Chapter 29

Night. After dinner.

Matthew and Yuki were together on one of the balconies on the second floor. Rose immediately left to her room after she was done, Cecilia was quieter than usual, even her appetite was off; Gustav had already left in the evening and Emilia was not back yet since afternoon.

That leaves Matthew and Yuki to have a sudden meeting here. Gustav and Emilia aside, Rose and Cecilia were acting a bit weird.

"So what's the plan here?" Yuki asked Matthew as she bent over the railing.

"I already have an idea for why Rose is like that. She probably has been waiting for me all this while." Matthew had his arms crossed as he spoke.

"You know her that well?" Yuki glanced at Matthew.

"I know her well enough."

Yuki scoffed. She looked back at the scene of the city. "So that leaves me to question Cecilia?"

"Not question, more to just get an idea of what she's thinking."

"... By questioning her."

"No, it's… Ugh, yeah. You know what to do."

Yuki chuckled as she turned around and stood straight. "Leave it to me. Go get her tiger." She lightly punched Matthew's chest.

Matthew only replied with a smile and a face of confidence.

…..

Rose stared out the window. The sky was cloudy, no stars could be seen and the moon was only a small thin crescent. She only sat on her bed in her newly bought soft pink pyjamas.

KNOCK! KNOCK! CLACK!

The sound of the door being knocked and opened made Rose turn around. Matthew entered shortly after, closing the door after.

They shared a glance at each other for a second.

"Matt."

"Rose."

"I have been waiting since noon you know?"

"I know. Just had to sort out what to say, and take a little nap first." Matthew scratched his head.

"Why bother? Let me." Rose moved to sit on the other side of the bed to look at Matthew. "How many apples did you pay for?"

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Why are you-"

"Answer."

"... Six."

"How did you know?"

"The shop owner."

"Don't lie. The shop owner couldn't have known how many were stolen," said Rose.

Matthew was speechless for a second. 'Man she's observant.'

"Right, I caught the thief."

"And?"

"... Well, we kinda got to know each other. She stole those apples for some kids who lost their parents, in the Slums. Seeing the situation I… Let her go."

Rose slowly nodded her head. "You got to know her. So who is she?"

"She's from a group called the Winged Gears."

"That bandit group?"

"You know them?"

"You don't? I told you to pay attention to the news."

Matthew went silent and only curbed his mouth and made an expression that said, "fair enough."

Rose pressed further. "So what about them?"

"Nothing really. She said something about them not being bad guys. Sure they're thieves, but they said they steal for the good of the people in the Slums and they pick their targets. So technically they're not bad guys. I think."

Rose did not say anything immediately and only stared at Matthew. "Is that so?"

"Y-yeah."

Rose slowly nodded again. "Intriguing. But I want to know, why did you look so tired. Knowing you, no way you got tired just from chasing someone."

Matthew was once again shocked by her observation. "Promise me you won't tell anyone else."

Rose nodded in reply.

"Okay… When I was chasing her, I got to an alley. I was watching from the roof and she was right below me. Then, some boys showed up." Matthew stopped for a moment.

Rose was listening closely. Matthew continued, "they showed and they got into a fight or something, I don't know."

"You were watching them." Rose was a bit confused at this moment.

"Yes, but something else happened to me."

"I'm listening."

Matthew took a deep breath before starting. "I saw something. A vision, maybe. I was back in our world somewhere. LED boards, cars, trucks, people. It was raining, in an alley. I saw a girl, and a bunch of thugs."

At this moment, Rose's jaw was slowly dropping. Matthew continued on.

"The girl was about to be kidnapped probably. Then, a boy showed up. He beat down all of the thugs but one got away though. Then, he saved the girl."

This time, Rose's eyes widened. As if she thought of something. Matthew paid no attention to it and continued. Rose also continued to listen.

"Then I saw 'him' again. The shadow. He said something about remembering who I am. Something about stopping someone. After that, everything returned to normal."

Matthew now looked at Rose and noticed her reaction. "What's the matter? Rose?"

Rose was brought back to reality. "Sorry. Did you say a girl was about to be kidnapped by a bunch of thugs and then a boy came to save her?"

"Yeah."

"How did she look like? The thugs? Th boy?"

"I… I don't know. I only could make out the body proportions and assume their gender. But their faces were somehow, covered with shadow, or a blur that I can't see."

"Is that so… Then, what do you think it was?"

"I'm not sure myself. What do you think?"

"Perhaps it was… A memory."

"I considered that too. Like someone else's memory that was shared like, telepathy or something. Don't know how, don't know why, but if it's a memory, it would be someone else's."

Rose was momentarily silent. She stood up and stepped a bit closer to Matthew.

"What if it's your own?" She said.

Matthew's eyebrows curled and almost met in the middle. "What?"

"What if that was your own memory? Like your own past."

"That doesn't make sense. If it was mine, I would definitely remember it. Even if it was years ago, I'd remember something about it."

"Then what about me? When was the first time you met me?" Rose desperately got closer to Matthew.

Matthew even took one step back. Rose was very close at that time.

"Back in highschool. We were in the same class. Why?"

Rose backed away. "N-nevermind. I got enough answers now. Please leave."

Matthew suddenly grabbed Rose's shoulder. Rose looked up at Matthew who was slightly taller than her. Matthew was staring deeply at her.

"Wh-what is it?" Rose was confused.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, I'm okay."

"You're crying though."

Rose flinched. She touched her own cheek. It was wet.

Matthew asked again in a more concerned way. "Are you okay?"

Rose wiped her tears away. "Stupid. I told you I'm fine. Please, just leave. Okay?"

Matthew slowly took his hand off of Rose. "Okay." Just as he was about to leave, Rose suddenly stopped him.

"Wait." She grabbed a bag from on top of the drawer and gave it to him. "We bought some new clothing for you. So, take them."

Matthew smiled softly. "Thank you." He said finally before leaving.

Rose stood still in the middle of her room after Matthew left.

"Back in highschool. He doesn't remember at all huh…"