We Love Us

Make the cake dough. Break three eggs into a bowl, add four tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of instant coffee. Mix them quickly, then add 100 milliliters of salad oil.
Put 200 grams of pancake mix into the bowl, then mix thoroughly.
Peel two apples of any kind – try and use Toki – and cut them into sixteen wedges.
Put thirty grams of butter and three more tablespoons of sugar into a frying pan on medium heat. When the butter melts, line up the apples to fill in all the gaps. Once the bottom side is golden brown, turn it over.
Pour the thoroughly mixed dough from the outside in. After pouring, cover it with a top and bake on low heat for about fifteen minutes. Timing is everything. Use the emotion of love if available.
Once done, stick a bamboo skewer into the dessert. If there is no dough stuck to it, turn off the fire and carefully turn the pan over a plate.

Complete.

I placed the dessert in a box and put her laptop into my schoolbag along with another object. I headed to the hospital and entered her room with only my schoolbag; Delilah was also there.

"Matcha-kun!"

"How…do you do, Vieira-kun?"

"Um, I've been okay. S-Sorry for not visitin' you. I had…a dilemma to deal with."

"I…see. Well, you're here…now."

"I have somethin' for you."
My hands pulled out her laptop and presented it to her.

"Ah, my laptop! I haven't seen it in so long, I partially forgot about it."
She inspected it, then returned her gaze to me. Her eyebrows furrowed.
"Wait, why did you bring this to me?"

"Can I see it, Yasumi-chan?"

I took a few steps closer to them and said, "A few months ago, I remembered you. I remembered my childhood life with you."

Her pupils dilated and eyebrows raised. Delilah was sort of oblivious to the situation.

"I knew you wanted to tell me about it since I moved to the orphanage, but you didn't 'cause you were scared."

She frantically waved her arms around as if she held invisible glowsticks. Then she bowed her head a few times as if she was at a rock concert.
"Ah…I…I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm––"

If I wanted to, I'd let her keep going, because it was a cute sight to see. But I stopped her and said, "I'm not mad at you. That situation's already been dealt with."

"Ah, it has? I…I wish I could remember it."

"There's a chance you might. In your laptop are the videos of everythin' important we did durin' the months you forgot. I want you to rewatch them."

"I see. Will…Will these bring my memories back?"

I didn't answer her question. She would have to.

Delilah chimed her two cents.
"Matcha-kun, can I watch it with her~?"

I flickered my eyes to the little girl and said, "Sure, I think Ringomori-san will need an eatin' buddy anyways."

"Eating buddy?" they questioned in unison.

I left the room to roll in a trolley that had the pan roasted apple cake.
"You'll be eatin' this while you watch. I tried my best to meet your standards, Ringomori-san. I'm sure you'll like it."

I cut the cake into several slices and served them on plates. Leaving the room, I saw her press play in the first video. I closed the door to give them privacy, and allowed her to pick her apples of life back.

While she watched the videos, I stepped out of the hospital to get some fresh air to sooth my rapidly beating heart. I would have preferred to be alone, but it seemed like that had become a rarity for me as of late. It wasn't a bad thing, I enjoyed the company.

Dr. Takashi approached me and asked, "Will it work?"

I looked her in the eyes and responded, "Not a doubt in my mind."

"Why aren't you with them? She was there when you remembered, right?"

"If anythin', it's better that Delilah's there instead. She's like an emotional support animal to us. O-Oh, no offense by the way."

"What's the cake for?"

"They have the magical apples that brought my memories back. Apples only we [She] can pick."

"Well, I hope it works. That girl has gone through so much that she deserves a win."

"Speakin' of that, while I watched the videos, I noticed how close of a bond you had with her. That made me think of a question I want to ask: Would the Shizuko family adopt her?"

That question left Dr. Takashi dazed, she stuttered for a response, but wasn't able to make it past "I-I…"

I continued, "We [She] said that you and Shizuko-sensei are the closest people we [She] had for parents, and we [I] could see that too."

Dr. Takashi interjected. "I get what you're saying, but can you save your little inside joke until she remembers it?"

"Yeah, that makes sense. Anyways, More importantly, she and Delilah already see each other as sisters. She's practically a member of the family already, just not legally. Even then, it'd make sense from a logical point of view too."
I began pacing around the doctor, using my hands to gesture like a symphony conductor.
"Her birthday this year will be when she outgrows the orphanage program and she'll have to take care of herself. I have a massive suspicion that you guys would let her stay at your house until she was able to sustain herself."

"You're saying that adopting her wouldn't add too much burden to us, since we already act like she's our daughter?"

"Exactly. If she gets her memories back, then why not reward her for all she's been through?"

Dr. Takashi had taken a while to comprehend what I told her. I doubt she was thinking of reasons to deny her, but rather thinking of what it would mean to all of them.

She said, "Perhaps you're right, Vieira-kun. Maybe I have been seeing her as a daughter, but I also don't want to replace her late mother."

"Forgive me, sensei, but that's nonsense. You won't be replacin' her mom, but succeedin' her. You wouldn't replace the values her mom taught her, just addin' values of your own onto them. Ringomori-san's like a building, her mom made the foundation and her second mom'll be buildin' the roof."

She looked at me with her hands in pockets and a smirk across her face.
"How is it that a depressed kid like you can think so optimistically about others?"

"Before I was depressed, I had her. I'll be stuck with one of the two for the rest of my life, and the leadin' option is currently gettin' her memories back."

"I never would've thought the camera that was meant to preserve her parents' life would preserve her own."

"Oh right, I forgot to give her somethin' else."
I dug into my schoolbag in search of something.

"What're you looking for?"

I pulled out the camera that documented her life.

"Is that thing still working?"

"Just like her, it didn't sustain major injuries on the bus. It had a couple of extra videos that weren't uploaded to her laptop. I need her to see these two."

"Why, what's on it?"

➼ ➼ ➼

After I saw the videos on her laptop, I inspected the camera to test if it was still operational. To my surprise, it was. I looked at the library and saw that it was basically empty.

She probably removes them after storin' them in her laptop in order to save space.

There were two videos on it, both were dated December 31st. I watched them.

The first video was her leaving the hospital with Dr. Takashi and finding the kimono she'd wear for the outing. The next video was after she equipped the perfect one. It was white and red, with a silky pastel green obi around her waist. She recorded herself waiting at the bus stop.

"Ah, look at that," she said, putting the camera on the bench. "Chamaru-kun sent a photo of a cat. What? We [He] said we'll [He'll] replace me with it! This bus better hurry up."

She sent her reply, then picked up her camera and used the display to fix a stray strand of hair.
"I definitely want to adopt a cat when I have my own place. Maybe next year? Wow, this year has been like a crazy rollercoaster. At least it will end smoothly."
She put a finger to her chin and pointed her eyes to the sky.
"Hmm, if I could summarize my year in a single sentence, what would I say? It definitely has to do with Chamaru-kun. I'm a bit curious as to what our [His] reply will be. Let me ask."

The camera returned to its spot on the bench, and she began typing her question.
"I swear, if we [He] doesn't mention me, I'll ignore him like those tsunderes do on TV."
She sent her question.

I sent my reply as her bus arrived.

From her eyes that read my reply came a tear that had fallen to her uplifted lips that reacted to it. I got to see it. I was able to see her reaction. She showed my text to the camera.

"Wow, we [He] outdid me. I couldn't have come up with something as special as that. Let me try anyway."

The bus opened its door and she made herself the last one to step inside; putting her at the back. She sat down and placed the camera on her lap.

"I got it. I––Sorry, wrong word… We..."

I said it with her.

"We love us."

The video ended. The display turned blank and I saw my reflection on it. I could see my eyes, my pastel green eyes that looked like pears.

Peaches and pears. No, more like Toki and Ourin apples.