Eleven

A couple of weeks passed after we quit the part-time job. Neither I nor Terasaki-san had brought up the topic again. I fact, I had not even bothered to ask about Terasaki-san what excuse he had given the Manager. I had no use knowing it.

As an intended result, I had not run into Shibata-kun after that. I felt miserable every time I remembered how he'd said that he wanted to do this and how he had hoped that we would meet the next day. I had denied him yet another happy tomorrow. I had denied myself that too. When I thought about that, I could not ignore the possibility that had I spent my birthday with him on that most beautiful date that I was planning, we might have even started dating by the end of the day.

What had he planned to give me as a gift?

I guess I'd never know.

"It's getting worse." Terasaki-san was helping me in the kitchen with lunch when he spoke. "You're hiding things from me."

"Huh? I'm not hiding anything." I shook my head in denial.

"If it hurts, you have to tell me." He leaned against the counter next to me and looked at me apprehensively.

"It doesn't hurt so badly." Or rather, I had gotten used to it. "You don't need to worry so much."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm really okay." I insisted.

"I've watched you as you grew up. You're always hiding from the people you know would worry about you. I don't want you to hide from me." He watched me closely even though I completely avoided eye contact.

"Akane-chan." Chiyo called, hanging onto the hem of my dress.

"I'm fine, Chiyo." I smiled at her and then looked at Terasaki-san. "I am fine."

He did not seem convinced. Chiyo beamed though. "Then it's okay!"

A click sounded and we heard the door open and shut. While that put me on high alert immediately, the other two seemed to have been expecting it, as if they had already sensed the presence of our guest. Soon after, a loud voice greeted us. "Kou-chan!"

Agari-san?

"Ah. There you are!" She burst into the kitchen. "Mm! It smells really good! Looks like I'm just in time for lunch!" She looked as frivolously happy as she was last time.

Terasaki-san looked at me in question. I nodded. "I can make enough for the four of us." I nodded, making the required changes in the amounts of ingredients.

"Good." She clapped her hands together.

"Aga-san!" Chiyo ran over to her and jumped into her arms. She scooped the four-year-old up.

"I'm happy to see you too! See, Kou-chan? At least someone's happy to see me."

"The fact that you showed up means that you have answers." He said, ignoring her.

Answers?

"How cold!" She pouted. "But, yes, I may have a few answers."

"A few?" He raised an eyebrow.

"This is not something anyone really knows anything about. It hasn't ever happened before. Well, whatever I say is also just a hypothesis."

"We'll talk after lunch." He said and pat my shoulder. "Lunch."

"Yup. It'll be done soon." I nodded.

All of us ate lunch together. After that, even before clearing the table, Terasaki-san asked Agari-san to tell us what she knew. Chiyo climbed into Terasaki-san's lap and wrapped his arms around herself, cuddling up in the warmth that now enveloped her. Agari-san nodded and looked at me. I was sitting next to Terasaki-san. "This is about that boyfriend of yours."

"Miyazono is not her boyfriend." Terasaki-san clarified.

"Fine. Don't get so possessive, Kou-chan." She rolled her eyes, then focused on me again. "Miyazono Shibata, son of Miyazono Arata and Shiori, younger of two brothers. Final year Economics Major. That's him, right?"

"Yes, it is." My heart ached when I thought about him.

"To your knowledge, and when you were around him, has he ever been involved in some life-threatening incident?"

Life-threatening? "N-No. Not life-threatening." I thought a moment. "Not... life-threatening. There was a bike accident though... when we were in first year. A broken arm. That was all."

"Damn. How much do you love that kid?" She stared at me.

"Huh?" I felt the heat rush to my face.

"Your strong desire to help him is what caused this. When he was hurt, you were with him a lot, I gather?"

"Well, yes. He was hurt so..."

"Did you feel as though he healed too fast?"

"Healed too fast? It was a speedy recovery but I didn't think that it was especially fast or anything." I replied, more confused now. Had he healed too fast?

"She doesn't even know how to use her spirit yet." Terasaki-san said.

"Oh, Kou-chan! In love, you don't necessarily need to know anything." She said, a look of admiration crossing her features as she regarded me. "You probably healed him."

"I...healed him?" Using my spirit?

"With that, you probably left an imprint on him. It's similar to how Kou-chan and you are related." She pointed to my neck. "Just that what you share with Kou-chan is far stronger. With Shibata-kun, it's more because of your emotional involvement with each other. It wasn't too powerful but it was enough to leave an imprint on him."

That was in our first year of college. Had I... always regarded him so fondly?

"It's possibly because you've got gifted blood. Your will was all it took. And you left your imprint for good. That's how your spirit works. Even rewritten time couldn't erase its trace. That's most probably why, even though he has no memory of you, he hasn't forgotten your presence. It's not an actual recollection. It is more of a feeling that he has."

That... made sense. Was that how I somehow recognised Terasaki-san on the night he rewrote time although I was merely five when I last saw him and fifteen years had passed?

"I have to admit. This is a pretty unique love story."

Love story... I looked away. It's unique alright. I left him.

Terasaki-san watched me and seeing that he wasn't going to get a response from me, he spoke up. "What do you propose we do?"

"I've been watching him these past three weeks." Agari-san addressed me seriously again. "He's been looking for you."

That came as a slap to the face. Shibata-kun had been looking for me.

"Ever since he found out that you had quit, he has been keeping an eye out for you. You're a person who doesn't exist to the world, Akane-chan. There is no trace of you. He's been searching for someone who doesn't exist, in a sense. He doesn't know what to do or where to start and he's still looking for you."

Shibata-kun...

I cupped a hand over my mouth as tears welled up in my eyes. It hurt. It hurt a hell of a lot. What was I doing to us?

Agari-san looked at Terasaki-san who looked away. Chiyo looked between the three of us before getting up and coming over to me. She wrapped her arms around my head tenderly. "It's okay, Akane-chan. The pain will go away soon."

Oh God!

I hugged her. I had held it in for so long. Hearing how much he was doing for my sake, I couldn't ignore it anymore. Walking away from him was the hardest thing I had done.

"Kou-chan." Chiyo called meekly, her own voice cracking. I heard Terasaki-san sigh.

"Why are you crying?"

Chiyo...I let go of her and tried to calm myself down. I was making even Chiyo cry. What on earth was I-

"Come here." Terasaki-san moved closer. He wrapped an arm around me and held Chiyo close too, pulling her back onto his lap. I had calmed down significantly by then but I let him console me anyway.

Agari-san gave us a few minutes before speaking again. "I know that you're trying to protect him but you both clearly need each other. He's just as lost without you as you are without him."

I pressed a hand to my neck and sat up again. "I'm sorry. I just..."

"Don't apologise." Terasaki-san interjected. "What do you want to do now?"

What do I...

"Akane-chan, keeping away isn't helping." Agari-san said, her eyes falling to my neck briefly. "It's helping neither of you. You've left an imprint on him so he's in danger anyway."

He is?

"This is all just a hypothesis, right?" Terasaki-san asked her.

"It's the most likely possibility."

"And if you're wrong?"

"Are you challenging me?" She narrowed her eyes at him. He kept quiet. She shook her head and let out a small laugh. "You've become a worrywart. You've matured."

He raised an eyebrow at her. She waved it off and turned to me.

"Akane-chan, you should probably put him out of his misery. It'll make things better for you too. We can't involve him in our world but once we figure out what to do with your current situation, you could go back to being a part of his."

I looked at Terasaki-san. He frowned in response to my silent query. "What are you looking at me for?"

I smiled wryly. "I'm nothing but trouble, huh?"

He stared at me, then reached out and placed a hand on my head. "Don't worry about it."

If Shibata-kun was going to be in danger whether I talk to him or not, it was better to keep him close so that at least Terasaki-san could do something in case anything happened, wasn't it?

"I see. I think that's the best thing to do right now too. I'll leave you both to take care of that then. And I will stop stalking the poor guy." Agari-san laughed and then stood up. "Now that that has been decided, I shall get going. I have a date at 7:00pm. I have to get ready~" She gave me a suggestive look.

A date, huh?

"You're immature." Terasaki-san shook his head at her.

"Nothing immature about going on a date with your husband, right?" She shrugged.

Husband?!

"Whatever. Just leave. We have things to do too." Terasaki-san waved her off.

"I'm going." She turned to me before leaving. "Akane-chan, what you share with that boy is rare. Cherish it."

"Thank you." I nodded and gave her a small wave as she left.