**High school...** What many consider to be the "golden years" of their lives. A place where friendships are forged, secrets are shared, and, for some, where they might meet the person they'll spend the rest of their lives with. 

The sound of students bustling through the hallways, laughing, chatting, and unwrapping their lunches, fills the air. Amidst all the noise, there's a couple sitting on a bench under the warm midday sun. They're feeding each other bites of their lunch, their faces glowing with happiness. The world seems bright for them. 

But deep down, we all know... that’s never going to happen.

Akito Azuma watches the couple from the window, his reflection faintly visible beneath his chin. His eyes linger on them, his mind drifting. At least not for someone like me. The thought echoes, familiar and painful, as his gaze returns to the classroom. 

His stomach tightens. He’s seen this hundreds of times before—couples, relationships, connections that seem impossible for him to make, almost like a taunt of how something so hard for him can be so easy for everyone else.He rubs his forehead in frustration, trying to push the thought away. The bell rings, and the next class is about to begin.

Gym class is next. Akito heads to his locker, grabs his gym clothes, and makes his way outside to the field. It’s ridiculously hot today, the sun hammering down with no mercy. His gym teacher must be out of his mind to make them play baseball in this weather.

Akito's position is in the outfield, but he’s not really paying attention to the game. He’s standing there, arms folded, his mind drifting. "Today of all days... is this guy trying to kill us?" he thinks to himself, his eyes squinting up at the sky, then hearing a familiar voice, looking outside of the field to see a group of 3 girls talking. He suddenly recalls a past conversation he’d overheard in class between the same girls, the moment being re-lived.

“My boyfriend was so rude yesterday! He forgot to open the door for me when we went out!”

“I know, right! Mine forgot our 1 and 1/3 month anniversary! Who does he think he is?!” the second girl chimed in.

A third girl had chimed in. "At least be thankful you have someone like that. Some people just don’t find something like that for a long time... maybe never.”

The first two girls laughed at the third, one of them asking “When’d you get so philosophical?”. The third girl joined in on the laughing, but the words still echoed in Akito's mind.

What if…that’s me? 

Faded voices can be heard, calling out his name. A white flash engulfs his mind, with A faint image of a young girl flashing across his mind—a silhouette he couldn’t quite place, a face he didn’t recognize. 

Before he could think further, he snaps back to reality, hearing his classmates call out to him, Akito seeing a baseball rocketing toward him. He ducks, but it's too late. The ball hits him hard in the back of the head, and everything goes black, the image of the girl being seen as the last thing before he completely passes out.

Who was that?

Akito slowly wakes up, gauging his surroundings; he's in a hospital room. A doctor stands by his bedside, greeting him as he wakes up.

"Azuma, right? Don’t worry, everything’s okay," the doctor reassures him.

Akito blinks, confused. "Where am I? What happened to the rest of the class?"

"They’re still at school," the doctor replies. "You got moved to the hospital, you got hit pretty hard back there. Nothing serious, though. Just a minor concussion."

Akito feels the back of his head. There's no pain. The doctor hands him a bottle of pills.

“Make sure to take one of these a day for the next couple of weeks,” the doctor says. “They’ll help with any lingering side effects, which can include…"

Akito stares at the bottle, his mind drifting as the doctor’s words fall unheard.

What happened in gym class? Why can’t I remember?

Akito lays down in the bed at the Doctor’s insistence, exhaling out of frustration. He closes his eyes, a final thought crossing his mind.

I guess It’s history now

The next day, Akito checks out of the hospital. As he leaves, he spots his friend, Ryu, in another room playing with a small child. He takes a step in the direction, but something purple catches Akito's eye—purple hair. He feels a strange twinge of recognition, but the moment passes quickly. Seems like he’s busy. Akito heads home for the day, greeting his older brother as he gets home. Words are exchanged, but Akito can’t seem to hear them clearly. He’s tired. Akito heads up to his room, flopping onto his bed and instantly falling asleep.

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The next day, he's back at school. His friend, Ryu, is already in the classroom. He waves as Akito enters.

“Yo!” Ryu greets him.

“Yo. How you been?” Akito asks, placing his bag on his desk.

Ryu looks at him with a smirk. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?”

Akito laughs, setting his hand on Ryu’s shoulder. "Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine. Thanks for worrying about me." He sighs in relief, a small smile following. 

He takes his seat, noticing the desks in front of him are empty.

“Are they still sick?” Akito asks Ryu

“Yeah”

“Either that or they’re cram studying for midterms” Ryu quickly adds on.

Akito replies with “knowing them, they probably haven’t taken a single note” and letting out a quick chuckle.

“Probably”. Ryu begins to laugh alongside Akito, them both being caught in the moment.

A pause then follows, the smile being wiped clean off Akito’s face.

He also hasn’t studied.

A wave of sheer panic washes over Akito’s face as remembers that he needs to study for the midterms too. "Crap! The days I was resting were the days I was supposed to study!" His panic continues to rise. 

“Y-yeah, midterms are soon, right?” he stammers, the stress clearly getting to him, but he tries not to let it show.

Ryu gives him a calm, nonchalant stare. “Maybe you’re the one who needs to hit the books”

Akito quickly starts paying attention in class, scribbling notes furiously. The clock ticks on, the day passing in a blur of textbooks. 

He quickly walks home, speeding by his brother once more as he enters the house, going right to his room to begin his studying. 

A few hours pass, Akito desperately trying to catch up on his work, blasting music in his headphones to completely focus. He doesn’t hear the door open behind him. It’s his brother.

Shoya enters the room, a plate of dinner in hand, but no reaction from Akito. Shoya gives a warm smile, appreciating the sight of his brother studying so hard, and wishing not to disturb Akito’s flow, decides to set down the plate on his desk in an empty spot.

Akito notices the plate moments later, and turns around, expecting to see Shoya but Shoya is already out of the room, the door just barely closing as he exited the room just before Akito turned around.

He stares at the plate of food, the thought not even passing that he’d not eaten in hours. He gives a soft smile, appreciating the gesture from his older brother, then continuing his studies.

This routine happens for the entire weekend, Akito studying endlessly in preparations for the midterm, this time Shoya leaves an energy drink on his dresser for him. Akito studies through the entire weekend, and with the midterm being the Monday after, wonders if he’d done enough studying yet. He looks at the door to his room, it being open with a direct view into Shoya’s room, seeing his older brother asleep in bed. A wave of determination washes over Akito, a single thought running through his mind:

It wouldn’t be fair if he was the only one trying.

Akito begins to study vigorously, into the later hours of the night, eventually falling asleep at his desk, Akito having a dream:

A gymnasium. Not one I’d seen before, but one looking straight out of a picture book. Confetti lined the floors, a banner being hung over the stage; something important must’ve happened, but where is everyone? I must’ve just missed what happened. I went on to the stage to better understand what's going on, but that’s when I see something…a chair, a piece of paper being on the back of it, but the writing isn’t something I can read from here. I jumped down from the stage to see if I could read it…but I never made it there. I’d slipped on the confetti strewn across the floor. 

Ironic, isn’t it? The marker of celebration being the cause of pain.

I attempt to stand up again, but my arms are too tired to move, my legs too heavy to stand.

He hears some echoing mutters, familiar sounding, but nothing legible. The echoing gets louder, not being a voice but beeping. Akito shoots awake in his chair, looking over at his clock, the alarm waking him up. He rubs his eyes, then slowly adjusting to the surroundings, then he sees the time.

He was going to be late.

In a flurry, Akito gets dressed, mismatching socks, untucked shirt, bag still half open…but none of these factors really mattered to him. He was going to get there on time, no matter what.

He shoots out the door, leaving it open and Shoya is seen standing in the doorway, watching Akito sprint down the street, letting a proud smile out.

The clock on his watch ticks slowly, getting closer and closer to the midterm start time, Akito getting more and more tired but still keeping up the pace.

He enters the school just before the bell rings and the test starts, making his way to the classroom, opening the door in a panic as the bell rings.

The door slams open, grabbing the attention of everyone in the class, Akito drenched in sweat and massive bags being under his eyes…but he’d made it.

Akito takes his seat, writing the midterm, a bit of struggle seen in his face in some questions, but he pushes forward.

Ryu leans back in his seat, not really caring about the midterm itself, and his gaze fixes toward the ceiling.

Takuma is struggling on the first question, tapping his pencil on his head to try and activate his brain, to no avail.

Kenji has his head in his arms, laying down on the desk, the midterm sheet below, not even his name being on the page.

The final bell rings, indicating the midterm has ended, and that they need to hand it in. Akito taps Kenji, Kenji waking up in a half-awake state, haplessly scratching notes on the page and handing it forward, letting out a being stretch of relief that it’s over.

In the hallway afterward, Takuma complains, “I tried my hardest to study, but it never seems to click.”

“Don’t beat yourself up,” Ryu reassures him, patting him on the back.

“I think we all know he can’t even beat a punching bag,” Kenji adds sarcastically.

Akito laughs, still exhausted but enjoying the camaraderie. Takuma turns to him. "How do you think you did?"

“Not too bad," Akito says, grinning. "Probably would've felt better if I’d remembered it was happening." 

Kenji suggests they walk home together. Takuma and Ryu need to use the bathroom, so Akito decides to meet them outside.

At the front steps, Akito waits, leaning against the railing. The exhaustion is finally catching up to him. He struggles to keep his eyes open. As he tries to stay awake, the door behind him opens.

Akito opens his eyes and turns to see who it is, expecting it to be his friends. At this moment, the fatigue and exhaustion set in; he’s too tired to do this.

As he falls asleep on the front steps of his school, someone appears. 

Their gazes meet for a moment, but this is no moment which he’d forget anytime soon. This was the first time he’d seen her before. Her red hair seemed to radiate in the sunlight, the breeze slowing to a halt in his mind.

As his eyes fully closed, and his mind shut out thoughts and fell asleep, there had been one that’d snuck through and stayed:

If a moment exists between two people, which one can decide what it means?

He didn’t understand what this meant until just now.

Neither.