LOST TIME MEMORY Vol. 1

Chapter 4.1

He greedily took in the air and focused only on the rhythm of his breaths for a few moments. But close by was a girl, anxiously staring at him. When their eyes met, she immediately dashed out of the room. Shintaro let out a hesitating grunt. He looked around. It was a well-lit room with the sun beaming in generously from the window. On the wall across from where he sat on a light-colored bed was a clock. '12:30', daytime. He looked down at his body and was reminded of the events that had happened earlier at the mall. Rather, it was the next day now. August 15th. In a hurry, he jumped out of bed and checked for injuries. There were none. Just the one on his right cheek, where a band-aid with bear cubs playing had been plopped in place. But his muscles were sore and aching. He sighed in relief. It seemed like he'd only received a scratch from the bullet. The door to the room opened up slightly, and a pair of red eyes peeked at him. It gave him a bit of a scare, but he calmed down after looking at her face.

"...A-are you okay?" It was a small, fragile voice. Shintaro could see a fringe of golden, almost pure white hair around her eyes and recognized who it was. They'd met right before he lost consciousness.

"Um... Yeah. I'm okay. Thank you... Mary."

She gave him a look like she was surprised he knew her name, then with a tilt of her head- another that asked why he did know it.

"Seto told me your name before."

"...But he only mentioned it once before you fainted...." She mumbled. He didn't hear. He was thinking about how odd it was that she had those clear, pinkish-red eyes. It was unsettling to see after such an unpleasant nightmare. He thought it must have been either contact lenses or maybe even something she was born with. Or a mutation. It seemed even more peculiar to him that though her red eyes themselves were unnatural, he didn't find that they looked unnatural on her.

Another voice came from behind the blonde girl, still standing behind the small gap in the doorway. "Hey, Mary. You tired? I can take over and watch him if you want."

She only replied with an "mm" and pointed at Shintaro. Another head peeked out. It was a guy with black hair and a band holding it up. The more in view he was, the greener his appearance seemed to get.

"Hi, err... Seto."

"Oh, you're up!" He looked Shintaro up and down. "And you seem alright! Your eyes look like dried-up worms though, maybe you should sleep a lil' more?"

Shintaro unintentionally looked at him with an unamused, straight face. His eyes always looked like that.

"A-ah, sorry. I didn't mean to take jabs or anything. Please don't take it to heart."

Shintaro somehow only then understood that this wasn't Ene he was talking to. He couldn't just treat people like he treated her. Mary also gave him a look of irritation, like she was mad at him for being mean. People tended to either misunderstand his intentions, or he just rubbed people off the wrong way. Maybe Seto was somewhat in the same boat, Shintaro thought. He tried to be more understanding of that.

"Ugh, no, don't worry about it." He didn't want to continue that line of conversation, though, and opted to just cut it off. "Where's Momo?"

"Right! Kisaragi, your brother's up!"

Bouncy steps echoed on wooden floors that went past the hallway. Momo had joined them.

"Onii-chan! You okay?" She jumped straight in front of him and checked his body for injuries. "Scratch-free. That's a relief..." She gave a wry smile.

His eyes turned away for a second. "Yeah. How's everyo-

"YOU IDIOT!" A yell exploded from Momo, or rather, her pocket. Momo picked up the phone for him to see and let Ene speak. "What were you thinking!? They told me you just jumped right in front to take the hit!? Are you dumb!? You goddamn dumbass! I told you not to die, and here you are, jumping in front of a bullet! Why!? We just got you out of the house and everything... Then you try to get yourself killed on the same day!?" She made exaggerated movements, jumping and flinging her sleeves around. It was flamboyant, but her intentions were clear and deliberate.