ため野矢の: Because of Noya

違い Difference

The first emotion- shock.

"It was you."

Those words rang in my head as I tried to process the situation at hand.
Why did they have so much impact when I knew so little about what was going on in the first place?
But, if the girl in the picture is really me, which it is, then the boy would probably be Yū because he recognized me without even having to ask. But..
I really don't remember being close with anyone at that age.
Why was I with Yū?
Why did I know Yū then? When did we ever meet before? More importantly, why do I still NOT remember?

"Y-Yū, do you recognize me from back then? Or the boy I'm holding hands with? I mean, I-"

"BUT IT'S YOU, RIGHT?! IN THE PICTURE, IT'S YOU!"

I backed away at the the gap Yū closed in between us, but only slightly. I was in fact quite frightened at his reactions now.

"I-I said it before, didn't I? U-um... Is the b-"

"THE BLACK-HAIRED BOY IS ME!"

Yū cut of my sentences mercilessly as I slowly tried to retain all of the new information- or rather, previous information that I had forgotten. But...

I knew Yū from my childhood days? We were even acquainted that far back?

I heard a gentle thump of two hands against cold linoleum floors as the libero shakily held himself up with the photograph tucked underneath his spread-out palm. He was breathing heavily, almost as if he just finished a run and was ready to collapse from the exhaustion at any given moment.
From my standpoint, I thought he was overreacting. But, I didn't know his current thoughts and what he remembered of me. So, I can't be one to judge. All the meanwhile, it's pretty shocking to me as well.

"K-Kameko.. Do you.. Remember me?"

Yū looked at me with a newfound expression that I had never seen before. His eyes showed a strange mixture of relief with underlying anguish, yet hope lying beneath the layers. His mouth was turned upright, into an insecure little grin, trying to comfort and calm himself through action.

I looked upon this, staring into his eyes as I examined the interesting new sight, and only shook my head slowly.

The hope from his eyes disappeared as he dipped his head down into his chest in defeat. I felt a pang of guilt for not being able to remember something to important to him- and what should have been as equally precious to me, out of all. I racked my brain countless times after this, trying to find the least bit of memory I had to lead myself into the days that I had purposefully forgotten. While I unknowingly had pleasant ones thrown at the bottom for the negative feelings to rush over like a tsunami.

"Well, I'm gonna explain. So you better listen carefully."

I nodded.

Yū exhaled deeply before beginning, as I watched him with my utmost attention.

"I was your friend. You don't remember that much, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, back in the old days, we used to play a lot together. Uuh, I guess you were the one who came up to me first, actually. You dragged me around the whole neighborhood, but it was fun wherever I went with you, so I didn't really care. Actually, those were probably the best memories I ever had, y'know?"

Yū looked over at me to make sure I was keeping a keen eye on the conversation, to which I surely was.

"That day in the park? Where we took the photo? Right after that, I was-"

"Attacked by a dog."

We both said the line simultaneously. Yū looked over at me with surprise, as I was in shock myself.