Who Do You Remember?

Chapter 8: Pattern Seekers

For what it was worth, Keiji stayed true to his word. Winter break passed by with much more cheer. Especially the day that it snowed. It took Himari some prodding— prodding Bisque to go out in such cold weather, and prodding Keiji to do anything but stand timidly in the snow— but the three of them wound up having an absolute blast. They made a snowman that was bigger than Himari.

Keiji was beginning to feel like a fixture of life now, in all his facets. He was Keiji in his enthusiasm, in his self-satisfaction, in his distance and professionalism, in his bitterness. Everything beautiful and everything ugly in him was all him— it was impossible to isolate any parts from the whole. Some were still somewhat masked around the Gima's, but he was finding a natural ease. A snide comment or harsh remark about something that was bothering him would sneak its way out of his mouth, and it was treated like something normal. He was a teenager after all, of course he wouldn't be perfectly pleasant and content all the time.

More frighteningly, Haruto was beginning to feel like a fixture of Keiji's life, too. His constant presence went from unwelcome to expected to... almost pleasant. And he'd started inviting himself along to other things. When Keiji had to get groceries, Bisque would meet him there. When he went to the bookstore, he'd go, too, to look at board games. Keiji wondered whether his disappearance had made him anxious. Perhaps Bisque thought that if he took his eyes off of Keiji, he'd vanish again. Regardless of the reason, it felt very odd. Even when Keiji had been cast for a quiz show and needed to really hunker down, Bisque had insisted he do it at their house, and patiently played games on mute or worked on his pottery while he studied.

It was all getting rather inconvenient. He'd had to tell his parents that he was trying out a new method; perhaps he'd remember facts easier if he could pair it with new places. Sometimes he'd even go places to "independent study" and take pictures there— pictures without Haruto, of course— to make his story seem credible. He knew that they wouldn't punish him or anything if they knew he had an actual friend. They never really punished him much at all. But he could feel their hypothetical stares of quiet disapproval. He was letting himself get distracted. And confused. So, so confused.

School was another story entirely. Keiji still insulted Haruto around people, but it felt more like an inside joke at this point. Others were far less lucky. For all his progress with Haruto in particular, he was still ruthless and ill-tempered with anyone else. People continued to wonder why Bisque was an exception to Keiji's assholery, but outside of Bisque's group of friends, they gradually lost interest. The situation just was, and they weren't gonna get any answers about it.

One night, right after a quiet and peaceful dinner, Keiji received a text.

SOS

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. For Haruto, that could mean anything from "the store was out of the thing I wanted" to "I've lost something vitally important."

What is it?

My parents both have major work meetings in different cities

On the same day

And they usually try to avoid that but they couldn't this time

And I have to be home alone for a couple nights

And like yeah I've been home alone obviously

But only for like half a day

Now I have to like take care of myself

Without majorly ruining literally everything

And I'm scared