You stifle a yawn as you glance up at the dark clouds overhead. Adjusting the bag on your shoulder, you get ready to walk out of the station and into the busy streets ahead. It’s late in the morning and the cold and dreary weather makes you wish that you stayed in bed and just visited Flare in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the anticipation of what’s inside the bag would’ve probably stopped you from going back to sleep.

A part of you wants to just open up the scrapbook and take a look inside to spare you the anticipation, but just like with the phone, it feels wrong to go through it without Flare with you.

It doesn’t take long for you to arrive at the front entrance of the hospital, only stopping by a convenience store on the way over to get some coffee for your drowsiness before walking inside. The familiar sight of the hospital lobby greets you once again as you take a look around the spacious room, its high ceiling and organized interior make it seem bigger than it is.

Walking through the interior of the lobby and into the elevator to the side almost feels like a morning routine to you at this point with how much you’ve done this in the past week. You almost feel like you’re gonna miss this part of your day before dismissing the thought. The sooner you and Flare figure out her missing identity, the better.

The elevator stops and you walk out, heading towards the direction of her room before stopping right in front of the door. You raise your fist to knock but stop just shy of actually hitting the wooden door. The thought of what’s coming next makes you pause for a second as a strange feeling washes over you. Trepidation? Anxiety? Apprehension? You let these emotions linger for a moment before quickly squashing them down to focus more on what’s coming.

If you’re already feeling like this just thinking about what’s coming, then how much worse would it be for Flare? How would that feel? To suddenly be presented with a past that you had no recollection of taking part in but have no choice but to accept. Would it be scary? Exciting? A mix of both? Or maybe it’s neither of those and you’re just projecting your own emotions to her situation.

You clear your thoughts, none of this is helping. You can’t let yourself get distracted like this, if you appear nervous then that might make it worse for her so you have to keep calm. With a deep breath, you make yourself look presentable before knocking on the door three times and opening it, making sure to keep an easy-going smile on yourself as you enter.

“Mornin’ Flare.” You give her a little wave as you close the door behind you and make your way towards the usual chair beside her. Her head snaps from the window towards the doorway and a light smile forms on her lips as she sees you.

“Hey Anon!” She waves her hand above her head, returning your small greeting with quite a bit more exuberance than yours before brushing a stray piece of hair behind her elongated ears. Her eyes then spot the small bag you’re carrying. “What’s that?” She asks, pointing at the aforementioned object.

“This?” You take off your bag and hold it towards her as you walk closer. “Brought something over from your apartment, courtesy of your past self of course.” You let out a smirk as you sit down and get comfortable.

Her eyes don’t leave the black bag even as you place it down on the floor. “So I assume you found something then?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” You cover your mouth as you let out a small yawn. “Thankfully it didn’t take too long to find something interesting.” Not counting you coming back to lock her door, the whole thing probably only took a little more than half an hour.

“I see.” She nods her head before turning her eyes back to you. “So... that means you’ve been to my apartment. What's it like then?”

You shrug your shoulders. “Just a normal single bed apartment from what I could see, you’ve probably been living there for quite some time just based on the stuff lying around.” The number of sentimental items there and decorations around points towards a lived-in abode. “Didn’t go into your bedroom though.”

“Huh? Why not?” She cocks her head slightly as she looks at you with pursed lips.

“Cause it would be pretty weird to go snooping around your room by myself.” You say before leaning back and waving your hand. “Hell, it was already weird just looking around your place as is, don’t wanna know how weird it would be if I took a look around your bedroom.”

“But the rest of the apartment is fair game?” She asks as she raises an eyebrow.

“Hey man, if you left some embarrassing stuff out in the open it’s your own fault.” You stifle yet another yawn as you stretch out your arms above your head.

“Fair enough.” Flare nods as she takes a good look at your current state, furrowing her brows in concern. “You don’t look so good.”

“That’s because I don’t feel so good,” You say as you fish out a can of coffee from inside your bag. “I went and visited your apartment right after closing up the bar, didn’t get much sleep because of that.” By the time you got back home after going back to Flare’s apartment and locking the door the sun was already starting to come up.

Thankfully, because of your job and your stubborn insistence on getting up early, you’ve gotten quite used to getting by with little sleep to tackle the day. Unfortunately, anything less than your limit of sleep makes you feel like absolute crap. The bags you saw under your eyes when you went to the bathroom prove as much.

You open up the can and take a sip of the iced coffee and let out a sigh of contentment. Honestly, you kind of hated the taste of canned coffee when you first tried it but after one too many late nights at your desk studying for exams, it grew on you. Now you can’t live without it whenever you’re feeling tired.

“Why did you even go in at night anyway?” Her voice has a slight scolding tone as she looks at you taking another sip of your coffee. “You could’ve just waited until morning instead of going in at night, and speaking of which, how did you get into my apartment in the first place?”

“I-uh... picked the lock.” You scratch the back of your head and give her a slight grin as you place the can on the bedside table beside you.

She looks at you for a moment with a weird expression before suddenly speaking up. “...So you broke into my apartment?” Flare asks, the corner of her mouth twitching upwards in response to your blatant act of illegality. “What happened to the whole feeling weird about snooping into my apartment then?”

You shrug your shoulders in response. “Come on, what else was I supposed to do? It was 3:00 am and I doubt your landlord was awake to open the door for me.”

“Uh-huh.” Flare looks unconvinced by your words, the smirk still residing on her lips. “And the reason you went out at night instead of waiting till morning?”

“I was excited.” That was a lie. In truth, you just really wanted an excuse to use your lock pick set and break into someone's house. Is it a weird thing to want to do? Yes, definitely. Do you regret doing it? Nah, not really.

“And the fact that going in at night when everyone is asleep thus making it easier for you to pick the lock is just a coincidence?” She sees right through you, the smirk on her face transforming into a full-on grin as she finishes. Oh no.

“Okay, that’s just an added bonus and totally not part of the reason why I went out at night. Nope, not at all. I definitely didn’t do it cause I’m too lazy to come up with another plan to make your landlord open the door to your apartment.” And definitely not because breaking into someone's home to search for clues sounded cool in your head.

Flare tries to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles but you could still hear the sounds of her laughter through it. It’s obvious she isn’t really bothered with you essentially breaking into her apartment, she probably would have even suggested it if you told her that you know how to pick a lock. She just likes to tease you whenever she gets the chance, and to be fair, you do as well.

A grin forms on your face as you try to come up with another explanation for your act of felony. “Besides, the landlord probably wouldn’t open the door for me without your written consent and we still don’t know if you remember your signature so there was really nothing I could do.” Again, that was a lie. You could already think of a couple of ways you could have entered her apartment without breaking in. You just really wanted to break in.

She just rolls her eyes at your words, the ghost of a smile still present on her lips. "Alright, you know what, fine. Let’s move on then. What did you find?”

You lean down onto the bag and take out the wallet. It would probably be a good idea to start with something small to ease her into it, so best to save the scrapbook for last. “I found this.” You hand over the wallet to her outstretched hands.

Flare grabs the wallet and gives it once over before opening it up to take a look at what’s inside. She starts by bringing the cards out one by one to examine them closely before putting them back in with the others, stopping only when she gets her hand on her driver's license.

“Wait, I can drive?” She asks as she looks at you then at the laminated card in her hands.

You shrug your shoulders. “I mean, probably? I know some friends who only got a driver's license for a valid ID so maybe that’s it.”

“Hmmm.” Flare narrows her eyes as she takes a closer look at the card. “You mentioned you had a car once, when I get out of here you think you can–”

“No.”

“Come on, I wasn’t even finished!” Flare exclaims as she gives you a pout.

“Yeah but I could take a guess as to what you were gonna ask and the answer is no.”

She rolls her eyes at your answer. “Didn’t take you for a car guy.”

“That’s because I’m not.” You shake your head. “There’s a difference between being obsessed with cars and not wanting a person who might not even know how to drive to go behind the wheels. But...” You take a look at Flare’s pouting face before continuing. “... I’ll let you practice in an empty parking lot if you want.”

Flare shakes her head and gives you a smile. “Nah, it’s fine. I was just messing with you, probably not a great idea to drive when I’m not even sure if I can in the first place.”

“If you say so.” Personally, you’re kinda curious how it would go but it’s probably for the best to wait until she fully recovers before trying any of that.

Flare turns back down at the ID to examine it. “Yeah these all feel right. Age, height, weight, blood type, I don’t know how to describe it but I just know that these are correct.” She then looks towards the bag on the floor as she continues. “What else is there?”

You reach down into the bag to pick up the dark blue scrapbook and hand it over to her. “Picked this up as well.”

She looks at the book you’re holding before slowly reaching out and taking it from your hands. Placing it on her lap, she just stares at it for a moment before reaching out to run her fingers over the edges of the cover. She looks entranced by it, whether it’s because of recognition or trepidation you can’t be sure.

“What’s…” She trails off as she looks at the book then to you.

“Looks like a scrapbook from what I could gather. Has some photos as well as little snippets talking about what’s happening there, also has the date of when the photo was taken. Didn’t look at it for long though, felt it would be weird for me to look through it without you.”

Flare nods her head as she sits up from her bed to make space for you to sit beside her. After making yourself comfortable beside her on the bed, she opens up the book and immediately stops as her eyes focus on the first photo she sees. It’s a photo of Flare with four other girls at a table overlooking the ocean, their cheerful faces present for the camera in Flare’s hand.

From left to right is a blue haired rabbit girl, a petite green haired girl, a heterochromic redhead, a... buxom silver-haired girl, and finally, Flare who’s holding the camera in a selfie. The caption below the photo reads: ‘Decided to stop by a restaurant on our way to the company retreat.’ written in Flare’s handwriting, the date listed is April of this year.

There are also two other photos on the page. The first one is of the greenhead chasing after the redhead with what looks like a butter knife. The words below read: ‘Marine running away from Rushia after making fun of her size.’ The second one is of the rabbit girl and the silver-haired girl having a heated conversation on the very same table they were eating at. The words to the side read: ‘Pekora and Noel fighting over something stupid I already forgot about.’

You actually recognize those faces from the photos on the wall and from your brief glances inside the scrapbook, which means they’re probably pretty close to each other to warrant such numerous inclusions.

“Rushia, Pekora, Marine, and Noel huh?” You muse to yourself, looking over the five of them in the group photo. “Looks like you had quite a colourful cast of friends from what I could see. Anyone seem familiar to you?”

Flare doesn’t respond, instead, she narrows her eyes as she looks at each person in the photo. Analyzing their features one by one before stopping at the words written below before reaching out a finger to trace the words written in her own handwriting–as if by touching them she could understand her past self a little more.

“No… I…” She trails off, biting her lip as she eyes the group photo in front of her. Her posture is tense, like a coiled spring ready to go off at any moment.

Suddenly, she starts flipping through page after page of the book, the dates listed going forwards as her eyes dart across every single photo she sees. Each photo has the same format, Flare with some of her friends hanging out with the date and small description listed next to the photo.

From the way she’s going through the photos so quickly, it’s like she’s not even looking at them. Just wildly flipping through them as if to find something that could help her remember anything. You don’t even get a chance to get a closer look at the photos or read the words beside it before she suddenly flips to the next page.

This goes on for a few more seconds before she suddenly stops on a photo of herself and the silver-haired girl from before, the words on the side read ‘Noel and I decided to get matching chokers.’ with the date listed only a couple of weeks ago. She stays silent the whole time, just looking at the photo with such intensity that you half expect her to bore a hole through it.

“Noel... so that’s her name.” You mutter to yourself as your mind recalls the group photo you saw. “Then that means the rabbit girl from earlier must be Pekora. If that’s the case then the redhead and the greenhead must be Marine and Rushia, huh Flare.”

You notice the choker on her neck in the photo matches the one she wore on the photo on the phone as well as the one she wore the night you came across her. While you’re not too well versed in the world of female friendships, you’re certain that getting matching chokers is probably something you only do with someone you’re close to.

You’re so lost in thought that you don’t even notice that she hadn’t replied to your assertion. She just continues to stare at the photo intently in absolute silence.

“...Flare?” You ask again, this time lightly poking her shoulder to snap her out of her stupor.

“Huh?” Her head snaps back up as she looks at you, eyes wide in surprise as if she forgot you were sitting right next to her. “S-sorry didn’t hear you. What was that again?”

“I said that that means the rabbit girl from earlier must be Pekora.” You trail off as you observe her closely, her breathing feels unnatural and her posture is even tenser than before. “You okay there Flare?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, don't worry.” Her voice lacks any of the previous cheer she had before. “And yeah, I guess that you’re right. Marine and Noel huh?”

“Yeah...” You don’t believe her for a second. The way her eyes refused to look at yours when she answered betrays her real emotions. “So does any of these ring a bell?”

She stays silent once again and you let out a frown as she continues to stare at the photo. No, that’s wrong. It’s like she’s not even looking at the photo but through it, like she’s trapped in her own little world and her eyes just happen to be on the photo.

“Flare.” You raise your voice slightly to snap her out of whatever she's in.

“Oh, umm.” She looks back at the photo for a second before speaking up. “Wait, hang on. Let me think…”

“Flare, are you sure you’re alright?” You tentatively put a hand on her shoulder. “If you want we could stop while we figure out what to do with the information.”

“I told you I’m fine.” She says with a bit of bite in her voice as she brushes off your hand, her face scrunched up in annoyance as she turns to look at you. The expression on her face only lasts only for a split second before her eyes widen. “Sorry I didn’t mean to–um. I’m sorry.” The words leave her mouth in a hurry before she turns away.

“No, no. It’s fine,” You say, brushing off her concern. “Shouldn’t have said that sorry.” You’d be lying if you said that her tone of voice didn’t slightly sting but you’ve learned not to let those kinds of stuff get to you.

“No, it’s my fault. I... shouldn't have snapped like that.” She then takes a deep breath to steady herself before continuing. “It’s just…”

“Take your time,” You say, trying to coax her into telling you what’s on her mind. Obviously the photos are what’s bothering her, but what that could be specifically is still out of your reach.

She stays silent for a moment and this time you don’t try to interrupt her train of thought. Her eyes are no longer on the photo, instead, her gaze is focused solely on the window overlooking the river. You don’t know how long the silence lasts, but the seconds pass by far longer than you would like. Eventually though, she closes the book with a sigh and turns her head towards you.

“...Would you believe me if I told you that I sort of wished you hadn’t found anything?” Her voice barely comes off as a whisper as she speaks. If you aren’t sitting right next to her you doubted you would have even heard her.

You stay silent as you let her continue. Her face lacks any emotions but the way she bites the insides of her gums, how tightly her hands grip the photo, how her breathing has changed from unconscious short intakes to slow methodical breaths. It’s obvious she’s trying her hardest to keep herself calm in front of you.

“Like… I would have preferred it if you found out I was just a loner who stayed at her house the whole day.” Flare’s grip on the page tightens as she continues. “It’s weird, I was afraid of finding out I’m alone but I would’ve preferred that over… this.” She gestures to the book in front of her.

“I can’t remember them…” Her voice is filled with so much sadness and guilt that it makes you flinch. “I know it’s stupid to think that I’d just suddenly remember them just by looking at some old photos but...” Her face contorts to an ugly grimace. “Why the hell can’t I remember anything?” She clenches her teeth in frustration as her grip on the book tightens

Your mind quickly tries to find a way to calm her down before things boil over. “Flare, calm down.” Really? That’s the best you can come up with? “It’s fine, you’ll remember them eventually. Remember what the doctor said? It’s only a matter of time before you regain most of your memories so don’t worry.”

“I know.” Her voice is tense as if she’s afraid that any emotions she displays would cause her to give out. “I know that, it’s just… Why can’t I remember anything?”

“Flare…” You trail off. Comforting a distraught girl isn’t a part of your repertoire of skills but you have to do something, you can’t just leave her like this. “Come on, anyone in your position would probably be the same, hell I’d probably have trouble with this as well so you shouldn’t beat yourself up over something like this.”

“Shouldn’t I?” She turns her head at you, her eyes filled with barely hidden frustration. “We’ve been at it for days now, but we have nothing to show for it. We know I can draw, sing, I could maybe drive but that’s it. Could you really call that progress?”

“Flare, come on. You’re being unreasonable here. We just started going through this,” You say trying to placate her, “I’m sure that once we give it a couple of days you’ll start remembering some stuff about yourself.”

“Yeah, but how can you say that for certain?” She quickly retorts, her voice giving off an edge that surprises even you. “Even if I do eventually remember everything, how long will that take? Weeks? Months? At the rate we’re going, it'll be Christmas by the time I remember most of it.”

“That’s because it’s literally only been a week since you woke up and started remembering stuff not to mention we essentially had no leads up to this point but now that we do–”

“But I should at least remember something,” she interrupts, “If I can’t even remember my friends after seeing this, what makes you think It’ll be better tomorrow.”

You let out a sigh as you think of what to say next. “You want me to be perfectly honest with you?” You ask, “We don’t alright. We don’t know when we’ll get your memories back but the fact of the matter is that this isn’t something we can brute force. All we can do is try, that’s all we can do.”

“But this shouldn’t be a problem in the first place!” She raises her voice. “I have to remember them, I have to. Because if I don’t then what the hell is the point of any of this. First I waste your time by forcing you to help me with this then when you do find something I can’t even remember anything.” She lets out a mirthless snort as she looks away. “I’m such a waste aren’t I? I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually hate me.”

You let out a small frustrated sigh and hold yourself back from raising your voice before speaking. “Come on Flare, don’t be like that. I did this because I wanted to, and look at the photos and the dates. Do you think that you’d do stuff like that with someone who doesn’t care about you?” You say, pointing at the photo she had with the girl named Noel.

“Then why haven’t any of them tried to find me!” She finally snaps at you, her voice echoing across the small room as her composure finally breaks. “If-if we’re so close then why haven’t any of them tried to find me! D-did I do something wrong? Did I make them angry? D-do they hate me or…?” Her voice trails off as the realization of what’s on her mind finally goes through you.

‘Oh… so that’s the problem.’ It was never about her memories, or at least not all of it, it was about this. It was because despite being technically missing for more than a week at this point, no one had even bothered to check up on her, no one had asked why she’s missing.

It should have been obvious, hell you had even wondered about that yourself so of course Flare would as well. Not to mention her nervousness yesterday about what’ll happen next if you do find something about her past. It would have been easy if it was because she had no friends or had a weird job but now…

Flare continues as you continue to process what she said. “I must’ve done something wrong, I mean why else would they not want to find me.” Her voice wavers as she tries her hardest to compose herself. “Didn’t your detective friend say something about not having any reports of me missing?”

You did say that to her yesterday but you also said that it might be because of her not having that many friends or maybe her job didn’t require her to be in an office space. But now that you know she does have friends, and that they’re definitely close, as well as the fact that she also has a regular job. You’re not sure what to make of this but you have to come up with something fast.

“Yeah but come on. Just because you’ve been silent for a week and no one tried to contact you doesn’t mean that they hate you,” you say as you try and come up with an explanation to all of this, “Hell, I’ve been radio silent with some of my friends for weeks at a time without any of them asking where I’ve been, what makes you think that’s any different from your situation.”

“And my job?” She asks, still trying to compose herself. “They’re my coworkers, right? Shouldn’t they have at least tried to contact me when I didn’t show up for work?”

“I–maybe…” Your mind races for an explanation for that but you can’t come up with anything substantial. “Alright I can’t think of anything right now but it’s probably nothing big considering you were confident enough to buy a new phone just last week.”

She does not look convinced by your words. Hell, you’re not even convinced yourself, not to mention you aren’t sure if she’s even listening to you at all at this point. It’s entirely possible that she’s just lost in her own fantasy of pointless self-pity and unfounded worries of her own making. But still, you have to try.

“Listen Flare,” you say while your mind runs a mile a minute to choose the right words, “I’m sure that your friends care about you and I’m confident you didn’t do anything wrong before this. There’s a perfectly good explanation to all of this that we just don’t know yet.”

You never were the best at words, and finding the right ones to say in this hotbed of a situation proves incredibly difficult. Figuring out emotions is easy, body language and vocal tones come naturally to you when getting a read on someone. Actually knowing what to do and say with the information? Well, that is a different beast entirely which is evidenced by Flare’s refusal to heed your answers.

“Then why am I still here then! Why am I so useless? What’s the point...” Her voice gets increasingly softer as she continues to grit her teeth through her words. “Why do you even bother coming here every day… don’t you have things better to do…?” She trails off before letting out a sigh.

“Damnit Flare, I’m doing this because I want to alright. And I’m not leaving just because you’re feeling sorry for yourself.”

Your words do little to dissuade the tears forming in her eyes as her fingers continue to grip the book in frustration. Whether it’s because she doesn’t believe you or because she’s too trapped in her own self-pity, you don’t know, but it’s not like it matters in the first place. You rack your brain to figure out a way to fix this situation, you doubt humour would help and changing the subject would only delay the inevitable. Which leaves only one thing you can think of.

You stand up from the bed and move the chair from where it’s normally placed to position it in front of her before sitting down. She doesn’t react to your movements, whether it’s because she didn’t notice or didn’t care is up in the air at this point, but it doesn’t matter either way.

“Flare,” you say, trying to get her to look at you.

She does not respond to your words.

“Flare, look at me.” You say as forcefully as you can without raising your voice too much.

She makes no overt movements in response to your words, but the slight twitch of her head makes it clear that she’s at least listening to you. You take a deep breath to prepare yourself, hoping that what you say next will at least do enough to calm her down.

“I promised you that I’d help you out with this and that I’m not the type of person to leave things half-finished.” You pause for a second, trying to figure out the right words to say before continuing. “You’re my friend alright. I know we hadn’t really known each other for so long and our first meeting wasn’t exactly great but I hate doing nothing while everyone around me feels like shit.”

“Anon…?” She looks at you with barely contained tears in her eyes. Her voice, so fragile that you’re afraid that any wrong move and things’ll never be the same.

This situation of comforting someone is completely new to you. As a bartender, the most you had to do was just listen to your patrons as they vent their frustrations but that’s not an option here. Staying quiet would be bad but at the same time, saying the wrong thing would be worse. You just hope that whatever you say has the intended outcome.

“So please, just trust me on this. I know you have no reason to put your trust in someone you’ve not even known for a week but… all we can really do is to move forward and hope for the best.” You mentally chastise yourself for your cliche words of encouragement but that’s all you have in your arsenal right now. “Besides, I’m confident that it’s probably not as bad as it seems.”

“And if it is?” She asks, her eyes still refusing to meet yours. “And if it is as bad as it seems, then what?”

“And if it is well… then feel free to lay the blame on me.” You finish off with a small smile, hoping that’ll ease her off.

You two just stay there, saying nothing as the seconds tick by inside the hospital room. The silence is heavy and it makes you wish that the room wasn’t as soundproof as it is because any sound would be welcome right about now. A part of you thinks that you may have overstepped your boundaries by saying all that but before you could say anything else, Flare decides to speak up.

“I’m sorry…” She says, breaking the silence between you two and dispelling the tension in the room much to your relief. “You’re right, I didn’t mean to–I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, alright. It’s fine, just take your time.” Honestly, Flare’s probably taking this a lot better than most people would in her situation. Then again, Flare is the only amnesiac you know so you can’t really say that for certain.

“... Hey Anon?” Flare asks, looking at you with slightly renewed vigour.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. I… I needed that,” she says, wiping some of the tears that have formed in her eyes.

“No problem.” You take out your handkerchief from one of your pockets and hand it over to her.

She gives you a small nod as she takes the piece of cloth from your hands, silently wiping her tears with it before placing it in her lap. You make a mental note to ask for it back later but right now it’s not really a big deal.

“Can you... “ She looks at you for a second before turning away. “N-never mind. Forget it, it’s nothing,” she finishes with an awkward laugh.

“Okay…?” You furrow your brows at her dismissal but judging by her tone of voice, it’s probably nothing important. “Anyways, do you still feel like going through with the book today or do you wanna save it for tomorrow?”

You have no doubt that Flare is still reeling from the events earlier and a part of you wants to continue with this investigation but it’s not really your call. Not to mention that jumping straight into this investigation right after what happened would probably be incredibly awkward.

“Yeah, it’s probably for the best if we stop for today,” she says with a small nod, “I think… I think I need some time to think by myself, if that’s alright with you.” She quickly adds at the end.

“No, it’s fine.” You say while stifling a yawn. This whole ordeal made you forget how tired you are and judging by her sagged shoulders and worn-out voice, she’s probably feeling the same right about now. “Oh by the way, here, before I forget.” You take out her phone from inside your bag and hand it to her “Got you a sim card for your phone before I got here, thought it’d be a good idea to exchange numbers just in case.”

“Oh, thank you.” She takes the phone off your hands and quickly goes through the contacts. “Did you already put your number in?”

“Not yet, though I probably should’ve now that I think about it.” You take out your phone and open up your contacts. “Let’s just quickly do that then.”

It just takes a moment for you two to exchange numbers and after that, you begin preparing to leave. It would probably be best if she keeps the book with her as you don’t really wanna carry it all the way here every day. You finish your lukewarm can of coffee to the side before throwing it away and standing up.

“If it makes you feel any better, you’re a pretty great friend and I’m sure your friends feel the same way,” You say with a smile, “You’re a very... one of a kind person so they’re probably missing you right now.”

“Thanks.” Flare gives you a smile before suddenly pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at you. “Wait, what’s with that pause before saying one of a kind?”

“Well, what do you think it means?” You ask, your small smile transforming into a grin. “From the looks of it, these girls seem to be quite an eccentric bunch so I just assume you’re one of them.”

“More like the only sane person in the group.” She snorts. “I have a feeling that I probably spent a lot of time and energy wrangling them around like sheep to be perfectly honest.”

“There’s no such thing as a sane person of the group, if you purposefully surround yourself with a group of eccentric people then chances are there’s also something up with you.” You say while mimicking some of your “The fact that you’re denying it just means you don’t wanna accept that truth.”

She rolls her eyes at you. “As if you’re any different.”

“Listen, I’m not saying I’m different. I’m just more honest with myself in the fact that I enjoy being in the company of weirdos.”

“And am I one of those weirdos?”

You place a hand on your chin and put on a contemplative look as you look at her in the eye. “Hmmmmm”  Suddenly you feel a light strike on your ribs and you look just in time to see Flare give you a small pout before turning her head away.

“...you’re lucky I like you.”

You freeze. If the room wasn’t so quiet and if you were less attentive you would have entirely missed what she said, but you were so you heard it perfectly. Judging by how nonchalantly she said it, she probably didn’t mean to say it out loud and especially not to your face. As quickly as the shocked expression appeared on your face, however, it went away just as fast. Just in time for her to turn her head back to you.

“Thanks Anon, for today I mean.” There’s a light blush on her cheeks as she looks at you with those crimson eyes of hers, the smile on her lips almost making you forget the words she said underneath her breath. “It really means a lot to have you here with me.”

“No problem,” You say with a light smile before opening up your phone to check the time. “I should probably be going right about now. I’m hoping to get a little bit of sleep before heading off for work.”

In contrast to your calm exterior, your mind is still reeling with the bombshell she may or may not have just unintentionally dropped. But still, you bury your thoughts and focus more on what’s going on in front of you.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” She nods her head before giving you a small smile. “Bye Anon. I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”  

You let out a snort before turning to her. “Unless anything short of a national emergency happens then yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiles and nods her head before giving you a small wave. “Alright, see ya”

You grab your bag from the floor before returning her small wave with your own. “See ya Flare.”

With that, you exit her room and make your way back home. Walking through the empty familiar halls towards the elevator leading down. Just as you are about to press the elevator button, a familiar voice calls out to you from behind.

“Oh Anon, good to see you.”

“Afternoon, Yumi.” You turn around to return her greeting with a lazy wave.

“You leaving already?” She asks as she glances at her watch. “It’s barely past noon, I’d have thought that you’d still be with Flare.”

“Yeah, but she’s feeling pretty tired for today so we’re putting a hold on the whole memory thing for now.”

“Tired? Already?” She sounds a bit worried as she looks behind you towards her room. “Oh and what happened with the whole finding her address thing? Did you manage to get a lead?”

“Yeah… that’s actually one of the reasons why I’m leaving this early.”

She gives you a look that demands an answer which you quickly abide by. She stays silent the entire time, only nodding every once in a while to show that she’s listening. After finishing your little spiel she stays quiet for a moment before speaking up.

“Well this is an interesting development, but this is still some great news,” Nurse Yumi says after absorbing the information, “If we can get in touch with some of her friends, they could help us with Flare’s condition.” She says before narrowing her eyes in contemplation. “Well… that is if we could find them. You should probably go back to her apartment to see if you can find any of their contact information now that I think about it.”

“Yeah but that’s up to Flare cause right now cause I think the last thing she wants is to have her friends meet her.”

“Yeah...” Nurse Yumi glances behind you towards the door to Flare’s room. “Are you sure it’s a great idea to just leave after all that?”

You let out a snort and roll your eyes. “You make it sound like I’m not coming back. Besides, all she said is to have some time to think. I’m pretty sure the last thing she needs is to feel even more useless with me helping her out.”

“I guess…” The nurse still looks a little uncertain about the situation but she nods her head nevertheless.

“Besides, that’s just how she is I guess.” You shrug your shoulders. “I could honestly kinda understand how she feels but at the same time…” You trail off. The last thing you want is to have her beat herself up even more over something she can’t control.

“So what now?” She asks as her eyes glance towards Flare’s room behind you, her brows furrowing in concern as she looks from the door to you. “What’re you gonna do?”

“Probably just head home and get some rest,” you say before remembering something you were supposed to ask the staff, “Oh by the way, what’re you gonna do with the information? I mentioned that we found her insurance card, is that gonna help at all?”

The nurse shakes her head. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll talk to Flare later with her doctor so just pat yourself on the back for that one.”

“Alright” You wanna ask more about it but you trust the staff here enough to let them handle it. Plus you’re certain they probably won’t answer you, doctor-patient confidentiality and all that. “Anyways, I’m heading out. See ya.”

“See ya.” She gives you a small wave before walking away towards wherever it is she’s going. The light clacking of her heels slowly fading away as she turns the corner.

You hear a familiar ding and you’re forced to move to the side as a nurse walks out of the elevator behind you pushing a small cart filled with food for the numerous patients on this floor. Looking closely at the cart, you notice that most of its contents are filled with trays of grilled chicken.

You enter the now empty elevator and press the button going down, the light jostling of the compartment signals your descent to the lower floor. Your mind tries to keep itself occupied as you make your way towards the station but no matter what you do or what you look at, your mind is still stuck on what had transpired back in Flare’s room.

You’re confident that you did everything in your ability to help her out back there but that’s not really saying much. Just because you did something to the best of your abilities does not mean that whatever you did was enough, all it does is make yourself feel better towards your failures.

As you continue your journey a sudden drop of water hitting your head snaps you out of your thoughts, then another, and then another. The drops above you continue to fall until it turns into a slight drizzle then into a continuous torrent of water. Looking up, the skies have turned from a light smattering of dark clouds and into a deep gray overcast making it seem like it’s later in the day than it already is.

All around you, people either run off towards shelter or take out their own umbrellas to combat the weather. You take out your own umbrella from inside your bag and continue your walk to the station, deep puddles of water forming around you as you continue your journey in silence.

You eventually pass by a bridge overlooking the river and feel a sudden urge to pause, the familiar scenery causing you to stop and look around. There’s no one around except yourself and your own thoughts.

‘What…? Oh yeah, right.’ The combination of the rain and the lack of people around makes the entire situation a dead ringer to what transpired a little more than a week ago if it were not for the time of day.

You look over towards the river to the place where you first found Flare a little more than a week ago. Your eyes then move towards the direction of the hospital to see if you can spot her room from all the way over here. You remember being able to see the river from the window but with the torrential downpour, you can barely even spot the building.

‘Why am I even doing this?’ You ask yourself as you continue to stand there. The wind picks up around you as droplets of rain splash against your face, but still, you continue to look towards the hospital in the distance. The cold makes you want to go home as quickly as possible but you stifle those feelings. Instead, you continue to stand there and turn your head to look towards the staircase leading down the river.

It’s crazy to think that this one chance encounter led this entire escapade of helping out an amnesiac girl. That one meeting can lead to something you couldn’t even imagine happening to you a few weeks prior. You can almost see the imprint of where Flare was laying down at the bottom of the staircase in your mind’s eye as you look down. Her lithe frame sprawled out beneath the light of the lamppost as the rain continued to hammer down onto her unconscious body.

What would’ve happened if you hadn’t looked in that general direction that night? If the rain had obfuscated your vision of her? If you had remembered to charge your phone and took a taxi home instead of walking? Would she have been fine laying there in the pouring rain in the middle of the night? Or would she have...

A cold gust of wind relieves you from your thoughts as droplets of water splash against your face. Large puddles of water have formed around you as you continue to look at the staircase, the cold bite of the air making you shiver as the rain seeps into your clothing. The rain continues to pour down, uncaring of the thoughts plaguing your mind.

Just as you were getting ready to continue on your way to the station, a light buzzing emanates from your pocket. Opening it up, you’re greeted with a text from Flare.

Hey Anon, is this you?

Yeah, it’s me.

You know we probably should’ve checked to see if this works at the hospital instead of checking it when I’m on my way home

Yeah we probably should have.

Also I’m putting the blame on you since you’re the one who thought of this

You know what? Fair point.

Anyways, what’s up?

Not much, just checking up on you since the rain’s hitting pretty hard.

You okay out there?

Yeah, I’m only a few blocks from the station so don’t worry.

Good.

Anyways they just sent me my lunch so I’m gonna go eat now

...Is it grilled chicken?

Wow, get this man a prize.

How’d you manage to guess that?

Because I’m a 200 iq genius who uses past data to inference an outcome most suited with the given evidence

Also because I passed by a nurse who was pushing around a cart of food

You know you could’ve just said that instead of sounding like a massive dork

Yeah but how will I get to show off my massive intellect otherwise?

...By not sounding like a massive dork?

Anyways, Stay safe out there will you

Looks like the rain won’t let up anytime soon

Thanks, stay safe as well.

Have fun with your grilled chicken

(҂⌣̀_⌣́)

With that final text, you pocket your phone and make your way towards the station. A light spring in your step as you walk through the rain. You hope to at least get some rest before you head off for work later in the day but you doubt you’ll have the luxury of sleeping for more than an hour before you need to get up and get ready.

“Interesting situation you’ve gotten yourself into,” Jacque says as he takes a sip of his drink, “But hey, at least you two’ve found a lead on her identity so there’s that.”

The sound of rain hitting glass accompanied by the occasional rolling of thunder accompanies his voice as you turn towards your old friend. It’s a late Sunday night and after going home and taking a light nap, you got dressed for work and headed off. Thankfully Sundays are the least busy days of your job as most people leave early to rest for the next day and with the torrential rainstorm, most have decided to stay in their homes instead of drinking at some old bar.

“Yeah, there is that…” You had explained your findings with Jacque as well as what happened earlier today. Normally you wouldn’t even think about talking about these sorts of things with him but with most of your friends spending their vacation far away from the city, you don’t really have anyone else to talk to about this.

...You really need more friends huh?

“So what’s this girl to you anyway?” Jacque asks, finishing his drink and handing it over to you. “Like, why the hell are you going out of your way to help her out so much?”

“Should I have a reason other than I want to?” You ask as you take the drink from him to refill. “Not like I have anything better to do, classes don’t start for a couple more weeks and helping her out has honestly been the most interesting thing that’s happened to me for a while.”

“What?” He lets out a snort. “You miss your old days of doing stupid shit that gets you in trouble?” The detective asks as he no doubt recalls the headaches of dealing with you in the past

“Nah, not really,” You say, refilling the glass from the tap behind the counter, “Besides, it’s not like I have any reason to do any of that crap anymore.”

The sounds of clinking glass and idle chatter fills you with ease as you take a look around the bar you’ve been working at for almost two years. Its dark oak interiors mixed with the vintage furniture as well as the classic rock playing in the background makes you feel nostalgic for a time before you.

“You say that as if all that happened decades ago and not a couple of years ago,” Jacque mutters to himself before addressing you, “So is that it? You only find the whole thing interesting and that’s why you’re helping her out? What’re you gonna do after you two finish up the whole ordeal then?”

You narrow your eyes for a second as you place his drink in front of him. “You make it sound like I only hang out with her because of that, Mr. Detective.”

“Well from the way you make it sound you only put up with her because you just find the whole thing interesting,” the detective says as he looks you in the eye, taking a sip from the newly placed drink in front of him as he does so, “Is that not the case, Anon?”

“It’s not like I’m gonna ghost her the moment we figure out her past identity, I’m not that much of a jackass.”

“So why the hell are you helping her out in the first place?” He asks as he continues to press you for details. “Is it really just because you have nothing else better to do?”

“It’s because…” You pause for a second to think before letting out a sigh. “I don’t know. When I first talked to her I was just fine with the professionals helping her out but when I actually got to talk to her it just... didn’t feel right to walk away from this without finishing it through–if that makes any sense.”

“... Yeah, that sounds just like you.” He snorts, a smile tugging on his lips. “Are you at least having fun with your little pseudo investigation Mr. Detective?”

“Yeah you could say that,” You answer, “It’s definitely a unique experience. I'll tell you that much.” In fact it’s actually pretty enjoyable all things considered. You’ve almost forgotten how fun it is to just shoot the shit with someone without a care in the world.

“I see, well that’s good to hear,” he says while fishing out a cigarette from inside his coat. “So… you two just friends then?”

“And what does this have to do with anything?” You ask, raising an eyebrow. You know he’s a detective and all but this feels less of a conversation and more of an interrogation.

“It’s because from the way you talked about her, it’s pretty clear there’s more going on under the surface and from the way you said she acts around you, I’m pretty sure it’s the same for her as well.”

“So… what? A close friend then?” You ask.

Jacque gives you a blank look as the cigarette hangs loosely on his lips. “Jesus fucking Christ Anon are you serious?”

You’re not an idiot, it’s quite obvious what he’s insinuating and you know exactly why he’s asking these questions and what he’s trying to get from you. You’re just not sure why he of all people are interested in what the hell’s going on with your life.

“Listen man, if you want me to say that I have the hots for the girl then I’m gonna ask you to politely piss off,” You say as you take out your Zippo before flicking it wide open, “We’ve literally only known each other for about a week, what makes you think there’s anything between us.”

“Well the fact that from the sounds of it, she really enjoys your company.” He leans in for you to light it before settling back down.

“That’s because she literally has no one else to talk to.” You place the lighter back into your pocket as you continue. “She’s an amnesiac, remember? I’m pretty sure she only feels that way cause, as far as she’s aware, I’m the only person she knows that’ll listen to her.”

“Feels that way?” The detective parrots your words. “So you’re not as fucking blind like I thought you are.”

“Did you not hear what I just said? She’s only like that cause I’m the only one she knows that she could feel comfortable with.”

“Motherfucker, she literally said she likes you.” Jacque snorts as he takes a drag of his cigarette before blowing it away from you. “Could you be any more cliche?.”

“Well to be fair she is a girl, I heard that girls are a lot more open with their emotions to their friends than guys do so maybe that’s it?”

The detective gives you a dry look and you suddenly realize that what you said might have sounded a bit sexist.

“...You wanna elaborate on that Anon?” He asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks at you

“Okay, okay, wait no let me rephrase that,” You say while placing your hands in front of you. “What I meant to say is that maybe she’s just the type of person who wears their heart on their sleeves. Maybe that’s it?”

“Uh-huh, sure. Okay, let’s go with that.” His tone of voice suggests that he is definitely not going with that.

You quickly change the subject. “Besides, it’s kinda messed up to try my hand at an amnesiac girl in the first place, not to mention she might already have a boyfriend that she just forgot about.” For some reason, those last words made you feel… wrong. Was that jealousy just now?

“Yeah but like I said before, there’s been no reports of a Shiranui Flare being labeled as missing, not to mention the fact that it’s been a week since you found her and no one had tried to call her?” The detective takes another drag off his cigarette. “I don’t know about you but if my girl just suddenly ups and vanishes for a week I’d definitely call someone.”

Before you could even respond to his assumption, a new voice cuts into your conversation. “Wait, did lil’ Nonnie finally decide to have a girlfriend?”

“Oh shut up Calli, nobody asked for you.” You turn your head towards the pink-haired waitress walking towards the counter. “The hell do you want?”

Calliope Mori, or just Calli as she likes to be called, is a new girl who started working here part-time a couple of months ago. While you two hadn’t really interacted that much outside of work, you still try to keep up a good rapport with her whenever possible. And she’s usually fun to talk to during the slow hours. Usually.

“No need for that sass ‘Non, just wanted to talk.” She replies as she takes a seat on one of the bar stools in front of you before turning towards the detective. “Sup Jacque.”

“Evening Calli.” He answers before placing the cigarette on the ashtray on the counter.

You let out a small snort at the small exchange. “Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?”

Calli lets out a smirk as she settles on her seat. “Well I don’t know if you’ve noticed dude but we’re kinda having a bit of a slow night.” She gestures towards the rest of the bar to show the distinct lack of people around before turning to you. “So what’s up with you my man? Girl problems?”

You roll your eyes at her before answering. “Actually yeah, there’s this pink-haired girl at work that keeps bugging me about my personal life and doesn’t seem to take a hint. Any ideas on how I could tell her to politely piss off?”

“Hmm.” She brings a hand to her chin as she thinks of a response. “Well maybe if you take that massive stick out of your ass and actually start listening to the girl who wants to help you then maybe she’ll back off.”

“Really? I don’t think this girl’s the type of person to back off when she gets what she wants.” You place your hands on the counter in front of you before leaning in. “She’s more the type to take a mile when you give her an inch so I don’t think it’s a good idea to listen to her.”

“Is that so?” She asks, the corners of her mouth twitching. “You sure you aren’t just intimidated by girls who take initiative?”

“Nah, not really. More just annoyed by girls who don’t know when to quit it.” You snap back, a wry smile forming on your lips as you lean forward.

Jacque, who was quietly sipping his drink while watching you two, decides to speak up. “Now, now children. No need to fight,” he says in a placating manner, “We’re all adults so let’s not get too crazy here.”

“Can it, gramps.”

“Stay out of this old man.”

“Gramps? Old man?” He mutters while running a hand through his hair. “I’ll have you know I’m barely in my 50’s and I still have a full head of hair.”

“Yeah, a full head of graying hair my man” Calli replies. “Hate to break it to ya but you’re pretty old dude.”

“Gotta agree with her,” You add while giving a small nod, “Compared to us you’re ancient. I’m barely in my 20’s and Calli’s…” You pause for a second before turning to her. “Wait, how old are you again?”

Calli just looks at you for a second before sighing and shaking her head. “Jesus Christ ‘Non, no wonder you’re having girl problems. You never ask a girl her age, that’s just asking for a verbal beatdown.”

“To be fair you’ve been working here for over two months by now and you still haven’t told me that,” You reply while rolling your eyes, “And speaking of work, how’s that job application to that tech company you’re interested in going to? What was its name… Clover? Rover?”

You remember her talking about it a couple of weeks ago and you’re kinda curious how it went. Plus, you hope that by talking about the job she’s applying to she’d stop bugging you about your personal life.

“It’s Cover Corporation.” She clarifies while letting out a triumphant grin. “And it’s going along smoothly thank you very much. Only problem is that with the strike going on they’re currently a little busy with their internal workings so the final interview would have to wait for a bit.”

You raise an eyebrow at that. “Why would a strike by the docks have any bearings on what’s going on in a tech company?”

‘Wait, hang on. The strike…’ Your mind races as certain ideas click into place.

“Beats me.” She lets out a shrug. “All I know is that if things go well then I’m on my way to getting that job and getting the hell out of here.”

“Don’t let the boss hear you say that,” You say as you look over to where he’s currently conversing with one of the regulars, “Wouldn’t want him to think that you hate it here.”

“Yeah but don’t get it twisted, you know what I mean,” she says as her eyes drape across the dimly lit room, “I really like this job, hell of a lot better than my previous time working at a bar, it’s just… I’m also excited that I’m finally getting a full-time job in this city that I’m passionate about.”

Your eyes soften at her words. Hanging out with her for a while, you've learned that she essentially gambled everything she had into finding a job in this city. Moving pretty much halfway across the country to get here. What caused her to do that you don’t know but for all the crap you’ve given her, she’s easily one of the most hardworking people you know.

“Yeah, I guess…” You nod your head at her words. “Honestly it’s a miracle that you got hired here in the first place since we were pretty much filled up at this point.”

You remember Calli telling you that when she came into this city she was pretty desperate for any sort of job and when she saw the wanted poster for the bar she immediately went in for an interview. Unfortunately, someone had already applied and was hired just moments ago. When the boss left the backroom, Calli pretty much begged him to give her a shot to prove herself, thankfully with her previous experience working in the service industry she convinced the boss to hire her as well.

“Maybe the boss knows that I have that sort of charm that people love and that’s why he hired me,” she says with that self-deprecating, faux arrogance that she loves to do.

“Yeah, maybe…” You feel the corners of your mouth twitch as you think about it.

Honestly, the boss probably felt sorry for her when he figured out how much she needed this fresh start. But then again it’s not like you’re one to talk, the only reason the boss hired you in the first place is because he knew your dad from way back when and decided to pay him back by taking you in. Probably one of the few things you have in common with her–not that you’d tell her that of course.

“Oh by the way ‘Non, don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to change the subject,” Calli says with a smirk, “I’m still waiting for that explanation on what’s happening with you and that girl.”

The small smile immediately leaves your lips as you turn to her. “You’re never gonna let me drop this are you?”

“Not unless you fess up and give me the deets dude,” she says while shrugging her shoulders, “Honestly if you aren’t so secretive about this then maybe I wouldn’t be so curious so it’s kinda your fault if you're thinking about it.”

“But… that’s–” You try to formulate words to counter her insane logic before letting out a tired sigh. “You know what? Fuck it.” You finally relent. “But if I tell you about it, will you finally stop bugging me?”

“No promises” She replies. “But I’ll definitely tone it down afterwards so don’t worry.”

You nod your head and start explaining your situation for the second time that night about the events of the past week. Jacque pays no attention to your words as he’s already heard it all before and instead works on finishing his drink while smoking his cigarette. Calli has her eyes solely on you though, keeping quiet most of the time while occasionally asking for clarifications.

“Hmmmmm.” She brings a hand to her chin and her eyes narrow in concentration as she digests the information you’ve given her. Then, she turns her head towards you and leans in closer, her voice oddly serious. “Yeah, both of you are totally into each other.”

“Oh Jesus Christ Calli, that’s all you have to say?” You rub your forehead as you look at her through your fingers. “And you haven’t even met her so how the hell are you so sure about that?”

“Well I know you aren’t the type of person to exaggerate details to feel good about yourself and from the way you spoke it’s pretty obvious you’re also into her.” She raises two fingers as she counts the ways she got to that conclusion. “And call it my gut feeling but I’m confident that she’s also into you dude.”

“Told ya Anon,” Jacque says with a smirk.

“Not to mention she literally told you she likes you!”

“Yeah but what if she didn’t mean it like that. Maybe she’s from Canada and is just being polite.” At this point you’re just seeing just how far you can twist this into this being a misunderstanding.

She gives you a dry look. “She’s a half-elf from the Elven Kingdom, I highly doubt she’s Canadian.”

“You don’t know that, just because she’s a half-elf doesn’t automatically mean she grew up in the Elven Kingdom. There are a lot of half-elves in Canada, saying that half-elves can’t live up to Canadian values just because they’re of a different race is pretty messed up Calli.”

Calli stops to stare at you, her mouth moving but no words come out as if she’s thinking up the proper response to your remarkable rebuttal. “...Anon if murder was legal you’d be so fucking dead right now.”

You let out a snort while raising your arms in defense. “Alright, alright, fine. You win,” You say, letting out a small sigh before continuing, “But let’s say you are right. What then?”

“I dunno man, you tell me,” she says with a shrug, “I’m only here to help you, not to tell you what to do. What happens next is up to you my dude.”

‘Up to me huh? Why can’t things be simple for once.’

“Yo Calli, another drink here!” A voice yells from across the bar.

“Coming Vincent!” She yells back before standing up and stretching for a little bit. “Well as much fun as that was, we better get back to work. See ya ‘Non”

And with that, she walks away. No doubt coming back soon with a couple of orders for you to make.

“So, you still think that there’s nothing going on between you two?” Jacque asks as he watches Calli walk away

“I don’t know…” You mutter to yourself before letting out a sigh. “But my point still stands, it’s still messed up for me to go for her as she is right now.”

“Yeah but when has something being ‘messed up’ stop you from going for what you want.”

“Excuse me?”

Jacque places the cigarette on the ashtray and looks you in the eye. “We’re all men of wants Anon, some want power, others money, sometimes it’s status. It’s all the same in the end, people want something. The only difference between them is what they do when they’re confronted with the fact that what they want is not something they can easily get.”

“And what does this have to do with me?”

“You’re a man of wants Anon, whatever you want, you go for it; no matter what it takes.” He takes another drag of his cigarette as he continues, blowing the smoke away from you like he always does. “If you can’t afford it: you steal it. If you’re not allowed it: you lie to get it. If you can’t get to it: you break-in.” His voice carries a nostalgic hint as he finishes.

“You make it sound like I’m an asshole for wanting something for myself.” You narrow your eyes at his words. “But I’m not like that anymore, you of all people should know that.”

“Yes, I do know that. I know you better than anyone else.” He rubs his eyes and lets out a small sigh. “And because of that, I know that the only difference about you right now is that your wants have changed over the years.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” You raise an eyebrow at his words. You’re curious to see where he goes with this.

“What I mean is that you better get your shit together and figure out what the hell you want in your life.” He snubs the cigarette on the ashtray in front of him and looks you in the eye. “Cause you ain’t doing yourself any favors by trying to pretend nothing’s going on.”

The two of you stay silent as you ponder his words, Men of wants. Those words echo in your head. You can’t really refute that statement, technically speaking, everyone in the world wants something in their lives. But that begs the question: What is it that you want?

“You know it’s normally the bartender that listens to the customers worries, not the other way around.” You feel a smile tugging on your lips as you raise an eyebrow at your friend.

“Yeah, but then who listens to the bartender then?” He stands up and snubs the cigarette on the ashtray in front of him. “Anyways I’m off. Got a long day ahead of me and I don’t wanna spend my remaining free day talking to a dude who can’t figure out what he wants even if it broke into his home and beat his ass.”

“And your payment?” You ask as he stands up to leave.

“Put it on my tab.” He’s already walking away, giving you a mock salute as he nears the door. “See ya Anon.”

“See ya Jacque.”

And with that, the night goes on as usual. Calli comes back with a couple of orders for you to make and you busy yourself by doing just that. You hope that by focusing on your work you’ll get the chance to clear your head and calm down. Yet no matter what you do or how hard you try, your thoughts are still filled with that amnesiac half-elf you found by the river all those nights ago.

The elevator door opens and you step out onto the familiar white halls towards Flare’s room. It’s early morning and while you feel apprehensive about visiting her after what happened yesterday, you can’t just not visit her today after telling her you would before you left. You soon find yourself in front of room 304 where Flare is currently staying and stop right in front of the door. Composing yourself, you knock on the door three times before opening it.

“Mornin’ Flare,” You greet her with the same little wave as you always do while closing the door behind you.

“Oh, hey Anon.” She returns your greeting with a smile as she sits up from her bed.

You walk towards the chair beside her and sit down, though no matter how much you try, you can’t find it in yourself to feel comfortable in your seat. A part of you wants to bring up what happened yesterday but at the same time, you have absolutely no idea how to start with that can of worms. Thankfully, as if reading your mind, Flare saves you the trouble and decides to speak up.

“So about yesterday…” She says while avoiding eye contact. “I’ve had some time to calm down and…” She pauses for a moment before taking a deep breath and lowering her head. “I’m terribly sorry about what had happened yesterday, looking back, I was incredibly rude to you even when you were trying to help and for that I’m sorry.”

The way she spoke came across as purposefully polite, almost too polite in your opinion. It’s almost like the first time you two spoke when she profusely apologized to you in such a formal manner. You feel the frown forming on your face but you manage to stop it and instead replace it with a smile.

“No, no. It’s fine, really,” You say, quickly trying to clear the air between you two.

“Are you sure?” She still sounds unsure of herself.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

Not knowing how to continue the conversation after starting with that, the two of you stay in an uncomfortable silence. You feel the sweat on the back of your neck form as time passes and no words are exchanged between you two. Judging by Flare’s expression, she’s probably feeling the same type of pressure.

“So…” You pause, trying to think of a way to break the silence. “Nurse Yumi told me yesterday that she’d talk to you about what we found, anything good come with that?”

“Oh yeah!” Her eyes widen, eager to continue the conversation. “The Doctor said that with you figuring out where I live and confirming my identity, I’ll be free to go after they finish sorting things out on their end.”

“I see, that’s good to hear, but you?” You ask while giving her a lighthearted grin. “Pretty sure I wasn’t the only one working on this. This was a team effort, couldn’t have done it without you helping me out here.”

She gives you a bashful smile before speaking up. “Yeah but you were the one who actually went out to find my address at that store, not me.”

“And you were the one who noticed the reflection on the photo that helped me find the store in the first place”

“Yeah but you were the one that went to my apartment,” she quickly retorts. “Hell, you even broke into my apartment to get in!”

“Hold up, I did not break into your apartment,” You say while pointing an accusatory finger, “It only counts as breaking in if it was against the owner’s explicit permission, which it isn’t by the way, so I didn’t break any laws.”

“And what would’ve happened if it turned out to not be my apartment?” She asks, a smile tugging on her lips as she raises an eyebrow.

“Then it would’ve been a crime but we were correct so it doesn’t matter.”

She lets out a snort as she rolls her eyes. “You know what, fine, sure.” She says while still maintaining her smile. “But I still maintain that you did most of the work.”

“And I still maintain that it’s a team effort.”

You lean forward from your chair and look her in the eye and she does the same from her position on the bed. You refuse to give up on your impromptu staring contest until she relents and takes this shared accomplishment. The seconds tick by as you continue to stare at each other, the only sound you can hear is the sound of your own breathing. Eventually though, one of you snaps and it wasn’t you.

Flare breaks eye contact as her hand flies to her lips in an attempt to stifle her laughter before eventually giving up and letting it all out. The sounds of her laughter cause you to finally give out and laugh as well.

“This is stupid, what the hell are we doing?” She asks in between her small giggles.

“I have no idea but I won’t stop until you finally accept the fact that this was a team effort. You will see the truth, even if I have to force you to do so.”

“And how are you gonna do that?” She asks.

“By force.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“Well that sounds like your problem, not mine.”

She brings a hand to her mouth to try and hide her grin before shaking her head. “Okay, fine” She relents. “It was a team effort, happy?”

“Ecstatic”

That’s actually not that far from how you’re really feeling. It’s a real weight off your shoulder knowing you two can talk to each other like this again. After yesterday, you were afraid that things might be a little awkward between you two but you’re glad that things are mostly back to normal.

“So moving on, Nurse Yumi suggested that I go back to your apartment to see if I can find a way to contact some of your friends or family.”

“Gonna go break into my apartment again?” She asks with a teasing grin.

“Nah, took your keys from your apartment when I went there yesterday.” You say, patting your pocket to feel the keys jingle inside. You decided to keep her keys on your person just in case you need to go there for an emergency

“So you don’t deny the fact that you broke into my apartment.” She says while wearing the biggest shit-eating grin you’ve seen in your life.

She’s got you there.

“A-anyways” You cough in your hand to try and quickly bring the conversation back. “You Feeling up to meeting some of your friends? They’re probably more suited to helping you out than I am to be perfectly honest.”

She stays quiet for a moment, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes in the process before speaking up. “I’ve actually been thinking and…” She trails off. “I think it would be best if we waited for a bit, at least until more of my memories return.”

“How come?” You ask.

“It’s just…” She trails off before letting out a sigh, running a hand through her hair before looking at you. “I don't want to meet my friends like… well, this.” She gestures around. “I’d like to at least remember some things about them and myself before meeting them.”

“I see, that’s… perfectly understandable actually.” You could kinda see where she’s going with that, it’d be pretty weird to meet someone who knows you but not vice versa. But then again… “That could be anywhere between a few days to a couple weeks, you really gonna wait that long?”

She just nods her head as if expecting that question. “The doctor said that with my address found, they’ll be confident enough to let me out by Thursday, barring of course any immediate emergencies, so I was thinking that we could set that up as something of a deadline.”

“So about three days then huh?” You nod your head and give her a smile. “Well I guess we have our work cut out for us Flare”

“That we do,” She says, returning your smile with her own.

“So, should we start by looking through the book or have you remembered anything while I was gone?”

“Oh yeah!” She perks up, her eyes sparkling in anticipation and excitement over what she has to say to you. “I actually remembered something while you were gone but…” She runs a hand through her ponytail and lets out a nervous laugh. “You know, thinking about it. I’m not sure if it’s actually useful or not.”

You shrug your shoulders. “I mean, useful or not, the fact that you remember anything is actually pretty great,” You say, trying to remain positive regardless of what she recalls. “So, what’d you remember while I was gone?”

“Well it’s not actually about me but my friend, Pekora, the rabbit girl in the photo we saw.” She stops and grabs the blue scrapbook before opening it up to show you the first page.

It’s the same photo as before with Pekora and Noel arguing about something stupid. The photo itself is actually quite amusing now that you take a closer look at it, Noel has Pekora on a headlock while Pekora seems to be hiding something in her chest.

“So, what’s this about the rabbit girl?” You ask, “Cause from the looks of it, this Pekora girl seems to be quite the character, at least from what I could gather anyway.”

“You don't even know half of it,” she says with a wistful tone. “She’s always butting heads with someone at work. Whether that’s because of her pranks or because of her smug attitude.” She finishes with a light smirk.

“A bit of a troublemaker then?” You narrow your eyes at the photo of the girl before nodding your head. “Yeah I could kinda see it now that you mention it. Still feels kinda hard to believe that a small girl like that could have it in her.”

“But that’s how she gets ya,” She says with a snap of her fingers. “At least for the first time anyway, after that most people tend to be wary of her whenever she does something strange.”

“Surprised she hasn’t gotten into trouble yet... or fired.”

“To be fair, she only causes trouble for her friends or people she knows are a good sport, not to mention some of her schemes actually backfire so she has that going for herself. Plus she’s actually quite good at her job, all things considered.”

“Backfire?” You ask, goading her for more details. You’re not quite sure the exact nature of her job but the fact that she hadn’t mentioned it at all means she probably doesn’t remember it yet. Best not to ask about it or else you’ll pull her out of her rhythm. “Like she accidentally sets it off on herself?”

“Yeah, that’s actually what I was getting to,” she says, preparing to regale you with whatever tale she has prepared.

“So this happened during winter when a huge snowstorm was barreling towards the city, reports said that visibility was gonna be low so people were getting worried about what’ll happen the next day. But Pekora either didn’t get the memo or thought that it’ll pass by the time the day starts, either way, she messed up and decided to go to the office before the sun rose to set up her prank.

“Unfortunately for her, we all got an email from work that we shouldn’t go to the office because of the blizzard right around the time we usually woke up but because Pekora was already at the office, it was already too late for her. Of course, she could just head home and continue her foray into mischief for another day but that’s when she hit a snag.

“She tried to call a taxi to come pick her up but all the taxi services didn’t allow any of  their drivers to go out because of low visibility. She could’ve asked one of us to come help her out since some of us live quite near the office but because she wanted to keep her prank a secret, she just decided to wait the snowstorm out.

“Normally it wouldn’t be a problem since she could just open up some of the heaters at the office and just bide her time but because of how bad the snowstorm got, the power went out. She was basically stuck inside the office for five hours in the freezing cold while she waited for the weather to clear up so she could call a taxi because she didn’t want any of us to know what she was doing.

“Of course even after all that we still figured out that she was at the office that day since she forgot to turn her location off on her phone. When we asked what she was doing at the office that day, she tried to lie but it was pretty easy to tell that she was actually planning on doing that since she had no reason to go to the office that early.

“In the end, all she accomplished was catching a cold because of the weather and getting her ego bruised.”

It’s obvious she has a soft spot for these girls judging by the wide grin she had the whole time while talking. It’s almost infectious how her smile causes you to share her enthusiasm about this.

“I’m surprised you remembered so much about this little experience,” you say as you absorb the information she just dropped. “It’s kinda weird that this is one of the first things you recall after losing your memories.”

“Yeah well, it’s not like I wanted to remember this. It just… sorta happened?” She gives you a shrug and a nervous grin. “I actually tried to remember details about my job or the office but for some reason this is the only thing I can remember.”

“Yeah, I guess you can’t really control the things you randomly recall. Kinda like how you can just randomly remember an embarrassing memory whenever you’re doing something and it just ruins your day. Except this time it’s an embarrassing memory of a friend which is kinda the same but not really.”

“Yeah!” She exclaims. “Kinda like that!”

“But still, I like how the first thing you remembered about your friend was her embarrassing herself while orchestrating a prank.” You let out a snort while raising an eyebrow at her. “Makes me wonder what you’ll remember me by if you end up losing your memories again.”

You’re not sure if it says something about your amnesiac friend that the one of her go to memories is of something she probably relentlessly teased her friend about…

“Hmmm” She puts on a pensive look. “How about when you asked me for the time while you were holding your phone?”

“You’re never gonna let me live that one down are you?” You ask while letting out a melodramatic sigh. “At least find something else to tease me with.” And you’re pretty sure you weren’t holding your phone at the time anyway. You’re pretty sure she’s adding more details to make you into more of a fool.

“Yeah but it’s not like I have much to work with here,” She says while gesturing around the room. “Not sure if you’ve noticed but I’m kinda stuck here so my ammo for teasing you is kinda limited but you’re right that it’s getting kinda stale. Hopefully you’ll do something else stupid in front of me that I’ll relentlessly tease you about.”

You roll your eyes at her. “Thank you for the vote of confidence, I’m glad I have a friend that sees the best in me.”

“You’re welcome,” she says with a bright smile

You let out a snort and shake your head at her antics. You were honestly worried that things would stay awkward between you two for quite some time but you're honestly impressed at how well she manages to keep herself emotionally stable throughout this ordeal. But then again, two centuries of worldly experience probably means that she has a good grasp on her emotions even if she can’t remember most of it.

“So… you wanna continue with our foray into your past?” You ask while tilting your head at the scrapbook.

“Yeah, let’s continue,” She says with a fire in her eyes and a smile on her face.

Her determination is admirable and you can’t help but match her drive with your own as you lean in from your chair.

And so, the day goes by with you two going through the photos inside the book. You’re still not quite sure how to feel about your amnesiac friend, the conversation last night still rings true in your mind. But looking at her smiling face, you stop caring about the implications of your strange relationship with the girl and focus more on finding ways to make her happy. Just hearing the enthusiasm in her voice brings a smile to your face.

Time flies between you two and while revelations and memory recovery are few and far between. You can’t help but think that everything’s gonna work out fine in the end.

Eventually though, you have to say goodbye to Flare and head off to eat since you didn't bring any food. You promise to bring your own lunch next time so you two can have more time to figure out her identity. She’s happy to hear that but you’re not sure if it’s because she gets to spend more time with you or if it’s because she can ask for food from you. You decide not to ask.

You walk out of the hospital with a bit of a spring on your steps as you look up towards the sky. It’s still early in the afternoon so you decide to just walk for a while to clear your head before heading home. In three days Flare's gonna get checked out from the hospital and with that, a possible meeting with some of her friends. You feel as though these next few days are gonna pass by excruciatingly slow and you don’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

… You forgot to ask for your handkerchief back from Flare

Dammit