Remember
Although the conniving smile fitted perfectly on his face, it was clear it didn't belong there. Not with the way he was acting, all warm and inviting.
Or maybe it was all a ploy to deceive us.
Which one was the impostor on this man's face? I couldn't tell; I had just met him and was already confused by his true character.
I couldn't tell, so I chose to believe that his true nature was that of warmth and inviting.
This smile is just there for fun.
"How are you going to show me the answer?"
"It's more like memories are what you're missing here..."
"Huh?"
He said something that threw me off again. What was he talking about, memories?
I know I am missing memories, but how does he know that?
"They will answer everything."
He spoke and then turned his focus to Rita, who understood everything and so she raised her arms into the sky.
She didn't speak a word, but as soon as she raised her arms into the sky, we suddenly appeared somewhere else.
"Where... Where are we?" I asked, in a light panic, about the sudden change of the scenery.
"Welcome to the past."
His answer shocked me.
I looked around and saw what appeared to be boxes of memories floating around in this overly white room, which seemed strange to me because, at first we were sitting in the kitchen eating and talking, but now we were standing in this unknown space. The seemingly memory boxes were surrounding us on the top, creating a dome-like structure.
The pictures in the memorie boxes moved as if in a movie.
"I call this The Memory Vault."
"..."
"...It contains your memories and some of mine."
Now, this response was the one that got my attention. I went close and shoved my face at him the moment I heard him say these are my memories. It was an involuntary reaction. Almost like my body moved on it's own.
The most logical reaction would be to stay calm, but logic had flown out the window. I mean, I had given up on finally remembering my memories. Now the chance to remember presents itself, and that's why it made me somewhat emotional.
Before I opened my mouth to speak, I constrained my excitement to retrieve my logic, otherwise my words might have come out as rude because of the emotions spiraling in me.
"Wait... How do you know about my memory loss? I've never met you before."
"You haven't, but you'll see that you and go way back once you remember these memories."
He remained unmoved by the sudden change of attitude when I shoved my face into his.
I stare at them, and before I know it, he says something that changes it all.
"Let's cut to the chase, shall we..."
"..."
He couldn't wait to commence with his mission to give me back my memories.
Any further explanation would have to wait after I've finally remembered, that way everything wouldn't be a mystery to me.
The room began to shrink rapidly, with the memories compressing into a ball. The centre of that ball was me.
Only the room and memories were shrinking; Asahi and Rita were slowly getting far away from me. They went running or anything like that. They just moved while standing as if they were being reallocated away from me.
He helped us when we needed it the most. He gave us a place to stay, and lastly, he promised I would finally remember who I truly am.
I should have been a little bit skeptical about the whole thing from the start, but desiring to know my origin made me overly curious.
There was no time to think. The room finally shrank, and I was suddenly in pain.
I didn't expect to feel pain, and that was my first mistake from the start. I didn't expect anything that would cause me harm.
I mean, their only memories, moving pictures that live in the mind, but somehow I had forgotten that it is not the body that feels pain, but the brain, and my mind was my brain.
The pain was like a truck running across my head from the inside and smashing up my brain. It was unbearable.
Memories from the past flashed before my eyes, smashing against my head. It felt like they were ingraining themselves into my soul.
I suddenly remembered my mother's name, how her voice sounded when she would scold me for the smallest things. The way she would get worried if I suddenly came home late from school without telling her.
How devastated she was when my father died.
My older brother Sosuke and my younger sisters Isuzu and Ayami.
The names of all my friends and teachers. How we met and the kind of relationships we had.
It all flashed fast, even the night when my close friend Asahi and I met our end. That was the last day I spoke to my mom, too.
I remembered it all. This was my life, and my name was Ryunosuke Sentō, a high schooler.
But there was one memory that I didn't recognize. It was the first time I ever experienced the event in the memory.
After everything had been returned to me, I came back to the kitchen, or rather, I came out of 'The Memory Vault', which in retrospect was inside the mind. We didn't leave the room at all.
This was just one of the abilities Rita is capable of. One that shares memories with people.
I knew I had returned to the starting point of this ordeal, the kitchen, by feeling my eyes tearing up. Tears fell, streaming down my cheeks and onto the table below.
"Mom..."
Without even realising it. I mumbled the word 'Mom'.
I wasn't crying out of despair and suffering like when I cried, holding master in the forest, praying for help. These were tears from sadness. The sight of my mother smiling on the last day I saw her brought me to tears.
I had forgotten the most cherished memories of my life, even though they are from my past life; they are still important to me.
"Do you remember now, Ryū?"
A consoling voice said. As warm as I remember it to be the first time I heard it.
I quickly wipe the tears from my eyes and face. I wasn't gonna let myself look pathetic for crying.
Not only that, I just saw my mother smile, and to cry after seeing that would be a stain the pain she must have felt for my death.
"Yes, I do... Buddy."
I looked at him and said that as calmly as I could. Asahi is my friend. The best I have ever had.
"Where have you been all this time, man? I thought we died at the same time."
Now the mood was cheerful as ever. Our conversation was friendlier and informal as could be.
Regaining my memories broke the barrier of formality I had with him a minute ago. I couldn't even care that he helped me, and now I had to show respect to him for that.
Now it felt like that was the thing he should have done without me asking. However, it is still polite to ask someone for help even if they are your closest friend.
"We did. Although I was delayed by the Goddess's messenger..."
"You met the Goddess?"
"No. It was her messenger. That is why I retained my memories when I passed through, and you didn't."
He proudly raised his head a little, as if looking down on me for having done something I didn't.
"You know, that is not something to feel so smug about."
His behaviour suddenly reminded me of master Rei. She would have worn the same expression if it were her.
"But still. That explains a share of the events."
"I had no way of knowing where you would be and how you would look after reincarnation... Luckily, the messenger told me that you and I would be reincarnated as a lost species of this world.
So I recognized you by the color of your hair."
Our talk had slipped into the past and dark history of this world.
The only lost species in this world that still sends ripples across the whole continent, even the whole world, is the Arch Humans.
But that can't be, master and Miss Mary always told me that I was human. They even convinced me by showing me cases of humans born with grey hair, just that my condition was a lot worse.
"What are you talking about? I'm just a normal human with the Albias curse. It turns my hair light at birth and prevents me from ever using magic."
"Who told you that?"
"My master..."
"Hmmm..."
He leaned forward with a somewhat serious look, sort of like an understanding look of why my master had told me all those lies.
"Sorry to tell you this, but she was lying to you."
"Why would she do that?"
My voice steadied a little bit.
"I understand her position. If people had found out that you are an Arch Human, it would cause all sorts of problems for you and your master..."
I take a sip from the cup while listening.
"As for you not being able to use magic. It is just a trait of us."
"Huh?"
"Listen..." He continued. "We first have to make a contract with a magical creature to be able to use magic. For example, I'm able to use light magic because..."
The way he finished that sentence could only mean one thing: He wants me to figure out and finish his thought, which I did.
"You made a contract with Rita."
"Ding!-ding!-ding!."
Damn! I was right. It's tremendously infuriating in a way. Being treated like a kid.
All of this information and revelation was not surprising, or rather, it proves my suspicions about the whole Albias curse.
The fact that I was mostly confined to the mansion and only allowed to go out with Master Rei was not slick. There is not even a shred of information on this Albias curse.
I guess it was just a convenient lie.
"If you tried using magic without having formed a contract with a magical creature, you would experience a great deal of pain."
"I know that firsthand."
The pain of overloading is not nice one bit.
"Wow. You must be lucky, Asahi."
I said, my voice filled with admiration.
"Even I am not that lucky..."
Though he rejected my praise, I could see on his face that he was pretty happy about it. He had that dopey look on his face.
"You managed to make a contract with a superior spirit of ancient legends, and I just found out now that I could be using magic all this time.... Huh!"
"Hey, don't beat yourself up... It's only been six months."
He tried to cheer me up, but all it did was make me even more jealous.
He said it's only been six months and yet he was commanding a superior spirit.
"You don't even know the half of it. The only special thing about me is that recently I've been hallucinating voices in my head and dreaming about a samurai I have never met."
"Voices?"
"Yes. Pitiful, right?"
I said that in an exasperated tone of voice, with my head facing my cup and eyes closed.
I thought this would make the conversation more pitiful and lighthearted, but that wasn't the case at all.
At least that's not what Asahi's expression suggested.
