EDIH

Prologue: The Lost Memory

Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, Earth (20 years ago)

In the beautiful and calm city of Uji, in the outskirts of one of its local parks, three young men that appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen years of age were resting on the roots of an old cherry blossom tree. The three were from the same school, judging by the uniform they were wearing.

The tallest of the three was a young man with slate-colored hair and crimson-red eyes. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest, watching the pink petals of the cherry blossoms fall down to the ground.

The second tallest was a young man with light gray hair that almost seemed white and light gray eyes that were hiding behind his black-rimmed glasses. He was busy sketching on a journal to notice the cherry blossoms that fell and sometimes landed on his paper.

The shortest of the trio was a young man with black hair and red eyes that were a shade darker than the other boy he was with. He wasn't only just the shortest, he was also the smallest in size. He had removed his blazer and was using it as a pillow. He hummed the tune to a song before he sat up, "I'm bored."

"What do you want us to do about it, Haru?" The gray haired male asked, looking up from his sketch to raise an eyebrow at the male now known as Haru.

Haru shrugged, "I don't know. Anything. We're wasting our youth here!" He stood up and stretched his arms above his head, "It might not look like it now but life is quickly going by. We can't sit idly by. We need to act!"

"You're insane, Haru. Sit down and stop moving before Eren hits you." The slate-haired teenager laughed, smirking at the raven-haired male when he pouted. He rolled his eyes, "You're exaggerating, Haru. We're not 'wasting our youth', as you've so aptly put it."

"That's what you think, Susumu, because you don't have a good youth and have a good plan of the future." Haru said with a pout. He began to abruptly cough, covering his mouth with his palm. Just as quickly as it appeared, the cough vanished and he winked at his best friend, his two friends not worried over his coughing fit.

Eren snorted at Haru's reply while Susumu glared at him, ignoring the grin Haru sent his way, "I don't have a good youth? We've been best friends since elementary. I've lived through what you have."

"You're already tied down to Kana Takano, though." Haru said, sitting down in front of Eren and looking at the sketch, ignoring the blush Eren now sported at their close distance. Susumu, though, didn't miss it.

"Come on, is the great Susumu Hiwatari intimidated by timid Kana Takano?" Eren laughed, teasing Susumu while swatting Haru's finger away from his sketch, "Don't touch, Haru; I'm not done yet."

"Let me see, Eren." Haru said in a whining tone, pouting at the gray-haired teenager, "I like seeing your sketches. They're great! So please let me see them! Pleeeease?" He clung to Eren's arm, ignoring how flustered the action caused his friend. Eren fixed his glasses to avoid Haru's gaze before relenting, much to the upbeat male's happiness.

"I'm not scared of Kana," Susumu muttered, "I did ask her out to the festival and she agreed to go with me. Then, at the festival, I asked her out. I think I did better than Haru. He freaked out and ran as soon as he saw Natasha getting near." The snide remark made Haru hiss at Susumu while Eren looked away, looking downcast.

"Natasha is nothing like Kana!" Haru replied, groaning, thinking about the fifteen year old red-head that he had recently gotten a crush on. He scratched his head, staring up at the sky and pouting, "For one, she's Russian."

"What does that have anything to do with it?" Susumu, a fellow Russian, asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It makes her . . . exotic?"