18. I Remember (1/2)

chapter 18: i remember

hospital (kiyota's room)

kiyota opened his eyes, he looked around and saw

his parents who was so glad seeing him awake. mrs. nobunaga wiped a tear from

her eyes and said, "kiyota my child! i'm so glad to see you awake"

"okaasan.. daijoubu... i'm all right!"

kiyota replied his voice weak. mr. nobunaga smiled and said, "we can see

that son. next time don't try being a hero okay?" kiyota smiled a little

and said, "yes dad"

mrs. nobunaga then showed kiyota a table filled

with get-well kiyota cards and other get well gifts. "your friends and

class mates visited you frequently while you were unconscious. especially that

beautiful red-head girl from shohoku"

"oh you mean sakuragi veniz? i see..."

kiyota replied. mrs. nobunaga then exclaimed, "and dear arika also visited

you with her

other shuichi" kiyota raised and eye

ow and asked,

"you know arika?"

mrs. nobunaga exclaimed, "of course i do

kiyota! don't tell me you have forgotten about your child hood friend

arika!" kiyota's eyes nearly popped out to what he had heard,

"childhood friend?!?" he demanded.

"yes son, arika fujisawa was your child

hood friend way back in hokkaido. you always played with her not to mention

protect her from bullies" mr. nobunaga explained. "however, before you

graduated from elementary we move to tokyo... and since then we never or rather

you never saw arika ever since... not until now"

"who whould thought she'll be your

schoolmate in kainan? she grew up to be a pretty and beautiful young lady

kiyota. it is so sad to learn that her parents died so early" mrs. nobunaga

replied. kiyota wasn't able to speak for a second.

mr. nobunaga laughed and said, "son, don't

tell me you're shocked? you never knew?" kiyota shook his head and

exclaimed, "how could i knew? i forgot!" mr. nobunaga shook his head,

"that's bad son, arika remembered you and you didn't even remembered her.

ahh that's really bad"

"yeah... how stupid of me! arika was my

childhood friend... but i don't remember! not an inch of it" kiyota

replied into his mind recalling his childhood days. mrs. nobunaga sighed and

said, "don't stress yourself now, you'll figure it out soon"

kiyota nod his head. then suddenly there was a

knock on the door. mr. nobunaga opened it. "son, it's your friend

jin!" jin entered the room carrying a photo album. "hello kiyota, nice

to see you awake"

"yeah..." kiyota replied, he then

pointed to the photo album jin was carrying, "why are you carrying a photo

album?" jin smiled and said, "ahh... this is arika's. i secretly stole

it from her. what i found here shocked me." with that he handed kiyota the

photo album.

kiyota opened the album and gasped. inside were

pictures of him as a child along with a girl wearing glasses. "jin, this is