The Descendants of Ardwall

2. The Lost Larter

Hajime stood staring at Raiden for what seemed to be forever. The other boy was saying nothing, looking incredulous upon hearing his name. Finally, breaking the tense air that fell upon them, Hajime recomposed himself.

"You are him, aren't you?" he asked, suddenly hesitant. Heavens, what if it wasn't Raiden? "You're Raiden Larter?"

Again, the boy's reaction told him that it really was his name he was hearing. Yet he didn't seem to believe Hajime could possibly know it. Just to be sure he wasn't mistaken, Hajime looked at the boy again, observing his features closely.

Yes, there could be no mistaking that familiar face. Raiden had changed as the years went by, but it was hard to forget those serious black eyes, that straight-lined mouth, the pale skin... His ink-colored hair was longer than it was when they'd been younger, but Hajime could still see a ghost of his past self regardless of the years that had passed.

Not to mention those ears. Hajime could never forget how huge they looked on the tiny Raiden back then – how his mother would tease him about it so much too – but though it looked like he'd now grown into them, there was no mistaking the child they once embarrassed to no end.

Everything about this boy rang of the Raiden Larter that Hajime had met and known. Only now, it seemed as if he'd known him in some past life. Why, Hajime could still remember they'd met when they were six, before the both of them could enter the Silva prep school. How could he possibly forget someone like Raiden Larter?

It's hard to forget a best friend, Hajime. Best friend. Yes, especially since, though he wasn't proud to admit it, Hajime hadn't had many of them growing up. But Raiden was. If anything, he'd been the only one.

But he and his family had left the Ardwall region – no, not just the region, but the entire realm – years ago. For whatever reason, one could only guess. But in the years he and his parents disappeared from everyone's lives here in Silva, Hajime had convinced himself that the boy he'd met right before entering prep school a few weeks later – the boy who became his closest friend in all of the town – would never come back.

It was Arthur who had had to break the news to an then-seven-year-old Hajime that his best friend Raiden was gone. How could a boy as young as he was back then possibly have understood something like that? Nobody knew why Raiden Larter and his parents suddenly left for the Median realm.

When Hajime had asked why Raiden's family went away, Arthur's only reply was that Raiden's parents needed to find work elsewhere. It had been an elaborate lie that Hajime only saw through when he got older. The clarity of it all had sank in one day when he randomly recalled his once-friendship with Raiden Larter – as one sometimes does, in the way you remember different things because of littler things. Hajime should have known that the Council must have lost all contact with the Larters. It should have been obvious after the millionth time he was rejected whenever he begged Arthur to let him visit Raiden in their new home. "But you all know where he lives," young Hajime would whine. "Why can't you let me play with Raiden?" Every single time, Arthur's response was "Sorry, son. The Larters are busy. Maybe next time."

There never was a next time. Eventually, the young Hajime moved on. Forgot, even, about his childhood best friend.

But here he was now, six years later. Raiden Larter. Right in the flesh.

Suddenly, one of Hajime's earliest childhood memories flashed in his mind's eye. He could briefly see Raiden – perhaps six or seven years old too; he knew their birthdays were very close to each other's – standing in the rain with a cautious look, black hair plastered onto his forehead. Raiden had been holding out an umbrella. For him. It had been the day they'd first met.