The Memory Remains

“The key is… what?” My perplexion is clear through my tone, as I ask.

“Look…” She passes me the keys, while every member of the group slowly gathers round.

True enough, the keys I’m now holding in my hands feel different. The first two we got, are definitely the same, in every way possible, but the newest addition to the set is smaller, and made of a different material too. The ornate design is similar, but at the head of the key, there’s a small crescent symbol exclusive to this one. Not to mention that the size is small enough for anyone to believe that it wouldn’t really fit the lock on the rooftop…

“You’re right. It is different…” I can’t help but agree with Mayu.

“What does that mean?” Ayase, who’s sitting down next to Mayu inquires.

“So… it wasn’t the key we were looking for?” Kazuya sighs in exasperation.

“But Mei-san said…” Hotaru starts, but falls silent.

“Maybe, that’s why she could only sense this one… because it’s not one of the keys…” Noriko, always speculating, voices as she furrows her brows.

“Then, Yoko-senpai…” Mayu mutters lowly, clutching the new key she received back from me tightly “…died for nothing?”

Unable to withstand the surge of emotions, Mayu’s voice reaches a breaking point, as she gets up in a rush.

“Mayu—“

“I just need some air…” Without stopping for a second, she makes for the door, and steps outside.

“Mayu…” I grit my teeth in frustration at my own powerlessness. I knew she was bottling it up, but I didn’t expect the dam to burst so soon.

The group’s mood instantly took a nose dive, as we all fell dead silent. But this wasn’t the time to fall into despair.

After taking in a breath to compose myself, I take it upon me to break the silence.

“Even if it’s not the key we were looking for, it will still have some use. We just need to figure it out. I’ll go see how Mayu’s doing.” After this small announcement, I grab the small key and turn to Noriko.

“Noriko… now that you’ve seen it, can you maybe sense this key like Mei does or something?”

“Eh… you mean its location?”

I nod briefly.

“I can, yes.”

“Great, then if we’re not back in half an hour, you can trace us with this.” I explain, before stuffing the key in my pants’ pocket.

Noriko gave a brief nod, before it was Ayase’s time to speak up.

“Hideki.”

“Yeah?”

“…Make sure Mayu’s okay…”

I give her a brief smile and a nod, as I go out the same way Mayu did.

…

I don’t have to walk for long outside the Home Ec Room to find her. She is crouching down against the wall, her knees close to her chest.

After heaving a sigh, I decide to not close the door behind me. Maybe we can trick or at least stall the room shifting that way. With a nod to pump myself up, I make for my childhood friend.

As I shift closer to her, Mayu doesn’t even budge, let alone raise her head to address the one approaching her. Still silent, I crouch, and sit down next to her, my back on the wall too, and my shoulder resting against hers.

“Hey, Mayu…”

No response. Just the soft sound of nearly silent sobs.

“It’s good to let it all out once in a while, you know.” I shrug. Mayu is my best friend, but I honestly don’t know how to comfort her at a time like this. But still, I have to try. “Like I said, you can always talk to me.”

Her head still in her arms, she finally decides to speak up.

“Yoko-senpai was… a great person. She always cared deeply for her underclassmen…”

Deciding to not intervene, I continue to stay silent, and just listen for now.

“She… she was rough around the edges I know… but she was the most thoughtful person there was. During practice, she would always help out the new members…”

While Mayu is pouring her heart out, the tears come back to stain her sleeves yet again.

“And me… she always helped me, when I needed her. She was the best… I wanted to be like her. Like Yoko-senpai…” With a sharp breath to contain the pain, she continued “…I looked up to her. But now, she’s… she’s…”

Holding back another sob, her tone yields to the pain as she speaks…

“Why did she… have to die?”

“I won’t say I know how it feels, because I don’t. But I know one thing.”

For the first time, Mayu raises her tear-stained face to look at me.

“She cared for you Mayu. She really did.”

Unable to bear the pain any longer, she clutched my arm closest to her, and lets out a muffled scream, her tears flowing freely now. Her cheeks were a waterfall of sorrow, as her face took on a look so pained, the likes I’ve never seen before.

I decided to let her release all the pent-up anger and frustration, and not utter a word, until she’s done. Somehow, I had found myself snaking my arm around her shoulders as she cried, as a form of reassurance.

Mayu was hurting, as her friend, I knew that. Yet there was only so much I could do to help her. Letting her cry it out would help in the long run, but it all depended on her own strength and mental fortitude.

But Mayu is strong…

When she had calmed down some, I spoke up.

“What would Yoko-senpai think, if she saw you like this?” I asked, chuckling to myself.

“She would probably yell at me, and tell me to cheer the hell up.” She replied almost instantly.

“Sounds like something she would say.” I inhale deeply, and shake her shoulder. “…What do you say we put it into action?”

“But I can’t…”

“I know you can Mayu. You’re strong. Senpai thought so too. Do you think she would want you to lose the will to fight this late in the game?”

“No.”

“Do you want her wish for us to escape to be in vain?”

“No.”

“Would she want to see her favorite underclassman stay depressed forever?”

“Noo…”

That last answer was a little whiny, but I’ll take it.

“Then let’s go.” I announce, as I get up, and offer her a hand. With a sigh, and after she wipes her tears away, she finally accepts, and coils her hand around mine.

I help her up, before we share a brief nod.

“Thanks, Hideki.”

“I didn’t do anything, really.” I find myself shrugging at her gratitude. Of course I wasn’t just feigning ignorance. Mayu’s recovery was thanks to her strength, and her own alone. Mayu is strong… I just gave her a little push.

“Pfft.” She suppresses a laugh, causing me to raise a brow at her. “…You’ve changed you know?” She gave me smile to go with that revelation.

“Oh, me? How so?” I fold my arms in a sarcastic manner.

“You’re more considerate with others, I guess. I think it’s for the better.” Her smile is now replaced by a cheeky grin.

“Wow, did you just say that I was an asshole before we came here?”

“Oops.”

“Oops, my ass!”

“Hehe…” Soon Mayu’s cheeky laugh, turned into a pure, natural laughter. The kind that suits her best.

I may have been trying to distance myself from everyone at some point in my life. I know I did. But from now on, I’ll try to give the people I love the recognition they deserve. Like Mayu, mom and…

Did I just think of Ayase-san?

Something is clearly brewing in my head, and I honestly don’t know what.

“But seriously thank you, Hideki.” Mayu’s sincere gratitude brings me back to reality.

“Like I said—“

“Just don’t tire yourself out like that.”

Tire myself out? Wha—“

“You think I can’t see right through it?” This time it’s her turn to raise her brow at me.

I sigh.

I’ve been caught red-handed after all. This whole day has been so hectic, everything that happened was just too much… From discovering all that stuff about the school, and the curse, to running away with Ayase-san in my arms, and finally fighting that monster. I can still feel the heat around my neck… It’s safe to say all of that are taking their toll on me. My body feels sluggish…

Yet I can’t afford to stop now. If I do… If we do, then we’re doomed. It’s a fight against the clock after all. I just have to grit my teeth and bear it.

But of course, my childhood friend would see through all that in the end. Sometimes knowing someone so well, was both a blessing and a curse.

“Just get some rest, and we can go again later.”

Despite the clear reasoning in her words, I shake my head,

“It’s almost around 7. We need to find where that key leads to before midnight.”

“Hideki!”

“I’m fine. I’ll have plenty of time to rest when I’m dead.” I follow that bold statement, with a confident smirk, as I see a fist flying my away seemingly out of nowhere. “Woah!”

I barely managed to dodge in time.

“Oh, I’m gonna kill you right now, then!”

“Hey, hey!”

I find myself shielding against Mayu’s relentless, but powerless fists against my arm.

“Look, I’ll just take a look with Kazuya, and we’ll be right back.”

“And how will you find your way back?”

“We will. Don’t sweat the deets. We’ll have the key on us anyway.”

I was definitely getting tired. My mind was short-circuiting with every little explanation I had to give. But even so, I couldn’t stop.

“You’re such a handful…”

And with that little remark, we made our way back to the Home Ec. The trick with the door worked wonders, since the room didn’t budge an inch from its previous position.

It had barely been half an hour since we left. The time was right around 7, yet the sun still hadn’t set. That was especially odd, since it was mid-winter and all.

Mid-winter huh?

Come to think of it, the temperature wasn’t too low either. It was like we were encased in a protective glass, and the outside was switching like props in a play.

Protective glass… more like a dome.

A dome, huh? What is this “The Dusk of Revenge?”

…

When we got back, I moved towards the other guy in the group, and decided to ask for his help.

“I was thinking of surveying the school to see if this key can unlock anything. You up for it?” I flash him the key, while he contemplates for a bit.

After taking a look around to see that all the girls are utterly exhausted, he gives me a hearty nod.

“Cool.” While I shifted the key back in my pocket, and prepared to announce our plan, two glares stabbed me in the back of my head, causing me to address them.

The first was Mayu, who was clearly against the idea, and the other was…

Ayase-san.

The amount of times I’ve been glared at today has to be a high score record for me, no doubt.

Choosing to address the older one first, I made my way to Ayase who had her bare leg wrapped up in a bandage, and resting on top of a set of blankets.

Somehow, a pouty Ayase can either terrify me, or put me in a teasing mode.

And this time, it put me in the latter.

“How’s the leg gramps?”

“Gramps…? So you have chosen death, huh?”

Immediately after I make that joke, Ayase’s eyes take on a glowing wintry tone. Or at least that’s what it seemed like to me.

Is she unleashing her ice aura spell?! Who is she, Tsukishiro Fuyumi?!

“Wrong novel, dude.”

So she heard me?

I clear my throat and get back on track.

“Does it still hurt?” I take a seat, cross-legged next to her on the floor.

“The swelling has gone down some, and the pain has subsided thankfully.” She shrugs, before fixing a serious gaze my way.

“Going somewhere?”

“We’re gonna search for a use for this key.” I flash the key, yet again, before she narrows her eyes.

“Alone?”

“With Kazuya.”

“It’s dangerous. We’re coming with.” She states, her tone disapproving.

“We’ll be fine. Besides you’re missing a leg, Ayase-san.”

“I’m not some war survivor idiot!” She hisses at me, like a cat baring its teeth. “Besides…”

She narrows her eyes as if she’s scanning my face, before beckoning me over. I lean forward, and to my surprise, I feel Ayase’s fingers graze my neck.

Woah…

Is she gonna…?

“You’re hurt too.”

Right as I’m lost in my own fantasies, the sensation of pain becomes apparent around the left side of my collar.

Her gaze turns into one of concern, as she removes her hand from my neck, and I pull back.

“That’s gonna leave a mark probably.”

“Battle scars are kinda cool…” Having failed to recover from the embarrassment, I just say whatever comes to mind, causing Ayase to sigh.

“You’re unbelievable.”

Still, it was true that it would probably leave a mark. While the automaton’s left arm was normal, its right one was skeletal, making the left side of my neck bruise significantly redder. While the right side was doing better, the left was still burning up.

“Just be careful, okay?” She gave me her reprimanding tone, before I got up and made for the door with Kazuya.

Everyone was reluctant to let us go at first, but they eventually caved in, God knows they needed the rest after all. We decided to look around for less than an hour, before we made it back to the Home Ec. When Noriko would feel the presence of the key close enough, she would open the door to let us know where they are. We didn’t know if it would work yet, but even if it didn’t we could still reach them by just randomly opening doors.

With the promise that we wouldn’t do anything reckless, me and Kazuya set out on our own, to roam the halls of the school, looking for a clue.