𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐊𝐄 • Chishiya Shuntarō

XXVI: 'PROBABLY' THE END

Chishiya was tired. He was so incredibly tired, but he couldn't sleep. He was in too much pain. His memory was still fuzzy. He had pieces of what happened, but he couldn't quite put the full puzzle together. Faces flashed through his mind, but he couldn't put names to them.

Going on walks was all he'd been doing since he'd been deemed stable enough to do so. He looked around at everyone who seemed happy, wishing he could feel the same way. He just couldn't, with her face constantly on his brain. Her name. God, what was her name?

He hadn't seen her. Not yet. He'd seen the backs of plenty of people who could be her, but he wasn't quite sure. Did she even exist? Who was she? Why was she haunting his thoughts?

He'd never had a feeling like this before. A feeling of yearning for someone who may not even be a real person. Missing someone who you know nothing about. Maybe it was an affect of the explosion. Maybe that was the last face he saw before it happened. He didn't know. He couldn't remember.

He wished he could draw. That way, he'd be able to draw her face, and ask if anyone had seen her. Then again, that might make him seem like a freak.

He went to get biscuits from the vending machine, choosing the ones with the white packaging, then heading outside. He needed fresh air. He looked over at a couple. Were they a couple? Maybe they were just friends. He recognised their faces, too.

He tried his best to bring his memory back to him, when it hit him. An image flashed through his mind of him stepping in front of the girl. Then he was... shot? He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thought, then more came.

A game of Tag. A deadly one. A witch hunt. A prison cell. A lawyer. Then, finally, that same girl he'd been thinking about for days. Hana. That was her name. Hana. He remembered now. The games, meeting her in Tag and saving her. Telling her he liked her, telling her he loved her. Their first kiss, their first... He coughed. That wasn't something he wanted to think about in a public setting.. Then, their last moment together, watching the fireworks as they chose not to stay in the dreadful place where they had met. God, how could he have forgotten about her?

For a second, he was happy. He'd remembered her, the love of his life. Then he realised. It was all just a dream. Pathetic. The first time he'd fell in love, it was with a dream. A girl who may not have even existed in the real world. If she did, then she didn't know him.

He felt himself getting upset. "How stupid," he whispered to himself, getting up from his seat and walking back to his room. On the way up there, he saw her face. It wasn't in his head this time.

He stared for too long, and she noticed. Before she could say anything, he walked away. Jesus. He felt like such a creep now. Maybe he'd had a dream about her because he'd saw her face during the explosion. That'd make sense. It wasn't that she as a person was significant to him, he'd just seen her face before.

"What are you beating yourself up over?" Niragi asked. Chishiya ignored him. "I'm talking to you."

"And I'm not talking to you," Chishiya said, rolling over and figuring he'd just go to sleep.

Meanwhile, Hana was in shock. She'd seen Chishiya, and he'd seen her, too. Why did he stare for so long? Did she have something on her face? She suddenly felt insecure. Then, she got a bold idea.

She noticed Chishiya was sleeping, walking into his room to place a note down, telling him to meet her. Luckily, no one else had been watching.

She went and sat in the spot, with a bag of the yellow biscuits. She didn't even like them that much, but they reminded her of him. Maybe the idea of meeting up with him was stupid. What if he didn't remember her? What if he really was staring because she had something on her face? She'd find out soon.