Shunsuke Otosaka, the oldest of three siblings who use to wield special abilities and has gone blind from the use of his ability he use to have. He use to use his ability to go back and in and reshape the world, trying again and again to save his family and all ability users along side his best friend Kumagami and grew into a person who accomplished his goal, but the cost was his sight.
However, in the back of the light of the last time leap he could ever perform, he lost someone. This someone was an ability user, that no matter how many times he kept rewinding, she would always remember him from the future, know him, and talk to him because they were the only ones who knew that time had been reversed. It was because of her ability. Her ability made it impossible for her to forget things, it was a side effect and so when she was thrust into a younger body time after time, she began to expect it and when she found him again and again, she was willing to accept it.
All the time jumping and all the times they never forgot, she would go and look for him. She'd find Shunsuke Otosaka and she'd laugh at him, making the same lame joke every time.
"Hey, I haven't seen you since 7 years from now."
It was always so lame, but it always made his lips twitch and pull upwards at her. One time, she even made fun of his glasses he had been forced to wear with his faded eyes. The only thing that never seemed to repeat itself, was the constant feelings they had towards each other. They had fallen in love, and for once, like in a fairytale, time was not an issue, until the last leap was upon them.
When Shun made that last jump, holding the hand of the woman he would no longer be able to see, he memorized her features and held her warmth until he woke up, once again as a child with nothing but darkness and silent tears flowing down his face. That was the last time he ever saw her, heard her voice, or felt her warmth. She had just disappeared.
Nana Okoyama. That was her name. She was a beautiful young woman with the bright mint hair that brushed her shoulders and eyes that seemed to hold the ocean surface in them. Her skin was always the perfect picture of what silk would look and feel like. Her personality was just as warm as her touch and he would always remember how warm she before he left her one time years back.
When he would think back to her, he'd wonder why things always played out so harshly for him. He was forced to leave his family, go into hiding, he lost his best friend to a feeble unstable war as he held him and the life left his body as Shun held on, pleading for him to stay. His brother was a hero of the ability users, but he lost so much in the process. At least he had Nao to fall back on.
He looked to the sky as he remembered the time Nana had decided to give herself to Shun before he lost his sight complete. He held her that night, asking, pleading to let him leave a print on her so that even when he couldn't see her anymore, that when his eyes stopped landing on her figure so clearly, even in a different time, she'd still be his. Her only answer was, yes.
Words of love, heat and promises, even tears were dominate that night. He loved this woman, and she loved him. They believed they were meant to do something, to be something with each other. Shun was giving his ability to save others, and she was to stay beside him and aid him from the information she would store away in her mind and never forget.
But, if that was their purpose, why couldn't he save her? Why did she have to go too? Why is it, that in this time, he wasn't able to see her, and she wasn't able to be free and see him either. He remembered that in his last jump, she wouldn't be able to meet him, he knew it was his turn to find her, but how would he start, and what if, this time, she didn't remember?
Right now, the war was over and he sat peacefully in his home he shared with his beloved younger siblings. He was sat at the table, leaning comfortable in a chair as he tapped his finger on the table top, running through his memories of his more important people. He remembered Kumagami, and how much he missed him, and of course Nana.
He would chuckle at the thought of what happened if Nana had ever met with Kumagami. They had met in previous times before, but of course, he would never remember her. Nana always poked fun at the longer haired male, and even complimented his looks, as he was rather handsome. That would effectively make Shunsuke a jealous mess, but it would always make Nana bark in laughter, and there was no better sound to Shun than that.
Half a year had passed, and Shun, along with Yuu, Ayumi and Nao were almost always together. Shun would still be torn from time to time, remembering how he lost his best friend as well as the woman he loved to the war between ability wielders and scientists, but his family was there to save him from his darkness. His mind would always wander and linger on the thought of what Nana had told him in one of his time leaps once.
"One day, I won't be able to see you anymore. My ability will become stuck, and I'll be held by the scientists for extensive research on how ability wielders work. Once that time comes, you'll know that that was the last time you'll need to leap. It will be the correct line, the timeline in which everything will work out. When that time comes Shun, you'll be the one to find me."
She was correct about it all, as usual. Once he time lept the last time, he finally lost all his sight and just as she said, she never came to find him. Then things started falling into place. Yuu found him, remembering who he was and plundering his ability and going back himself. Then he set out to find and plunder every ability in the world. A feat that would surely destroy him, if not physically, mentally. Then, Shun found her, just as he promised he would.
"Where is she?!" He was already suffering from the loss of his best friend, from the loss of Kumagami. Now, here he was, walking around with his friends trying to find the girl he promised to find. He then heard a voice, a voice in his head.
'Shun.. shun is that you... please.. find me...." His eyes didn't work, no, but his ears and his heart was more than enough to guide him. He ran until he found his way into a room that felt much more open than the corridors he ran through. He was breathing heavy as he heard machines sounding like monitors humming and scanners beeping. He walked forward until he felt his cane hit something.
Walking cautiously he found himself standing before a table. Feeling around he felt the body of a person, a woman and moved to feel around her head. It was small, and chilled, almost like she was dead, but Shun could still feel her heartbeat, her blood pulsing and hear her breath leave her body. He ran his hand to her hair and ran his fingers all through it. It was long and felt clean as it slipped from his finger tips.
"Sh..." A sudden noise that sounded like a voice startled him. He moved his head around, as if he could see, and then the sound started again. "Shu.. shuns..uke.." The noise was a voice, a female voice, and the a voice he knew well. It was weak, small and quiet, but there was no denying that it was in fact hers.
"Nana...?" Shun placed his hand back on her face, cradling her cheek as he felt her nodded. He felt her jaw open as she breathed out words.
"You kept... your promise... to me after... all." Shun smiled down to her as he ran his thumb under her eye.
"Of course I did." He also remembered the part he told her, after they promised to reunite. He didn't want to. He lost Kumagami, and now... how was he suppose to lose her too? He grit his teeth as his shoulders shook. Nana moved her tired, weakened eyes to the fingers that lingered on her cheek. She knew he knew what he must do before he is caught, but sometime was stopping him.
"Shunsuke..." He just shook his head.
"I can't.. I can't do this. I lost Kumagami..." Nana's eyes widened slightly at that. Kumagami was... dead? He had died, and Shunsuke had to make this choice and be alone again. She shook her head. No, he wouldn't be alone. He'd be in pain, and he'd be in sorrow, but he'd never be alone. He has his Yuu and Ayumi; he has his family with him.
"Shunsuke... please you know you must. I cannot live anymore. If I do, all of Yuu's efforts to fix this world and rid it of ability wielders will be for nothing." Shunsuke was not surprised she knew of him. She knew everything, even locked up in this hell hole, she'd always find a way to find out. Nana slowly lifted her frail arm and let her chilled hand rest on his that rested on her cheek.
"Shun.. even with Kumagami gone, even with me leaving, even with no ability wielders in the world to learn from and even with those blind, beautiful eyes of yours that can no longer see the world, you will still be in the light. You'll never be alone, you'll always have Yuu and Ayumi. You'll have your friends you've met over and over again. You'll even make new friends and your clever, so you'll make it. So, I'll make you another promise...."
Shun's eyes moved down to the girls form, even if he can't see, he wanted to act like he knew how she was laying on that table, weak and ready for it all to end.
"When you find yourself. When you find a life to live comfortably in, when you're happy with your family and the ones they love. When you finally accept a live in which you can smile so fondly again, that's when I'll see you again." Her breath hitched as she started moving her arm again. She reached out and started to cradle the wires that were attached to her. Her arms, her chest, her shoulders, her neck and even her head.
"Will that day ever come?" Shun was scared. He didn't want to lose anyone important to him ever again, but he knows, for the sake of the world and his family, he must.
"Archive. I'm a database. I collect data, run numbers, analyze, theorize, deduce, play, record, read, scan and deliver information. I'm the storage unit of thousands, upon thousands of files of information. Think of a computer, if a person has a folder of things they wish to not lose, they will back it up, therefore if the information is somehow lost on the main computer, they will not permanently lose what they had stored in it."
The wires she had been gathering were all now bunched into a handful as she slowly pulled Shun's hand off her cheek and placed the cords in his hand, curling his fingers around them. He could feel each individual wire and cord like it was a knife.
"I'm a database, a computer, and a good one. I have a backup file, or in this case, I'll have another chance, but this life must come to an end for me to restart. That's how I know, we will meet again Shunsuke, so there is no reason to cry." Shun's heart made his feelings clear as they gathered in his eyes and ran down his face in the form of crystal tears.
His hand trembled around the wires that, no doubt, kept her alive to this day. All he had to do was move and pull, and she'd be gone. Just like that, Nana would be taken from him by his own hand; the same hand he could no longer see.
"I'm scared... I'm so scared.... I can't help it...." Nana reached and touched his fisted hand as she smiled at him, even if he couldn't see it, the huff of air that left her was enough to tell him she had a breathtaking smile on her face. He then heard her take a small breath of air and she suddenly began to sing to him.
Sound the bugle now.
Play it just for me.
As the season's change,
remember how I use to be.
Now I can't go on,
I can't even start.
I've got nothing left.
Just an empty heart.
I'm a solider.
Wounded so I,
must give up the fight.
There's nothing more, for me.
Lead me away.
Or leave me lying here.
Sound the bugle now.
Tell them I don't care.
There's not a road I know,
that leads to anywhere.
Without a light I,
fear that I will stumble in the dark.
Lay right down and decide,
not to go on.
And from up high,
somewhere in the distance.
There's a voice that calls,
remember who you are.
If you lose yourself,
you're courage soon will follow.
So be strong tonight.
Remember who you are.
Yeah, you're a soldier now.
Fighting in a battle,
to be free once more.
Yeah that's worth fighting for.
Shun's tears had almost stopped as she had stopped singing. She was singing a song she would all the time when they were kids back in other realities. She'd do it to cheer him up, or when he would be angry at himself when the scientists were a step ahead of him again. He always had a power to lift him up and try again, it made him move forward. Even now, it still had that effect.
"Nana. You've made a promise to me, but I need you to make one more." She hummed to him. He tightened his grip on the wires as he quickly jerked his arm back. He felt the tug on the ends of the cords. He then heard equipment tumble, machines clatter and even felt the release of wires that became detached from the young woman's body.
Shun quickly dropped the wires as he fumbled and grabbed Nana's rapidly cooling hand in both of his, holding it tightly. He leaned over the table as he held her hand, sandwiched between his, to his forehead, closing his eyes as if pleading to her.
"You need to promise, when we meet again, you need to sing me that song. You need to. You need to promise me." Nana weakly chuckled at him as she squeezed his hand slightly back.
"Of.. course.. I promise.. Shunsu..." Her grip loosened and her arm felt heavy as Shun held the hand of the deceased girl he loved. He was soon holding nothing as her body seemed to fade, disappearing into the air like dust carried by the wind and now he was truly alone in this room. He stood in the empty space as he just sat on the ground. He knew his friends were come and find him, and soon they did.
He explained that Nana had finally been put to rest and that everything was now resolved as he was soon on his way to his next mission. Pick up his little brother and wrap up everything once and for all.
When Yuu came to in the hospital, it was no surprise that he had lost everything. His memory, his sense of self and his abilities. It was better this way in end. He was just a standard human high school boy with a girlfriend now.
"Big brother Shun!" Shunsuke jumped slightly at the call of his name as he looked down towards the voice as it started again. "You were day dreaming again. Big brother Yuu and Tomori are here now." Shun lifted himself from his seat as Ayumi grabbed and happily handed him his cane.
"I see, then I guess it's time to go then." Ayumi happily nodded as she grabbed her big brother's hand and trotted to the door of their appartment. Nao and Yuu were waiting out by the door, as they all had decided that after they had finished some stuff with the council and finally got home from school, they would go out and visit Nao's brother for a while.
They all happily greeted each other as they were on their way. Ayumi would describe how her day was at school, and in turn Yuu and Nao would explain the hard complicated equations and theories they were taught just to confuse the middle schooler. Shun would then team up with Ayumi, saying that he was more clever than both of the high schoolers put together and that he would teach her new things, only to equate a new form of entertainment.
Once they arrived and made it up the ungodly amount of stairs, Shun could feel how comfortable the sun was on his body, knowing it was soon to be gone beyond the horizon.
"Nao." The girl stopped walking as she turned to the older Otosaka boy. Soon both Yuu and Ayumi stopped along with her.
"What's up?"
"You're going to bring Kazuki out tonight correct?"
"Yes, I am. Why do you want to know?" He shook his head as he tapped his cane and turned his head towards the breeze and closed his eyes.
"I'll wait for you all out here. It's a nice evening, and I don't want to waste it." The three of them knew they weren't going to be in there all that long, but they also knew he still needed his time of peace at moments.
"All right. We'll see you in a bit then." He nodded to her as Yuu spoke up.
"Watch your step walking around." Shun rolled his eyes.
"Of course, Yuu." Soon he heard the group of three enter the building as he took a turn and walked around the yards. He memorized the path in with Nao would lead him with her brother and decided to take the same route and meet them at the cliff. He was walking peacefully and in silence until he start to slightly hear something.
He stopped walking and listened more intently. Soon the sound was clearer to him and he was able to hear it over the slight breeze. It was someone humming the turn of a song. More importantly, it was someone humming the tune of that song. He's eyes widened as he started to move towards the humming.
As it got louder and louder, he stopped walking and soon he even felt the end of his cane hit the leg of a table or chair that was outside. He stepped forward and placed a hand on the table top, leaning against it slightly. The humming was around this area, but he couldn't tell where, the wind stopping his directional estimates. Then, the humming suddenly stopped.
His thoughts fell for a moment before he heard the sound of the humming being replaced with the sound of a voice.
"Haven't seen you around before. You visiting someone?" He's eyes widened as he turned to the direction the voice was coming from. There it was. The thing he thought he'd never hear again. He was silent a moment before he realized this person, had asked him something.
"Oh, yes I am. I came today to visit with the older brother of my younger brother's girlfriend with my little sister." He heard the person scoff, the voice obviously feminine.
"That's a mouthful. So, a ragtag group of three with a brother in recovery. What are you guys, a walking sitcom?" He laughed at her, as she too chuckled and soon footsteps were behind them and new voices to boot.
"Big brother Shun!" Shun turned around, smiling as he heard the rapid patter of Ayumi's feet come closer before they came to a stop and she grabbed his hand.
"Ayumi, you act like I haven't seen you in years." She puffed her cheeks, as he heard her huff as took his free hand to poke her inflated cheek, in turn putting that smile back on her face as he giggled. Ayumi then looked over her shoulder as she saw the girl who sat at a table, her feet pulled up and a book rested on her knees.
"Wow!" She whispered in delight under her breath as she looked at the woman who seemed, not that much older than Shun was currently. Ayumi tugged on Shun's sleeve, making him move his head down to her as Nao, Yuu and Kazuki in his wheelchair strolled up. "Big brother, who's that pretty girl there!" Shun was going to look over his shoulder again, but was stopped as Yuu called to him.
"Make a friend out here? Looks like Ayumi is about to explode." He chuckled as Ayumi soon detached herself from Shun and ran to the girl, standing in front of her. The girl only shut her book, giving the air a dull thud to echo with, and put her feet on the ground to sit more properly.
"Ah, she was just admitted her a few days ago." Kazuki, who saw a bit of the girls appearance behind Shun spoke as Nao lifted her eyebrow. She then moved to where she could look around Shun and now all eyes were on her. Ayumi still stood by her, her hands curled by her chest in excitement as she bounced.
"You're very pretty Miss!" The girl chuckled at the little one's complement and smiled to her. Shun found himself smiling as called for Ayumi. The girl ran to his side as he reached out his hand for her to take, which she happily did.
"Ayumi, do me a favor and take me over to this 'very pretty girl' would you?" Ayumi nodded as she lead her brother to stand in front of the girl. He then kneeled down beside Ayumi to get more eye level with her. "Now, I'd like for you to describe secretly to me what she looks like. I feel like I'm missing out." Ayumi's eyes seemed to gleam as the girl who sat in front of him raised her brow.
"Alright, not to be rude, I understand that you're blind and all, but why must she whisper?" Shun chuckled.
"It's much more fun that way." Ayumi looked over the girl and soon cupped her hand around her mouth and began to whisper into her brother's ear, smiling and adding the occasional giggle.
"She's got short hair, right at her shoulder that's a really pretty mint color. Her eyes are bright blue and she's got really pretty skin! She's wearing some comfy looking shorts and a white shirt, almost like Kazuki's. She's not wearing shoes or socks, kinda dangerous, but really cute!" Shun almost felt like he wanted to cry as Ayumi pulled away from him, her hands behind her back as she happily swayed back and forth, all giggy. Shun nodded and stood back up.
"Well miss, you sound absolutely breathtaking." His ever so charming words made his little brother cringe as he cradling his face in his hand, making Nao chuckled at him, covering her mouth with her hand that didn't hold her camcorder.
"Really Shun..." Yuu hide as Shun shrugged and soon Nao stepped forward.
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet. I'm Nao. Nao Tomori. This is my older brother Kazuki." She motioned to the wheelchair bound man as she moved to the recovering Yuu. "This here is Yuu Otosaka, my partner." She didn't get to continue as Ayumi bounced and pointed to herself.
"I'm Ayumi Otosaka! I'm big brother Shun and Yuu's younger sister! I'm in middle school!" The girl smiled to her as she watched her grab onto Shun's hand again, clearing she loved her brother, and it was heartwarming to see the affection.
"I'm Shunsuke. It's an honor to meet you." He smiled to fondly to where the voice of the girl was. Soon, he heard the chair she sat in move, as he then felt a presence in front of him. She had stood up and soon, he felt her fingers curl around his wrist as she brought it up to her hand. She held his hand in the position of a handshake.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Nana. Nana Okoyama." Shun's hand tightened slightly, finally feeling that warmth he had been waiting to feel again. He smiled to her before turning and inviting her to the cliff's edge with them. She shrugged as she accompanied them. The group mainly stayed ahead of the eldest brother and his newly found friend, even Ayumi, already wanting the best of the best to happen between the two.
"So, Nana." The girl turned to him, as he was happy to finally be saying her name again, and to a new her. He looked out to the breeze as it blew towards the quickly disappearing sun before night started to ever so slowly creep out onto the everlasting sky. "Do you perhaps sing?"
As the group of teenage and young adult citizen's stay together, the night dawned and the air was filled with Nana, as per request of basically everyone, singing her favorite song of peace, strength and power. Shun stood as a single tear rolled down his face as he held his little sister's hand, and in the light of the moon and the brightest stars in the galaxy, it was the beginning of a very long time.
It was finally time for their promises to come to light.
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Nana's Ability: Archive
-Allows whatever the wielder reads, hears or sees become filed away in their mind permanently. The downside is that whenever Shun time leaps back, the memories and information stored inside the mind of the Archive wielder remains, so things she'd like to forget, stay with her, making her a prime target for scientists and researchers.
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