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The arm of the clock turned to 12. Bells rang.
A boy laid in bed; wide awake at this late hour. He was looking up at the ceiling.
January second… a day that reminded of what he had become. This would be the first year he would be truly alone. The birthday of the late Kira Hiroto… but it was his own day now. His birthday.
This year was going to feel strange. Father was in jail and Sister was busy tying up the loose ends of the Aliea scandal. His old family at Sun Garden… would they come visit? Could they forgive him? Despite everything…
He frowned to himself.
The boy rolled over. He had to go back to sleep. Once dawn broke he had more time to ponder all of these troublesome thoughts.
The arm of the clock turned to 12. Bells rang.
The same time, the same day, yet, another world. Another boy was wide awake in bed. Looking up at the ceiling.
January second… a day that used to be so lonely. This would be the first year he had… friends people he tolerated during his big day. His birthday.
This year he sure hoped it’d be fun. But, he would never ask them directly. However, they had to know, hadn’t they? Especially him…
He grinned to himself.
The boy rolled over. He had to look his best and act surprised when the inevitable surprise party happened. Once his alarm clock would go off he had more than enough time to prepare himself.
“- wake up! Come on....-”
Yelling. Lots of yelling. Familiar voices...
Kiyama forced his eyes open. Sunlight had already flooded the room; dawn had long passed. His vision was filled with multiple people.
Green hair… blue hair… red… silver… oh. Oh. They were his former family. How did they get here?
“-ya! Hurry! The party!” Nagumo, all of sudden uncannily close to his face, screamed.
“...huh?” was his eloquent reply to this. Had they thrown him a surprise party after all? But, why would they announce that in such a way? Sometimes Nagumo wasn’t the brightest, but this was a little too much.
“Remember, early bird gets the worm!” Midorikawa added. Wait, he seemed... different. More confident perhaps.
“With worm he means Hiroto,” Reina explained with a soft smile. (She was smiling again; despite everything?) “He will be here soon.”
“Me...?” He had already arrived naturally yet everyone was talking as if he hadn’t. As if there was another Hiroto out there. Payback for Aliea? Kiyama blinked slowly.
“Yes, you have to distract the stupid rich kid,” Suzuno sighed. He folded his arms. Hold on, he too looked a little off. New hair?
Kiyama pushed himself up and stared. Everyone stared back as if waiting on him to say something. It felt strangely nostalgic.
The moment was broken soon enough by none other than Saginuma. “Seize the day, Tatsuya! We must make haste at once!”
Midorikawa shot the loud boy an annoyed look before turning back to Kiyama. “This was your plan, so take responsibility.” Several others nodded in agreement. “We shall do our part so you do yours.”
Kiyama gulped and nodded. He had never heard Midorikawa use a tone like that before. Where was this confidence coming from? It felt strange, hearing him be this assertive. However, it was a welcomed change.
His stern expression faded into a smile. He radiated warmth. Kiyama had missed this side of his childhood friend. The green-haired boy offered his hand. “Come on, Tatsuya.”
As if in a temporary trance Kiyama Hiroto took his hand, but the moment he did so he froze.
Tatsuya.
Everyone called him Tatsuya without batting an eye.
His deadname.
“What?” Kiyama started to feel like an old broken record. All eyes were on him again; he didn’t even need to look because he felt everyone’s burning gazes. He shot Midorikawa a pleading look. What a reversal of roles; he never saw that one coming.
“You know best what to do today,” Midorikawa responded with his unwavering smile. “You stayed up late preparing!”
“Preparing…”
“Yes, preparing. Did you hit your head, Tatsuya?” Nagumo cocked his own head. He pawed at his nightstand and held up a little booklet. “Everyone saw you fill up this stupid notebook. Next time don’t hit your head and use your phone, dude.”
Phones had the capacity for that now? Kiyama frowned. Technology surely didn’t advance that much overnight. His flip phone froze whenever he tried setting up a text. A whole notepad sounded like a pipe dream.
“Nagumo! You upset him!” Midorikawa scolded. “Return the book!”
Kiyama shook his head and followed up with a chuckle. “It’s fine.”
This was fine. He had to be. For the sake of everyone he had to play along for now.
“Suuuuure ice cream,” Nagumo drawled while putting the notebook on the red-haired boy’s arms. It reminded Kiyama a lot of that boy’s time as Burn. He surely wasn’t acting back then, was he?
Midorikawa huffed. Such a motherly personality, huh. Kiyama smiled while holding the notebook tightly. This new Midorikawa felt kind of nice; it made him feel warm inside.
“Let’s get back to the main subject, alright?” Reina chimed in. She put one hand on Midorikawa’s shoulder. He visibly calmed down at her movement. Huh, interesting. “Before we continue the plan Tatsuya has to change clothes right now.”
“…eh?” He looked down at himself. This blouse wasn’t really his usual style, but it appeared just fine. Perhaps a jacket on top could be added. Orange went well with purple. He decided to voice this. “I can add a jacket.”
“No, that won’t do,” Clara piped up. “You’re stinky like this.”
“Eh?” The audacity stunned him silent.
“Our lovely ladies are correct! Tatsuya, proudly wear this!” A set of clothes was thrown on his lap. His lap was starting to hoard quite an assortment of items now. “Go forth! Now!”
“Thank you?”
“Don’t thank him! Gah! Don’t change yet- The girls!” Someone within the group yelled out, scandalized.
“The girls don’t care,” Hana huffed. “Here, wear this necklace Hiroto gave you. And don’t forget your phone!”
“Thanks?” Kiyama followed the advice and began to change clothes. The glares of all three girls at once were too powerful. With that they could surely succeed in taking over earth if they wanted to. However, he had to keep his facial expression neutral despite those thoughts.
“Tatsuya’s as cool as a cucumber…!” Whoever said that got hit by another glare of Midorikawa. Nagumo only laughed.
“Always has been, dude. He is kinda g-” Nagumo got hit on the head by an unamused Suzuno.
“Nagumo, you aren’t as funny as you think you are, shut up.”
“Aaaaaaand, cut. Thanks for everyone’s skit, but the show must go on,” Reina concluded. “Tatsuya, leave.” She folded her arms.
“What?”
“You heard me. Go.”
Kicked out of his own room. Great. Kiyama took a good look at his surroundings. These weren’t the halls of his home. Clearly this was Sun Garden. His old room too. Perhaps he was moved here while asleep. Some sort of prank got played on him. A prank like that would be fair, but everyone was taking this ‘prank’ a little too far. But everyone acted surprisingly genuine. As if they meant and believed everything they said. Maybe a stellar acting career was ahead for some of them.
Kiyama began to wander along the hallways of Sun Garden. The layout was largely the same as he remembered, but the building appeared to be bigger. The communal area surely was at the very least. Kiyama smiled while submerging himself in the fond memories of tiny versions of everyone moving about and crafting. Ah, the walls here had art on them too. Oh! One had Tatsuya written on it. Definitely from the time before Father chose him. Odd that it was still on display, but he had to take a closer look at it! He leaned closer to the wall. Huh, he had drawn a small figure with a soccer ball. The figure had grey hair and big pink eyes. Strange. He surely had never met anyone like that before. His memory was exceptional; he’d remember.
Oh well. He began to make his way towards the exit. The bright rays of the sun on his skin was comforting. He looked up and smiled.
A buzz on his wrist brought him back to reality. He looked down and gasped. What sorcery was this?! It was like a little computer…! Very interesting! A tiny screen had lit up and displayed text. On top it said ‘Midorikawa’.
‘You outside yet? Hiroto should be at the parking lot waiting! Break a leg, Tatsuya! :)’
Break a leg… surely not literally? Must be one of his old alien proverbs he loved so much. Perhaps the notebook everyone made a fuss about contained more information about the mentioned plans. Everyone kept speaking as if he himself, Kiyama Hiroto, hadn’t arrived yet despite being there. The entire ordeal about his deadname was another matter he had to discuss with them. Ignoring the little computer and all would be best for now. He had to focus on the notebook.
Just as he took the book out of his pocket an unfamiliar voice called out to him. Whoever that was gave Saginuma a run for his money. Loud.
“OOOOOOOIII! TATSUUUYAAA!”
Better to ignore them. Kiyama flipped open the notebook. This handwriting was exactly like his own. A terrible sinking feeling began to settle in the pit of his stomach.
‘Hiroto’s birthday is tomorrow. The second of January. Over the course of the last few weeks all required items came in. Everyone pitched in some, but ironically most is covered by the money Hiroto insisted I take last Christmas. He wouldn’t let me refuse! At least this way it returns to him full circle. Note: he should never find out or else he would give me twice the amount. Last time was embarrassing.’
Were they sure this notebook was only for planning? This surely read like a diary. Kiyama mustered a small smile looking at the excited writing. Tatsuya, no, whoever wrote this… seemed happy. He surely must’ve liked this ‘Hiroto’ a lot. Yet… the Hiroto being written about did not sound like himself at all. This Tatsuya, with all of this passionate writing, wasn’t him at all either.
The terrible sinking feeling grew.
‘I hope he will like tomorrow. He seems to look forward to the surprise party. Well, it won’t feel like a surprise to him though. The hints he keeps dropping about wanting one were not subtle at all. That’s so much like him.’
The sinking feeling grew more.
‘First, I will have to disappoint him. I have to deny him entering Sun Garden and act as if I forgot about his big day. But, I will make it fun. We shall take a short walk and take the bus to his favourite arcade.’
No offense to who wrote this, but this was the most basic plan Kiyama ever laid his eyes on. This was the masterful plan the entirety of Aliea made such a big deal about? No way. There had to be more. (The sinking feeling refused to leave.)
‘From here on out we shall have a light lunch. I will allow Hiroto to indulge in dressing me up once.’
Yeah, no. (He felt ill.)
‘This shall be followed up by-’
The notebook got snatched out of his hands. “STOP IGNORING ME!”
Kiyama looked up, unimpressed. He put one hand on his hip. He had to appear strong here and put this strange guy in his place right away. This boy’s hair was unruly and grey with some white streaks. Looked professionally done, but it was not the greatest look for a kid his own age. This boy was wearing a lot of jewellery; rings, wristbands and necklaces. His clothes felt like he was attempting to appear intimidating. The amount of black in that outfit reminded Kiyama of Epsilon’s uniform. Unlike Epsilon this boy looked like he was all bark and no bite.
“….uh,” the boy seemed at a loss of words. He gasped for air for a little bit and visibly struggled to maintain eye contact. “Why are you staring at me with those eyes?”
Kiyama Hiroto had a bad feeling about this one. He could ask him the same question, because those wide pink eyes stared right in his soul. Instead of that, he settled on another question to ask. “Who are you?”
“Haaa?” the boy blinked a few times. He quietly shoved the notebook in a pocket without breaking eye contact. Neither moved.
Kiyama began to set a step backwards. No need to waste more time on this. His instincts told him to run, but he was too late. The other boy was surprisingly fast. He had grabbed Kiyama’s shoulders. The feeling of fingers digging in his shoulders made him freeze up. Ah, he had underestimated this boy and gave him an opening to strike… Father would be disappointed if he heard of this.
A searching look was in those pink eyes of his. Truly… pink became Kiyama’s least liked colour in that moment. He definitely preferred brown eyes.
“You’re not fucking around with me, are you, Tatsuya?” the boy managed to say. “You wouldn’t forget me, the great Kira Hiroto, would you?”
Kira Hiroto… Hiroto… Alive? Huh? Kiyama blinked.
This ‘Hiroto’ sounded on the verge of crying, or at the very least very desperate and annoyed, but this boy couldn’t be Hiroto. No way. Sure, he sounded as emotional as Sister described him, but he looked nothing like Father’s pictures. No resemblance at all. Claiming to be Kira Hiroto while looking like that was outrageous!
“No,” Kiyama snapped.
“Good! You can’t forget me, the god str-”
“No, you can’t be him,” he clarified. A fire burnt up inside of him. He could take him. With his renewed strength he pushed the other away. “Kira Hiroto looked nothing like you.”
“What has gotten into you, Tatsuya?” the Hiroto boy exclaimed. “What kind of prank is this?!”
Prank… right. The entirety of Aliea were in on this, weren’t they? Kiyama was done playing along with this. Making a strange boy claim to be Hiroto was too cruel. He laughed. “No, you quit your prank. This is too much.”
“Too much?! Did you hit your head?!” the grey-haired boy attempted to grab Kiyama’s shirt, but he missed. Neither broke eye contact during this.
…till one did. ‘Hiroto’ pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped some buttons. A familiar sound played. He was calling someone, clearly. He muttered something along the line of ‘plan z’.
“Interesting, you never call me first. What’s wrong, Hiroto?” a feminine voice rang out. A very familiar voice Kiyama knew all too well.
“Sister!” Kiyama exclaimed. How did he have her number?! And did she really say Hiroto?!
“….damn, first you forget my name and now you call Hitomiko your sister? Sis, Tatsuya hit his head!” Hiroto yelled in one breath.
“But she is-!” Kiyama tried. He considered her his big sister ever since that day. Even in a situation like this hearing her voice calmed down his nerves.
“That sounds quite worrisome. Can you hand Tatsuya the phone?”
“No way! Tatsuya hit his head, didn’t you hear me? You’re on speaker.” Hiroto angled the phone towards him. The screen name was ‘big sister’ despite the rude way he was speaking to her right now.
“Tatsuya, is anything wrong?” she carefully asked. She truly sounded worried about Kiyama.
“Sister…? Is this boy here really Kira Hiroto?” He had to cut right to the chase with this question. There was no way Sister would go along with a cruel prank like this. If this was really Hiroto that meant this was a strange different world. An alternative universe perhaps.
“Of course he is,” Hitomiko answered. A moment of silence. “Hiroto, he must’ve lost his memory. That’d explain his unfamiliar way of addressing you.”
“But he called you sister..!” he sputtered.
“Perhaps he remembers up to the orphanage. It isn’t uncommon for the younger ones to call me such.”
“Makes sense, but that’s so stupid!” Hiroto pouted. His stance deflated a little. “On today out of all days…”
“Today?” Kiyama asked. So, this really is Hiroto. Different from all those pictures. Maybe this wasn’t a prank, but a weird hallucination due to hidden Aliea rocks within the vicinity. Either way, whatever this was, Kiyama had to backpedal and play along. Sister believed in this grey-haired Hiroto so that meant he had to believe this too for now. He could hang on.
“Yes! January second!” Hiroto stood up tall once more.
“Hiroto’s birthday,” Hitomiko clarified. “I’m sorry I can’t be home right now, but I have other matters to attend to today. I’ll make up for it tomorrow, alright?”
“I didn’t expect you to anyway,” Hiroto muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Hiroto said. “I’ll hang up and figure this amnesia thing out then. Bye.”
Sister had no opening left to respond to that, because he hung up on her real fast. This Hiroto truly had no manners, huh. Truly nothing like the red-haired gentleman Father always told Kiyama about. The only thing they might share were their honest emotions. This Hiroto wore his heart on his sleeve, Kiyama could tell.
Kiyama felt a small smile come up. So… his birthday. This Kira Hiroto’s birthday. A day that he almost ruined. He could play his expected role as Tatsuya for just one day to make up for his outburst earlier. (The thought that perhaps this was a permanent change plagued the back of his mind.)
He was fine. Not really. He could do this. Only a few hours. Today, he was Tatsuya Kiyama again. He was a fraud as both Tatsuya and Hiroto. Sister didn’t need to worry anymore. Father would be disappointed in him.
“…so, are you okay?” Hiroto asked. He got way too close again; leaning in his personal space. But, this time he won’t push him away.
“As fine as I can be,” Kiyama smiled. “Sorry for earlier, it was confusing.”
Hiroto shook his head. “Don’t apologize. You get that lifeless look in your eyes when you do that.”
Kiyama blinked a few times. Such a quick change of tune on his side with this overly familiar behaviour. Some sort of old habit Hiroto fell back into? That’d mean that Tatsuya and Hiroto were close friends at the very least. A strange thought. Kiyama could’ve had a similar life.
Ah, of course. That notebook made sense now. Tatsuya wanted Hiroto to have an amazing birthday. Somehow he managed to convince Sun Garden to participate in that. So, wouldn’t that mean Kiyama had to distract Hiroto?
Considering that the other hadn’t bothered to read that notebook, Kiyama was succeeding in the distracting department. Hopefully Sun Garden was done with the preparations soon. He didn’t want to go to the city.
“Apologies, I won’t apologize again,” he answered. Those pink eyes would keep staring right into his soul, wouldn’t they? Terrifying.
“Ugh, stop that. How come amnesia made you more annoying?” Hiroto complained. Right after he crossed his arms. “You don’t even act like younger you. You act like a completely different person!”
So they did know each other as kids. “What do you mean?” Best to play dumb.
“You know-! Ugh, what did you even hit your head on?!” Hiroto looked like he wanted to add something else to that, but instead he grabbed his phone again. “Fine, I’ll google it.”
Ah, Google. Kiyama knew that at least. At least this strange world had that search machine around. Google of all things making him feel at ease too. Haaaa, Kiyama truly had gone mad, hadn’t he? “Fufufu~”
“Jogging memory…” Hiroto muttered. He looked up at Kiyama’s laugh. “What?”
“Can you google Aliea for me?” Kiyama asked. If Hiroto was still alive here that meant Aliea never happened. Maybe. Only one way to make sure.
“Sounds like a movie, but whatever. Sure.” Hiroto squinted at his phone. “Wait, you meant Alien Airlines?”
“Never mind, thank you for looking it up,” Kiyama said. He saw enough over his shoulder on that tiny screen of his. There were absolutely no hits about any sort of rock or team anywhere. Kira Company’s cover-up never managed to clean up all speculation blogs in his world. Those articles kept popping up, but thankfully it never contained any identifying information. In time, people would dismiss it as fiction.
“You’re welcome, weirdo.” Hiroto put away his phone. He stared at him. Again. The determined expression along that predicted nothing good.
Kiyama felt the watch on his wrist buzz again. The tiny screen had lit up again with some text. On top it said ‘Midorikawa’ once more.
‘All clear!’
All clear… good. Getting the party started would take away Hiroto’s attention. He’d be delighted. This meeting with Hiroto was short, but it was already feeling like hours passed. Kiyama needed to rest up soon. He had to wrap this up.
“So, if you want to jog my memory we should go to Sun Garden,” Kiyama suggested. He had a strange feeling Hiroto wanted to go there already anyway. This was going to be a piece of cake.
“We’re already there,” Hiroto answered with a frown. “Didn’t do shit for you so we need to go to your room instead.”
“Sure,” Kiyama said.
Neither moved despite their agreement. Really, was Hiroto going to make this awkward now? He was being so bold earlier! Why was he getting shy about entering Sun Garden? Wait, this wasn’t about being shy… Hiroto was squinting at Kiyama. Suspicion?
“You’re really sure you’re not acting like this, because of a secret party in there?” Hiroto asked. So now he was going to double-check that?! They already confirmed this amnesia story with Sister! What was up with him?
“Why would I fake amnesia?” Kiyama asked. He decided to just walk towards the door. Hiroto began following.
“Something smells fishy about all of this!”
“Mhm.”
“Really!”
“Sure, Hiroto.” Felt strange to address him like that, but it felt natural on his tongue.
“Oh! You called me Hiroto, finally! Wait, slow down a little!”
Kiyama pushed open the door. They turned off the lights in the hallway. The dark hallway leading up to a surprise party was predictable now. Hiroto had to know already. What was the point of these distractions if they spoil the surprise in this way? Though, it was charming. The lights hung up on the ceiling reminded him of little stars. Comforting.
“…damn,” Hiroto breathed. He was looking up at the lights as well. The sparkles of the lights reflected in those pink eyes. Maybe pink wasn’t that bad of a colour after all.
A quiet moment like this… it almost felt a little magical.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HIROTO!”
The cheers and chatters of Sun Garden coming to life seemed to break whatever magic spell was in the air. Yet, Hiroto’s smile itself felt more blinding than the bright hallways lights. Kiyama almost felt a little jealous of Tatsuya. He wasn’t the one everyone wanted here. No one here knew his true self nor his past as Gran. He was a fraud.
Yet all his thoughts came to a halt once Hiroto turned to him. Suddenly the blinding smile was aimed at Kiyama. Ah, fine, he wouldn’t think of those troublesome thoughts again. He could enjoy himself for the time being. Kiyama smiled back at him.
“I knew it!” Hiroto exclaimed with a wide grin.
“Happy birthday, Hiroto.”
The genuine happiness on Hiroto’s face was truly blinding. Kiyama’s own smile widened in return. (Truly blinding; his vision became filled with white spots.)
It gave Kiyama a warm feeling knowing that Tatsuya had been so fortunate in this lifetime. He wanted to stay longer and talk to everyone, but it felt like his job was done here.
Kiyama’s vision enveloped in white.
The arm of the clock turned to 12. Bells rang.
A boy laid in bed; wide awake at this late hour. He was looking up at the ceiling.
January second… what a day it had been. A world where Sun Garden had carefree lives filled with happiness. A Hiroto who never died. A boy very different from the stories yet just as kind as the late Hiroto had been. He'd never forget those pink eyes of his.
Equipped with this new knowledge, he was unsure how to proceed from here on out. Yet, he was back in his own world. Perhaps being shown that other world was a sign of things to come. Things he could achieve on his own. Bonds he could repair.
He smiled to himself.
The boy rolled over. He had to go back to sleep. He got a lot of things to plan. He was going to take his future in his own hands!
The arm of the clock turned to 12. Bells rang.
The same time, the same day, yet, another world. Another boy was wide awake in bed. Looking up at the ceiling.
January second… what a day it had been. Tatsuya acted strange at first. He felt like a whole different person… But after he smiled back at him in those hallways everything felt like it could be alright again.
However, Tatsuya broke the moment by tripping over his own feet. He managed to catch him, but the timing was so absurd they both burst out laughing right there. It was a memorable start to the surprise party neither would ever forget.
He grinned to himself.
The boy rolled over. He had to go back to sleep. He got a lot of other surprise parties to plan for his teammates. Many more years filled with more surprise parties were in store for everyone!