The Bridge Between

Chapter 1: Yuto

Yuto woke up gasping for air. What was he doing again? Why couldn't he remember?

Where was he?

He looked around the entirely white space he seemed to occupy alone.

What is this place? He thought.

"I really wish you guys wouldn't do this."

Yuto startled and turned around from his place on the ground. He looked up to see a boy, looking around 14 like himself. His eyes were crimson and framed by dual-colored green and crimson hair. He was wearing a school uniform of some kind with the jacket thrown over his shoulders like a cape. Laying on top of his orange shirt was an oddly familiar pendant. In fact, everything about this boy seemed familiar, like his very being resonated with an empty space inside Yuto.

But the most peculiar feature on this boy was his face.

He had Yuto's face.

"Who-"

"Am I?" the boy finished for him, a small smile gracing his lips. Yuto felt that space inside him stir when he saw it. He had a feeling that this boy should always be smiling.

The boy seemed to think about the question playfully before responding. "You won't remember when you leave here anyway, so I guess it won't matter. My name is Yuya. Nice to meet you, Yuto."

The boy, Yuya, held out his hand to Yuto, most likely to help him to his feet. With an unusually small amount of hesitation, Yuto grasped it. When he grabbed the offered hand, Yuto felt that space inside him swell before settling.

Like Yuto had just found a piece of himself he never realized was missing.

"Wait, how do you know my name? I don't remember ever telling you what it was."

Yuya's smile turned sad, just for a moment, before returning to its previous brilliance.

"No, you wouldn't remember that, would you? You may not remember Yuto, but you told me your name a long, long time ago." Yuya then turned around, just in time to watch a brilliant light envelope the white space the two of them stood in. Yuto had no time to cover his eyes and was instead blinded by the light. Black spots danced in front of his eyes as he tried to rub them away.

As the light finally died down, in its place was another boy, this one wearing a white, red rimmed biking suit and with dual-colored hair of yellow and blue.

The new boy blinked his eyes, trying to adjust them to the brightness of the white space they were all in. He then turned to look in Yuto and Yuya direction, surveying his surroundings, he revealed a pair of green-blue eyes on another familiar face.

They were now three-for-three in look-alikes.

"Where am I?! Who are you two?! What is this place?! Where's Rin?!"

He was a bit too loud for Yuto's tastes, but Yuya seemed to take the new boy's volume and exuberance in stride, walking up to him and offering the boy a hand to stand as he did for Yuto.

"Good to see you haven't lost that enthusiasm, Yugo. Rin's been making sure you haven't gotten into too much trouble, right?" Yuya asked with a smile.

Yugo, apparently unphased by Yuya's knowledge of his life, grasped the latter's hand and allowed himself to be brought over to Yuto's spot in the white space.

"Eh? Oh, yeah, she's kneed me dozens of times to stop me from picking fights. She's the best, isn't she?" Yugo responded with a smile that revealed just how much the boy loved this "Rin" person. Most definitely a crush, then.