KagePro - Forgotten Recollections [P2]

Definite Pairings: ShinAya; HaruTaka; KonoEne (yes, I’m well aware of who these two actually are; pretty sure you should know by now with all the spoilers floating around…)
Possible Pairings: KanoKido; SetoMary; HibiHiyo

FF.net summary: "Who’s that red wearing man in that empty classroom?" Ayano Tateyama’s been having odd daydreams as of late. Two years after a certain incident she doesn’t even remember, things start happening… something odd. It had to have involved this "Heat Haze" her "siblings" saw upon earning their red "eyes".

Warnings:
• By default everything is told in 3^rd person except if said otherwise. When Ayano and Shintaro are talking together it’ll always be in 3^rd person too.

He was disappearing in what seemed to be a warped black space with red surrounding the warped area. Why was he falling into that black space? Why did he look so familiar? Why is—not ‘was’—he disappearing? He looked like he’s… no. Didn’t he see what was going to happen to him if he disappeared…? There was a man with them, he was smiling…

And she didn’t know why she seemed so afraid.

She slumped to the ground, tears in her eyes. She was a [hero]; her siblings exclaimed when they were younger; they were all heroes. She would [save] them, her siblings with their [red] eyes.

She was a [good person], her friend had claimed. She became friends with someone who claimed to be better off without them though his actions at the moment had contradicted his previous statement.

She was [loved], everyone had claimed. Her siblings adored her; some even thought that Kano has a sister-complex.

If she was a [hero], a good person that loves and is loved… couldn’t she have saved someone important?

[“…no… don’t leave me…!”]

She couldn’t save him.

She was too late.

[[“…I’m sorry for pushing you away…”]]

“Ayano-nee…?” Kido waved her hand out in front of the black-haired girl.

“Hmm? …Tsubomi-chan…?” Ayano blinked, now fully focused on what was going on.

Wait… when did they get into a lone alleyway? Weren’t they on the sidewalk or something?

‘What…?’ Ayano asked herself in her inner panic. ‘Ah… was it just a daydream? My conversation with him… it felt real. Talking with him felt real… but was it just my imagination…?’

Kido let out a sigh. “Ayano-nee, please pay more attention… you’ve been spacing out so much recently…”

Well that answered her question.

She didn’t want that to be a daydream, but she couldn’t say anything about it. No one knew about her daydreams, “…Ha, ha… sorry, sorry…” Ayano apologized, grinning sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck. “What’d I miss…?”

“Not much, we were just explaining the whole ‘red eyes’ and their abilities, and we pretty much introduced each other,” Kido informed her.

“Ah, I see!” Ayano smiled, looking at Momo and Ene. “Welcome to the Mekakushi-Dan!”

“Thanks!” Momo smiled, cheerfully yet nervously. “So you said you were all going to the amusement park?” Momo asked when Ayano had turned her attention back to the group.

“Pretty much,” Seto smiled carefreely, petting Marry’s long fluffy white hair. “It’s fun to go with a lot of people, so we wouldn’t mind if you joined us.”

Momo smiled. “As fun as that sounds, I have to go stop by somewhere near here first. It’s an anniversary.”

“Ooh? So, Kisaragi-chan really does have a boyfriend,” Kano said, blinking as if the thought of her having someone was impossible. “I guess the media these days aregetting accurate, ne.”

Momo ignored Kano when Ene had lightly tugged on her pink parka’s hoodie, “…amusement park…”

“…!” Momo whipped her head around; her smile faltered when Ene had looked at her for an expectant explanation. “Ah… w-well, an amusement park has a lot of food, rides, and… games…” she glanced at the group who had given her a confused look on her reluctance at the mention of games. “Ene rarely does much but play a bunch of video games, other than that she’s usually sleeping or doing nothing… although her appetite is kinda questionable when she does actually eat…” Momo gave a quick explanation.

“…games…” her eyes sparkled. “…amusement park…” she said with slightly more excitement in her voice. “Little sister… I want to go to the amusement park…” though her voice was monotone, you could see the eagerness in her eyes.

Momo nervously smiled, knowing full well that if she said no to the odd girl; she felt that she would regret her decision. “…sure… although can you guys wait for a bit? I still have to stop by somewhere…” Momo smiled happily. Ene nodded as Momo left.

“Um… do you know where she’s going?” Ayano asked Ene who was still staring at the direction where Momo ran off in. “It seems pretty important…”

“…cemetery…” Ene merely answered.

Marry didn’t exactly know what a cemetery was, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know after noticing the sad yet somewhat surprised looks on Ayano, Seto, Konoha, and Kido. Kano didn’t react though; he rarely seem to react all that often; though she thinks she saw his eyes were now red as he remained silent.

“…Cemetery…?” Kido blinked.

“Cemetery,” Ene confirmed. “…where people are buried under the dirt and stone and can never come back…”

Marry’s image of a cemetery flickered back to the grave of her deceased mother. At the thought of her deceased mother, she almost wanted to cry.

“…is she visiting someone…?” Ayano began.

“…master and their father,” Ene said blankly. “Little sister said that young master and her father are dead.”

“…master?” Konoha had asked the question everyone had thought.

“…Little sister’s older brother,” Ene clarified, pausing as if confused. “…I don’t know why I know why I call him that…”

Marry seemed concerned, “shouldn’t you be with her if you were close to them?” Ene shook her head.

“I don’t know them… I only know what young master looks like…”

“…ne, Tsubomi-chan, do you think she has amnesia…?” Ayano whispered.

“If she does… that’d explain a lot,” Kido muttered quietly.

Although they got the idea that Ene was fairly dense when it came to reading the atmosphere, things seemed to have grown awkward.

The group had decided to wait in the nearby park, and after roughly around 17 minutes, Momo found them at said park when she was on the way to their apartment.

“Sorry to make you wait!” Momo said cheerfully as she found the group at the nearby park. “I forgot where the graveyard was since I rarely visit onii-san…” she sighed.

It was only a half lie; true because she rarely visits the graveyard. A lie because her face was covered with makeup; if Ene could easily read the atmosphere, she would’ve instantly gone to the conclusion that the younger girl was still mourning.

“Welcome back, little sister…” Ene greeted in her usual monotone voice.

They were finally off to the amusement park. Luckily they got on a bus to avoid a long walk, more so since the bus was relatively empty, although it was still awkwardly quiet between all of them.

Normally Ayano and Kido and everyone would be talking to one another, however Kano ended up taking a short nap against Kido’s shoulder and Kido just wanted to listen to her music. Seto and Marry were simply content with cuddling, and Ayano was talking with Konoha.

Although listening to Momo and Ene conversing with one another, Marry spoke up after a while, “…Ene-san, Kisaragi-san, are you sisters?” Konoha seemed to have stopped listening to Ayano; however Ayano didn’t seem to notice and was paying attention to the conversation as well when petite Marry spoke.

“Call me Momo,” Momo smiled. “You don’t have to add the honorifics to our names, more so if we’re going to start hanging around with each other now that we’ll be friends!” she beamed excitedly before answering the question. “And no we aren’t – wait, what made you think that I’m Ene’s sister?”

Seto was silent, merely watching the exchange with a smile. At first, he was skeptical towards the idol, but now he’s glad that Marry has a new friend, someone they could all grow to trust more.

“E-eh…?” Marry felt embarrassed; after a quick glance at Seto who gave an encouraging nod, she gulped, “Ah… o-okay… M-Momo… and, well, Ene-san calls you little sister…” Marry said, face slightly red with embarrassment.

“…Well, to be honest, she was my brother’s friend… I think,” Momo shrugged. “She’s been living with us for a while. We found her a few months back though, saying stuff like she was lost and needed help. I happened to have my phone open and she saw my family picture. She was staring at my brother’s picture and said—” Momo coughed, acting perfectly like Ene, sleepy-sounding and confused. “—‘oh… it’s master…’ and that was how she ended up at my place, eheh!” she grinned sheepishly. “Although I’m pretty surprised, I never knew she’d call my big brother by something embarrassing!”

“…bet…” Ene murmured, as if she was remembering something.

“Ah, so I was right about that,” Momo sighed, grumbling about how perverted her older brother must’ve been without her knowing. “Onii-san sure had weird interests…” she groaned.

Though it was still fairly odd to her, a bet would’ve been what she had thought; and since he’s dead, it seemed a bit like she was trying to hold onto the memory of him. Her socially awkward older brother having a rather cute girl call him ‘master’; what on earth did he do? She often wondered yet at the same time she didn’t really want to know. All she was happy for was that she had a clue closer to finding out about her brother…

Not to mention that Ene was willing to talk about him, nobody seemed to talk about her older brother anymore, as if they’re trying to forget.

“…what’s a bet…?” Ene tilted her head as Momo seemed shocked. She expected Ene to have known what the word meant, more so for using it.

Konoha, however, seemed to be sad at the mention of Momo’s brother, and Ayano was the only one who noticed.

Before they knew it, they had finally arrived to the amusement park, though the girls decided to go elsewhere, amazingly the crowd had Ayano separate from the other girls; taking Konoha with her. Oddly enough she was separated from her sister, and she was always constantly worried over her, though that was fine with Ayano. Perfect, even. She had a feeling that Konoha wouldn’t really talk about it with her if she was with others. Ayano was sure that since Kido was the Mekakushi-Dan’s leader, she could take care of herself… hopefully.

“Should I go track down Kido?” Konoha asked.

Ayano stopped thinking about how to approach this topic of conversation she wanted to bring up; she decided it’d be best to be straightforward.

“Konoha-kun,” Ayano said with a slight frown before she bluntly asked, “what’s wrong with Ene-chan?”

“There’s nothing wrong with her,” Konoha smiled, seeming both fidgety and nervous.

Konoha realized that her eyes flickered red for a slight moment, reminding him of someone he once knew; “you shouldn’t lie to me, Konoha-kun…” Ayano had boldly said; the two knowing full well that she was being truthful. “Ever since we met Ene-chan and Kisaragi-chan, you’ve been quieter and you haven’t-!” she paused, as if reaching a conclusion.

He was worried, what if she found out the reason? What if her memories of two years ago that strangely went missing suddenly reappeared? He couldn’t handle the guilt…

She began, “…are you…? I… I’m sorry, Konoha-kun!” she said so suddenly. “I didn’t even consider… I’m so ashamed… I’m your friend and I didn’t even notice that you fell for Ene-chan…!” she apologized. “I mean, you’re a guy too and Ene-chan is cute… so, it wouldn’t really be that odd! I-I’m sorry for being inconsiderate!” she blurted out.

“Eh?” Konoha stared at Ayano with his blue eyes, blinking. “Ah?!” suddenly, he reacted, realizing what Ayano had implied. “M-mistress…! You’re thinking too much! Ene-chan just reminded me of something is all!” he exclaimed, his cheeks slightly red.

“Huh…?” Ayano blinked; it was her turn to be confused.

“On Kenjirou-san’s computer it has a folder that seems to have been dated [two years ago]. Sadly it’s in the trash though and it’s deleted for the most part. It looks like there were a lot of drawings; maybe it was part of a [game]!” he smiled uneasily.

Ayano’s POV – 1^st person

‘A game created two years ago…?’ I frowned slightly. ‘…I… two years dad was working on a game with a senpai… ah!’ I brightened a bit. “I remember!”

I’m so glad I did too! As an older sister, I feel kinda ashamed that I couldn’t even remember the cultural festival I went to with Tsubomi and Shuuya! They were so cute back then… of course, they’re still cute, but I wish Tsubomi would be a bit more honest with her feelings…

“Y-you do…?” was it me, or did Konoha respond nervously…?

“Yup,” I chirped. “I went with… Shuuya-kun…?” I blinked before frowning. “…? …that’s not right…?”

I was so sure that I went with Shuuya and Tsubomi… how could I be wrong? Oh no… ah…! Maybe Shuuya and Tsubomi remember! I should go ask them about this later—

There was a sudden throbbing in my head.

[“Oi, hurry up. I’m gonna leave you behind.”]

“S-sorry…!”

[“Umm… are you that kid’s friend?”]

“Eheh… I guess you can say that…”

 “Eh…?! A-are you sure I can keep this, Kisaragi-kun…?”

The first image in my mind at that moment was a boy around my age, one who was eerily familiar. Short black hair, red jacket; his back seemed a bit broad to me. He looked so familiar yet… I wonder why I only remember his back.

I’m his friend… but who was that…?

The second image was of a girl wearing my school’s uniform. I couldn’t recognize her face, but she almost reminded me of…

“Mistress? Mistress…?” Konoha said worriedly. “…are you okay…?”

I was brought back to reality. I glanced around and realized that I was still standing around. I decided to sit down on the bench in the shade.

“Mistress…?” Konoha frowned, concerned. The phone’s screen looked blurry through my eyes.

“Konoha-kun… I feel like… I forgot something really… important again…”

To Be Continued…