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It starts when he loses his memory.
He doesn't remember anything before he was on that bench. It's LeMU, because the logo is everywhere, and he'd gotten ice cream from one of the stands, and that's where his memory ends. He doesn't remember his name or his birthday or the current date, but everyone is referring to him as "Kid" or "the boy" or something generic like that, so that must be what he is. It's simple enough, even if it doesn't feel exactly right.
So, here's the first few things he's learned since losing his memory:
- He is in LeMU, an underwater theme park.
- Everyone thinks he's probably a boy, so that's what he's going with.
- Takeshi said he was probably around 14 or 15 years old.
- It is May 1st, 2017.
- LeMU is going to implode by the end of the week, probably.
- His memory should come back naturally.
So, overall, it's a pretty mixed start.
"Hey," Coco whispers in the middle of the night. "Hey, Kiddo."
He blinks. Her face is right in front of him, which maybe he should have expected. "What?" he hisses.
"I can't sleep," Coco admits. He looks around the room. Takeshi isn't there, but You is, snoring softly in her conference room chair. "What are you gonna do when you grow up?"
He frowns. "I dunno. I guess...I wanna be Takeshi when I grow up. Is that silly?"
"I don't think so," Coco answers.
"What about you?" he asks.
"Coco isn't going to grow up," she says. "Coco's gonna be a kid forever."
"I don't think that's possible," he says. Unless they die here, but he doesn't want to think about that. He doesn't want to die.
"Well, you can't become Takepyon, either," she responds, a smile on her face, like she knows something he doesn't.
He frowns. He's been thinking that too. Everyone just thought he was a boy when they saw him, and he likes that, but he feels like he's been lying to them about it. He likes being a boy to them, but it had become pretty obvious after going to the bathroom once that he was missing some important parts and had too many in other areas. He doesn't remember being a girl, and the thought of it still makes him feel gross. The assumption is nice. It blankets him into feeling more like himself. He thinks if he ever gets his memory back it won't be the same, since that person is a girl.
"Well, yeah," he says. "Takeshi's a man, after all."
Coco frowns. "And you're...not?"
"No," he says. "And even when I grow up, I dunno if I will be."
"You could," she says.
"Maybe," he says, but he's starting to doubt it.
The next day, Coco almost dies.
She probably would have, if not for Tsugumi. Tsugumi almost dies, too, but Takeshi and You and Sora all help save her, and he's just kind of useless in the situation.
"You’re not useless," Coco says with a little frown when he relays it to her. "You helped me."
He just grabbed her a towel. "I didn't do anything."
"I'm still scared," she admits. "I'm really scared. But I feel a little less scared. Tsugumin will be okay, right?"
He nods.
"Then that's what matters," she says.
He's still not sure if the rescue team will ever come. Trying to live, to survive another day -- will it even be worth it, when LeMU's walls come collapsing in on them?
"Promise me something," he says.
"Anything," she answers.
"We'll still be friends after we get out," he says. "If we get out."
"When we get out," she says, raising a pinky. He links his with hers. "I promise."
The next day, he remembers his name. And a lot of other things. He was originally a girl, before he came to LeMU, but he isn't really interested in being one again. He likes that everyone thought he was a boy. He doesn't want to ruin their perception of him.
It can only last so long. But...he wants them to still see him like this. He doesn't want to leave Takeshi as the only guy. He is a guy, at least here in LeMU.
He spends time turning over his name, trying to find some other reading that would make it less of a boy name. Changing the second character would make it a whole new name, but it feels more like his.
"I just remembered my name," he says.
"What is it?" Takeshi asks first.
"Kaburaki," he answers. "Kaburaki Ryogo."
"C'mon," Coco says, already scrambling up the podium of a statue, two screwdrivers in a single hand. Ryogo follows, watching as she carves their names one by one onto the stone.
She wobbles, almost falling off, but he catches her. They re-mount the statue together, hand in hand, and he carves his new name on the statue, too.
Kaburaki Ryogo. When they find the wreckage of this place, they'll find this statue with their names carved on it, and it'll be his real name.
He squeezes Coco's hand once as she carves in Pipi's name and the name Chami in katakana. He's not quite sure what Chami is supposed to mean, but it must be important.
"Thank you," he tells her.
She smiles at him, like a slice of sunlight cutting through the ocean's depths. "'Course," she answers.
"I don't just mean this," he says in a lower voice. "I mean...everything."
"I know," she whispers in return.
Seventeen years later, he's standing in that same area, looking at the statues.
They had to recreate Coco's carvings. The originals got destroyed in the implosion. He'd been the one to do it, since at least he'd done his own name in the past.
He'd told her that he'd wanted to be Takeshi when he grew up. Had she known, even back then, that this would be what he became? Maybe she had, and that's why she had encouraged him in the first place.
She'd always seen him for what he was. Hopefully, she'll get to see the man he's become since then. And hopefully, they'll rescue Takeshi with her, and Takeshi will see just how much Ryogo admired him.
But he isn't sure how it'll shake out, in this history. He's still waiting to find out.