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He was thirteen when he remembered. It was his childhood friend's fault. His restless, cheerful pink-haired childhood friend just had to make him climbed a tree to get back the Goddamn soccer ball she kicked up in the air. The girl was slowly staring to grow up at certain body parts, and made him felt conscious about it, so he—being a calm, yet actually rash person he was—just had to offer to get the ball back. You probably knew what happened after that; he fell from the tree and fainted. It was good enough he just got scratches here and there and not broken body parts.
When he finally woke up in the hospital, he saw her crying her eyes out, and suddenly hugging him until he suffocated. The whole mess made his head spin for a moment, because, not only he remembered what had happened to him, he remembered what had happened to Hiro.
Hiro. Code 016. The one in the boring history book, a heroic historical figure.
Hiro was him and he was Hiro.
He didn't know whether fate hated him or vise versa, but when he saw his childhood friend's bawling face, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hey, stop crying, it doesn't suit you, Jian." He said softly. Jian—Zero Two. No, no, she was Jian, not Zero Two—only cried out loud in response.
"Oh, c'mon. I'm alright," he said again, but Jian was howling more and more.
"Stop crying, please? I'm begging you?"
Jian still cried.
"Pretty pleaaase? You know that I'm not good with this."
Still cried.
"Jiaaaaaan."
His hospital gown was already soaked. Knowing this, he sighed. Time for drastic measures.
"Jian, you look ugly when crying, y'know?"
He got slapped.
...
"You are definitely not a gentleman, saying that she looks ugly when she cries,"
The golden haired tall boy said, popping his head from the door where Jian just left. Hiro—he had the same name as the hero. Fate had a very funny taste, it seemed—laughed out loud at that. The boy shook his head and came in, before sitting beside Hiro.
Goro, Hiro thought. Still my best friend in this timeline, eh?
"But what I said is true. She looks ugly when she cries because it doesn't suit her." Hiro said, before his lips turned into a cheeky grin. "She should just smile, it makes her turn into the prettiest girl in this world. She's already very pretty, though."
The golden haired boy shot him a look, before shaking his head.
"Remind me why am I friends with a cheeky bum like you again."
"Because I'm awesome, bastard."
They laughed together after that.
...
Hiro pondered whether Jian remember or not, so instead of apologizing, the first thing he asked Jian when she came to visit his house after he got discharged was this:
"What do you remember about the history of Parasites?"
Instead of screaming of how insolent he was, Jian shot him a pitiful look. She pulled out her smartphone, ready to dial a number before asking:
"Should I call for ambulance or doctor? You might hit your head too hard, after all."
"I'm not!"
Half-laughing, he threw a pillow over her direction, but she dodged it easily. Curse her for being athletic.
"But you hate history! You always sleep in History class and copy my homework and—"
Hiro swiftly tackled her to the ground and shut her mouth with his hands. God knows how long his parents would rant if they knew that Hiro copied someone's homework. They were your typical parents; saying something along the lines of do your homework and you're not cheating, right?
He glared at his childhood friend, but soon, he felt his breath's hitched.
They were so close. Too close for his liking. Too close because Jian's face overlapped with the image of Zero Two. Too close, too close.
Was this love he had for years to her fake? Was it true or not? What if this feelings was the former Hiro's, not his own?
He just need to remove his hands for them to kiss. He wanted to remove it, but he just couldn't. His body froze in fear, afraid to face his feelings. Sure, he had crush for his childhood friend for years now, however, what if it was true, that his feelings were—
Jian bit his palm and he screeched, spontaneusly shunning away from her. He glared at her, but she just shrugged.
"Almost thought that you wanted to kill me. It's self-defense, dude,"
"Heck, why would I kill my chilhood friend?!"
"Because I'm an amazing sass? Anyway, about that Parasites you talked about, I don't frigging remember. When did we learn it again? Fifth grade? Sixth?"
"Fourth, actually."
Jian let out a small, oh. Then, she opened her phone again and started playing with it, chattering about the school days when he was absent along the way, but he didn't hear that. His ears didn't let him to, after hearing her response.
So, Jian doesn't remember.
He felt somewhat sad about that. Somewhat empty, too. Maybe a mix of them, but he knew one thing for sure; it wasn't a pleasant feelings.
As Jian kept chattering, his gaze subconsciously shifted to the floor. It wasn't as if he was depressed. He was just suprised, that's all. After all, he remembered and she didn't.
Was it a good thing or was it not?
If Jian never remembered, then, would she loved him the way Zero Two loved Hiro too? Would she even fell in love with him in the first place, even if she never remembered? Would she—would she—
"Mmph!"
His train of thoughts was drained when a pillow smacked his face. With a tired look, he shifted his gaze to Jian, who was laughing at his reaction. For once, he almost felt his heartbeat stopped.
The way she closed her eyes when she laughed, and the way her little lips stretched to let out a pleasant laughing sound. The way her cherry blossom colored hair lightly bumped to her shaking shoulders and the way it fell perfectly onto her back. The way her skin slightly gleamed under the bulb's light, and the way her emerald eyes slowly teared up from laughing too much.
She was perfect in his eyes and he undeniably loved her, perfect or not. Zero Two or not.
He loved her, and maybe, that was all that mattered. Or maybe not, but he was willing to figure something out little by little as time passed; he was young and this era was peaceful, he had a life ahead of him and he was pretty sure that he had much time. But for now, what he needed to do was laughing along with his childhood friend before throwing a pillow in Jian's direction, this time smacking her beautiful face.
"Hiro, you Goddamn—"
"Hey, Jian,"
"What?!"
"Shouldn't you be the one that's send to the hospital next time? Maybe falling off a bridge? Or a cliff?"
Jian shot him a look and he laughed out loud. Seeing that, the girl massaged her temple.
"... Remind me why am I friends with you again ..."
fin.