Reminisce

The next day, Hiroshi had sped me off back to the hospital before my doctor had arrived to check in on me. The nurses questioned my extended disappearance, I had lied by saying I had taken a long smoke break outside the hospital, they accepted my excuse without defiance. Hiroshi and Misako were with me as I heard the news from the doctor; I was prone to seizures, and had to be prescribed to medication that I would have to take for the rest of my life. But other than the grey-news, I was allowed to return home, under the condition that I did not attend university for a few days and had to book a checkup with him once a week. I agreed, anything to get out. It was miraculous, my memories from my past returning to me, I thanked the gods for granting me the gift, I would not forsake the second chance I received. As I was discharged from the hospital I turned to Hiroshi and Misako.

“Thank you, you two.” I thanked them.

“That’s what friends are for.” Hiroshi replied.

“Exactly.” Misako said.

There were many things I needed to speak to Misako about. I wanted to tell her everything I remembered. They both decided to not attend the first day of university after Golden Week, and I was happy. There was much to discuss. Back at the house, Mister and Missus Takahashi hugged me, I could hear the sadness in their voices.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay.” They both had said.

We decided to have tea in Misako’s room, a small break before I told them as much as I could. I informed Hiroshi about everything, from how I met Misako and Hitomi, to what happened leading up to the day I lost contact with them before my sports accident. Hiroshi kept quiet as he listened, he could not believe the coincidence; that I unconsciously wanted to study in Japan, as my past self’s mind still kept Hitomi’s promise of meeting in Japan one day. Misako sat quietly, I could see that she wanted to tell me something, but did not know how to word it.

“Tell me, Misako,” I began, “Where is Hitomi now? Where does she live?”

She bit her lip. From that action I connected the dots.

“Oh-Oh no…” I trailed off.

She did not know how to respond.

“Your best friend that passed away, she was…” I began.

“Hitomi.” Misako said.

I held Misako’s hand. I could feel her shake.

‘She passed away…before I could see her face….the promise…’ I thought.

It was a failed promise. I could not see Hitomi. I wanted to feel angry for myself, but I could not. My priority was Misako’s wellbeing. Misako was quiet.

“If I remember correctly,” Hiroshi began, “Hitomi passed away around seven years ago.”

Misako nodded.

‘So, the nickname she had in middle and high school…Misako the Unlucky…it was a reference to…?’

I tossed the thought out of my mind. Labels against Misako had bore no meaning to the actual girl that was beside me.

“Misako, we don’t have to speak about her. I know how it must feel.” I said to her.

“No, it’s okay… it’s about time I spoke about it.” Misako replied.

“We are here for you.” I inserted.

Misako asked me to lift her to her wheelchair, I did so, and she moved to her work bench. She opened a drawer and revealed the old laptop and pocket watch.

“This laptop, was hers.” Misako said, “The only item we could recover after the car crash.”

“Car crash?” I asked.

“Hitomi and I were on the way back to Tokyo, from Osaka, to visit my family back home there. My father drove. I should have known he was drinking that night; he was an alcoholic. It was the three of us in the car, my father swerved off the road, trying to overtake a truck, and we drove off the edge, crashing into a lake...”

Misako could not continue speaking, she was struggling to keep herself together.

“Is that when you…?”

“The doctors said I was lucky to survive. I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. But Hitomi…Hitomi…”

I walked to Misako, placing a hand on hers.

“You’ve placed the blame on yourself all these years, haven’t you?” I asked her softly.

“If I never asked her to come with me…If I told my dad no…If I…”

“I should apologize to you, Ishihara. I called you that horrible nickname, I didn’t know how it hurt you. I’m sorry.” Hiroshi said.

“We’ve all done things we regret. It’s how we learn from them, how we accept our past…that’s how we become better people.” I spoke.

Misako nodded as she buried herself in my chest.

“What…that means Yuta is Hitomi’s little brother?” Hiroshi asked.

“He is…was.” Misako replied.

“That’s why you looked after and played with him.” I stated.

She nodded again.

“Then I can tell you another thing,” I began, “You see that pocket watch you have?” I asked, pointing at it.

She nodded her head; tears fell from her face.

“Hitomi made them for us. She made them.” I said to her.

“It… it can’t be…”

“She did. I remember that she wrote me a letter, she put it in the box with the watch. She even apologized for the fight we had before we stopped speaking to each other.”

“The fight…” Misako raked at her brain to remember it, “Oh, that one.”

Misako lifted her head up from me, her eyes wide.

“Wait, you said…” She trailed off.

“I said what?” I asked.

“You said she made three watches.”

“I did.”

“At her house… when we cleaned out her belongings. I never once found a pocket watch in there. I would have noticed it.” Misako told me.

“Maybe we should go and check again.” I said to her.

“We could.”

“Where does her family live?” I asked her.

“Not far from here, you met Mister Mitamo already; he’s Hitomi’s father.”

Hiroshi and I stood up, dazed and confused.

‘That was so obvious, how did I not notice that?’ I thought to myself.

“Yuta’s father is that old-watcher maker dude?” Hiroshi blurted.

I turned to Hiroshi with a stink eye:

“Hiroshi, how did you not know Yuta was Mister Mitamo’s. Don’t you drop Yuta off at his house all the time?”

“I do go inside. I just throw the kid on his doorstep and drive off.” Hiroshi replied.

“How do I know you’re not joking about throwing a child…” I replied.

Connections were being formed from areas I couldn’t imagine. Hitomi and Misako’s fight, Mister Mitamo, her death. It connected like a spider-web in my brain. Hitomi stopped messaging me because she had passed, Misako was grieving and never went back to playing videogames. Hitomi made the watches, it was so clear to me, everything was so apparent.