Amare Memoriae

Part 5 Square one

Nishikata could feel his heart shatter as Takagawa just sat there. "Takagi, what are you saying?" Takagawa asked. "I'm ... is this a joke."

"I'm sorry." Takagi said again. "But ... I don't know who you two are."

"Takagi ..." Takagawa began as her eyes started to water. "What's going on?"

"I don't know who you are!"

Takagawa took a step back staring at her in disbelief, as Nishikata just stood there in shock. 'She ... she forgot about us?'

At that moment, the door opened again, and in came an older woman that reminded Nishikata of Takagi. "Honey, I'm sorry I took so long, I-" She stopped as soon as she saw Nishikata and Takagawa. "Oh, I didn't expect you to come while I was in the bathroom."

"Mom, who are they?" Takagi asked.

Takagi's mom looked at the two with a concerned expression. "Um ... could the two of you come outside for a second?" They shared a look before following her out of the room and into the hall as she closed the door behind them. "I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you before you saw her."

"She has amnesia?" Takagawa asked.

Takagi's mother nodded. "Doctors say she lost some of the past three years, though the parts she does remember are about her family, other than that ... I ... I'm really sorry."

"So she doesn't remember us." Nishikata stated.

Takagi's mother nodded. "They say it's not too bad, and that there is a good chance that she'll recover a lot of her lost memories ... but ... they don't know for sure that she'll recover everything."

There was silence for a good long while as Nishikata and Takagawa stood there, wondering what to say next. "I'm ... I'm sorry we barged in like that." Nishikata said.

"No, there's no need for you to be sorry, I told her that a friend was going to visit, but I didn't expect ... two." She said as she glanced at Takagawa.

Nishikata glanced at Takagawa and began to feel like he had just done something wrong. "I ... I had no idea that ..."

"It's not a big deal, it just caught both of us by surprise." She took a deep breath, then looked at them again. "She needs a lot more rest, but you can talk to her for a few minutes."

They shared a look, and then turned back to Takagi's mother. "If it's okay." Nishikata replied.

Takagi's mother smiled and slowly opened the door. "Honey?" She said as she peeked her head in. "Your friends are here."

"Huh?" They heard from inside the room. "I ... could you let them in?"

Takagi's mom opened the door for the two of them, and slowly, they entered once more, being careful to not jump all over her.

"Hi." Takagi greeted. "I'm sorry for earlier, that was rude of me."

"No." Takagawa said as she walked up to her and took a seat next to her. "No, I ... I understand."

Nishikata smiled as he began to come to grips with the situation. "We're just happy that you're okay." He said as he took a seat on the other side of her.

Takagi smiled. "I was told a close friend of mine would be paying me a visit ... I just wasn't expecting two of you."

"Yeah." Takagawa began. "I ... kinda guilt tripped him into telling me what was going on."

"Hm?" Takagi turned to Nishikata. "Wait ... you were the one who was initially coming to visit?"

"Yeah." Nishikata said as he blushed slightly. "When I heard about the accident at the restaurant you told me you were going to ... I got really worried."