Remember That Time? (Ch 2 : Not Me But You)

Not me, but you.

I left school early without even bothering to socialize with others, just to find out what is happening. I walked to my home, and on my way there I saw the bridge, the bridge where that girl was found, and without having any second thought I rushed to see what's under the bridge, but it was nothing, there's nothing but grass and dirt. I feel exhausted, maybe because of how shocked I was today, I took a short rest and sat down under the bridge, but without noticing I started to feel sleepy and fell asleep. It was a mistake, I fell asleep and it's already dark. I hope my parents aren't worried about me and I quickly get up and rush to get home but there's something like lights flashing before my eyes.

“What was that….” reacting to the flashing lights, but I don't have time to worry, I have to hurry. And when i got home, my parents seemed not worried about me, everything seemed normal, for them, not for me. “weird , i arrived so late and yet no one ask about my whereabouts, normally i would get an hour long of scolding.” at least that's what I'm thinking. I checked the clock and it's 6.15 PM, so I've slept for at least 2 hours long. Well i consider that to be a long nap, and because of that i feel fresh now, i quickly take a bath to join with my parents to eat dinner. After i took a bath, i noticed something strange, the calendar says its year 2021, it should say 2019. And I asked my parents if they bought the wrong calendar accidentally.

“Mom, did you really just buy this?” i asked

“What is it?” with confused expression she answered

“This” showing her the calendar that says year 2021

“What are you talking about?”

“What am i talking about? It says 2021 here mom”

“and ?”

“What? Why are you so dense, it should says 2019”

My mom became silent and said  “what are you talking about?”

“Don't be joking around the table mom, it's not funny” I became slightly pissed off because I felt played.

And my dad came up to me and said “son, it's not polite to raise your voice against your mom, and it's dinner time, so we should eat not debate over calendar, if you want to buy last year calendar just search for it online”

What?, last year? As far as i remember it's just my second week getting into my highschool life..

“Dad, not you too” 

“What? , c’mon let's eat, it's getting colder, remember there's nothing worse than cold tempura haru.”

Because of how pissed I am, I just left the dinner table and went back to my bedroom. With a long sigh I just lay down to my bed and thought back to what just happened. First, there's a girl who's missing and turns out she was dead, second, there's no clue whatsoever about who is the girl that i've met in school, third, my parents act weird by buying the wrong calendar and won't admit it. I grab my smartphone, and look at the date and time, it says 2021, even my smartphone is acting up. But, when i want to change back the date and time, i realized that it's on auto mode, so there's no way someone changed it manually, i thought there's a bug or something but there's none, my phone works just fine. This weird  phenomenon is something feels so unreal yet real at the same time. And I begin to write down what happened today in a notebook, so that I won't forget what happened today and if something happens tomorrow maybe there will be a clue. And then I sleep hoping something unexpected happens tomorrow.

The next day is today, yesterday was a dream and I have to move forward. I don't know why I had such a weird dream. And as i prepare myself to go to school, i look at the mirror and notice something, my school badge, it says 3rd year. So this dream is still on going huh? Okay i'll play along with it. So I go to school and act normal, everyone is also normal, like nothing happened. “It's just a dream after all,”  I said. And the first problem appeared , I don't know where the hell my classroom is. I don't have any prior memories for this dream, I'm so lost. But then someone grabbed onto my shoulder and said “why'd you look so lost haru?”, it's a man, his name is Ryo, my classmates and my childhood friend. Well I can't say that I don't remember where my class is because it would be so embarassing right?, “yeaah im so lightheaded right now i dont know why” that lie passes smoothly through my lips, and i'll just follow ryo to the classroom i think. And the bell rang, so we rushed to our classroom. When we arrive, ryo look at me confused and says “haru, why are you here?”, as I'm hearing that my heart skipped a beat, does he know about my dream?. “Your classroom is 3-A haru, all the way this hallway” as he points to where the classroom is. As i'm looking around, everyone looks at me and starts to giggle, and ryo laughs at me “ahahahah, you really can't live without me aren't you?” he says. And with my red face I rushed to my class while looking down due to embarrassment. And when I arrived I quickly took my seat. 

This dream really feels like reality, is this what they call a “lucid dream”? When I'm looking outside the window, I can feel the breeze through the window, I try to pinch myself and it hurts, what is going on…. And my train of thoughts were derailed when sensei called my name 

“Haru!, don't daydream in the middle of the class, class is starting soon” … 

“im sorry sensei” 

“Is there anything bothering you? You look bewildered”

“Not at all sensei, its nothing” well i can't just say that i'm dreaming to sensei right? 

“Well okay, but stay focus ok”

And the class is starting… and there goes the second problem, because i don't have any prior memories of this dream, i don't understand a single thing, well its a third year subject after all. I have to figure out how to get out from this, any pain seems not to be working, and there's no clue to what happened, not even my family knew about this i think, because everyone seems normal. And when the first period is over, one of my classmates ask a really weird question “how are you doing?” she said, “im fine,, i guess? Whats up”

“Its okay, youll catch up soon, so don't worry”...

…..and she walks away….

…..

i cant respond to that because i don't know what is she talking about, i don't even remember her name, all i remember was honoka, ryo and….

And..

……

…..

A girl, who is it, a girl with black hair and sharp eyes….i can barely remember her, all i remember was her appearance, there's someone i want to know, but i don't even know who it was. Before I knew, the second period was about to begin. I don't have a chance to eat my bento. Have I lost my memories?  The last thing i knew i was a first grade highschoolers, its my third week of highschool and i overslept under the bridge and suddenly the this happened. i try to remember everything, suddenly there's someone talking via the school speaker and said “this is an early warning of an earthquake, for anyone near Iwata, Yamagi, akita, fukushima, kangou beware for strong tremors and please follow the instruction and please protect yourself to avoid injury, again this is an early warning of an earthquake, for anyone near Iwata, Yamagi, akita, fukushima, kangou beware for strong tremors and please follow the instruction and please protect yourself to avoid injury”

…..

……….

……………

……………...

Did they just say kangou?

And suddenly theres a huge tremors , everyone here know the drill, so they know what to do, and just follow sensei instruction, and get to the safety. It has to be shindo 6 or 7 , because i cant stand straight, i keep falling, and everyone too, so we do the drop to floor and just covering up until the shaking stopped. Its only been 10 second but its the longest 10 second of my life, the tremors continues, and suddenly stop after 30 second. Everyone look at each other, like they are asking “is it okay to stand up?” because what if the follow up earthquake hits and you get thrown to the air, its dangerous and potentially kills you.

……

……

The class becomes quiet for awhile until sensei says "ok everyone, for now we need to go outside to the field, everyone wear your protective headgear and change your shoes for emergency", woah, it's like an action movie, so in our country there's a regulatory headgear and shoes for this kind of event, the headgear is military standard headgear, so it's bulletproof, fireproof and shockproof and the shoes also military standard shoes, i knew about this regulations but never imagined to be in an event to wear one. And then the gear was distributed by the school teacher, and it's kinda one size fits all.

We quickly take the gears and wear it, and after that, sensei instruct us to form a line of 2, and we follow sensei lead to the field. Our class is in third floor so we need to go downstairs, but suddenly when we run down the stairs the second earthquake hits. And somehow it feels much bigger than the first one, i can't maintain my posture and i tried to grab the stairs railing, but i slipped,then i saw a white flash right before i fell down, And i fell…. suddenly the world became dark. I felt lightheaded, now everything turns really bright, am I dead?

……

…………….

………………...

I open my eyes and it's dark, I don't feel anything, I can't feel anything, where am i? Is it another dream? Why is this happening to me, what did I do wrong? Suddenly I see a girl, a girl with black hair…. I shouted “Hey!, Hey! Where are we?” and she started to walk away from me, i need an answer so i will not let her get away so i chase her. I  tried to chase her but somehow i just can't reach her, its like im on a treadmill just running in place not going anywhere. 

…..

…….she just got further away…….

…..

“Please, help me, i don't know what to do, i don't know what is happening, please tell me what to do…….” I cried out loud. i try to calm myself down but I just can't. Even if i shouted no one would hear me……. I try to pinch myself and hurt myself by biting my arms until it bleeds, but I just can't feel it. It's bleeding but I can't feel it….i try to choke myself to death, but I can't just die, maybe because I'm already dead?... i'm becoming hopeless. My tears won't come out any more because there's no tear left in my eye. 

I try to close my eyes and sleep hoping that when I open my eyes that everything goes back to normal. I miss my mom, my dad, my childhood friend and my classmates….

…….

….

..

I have a good sleep but when I wake up there's this girl sitting beside me, a girl with black hair. I was so shocked that i became speechless, but then she said “rest assured, i won't hurt you, haru wasn't it?”I nod confirming that I am haru. “Haru remember that time when we met each other for the first time?”, she stares at me, “...........” i cant respond to that at all, as i don't remember her at all… “seems like you don't remember it haru, but that’s okay, you don't have to push yourself, someday you'll understand”, and after a moment i calmed myself down i asked her “where are we?, and who are you?”.......... She just stares at me with a long sigh as if she was disappointed…. “Haru, you don't have much time, go find the book and save me”, what? What key?, you don't even answer my goddamn questions, but then she flicks her finger and suddenly I feel dizzy and everything goes dark.