Perhaps Hina was now the only one who remembered Maiko at all.
Hina’s entire body began to tremble.
She couldn’t bear to wear the dress from the other world any longer. She ripped it off, rolled it up, removed the jewelry, and stuffed it all into a bag, shoving it under her bed.
She changed into her usual loungewear and crawled into her futon.
She wanted to believe it was all just a dream.
But she couldn’t sleep.
Her heart pounded painfully in her chest, the sound deafening.
“I can’t sleep,” she thought, reaching for her phone, only to freeze as the memory of Maiko’s absence stopped her hand.
“Anything. Anything to do—”
At that moment, Hina remembered something.
Final exams began on Monday. She still had unfinished assignments she hadn’t even started.
Hina opened her textbooks and reference books—things she had rarely touched—and began tackling her assignments.
She had never seriously considered studying before, but now she needed anything to keep her mind occupied.
Even though she couldn’t understand most of the material, she did her best.
From Friday night to Monday morning, she barely slept, desperately focusing on her studies.
She was terrified of stopping.
Stopping meant remembering the other world. Stopping meant dreaming of that world.
So, she threw herself into her assignments, staring intently at her reference books as though to escape that world.
* * *
A year passed.
In this world without Maiko, Hina still thought about her often.
Every day, Maiko’s memory would come to her mind, squeezing her chest painfully.
But the overwhelming darkness that had consumed her when she first returned was no longer as suffocating.
By keeping herself as busy as possible, the memories of Maiko had gradually faded, and the endless, crushing heaviness had begun to lift with time.
Hina, who alone remembered Maiko, often found herself consumed by thoughts of the other world and the princes.
*“Why didn’t they erase my memories too?
Was it because I was summoned alongside her?
Did they leave my memories to torment me?”*
Even when she didn’t want to, she remembered. Even when she tried not to think, the thoughts crept in.
But now, when Maiko’s memory came to her, Hina no longer froze, unable to move.
That day had started to become part of the past.
Since her return, Hina avoided her phone, afraid of accidentally recalling the other world. Instead, she focused on studying.
When studying gave her a headache, she washed dishes, cleaned the house, and scrubbed the bathroom—anything to keep herself busy.
0 Comments