Our Promise After Dawn

Chapter 0 - Prologue

"Memento Mori" meaning each day remember that you will die. A theological term in Christianity that is about the mortality of, us, humans. For us, death is feared because one's time and life will be wasted and therefore, bad depending on the belief of a person. Death is there to motivate us to keep reaching for our goals and strive more. For a person who doesn't think death is bad means he/ she doesn't value life. We, humans want to cherish the moments and memories we have with others but not all of us experience these and have instead loneliness, hatred, depression, self-acceptance and desire to end our life because we have either forsaken ourselves or another. Our parents are our guardians and counselors which who we can trust in helping us to cope with the problems in our lives however there are some who reject you and who you really are inside. To understand who you really are, you must reach and accept the truth about who you are and to show it to the world. If you show yourself to the whole world, don't be self centered, brag about how amazing you are and force people to like you. If you desire to be wanted, it is better for you to be a porcupine than do something immoral. The Porcupine's Dilemma is the desire of being loved by another person but is afraid of being hurt or be hurt. All of these statements revolve around the people of the world except for some like the person where our story revolves in. His name is Arishima Ayato, a 15 yrs. old boy that lost his memories 6 years ago after the traumatic death of his parents when he was 9 yrs. old. Death is meaningless for him since he doesn't hold the memories of his past. He is void to all the statements above, but he continues to live on because of a promise that he remembers he made with his childhood friends. Here marks the beginning of Ayato's friendship with past friends and his never-ending traumatic and tragic events that will take place and reliving it all after death.

XX 7 years ago XX

March 20 2001, 5:55 pm, Osaka, Japan, A playground near a hospital. A group of children were playing while they were waiting for someone. Some of them waited and talked peacefully but three of them decided to do a friendly competition with a bet. A foot race from the hospital to the playground.

Ayato, ???, & ???: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Ayato: LIKE HELL I'D LET YOU GUYS WIN!!!

???: *laughs* Remember! If you lose you got to tell M##### what you feel

???: *grins* I can already see how pathetic his confession will be

Ayato: SHUT UP!! I won't lose! I don't wanna tell her yet. I'd like to see you guys be shot down by H#####!!

As Ayato says that, he gained more speed and outran H####### and R##. He didn't care if he would lose balance and trip or bump anyone. His adrenaline increased his speed and stamina.

H: There is no way I'd let you get ahead of me. It's not the time for me to confess today.

R: In your dreams Ayato. It's not time for me to put the cat to be out of the bag.

H: PPfffffttt. *laughs aloud* what are you, kindergarten? I thought you were supposed to be the smartest from all of us yet your figure of speech is way off.

R: SHUT UP!!

Ayato: YES! Here comes the finish lin—

As he was about to say "line", he tripped on a rock on the road and fell. As he looked at his friends, they already reached the finish line, he fainted because of his loss.

As Ayato woke up, he still remembers that he lost and still feels dizzy.

Ayato: What happened? My head hurts. Huh? What's this?

Ayato felt that he was lying on something smooth, soft, and long. As he looked above him, he was lying on the lap of M#####.

M: *sighs in relief* Good thing your still alive.

M: What the heck were you doing! Be careful next time!

Ayato: Sorry...

Ayato blushes and fell silent due to the embarrassment he felt then as he just realized who he was lying on. Upon realization, quickly he stood up.

Ayato: Wait! What were you doing?

M: What are you talking about? I just treated your wound. You should thank me for helping you and letting you rest on m-my....

As she says this, she just noticed what she did, fell silent and blushes and the atmosphere becomes awkward for the both of them.

M: Um... let's just hurry... They're waiting for us in front of the hospital.

Ayato: Right...

They went back to the hospital to meet the others. As they approached the gate of the hospital, there they saw the rest with Y### and his brother, S######, who just went out of the hospital.

H: Hey! You two! Hurry, S###### just came out of the hospital!

Ayato: S######! How was it? Was the surgery a success?

???: Of course. If it failed, who would take care of my little bro here?

???: Brother! I'm not a—

When Y### was about to say this, S###### covered his mouth.

???: Anyway. What happened between you two? Why did you take this long to get here?

???: *strangles* Ayato Yeah what happened? Come on tell me!

As Ayato seems to be ignoring them, what made him nervous was F###'s deadly stare.

???: Tell me what happened, Ayato.

Ayato: *blushes* Nothing! Nothing happened I swear!

???: You're lying! If you won't tell us then I'll have to strangle the answer out of ya'.

???: Hey! That's enough. Besides we're only gathered here to say goodbye to Ayato. He is going to live in Tokyo from now on. The only thing we can do is cheer for him and his future goals.

???: Are you really going to go?

Ayato: Well I have no choice. My parents have a project there.

???: You're going to remember us right?

Ayato: Probably or probably not.

Everyone fell silent and had a gloomy expression in their faces. As Ayato looks at all of them, he thought of something as to not forget them all.

Ayato: I know! What if we all go to school after 7 years and meet in the rooftop?

???: Where? Gekkukan Shoji High?

???: That sounds too cliché but the idea is clever.

Ayato: So you all agree?

All: Mmmhhhmmm!

Ayato: Then it's a promise.

All: Sure

Ayato: Good, then see you all in 7 years.

As Ayato says that, the world crumbles around him and he is transported into a bedroom.

Ayato: AAAAHHHHHHH! Where am I!? Oh........

Ayato: It was that dream again.

Chapter 0: The Promise from 7 years ago