Delayed Reunion

Agony and Despair

Somewhere on Jabberwock Island: Hajime

I was running.

Running from the fear of the truth.

I finally remembered.

I finally remembered what I should've remembered from the beginning.

I miss her...

I miss her so much... and she died.. because of me.

Why did it have to end like this...?

We had a promise... I promised her that I would take her to so many places..

I just wanted at least one more moment with her.. I wanted to tell her...

...

Thank you.

———About an hour ago———

The rest of the group came back as soon as I saw the pod open, and they all ran over to it as well, Kazuichi faster than the rest. She wasn't awake yet, but all of us helped take her out of the pod and lay her down on one of the thick blankets that Akane happened to have found. I don't know why she would think to take it, but you know what? It helped, and that's what she said to the others, almost as if she were rubbing it in their faces that she was right to take something like that.

Kazuichi stayed with me, next to Sonia, while the other two Akane and Kuzuryū went back out to examine what they could of the island that we were on. I looked over at Kazuichi, who seemed to be overcome with joy and relief that she was ok. But, I had to ask.. "hey... Kazuichi?"

He looked over at me, noticing my serious tone. "Yeah, man? What's up?"

"What happened to Naegi and Kirigiri, did you guys happen to see them along the way of your guys' exploration?"

He dropped silent, as if to take that question in, and then replied. "They left, but they left a note for us."

"A note?"

"Yeah, it was talking about how they were sorry that they had to leave so suddenly, but something came up back at their homeland that they needed to take care of.. or.. something like that."

I looked away, thinking about what could've made even Naegi and Kirigiri leave the island, which would be so important that they just couldn't leave alone.

"Ok." Pause for a brief second. "There's a time limit, Kazuichi."

"Eh?"

"The whole thing will shut down in about 18 hours." He still looked confused over at me. I pointed at the pods, with still 10 people unawakened. "That will shut down, with them still in it."

He looked at me shocked, then recovered quickly, standing up and walked over to it

"Hmm?"

He started tinkering with the device, and messing with the components.

"What are you doing?!"

"Seeing if I can't do anything! I'm the ultimate mechanic, sure, but I still have an idea how technology works! ...somewhat! But I have to help them!"

He kept working on it, and trying to make the system work for a longer period of time, or even wake everyone up simultaneously somehow.

I heard a small groan coming from behind me, and I turned around to look at what it was. Sonia had woken up!

I ran over to her, and knelt beside her. "Hey, are you ok?"

She took a minute to help herself recover from just waking back up then looked at me. Almost instantly she bursted out, "It's not your fault Hajime!"

'Huh..?'

"It's not your fault that she died! She wasn't the traitor! There's no way she was!"

'What are you talking about...?'

"Nanami would never betray us, therefore she's not the traitor! Chiaki was in-"

"Sonia!!"

"Huh? Kazuichi?"

"Sonia, are you ok, how a.. re y.."

The voices faded out.

That name... Nanami...

Chiaki.. Nanami.

Dead?

Not my fault?

Betray us?

Realization struck me. Now I know what I forgot!

"Never forget me, Hajime. I won't forget you either.."

Tears started to form as memory after memory of her came flashing back into my head. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists as I sat there, trembling in my own guilt.

They tried calling out to me, I could tell.. but I didn't care at that moment.

I stood up, and let my feet lead me.

I was running.

Running from the fear of the truth.

I finally remembered.

I finally remembered what I should've remembered from the beginning.

I miss her...

I miss her so much... and she died.. because of me.

Why did it have to end like this...?

We had a promise... I promised her that I would take her to so many places..

I just wanted at least one more moment with her.. I wanted to tell her...

...

Thank you