Sakuta Azusagawa took a plot twist of his life when he saw a girl with the same case as his. As he met this significant being, so was the lost part of his childhood. It came returning to him, as the girl had her pain increased.
ORIGINAL STORY BY HAJ...
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夢が長続きしなかったので明日はないので、過去に生きています。
"But- wha'?" Sakuta became confused. He saw Mizumi on the TV, and it was the first thing he saw that Sunday morning. It felt confusing to him, as Sakuta and Mai was just hanging out with Mizumi last night.
"How did she... went from here... to there?" Sakuta sat down on the couch facing the TV. He kept watching her, listening to everything she says. "Oh that? Yeah, I do not know too. She just started appearing to TVs and everything." Kaede, his sister, came out of her room. She already knew of her sudden fame.
"Where's Mai-san?" He asked. "I don't know where she is." Kaede said to him. "Maybe she went for her work."
I'm kinda confused. How did she went from being a loner last night to stardom like Mai-san today?
Nothing much really happened that day, except for Sakuta being all but addled for Mizumi. That night, Mai phoned his apartment.
"Moshi-moshi?" Sakuta said. "It's me, Sakuta-kun. I'll be staying in my apartment for a while. Just keep things cool in there... and maybe find out where Mizumi's heading." She said.
"Uh- wait, you don't know too?" He asked. "Yeah. I don't know how was that all quick. Maybe she snuck out of the window and went into NHK?" Mai said.
"Did your career started that way, Mai-san?" Sakuta asked. "Baka... obviously not. Seriously, who would do that?" Mai was frustrated that quick. "I don't know, maybe Mizumi would."
She let out a quick sigh. "Either way, we gotta find out where she is. I know she's on TV, but that's not live. So we can't just rush into the headquarters of whatever channel she appeared." "That's NHK, by the way." Sakuta said.
"I wasn't asking for that." She topped. "I know, but you might need it." Sakuta said. "Baka... then we just have to wait until tomorrow then. If she appears in the same channel... maybe just contact the station?" Mai added.
"Well what's their number then? Surely you must know them, because you worked within their reach." Sakuta asked. "I'll give it to you tomorrow..."
"Alright. See ya' later, Mai-san." Sakuta bid farewell and hung up the phone. He stood as he watched the same channel throughout the day, showing nothing but Mizumi's backstory and her interviews. He also made sure that there was no video source on the back of his television that was playing all of her clips.
The next day, Sakuta was preparing to go to his school, but when he turned on his television, it was still playing all of Mizumi's content. "Hmm... maybe later it'll stop." He said to himself as he turns off the television and went to school. From the train station, he sat beside Mai, who was still baffled that they were seeing Mizumi everywhere.
"What do you think, Sakuta-kun?" Sakuta turned his head and looked at Mai. "Is she abandoning us?" "Uh- why so?" Sakuta asked. "I watched her interview this morning, and said that she has no people to rely on to. Everything she has met before her TV breakthrough, she said, was just people worth forgetting... that counts us, right?"
"She said that?" Sakuta asked. "Yeah." Sakuta sighed and leaned his head at the window.
After classes, Sakuta went into the laboratory to find Rio Futaba, one of his classmates and a close ally. "Oh what does the rascal need again?" She said. "Maybe the knowledge from a person who makes coffee out of unsterilized beakers." Sakuta said back. "I just need to ask some question." He sat down with her as she makes two coffees from two beakers with two Bunsen burners.
"Have you been watching television lately?" Sakuta asked. "No, not really." Rio said. "Why you asked?" "Well for start, we have a friend. Her name is Mizumi. I think she's been on TV lately, but we were just hanging out with her last Saturday night. The problem is, the next day in the morning, we saw her on TV. She's been acting like she doesn't know us, and it's the only thing that's been playing for that whole day."
"It's quite possibly, but I'm not saying that it's a fact, that she is just fast. But if you go into deeper context, it's possible that she has two versions of herself, but unlike me, they take turns each day. You just need to observe... should the same channel show herself again this day, there definitely is a pattern that the two follows." She explained.
"I see. So if she is on TV right now, then the Mizumi we knew before is gone?" Sakuta said. "Temporarily, maybe tomorrow and the day after that, she's in your apartment. Or maybe, the real version can just exist for a day, while the TV version exists for two days prior to that." She further added.
"Wow, this coffee talk sure is bloody to the brain." Sakuta said. "That's just how it is, you rascal."
At noontime, he went to his workplace. He met up with the usual workmates who were also seen at his school. Tomoe was the first to greet him, but with the mundane smug vibe that she gives off to him everytime they meet.
"Wassup, peach." Sakuta greeted her with a smile on his face. "Uh- What's with the nickname?" Tomoe was somehow confused, as it was a reference to her giving him a can of peaches for compensation for his gratitude. "Oh you'll get it soon." Sakuta smirked. "Hey listen, I asked Futaba-san about this before... have you been watching TV lately?" He then asked.
"Not at the moment, no." Tomoe then shook her head in denial. "Wait... are the people online so fond of Mizumi Haru again?" He asked again, collecting information that he can get. "Umm... I don't think so. A lot of people never talked about her. In fact, I don't even know who are you talking about." She said.
"Oh right I forgot to tell you. She was my childhood friend. Mai-san and I just met her last Saturday. We had fun the three of us just to get Mizumi-san the happiness she deserves, but the next day... she's on air. The same channel has been playing clips of her the whole day, it was too interesting but too boring to watch." He explained.
"I see. Maybe she just woke up in the middle of the night to go someplace where she can be popular." The short haired girl speculated. "Nah... it's weird. She once said that she's running away from her troubles, so if she ever goes trending everywhere... her problems will just go back to haunt her again." Sakuta said.
While they were having a conversation about her, someone entered the restaurant they're working at. With dirty clothing and a rugged hair, she looked like an unknown person.
But when she slowly muttered something...
S a k u t a - k u n. . .
Sakuta soon realized that the voice was familiar.
"Is that you, Mizumi-san?"
But the rugged lady fainted and fell down the doorsteps of the restaurant.
