An Unordinary Adventure of An Ordinary Girl

You stood shocked and stared at Leiru, mentally going through all the past events and trying to recall some kind of a childhood friend, yet, you could not.

“Leiru... I don’t have a childhood friend. I mean, I do have a few, but Yuki doesn’t,” you tried explaining.

“Huh? Of course, she does. Asiel has been together with her for... well, many years. He lives next door,” Leiru looked at you as if you were out of your mind.

“I’m telling you, Leiru, there is no childhood friend,” you were getting a tiny bit irritated.

“Then who is Asiel?”

You looked away, then back at Leiru. “That’s what we’re gonna find out. I don’t trust him, Leiru, I have never seen him before. And you never told me about him.”

“Impossible! Asiel is Yuki’s friend, I must have told you about him!”

“But you didn’t. And, and... Why is he suddenly here?” You furrowed your brows. This was really suspicious.

“Huh?! He’s always been here! You two have always been going to this school.”

“What do you mean?.. He wasn’t here yesterday...” You looked at Leiru questioningly.

“Yes, he was. You two walked to school together. Are you feeling alright, Aya?..” Leiru touched your shoulder and you felt his calming warmth spread to your body.

You shook your head. This was no time to be calm.

“I... I don’t understand... Leiru, I don’t remember anything like this. I swear, this is the first time I see that guy...”

The bell rang and you exited the restroom, sighing.

“I don’t know anything anymore, Leiru. I just don’t get what is going on.”

“Aya...” Leiru looked at you confused as to what he should believe.

You entered the classroom and sat down, trying to act normally. Asiel, or so he called himself, looked at you worriedly as he whispered to you:
“Yuki, are you alright?.. Is something wrong?..”

You shook your head: “No, I’m fine. Just... ate something bad.”

You smiled weakly and turned away to look out of the window. You couldn’t understand a thing of what was going on. Why is Leiru acting as if he knows that guy? You could swear he came here just today... What if... what if he’s some kind of a demon?.. No way... But then... why is Leiru acting normally?..

***
The rest of the day passed smoothly, Asiel chatting with you most of the time and even though you appreciated some new company other than Kyo, yet, you felt insecure. He seemed friendly and kind, but... something wasn’t right here. ‘Why can’t I remember him? No, more importantly, why am I the only one who finds him strange?.. Everyone around just acts... normally. As if he’s always been here. But I know I can’t be wrong. He wasn’t here yesterday and days before... I know what I remember... remember?..’ You sat deeply in thought as an idea struck you. You got up to leave and noticed Asiel get up too.

“Yuki? Are you going somewhere?..”

You smiled at him. “You’re not allowed in there, you know. I think my stomach is getting angry at me again. Must be something I ate.”

“Oh, I see. Be careful,” Asiel smiled at you and you smiled back.

‘I know Kyo has been glued to me for some reason, but he at least doesn’t follow me to the restroom...’ You sighed and walked out, mentally calling Leiru together with you.

He floated after you, looking at you questioningly. You entered the bathroom and looked around. Quite conveniently, there was no one present at the time. The class was about to start and everyone were on their way to the classrooms.

‘Leiru, come in,’ you invited your guardian friend mentally.

Leiru walked in and looked at you worriedly.

“What’s wrong, Aya?”

You sighed. “I can’t believe you don’t find Asiel suspicious at all. And I can’t believe I’m having a talk like this in a school bathroom...”

“Why would he be suspicious?” Leiru asked you and you only thrust your hands up in the air in a desperate motion.

“Cause I can’t remember him!” You practically shouted out in frustration.

“That’s...”

“Say, Leiru, is it possible to alter someone’s memories?” You asked him your brains working full speed.

“Of course.”

“Then, is it possible that Asiel did that to everyone, including even you?” You continued your theory.

“Huh?! That’s...”

“Is it possible or not?!”

“Well... theoretically, yes. Such a spell could be cast on the whole school, but that would require immense powers,” Leiru shook his head. “You’re just overreacting.”

“Then explain to me why I don’t know a thing about that Asiel.”

“Cause you’re not Yuki. Of course, you don’t know him,” Leiru smiled reassuringly.

“Yeah, right. But why haven’t you told me about him then? And why don’t I remember him coming with me to school yesterday? I swear to you, Leiru, he wasn’t here before. What if he’s some demon, who just manipulated his way into the school?.. Please, believe me, something is not right here,” you pleaded, hoping Leiru would trust you.

The bell rang and Leiru sighed. “Alright, I’ll think about everything you said. Let’s head back for now.“

You nodded and went out, yet, just as you stepped out, someone grabbed your hand. You turned surprised and saw Kyo. You sighed. Right now you had other problems besides him.

“What do you want?” You asked somewhat irritated by his presence.

“Yuki,” Kyo sounded strangely serious. “Say, that guy Asiel is in your class, right?”

“Yeah,” you looked at Kyo, wondering what he meant.

“Damn,” he cursed quietly.

“Yuki? You’re ok?” You heard Asiel’s voice.

Kyo let go of your arm, glaring behind you. You heard steps coming closer as Asiel walked to you.

“Be careful around that guy,” Kyo whispered to you before turning around and walking away.

“Huh?..” You looked at him surprised. ‘Now that was really weird.’

“What did he say to you?” Asiel halted beside you.

You looked at him as you felt irritated again. Why the hell did he come here? Was he following you even to the bathroom?

“Said he loved me,” you stuck your tongue out and turned to leave as shocked Asiel ran after you.

“Wha... What?! He said that?! And... and... and you?” He stuttered.

“What about me?” You played innocent.

“What did you say to him?!”

“Nothing. You came along and scared him away,” you halted as a smirk crept up your lips. “You totally ruined the moment, Asiel.”

“Wha... No, Yuki! You can’t! That guy is... That guy is bad news! You keep away from him!..” Asiel shouted out angrily.

You arched a brow as you chuckled: “Funny, he said the very same thing about you.”

“He did?” You didn’t notice a shadow pass over Asiel’s eyes as you turned away at that moment.

“I wonder,” you turned to Asiel again, watching him intently. “Lately, my memory seems to be... hazy.”

You noticed Asiel’s eyes widen a bit, yet, he smiled again: “Maybe you’re tired.”

“Yeah. Maybe. Or maybe... someone’s playing tricks with my mind,” You smiled as you turned around and faked a laugh. “Like that’s even possible.”

‘Yuki, what were you thinking?’ You heard Leiru’s voice and smiled.

‘Nothing, just a little teasing, Leiru.’

***
The day ended calmly and nothing happened. Asiel walked together with you home and you two chatted as if you were really friends. You tried to avoid any questions about his past or family. After all, if he implanted fake memories and they didn’t work on you for some reason, you didn’t want to step on a landmine and let him know you knew he wasn’t who he pretended to be. After you reached your house, Asiel walked on further and you went home. You entered your room silent and looked around. The room looked the same as before. You walked to a cupboard, where you kept all the photos Yuki had, and took out the albums.

“What are you doing?” Leiru came closer surprised as you flopped down on the bed and started looking through the albums.

“Looking for proof.”

“Proof?”

“Yeah. You said Asiel and Yuki are childhood friends?” You looked up at Leiru.

“Yes.”

“Well, how close were they?” You wondered.

Leiru shrugged. “I’m not sure... Maybe like a brother and a sister?”

“That close, huh,” you put down one album as you took another. “So, did he come here often?”

“You mean, Asiel?”

“Yeah, who else?”

“I... I’m not sure. I guess,” Leiry looked away, thinking.

“You guess?” You looked up at Leiru. “Your memories about him are vague, aren’t they?”

“What do you mean?”

You put down the second album.

“If Asiel is such a wonderful and close friend, how come there’s not even a single photo of him in here? Why are there no things of his in this room? He must have given Yuki at least some small presents and girls always keep such things. There’s nothing in here. Nothing. He doesn’t even exist. I’m telling you, he’s a fake.”

Leiru kept silent for a while, then, he nodded.

“Alright, Aya. You have put your trust in me this whole time, so I shall believe in you too. And I must say I do feel my memories about Asiel are kind of vague. I can’t seem to remember anything specific about him.”

“See? I’ve told you so!” You smiled. “Leiru...”

“Hm?”

“Thank you. For believing me.”

Leiru smiled at you and nodded.

“Alright then. Let’s assume he altered our memories,” you continued on your theory. “Then why didn’t it work on me? He’s clearly expecting me to believe this whole childhood story.”

“Mmmm...” Leiru looked away for a moment. “Spells on a human mind must be very precise and they only work on those people they were directed at. In other words,” he looked up at you. “If the spell was directed at Yuki, it will only affect her. You are not Yuki, so you must have been unaffected by it.”

“He didn’t know I’m not Yuki... no one does, besides you,” you noted.

“Yeah. Still, the spell was incredibly powerful to take effect even on me. In other words, he knows about me being here,” Leiru frowned.

“He does?!”

“If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have been affected by it,” Leiru furrowed his brows as he kept frowning. “And that’s not good. Not good at all.”

You sighed and lied down on the bed.
“Gee, and I thought I could have a rest from all that demonic stuff...”

“I’m sorry, Aya,” Leiru looked at you apologetically.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” you smiled. “We’ll think of something. At least, we know he knows about Yuki and we know he doesn’t know we know he’s lying... urgh... what am I talking about?”

Leiru chuckled: “You’re unbelievable.”

You smiled at him. “Let’s rest for today; we’ll make our strategy tomorrow.”