The Way the Wind Blows (Third Entry)

I Remember

My eyes fluttered open to look at this time, a familiar ceiling and fan that spun at a medium pace around its axis. I glanced at the time displayed on the nightstand, and it read shortly past eight, earlier than we woke up before. I took a deep breath and forced myself to turn to look at the person who I felt beside me. 

It was Natsuki, whose hair was shorter than I was used to. This was almost a year and a half back in time, which meant that we had already defeated Crystalline but before the events of meeting Spencer and Operation Firefly? 

Were we going to meet him again? 

I shook my head at the thought. Pops said that he had already saved his girls, so the answer to that question was no. Now, it was my turn to save them. 

But how? Everything happened in the span of only a few minutes, if not less. I wasn't sure if I would be able to do it again. 

What if we just don't go to the fair? Would that mess with the timeline too much? I couldn't be sure. I felt that if we didn't whoever the soldiers were that attacked us at the fair would simply follow us to wherever we went. 

Whoever said that they were after us? There was really no telling. 

Natsuki suddenly stirred in her sleep, and her eyes fluttered open to look at me. I stared at her for a second, and she stared back at me. 

"N-Noah...?" she mumbled. 

I felt my face turn red in sudden nervousness.

Do they remember? Would it be better for them to remember what happened? 

She reached her hand to touch my face, and once it made contact, I reached up and softly placed my hand on top of hers. Her touch instantly calmed me down. I closed my eyes for a second to take it all in. Once I opened them, I made eye contact with her, and her eyes were watery. My question was answered. 

Natsuki bolted out of the covers and wrapped me in a tight hug. She started crying into my shoulder. After a few seconds, she started beating my back and arms with her fists in between sobs.

"Don't you EVER do that...to me AGAIN!" 

Eventually, she stopped, but I kept her in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Natsuki. I didn't see another way out of the situation." 

She released me, but she had a confused look on her face. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "W-What do you mean?" 

I looked down in between us. "I feel like if things stayed how they were, we'd only become split apart. I would lose the people that I loved, and I couldn't live to see that happen." 

Natsuki didn't say anything for a while. She later took my hand and held it. "I remember everything that happened. I almost went in after you, but Jacob stopped me." 

I looked at her with pleading eyes. "Why...?" 

She looked back at me and shook her head. "It's hard to explain. I got this overwhelming feeling of pain and sadness after I watched you jump. I didn't want to live without being able to touch you or look at you. It was too much." 

I smiled sadly. "I understand. I felt the same way." 

Natsuki suddenly tightened her grip on my hand to the point where it was starting to hurt. I began to grimace. She glared at me. 

"Promise me." 

It was really starting to hurt now. "Natsuki, ow, ow. What?" 

"Promise me," she started. "That you won't do that to me again." 

"Y-Yes!" I said as I tried to release her grip on my hand. She finally let go and I held my hand in pain. "I promise." 

My close friends knew that I didn't like to make promises unless I was sure that I could keep them. However, in this case, I was sure that I could keep this promise.