. I had already stolen the shoes, replacing them with a new pair during previous break times. She'd notice immediately in the evening, but at the least, I made sure that no one had caught me in the act. Plus, I had sent the shoes to Tsukumo's way with someone specially hired to deliver the items from the school, Ria's special item (the kitchen apron) included.

Now all that remained was Kajimaru's succulent, but I could steal it after school no problem. As for senpai's karaoke mic, well, that one had a different approach. Sometimes, when Tsukumo had deemed it to be fit, he'd buy an entire establishment to suck all the Memory-Power held within. Since karaoke cafes had a lot of fond memories inside, they made for rich investments. We had done this many times before, causing the opening and closing of many shops around town. We were always using people involved in our schemes to make the purchases, so no one had any suspicion that Tsukumo was behind them. He'd hand over the required money to the Puppet, and they'd handle everything about the purchase. It was quite convenient, as they'd let Tsukumo come and retrieve the Memories whenever needed, and let him know if any of the workers or customers were mentally suitable for our sinful cycle.

There was an incredible amount of people involved with him, I even suspected that he was making use of people in the police. Everyone wanted to break free, but the Memory addiction was so grand, that no one of significance had ever caused a riot, as it'd mean goodbye to the fond feelings… Forever.

Back at the class, Ria-senpai replied to Michiru-senpai with "He's probably resting, let him be… Since he's resting at home, and not at the hospital, I'd like to assume it isn't anything too bad." Kajimaru looked down on his phone. "I… I don't really know. I tried callin' his parents, and they sounded real worried, and even mentioned something about memory loss…" He laid down on his desk with a sigh of despair. "I have a real bad feelin' about this…"

Meanwhile, Seiten-senpai was sitting with the most depressed look on his face. His shoulders hunched forward, it was interesting seeing someone with impregnable strength look weak like this. "I should have known… He was looking more and more tired, despite him trying to hide it from me… I should've just let him take a week long break from our activities… His careless mistake is most likely my own responsibility." Michiru-senpai grabbed his shoulders, shaking him lightly. "Senpai, what are you talking about?! It's not your responsibility, it never was!" This didn't make him feel any lighter. "I don't know… I can't help but have the feeling that he was hiding a burden from us all this time, and we failed to see it…"

Michiru-senpai stood silent for a bit, and then told the group about her emotional night with her friend, skipping over the part about her late big sister. I turned my head away from them; I already knew about all their times together thanks to my hand fan. I took out my History homework and started solving them casually. Sorry dear friends, but it was too late to save Yuujin now. When he comes back to school, do feel free to become his friend from scratch, but he'd never ever be the same person again…

The following day, class was back to normal. People had already stopped discussing Yuujin's accident, switching to chatter about other daily life topics—and no one had noticed the absence of the succulent near the windows.

Except for one person.

Kajimaru stood inspecting and counting the plants for a bit, and then looked out from the window to see if the poor plant had taken a fall. But no, Kajimaru. The fate of the succulent was to be a source of power and vitality in the hands of the disgusting and heartless villain that was Tsukumo… One that didn't care about people's precious belongings other than taking their power for himself. Since I was his main assistant, I guess I was just as cruel and heartless as him… Again, I ignored the confused look on my classmate's face, mostly focusing on my studies, and occasionally chatting with my friends.

During lunch break, Michiru-senpai came running into the class, asking if Kajimaru could have a talk with him outside. Her eyes looked awfully tired, with dark circles underneath. The loss of her dear shoes—her big sister's shoes—must have caused her to cry for a long time… Again, none of that mattered to me… Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe.

A few days passed. The absence of my seatmate was starting to get even me worried. It's not like we had truly injured him, so what was taking him so long…? His friends were losing their hopes, along with their patience. During lunch break, they gathered again. Seiten-senpai reported that the karaoke cafe Yuujin, Kajimaru and Michiru-senpai went to just the previous week had been shut down. I snorted by myself, I knew just how special that place was to him, despite him trying to tell the news as if it was just an unfortunate coincidence happening after Yuujin's 'accident'. They went on to talk about whether they should try visiting him, and maybe converse about some memories with him, to see if he would remember anything. They all agreed, but how foolish they were… They didn't know that there really was no way to bring his memories back!

Unless…

Well, there were two possible methods, none of which they could do without having access to Tsukumo's antique shop. Plain impossible for them, and they wouldn't know that his incident was connected to him in a million years, anyway…