510 years… Yamaku hadn't changed much, at least not to someone who hadn't seen it since they left, all those years ago. But for someone who has been stuck at the school for all of those years, it's changed…
A little under 10 years ago, tragedy struck Yamaku High School. A young pupil, only transferred from another school a week earlier had fell from the roof to his death. It was never determined whether or not he fell intentionally, accidentally or was pushed.
Hisao had watched his passing rock the school. Not the least the ones that he had touched in his brief stay at Yamaku. Emi, Rin, Lilly, Hanako, Misha and yes, even Shizune. Each had felt his death deeply. Misha had even stopped being loud. But, as everyone does, each moved on and finished their final year at Yamaku. But Hisao was still remembered. Before his friends left Yamaku, each stopped at his memorial and said goodbye, before pledging to meet back there in ten years, on the eve of his death.
And so, Hisao was left behind for all of those years, watching students come and go. He watched the staff age, and some leave, such as Nomiya, the art teacher. Mutou, stayed on, continuing to teach students even as his hair greyed.
And as thus… 10 years passed.
- Reunion -
It's a lonely life as a spirit… No-one can see you, nor can you interact with anything. But not only are you completely intangible… You cannot leave a certain area around where you died.
And, although a decade of watching kids pass through Yamaku isn't boring, it does get depressing when you realise that you aren't moving on.
That was until today. Today, I went on my usual walk, or rather float, of the school. Past the running tracks, almost unchanged since I came to the school. Past the Sports shed. As I rounded the corner of the school, coming up to the memorial plaque that marks where I fell from the roof, I stopped in my tracks. A shock of blonde hair stood out from the dark hair colours that were the norm of Yamaku.
I only ever knew one person that came to this school that had blonde hair. Satou Lilly, the blind, blonde, amazon Scot. The decade faded away. I even forgot that I was invisible, and couldn't be heard.
'Lilly!' I called. Although I was positive she couldn't hear me, I swore that she turned her head towards me. Clouded blue eyes unseeingly swept the area, searching for… something. Something that had caught her attention. Something that was enough to get a blind person to turn their head.
A group of students pass in front of me, one wheelchair bound. By the time they have passed… I've lost sight of Lilly.
I glide over to the plaque. At the foot of the memorial lies a bunch of wildflowers. Dandelions… But… Lilly never laid the flowers. So who did? It has to be someone that I knew… in my past life.
I futilely try to touch the flowers, and I remember.
Rin. On the day of my funeral, she came and placed wildflowers upon the memorial. Dandelions.
Was she here? What was going on. Two old classmates back at Yamaku… Why?
- Reunion -
I was lost… To come back after all this time… What was I missing...
I stared off over the edge of the roof. The sun was setting, night coming upon the school fast. I could hear the last few club members leaving the school. The only people left working were the Student Council. It was quite funny… The current Student Council reminded me of Shizune and Misha… Except with a lot more people. And they seemed to be enjoying it too…
I smiled as I remembered the times that Shizune and Misha tried to rope me into the Student Council… What would've happened, had I accepted…? I would probably still be alive… I could've done a lot of things better… But still… I have to be happy with the life I led.
The door to the roof opened on squeaky hinges. A tall man stepped through it. He felt like someone I should know… Tall, with a shock of black hair, messy. He wore a faded red and yellow scarf. He had dark brown eyes and an angled face. I felt I knew him, but I couldn't place who he was. He didn't seem to be someone I knew from my week at Yamaku.
The man walked over to the chair I was kinda hovering in. Even after a decade as a ghost, there were some habits that I just couldn't shake. He leant on the chair, staring out at the same sunset as me.
"Been 10 years, huh?" He murmured. I just continued to watch him.
"A lot's changed, pal… For me… It was largely thanks to you…" The mannerisms of the man were familiar…
"It's a damn shame you fell off the roof though… It was my damn fault." He picks up a rather worn end of the scarf and begins to rub it. The movement catches my eye and the pieces fall into place.
'Kenji!' I exclaim to myself.
"Didn't think you'd get that one. I've changed… a lot. And not just physically. My paranoia and my schizophrenia are both gone… At least I hope so… After all I am sitting here talking to someone that has been dead for 10 years…"
I just gaped at him. 'You… can see me?' I asked.
"Course I can dude… I think." He replied. "No… You're fading."
Damn… I thought… maybe that someone could see me.
I sighed and thought back to how I remembered Kenji… He was a short kid… always wore that scarf. Paranoid that feminists were plotting to take over the world. He was the last person I saw before…
"Oh, wait, you're back."
Huh? Kenji was looking right at me.
'I`m back? Must be thoughts about my past that make me visible…' I guessed.
"More than likely… At least to those who knew you. I was nearby earlier, and I heard you call out to the blonde amazon… - "
I froze. Did that mean…
"- And I was like, no way dude… I must've had some trippy mushrooms. Then I remembered how I used to be here and I changed my thought to the fact that feminists drugged me, for old times sake."
… Had Lilly actually heard me?
"But I looked, and there you were." Kenji paused.
"Everyone's here you know... The reunion is coming up… 10 years since we left school. But, we came early… To come and have a meeting at your memorial… Before… Before we had the reunion." Kenji watched me.
"We're bunked in the old Dorms. You might be surprised at the difference in some people… and how little others have changed."
The old dorms huh… I haven't been there in years.
'Is… everyone there…? Already?' I asked Kenji.
"I believe so. I was the last one to arrive… I haven't even spoken to anyone yet…"
'Ca… Can I come with you?' I asked Kenji.
"I don't see why not… You know dude… I felt so damn guilty after you died… If only I'd been more careful… Less of a spaz. Like I said earlier, you were the reason I've changed as much as I have… Come on dude, there's someone I want you to meet."
- Reunion -
The old Dormitories stood where they always had. Several years after my passing, new Dorms had been established closer to the school. The old dorms were now used as offices and guest lodgings. I'd never been back to them. They brought back painful memories.
I stopped for a second at the stairs up to the dorms. Rin's Mural… It was finished. It had never been finished before the Culture Festival… and it hadn't been completed after. But now… It was done… I stepped closer. Fresh paint spattered the path. I smiled ruefully. Rin must have continued to be a painter…
I noticed that Kenji hadn't realised that I'd stopped, so I hurried after him. He called out to someone waiting at the entrance to the dorms, but I was too far out of earshot to hear. But as I came closer, I stopped short.
The woman waiting for Kenji was the last person I'd expect to see with him. Yuuko, once part-time librarian, part-time waitress. I'd never quite been sure, but I felt that Kenji's previous girlfriend had been Yuuko…
I floated over to them… Yuuko had changed… a lot. No longer the shy girl that once staffed the Yamaku Library. Giving Kenji a quick peck on the cheek, she rushed inside. Kenji looked back and smiled towards me. He held the door open while I crossed the threshold, more or less an invitation to enter. Superstitious, huh?
Just inside the door I found…
Yup… I'm leaving you guys on a cliffhanger. I was going to make this a one-shot… Then I looked at my material and realised… I can't. I have far too much planned out. And I will finish this one… Though perhaps I should stop listening to the depressing songs from Katawa Shoujo…
I'll see you guys for the next chapter of Reunion.
