The person who likes me is a yandere.

"It would turn into a heart shape at dusk. Ayase and her brother would look at that heart together, so it was the final destination of their dates. But it's gone now."

"So...that's how it is..."

"That's why Ayase told her brother not to leave."

Today was absolutely terrible.

"Hey, brother. Did something come to mind?"

Ayase asked me as she slowly removed the seashell-shaped hair clip.

"No, I can't remember anything..."

"…………"

Ayase put the hair clip into her shirt pocket and lowered her face, which was flushed red by the sunset, as if gazing at the afterimage of the heart-shaped reflection that had been cast there earlier.

This time I was truly speechless, so I raised my voice. Soon after, a somber melody blared from the park's loudspeakers, announcing to visitors that it was 5 o'clock. A crying child, insisting he hadn't had enough fun, was being led by the hand by his mother past our bench.

"Let's go back"

I don't know how much time passed, but I finished my milk tea and said this.

"…………"

Ayase finally picked up the plastic bottle of lemon tea—

—Bari bari gari gari gari gari.

Then, as if tearing the bottle neck apart, the cap was forcibly unscrewed.

"Huh? Ayase?"

Then, she suddenly stood up.

—Gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle gurgle.

Oh, oh... she's chugging it down... She tilted her head back, hands on her hips, and drank the lemon tea fiercely, creating swirls in the bottle...

"Pfft!"

Ayase downed the entire 500ml of lemon tea in one gulp, and then—

"Why can't I remember?!!"

He slammed the empty bottle heavily onto the seat, as if he wanted to smash the bench.

"Ayase...?"

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, brother is an idiot—!"

Ayase's loud shouts made all the passersby turn their heads to look at us. At the same time, every time she shouted "idiot," she would slam a bottle heavily onto the bench.

"Why! Why can't I remember! Why can't I remember Ayase! I hate you, brother! You idiot—!!"

"W-What do you mean? What can I do? Let me think..."

"Not at all!"

"...Huh?"

Ayase finally lifted her head. But her face was redder than the setting sun.

"No, there wasn't! Why didn't you hold hands? Why didn't you take a proper photo booth picture? Why wouldn't you feed Mengmeng parfait? Why wouldn't you shout loudly? Tell me! These are all things that Ayase and her brother usually do on their dates! It might be the trigger for regaining your memories! Brother, do you really want to remember!?"

Ayase seemed to have poured out all the frustrations of the day, speaking excitedly.

"Ugh! My throat is so sore! I hate lemon tea! Ayase only drinks milk tea!"

It wasn't the sunset... what was staining Ayase's face red wasn't the sunset at all. This was the first time I'd ever seen Ayase truly angry.

Yes, she's absolutely right. I didn't do anything today.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Don't Call Me Brother

Yes, she's absolutely right. I didn't do anything today.

To regain my memories, I must follow my previous daily life as accurately as possible. I knew this, but I was too shy; I didn't do a good job at anything, from taking photo booth pictures to feeding Parfait to shouting. It was inevitable that Ayase would get angry… but…

"What can I do about that?"

However, what came out of his mouth were these words of self-abandonment.

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"Don't say 'there's nothing we can do,' don't say 'what can we do?' Brother, what happened to you? Why did things turn out like this? Even if you have amnesia, this change is too drastic!"

Ayase spoke calmly, yet her words were sharp and incisive.

"Ayase's brother isn't like that."

————.

In an instant, the sound faded away from my surroundings.

My vision blurred, and something that I was barely holding on to deep inside me snapped and rolled out of my body.

"--end"

"Huh?"

Or rather, it was the sound of something inside me breaking down.

"—That's enough!!!"

When I came to my senses, I roared with a voice louder than I had ever heard since I woke up.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! What does this mean?! It's just my old brother, my old brother! What can I do?! I have no way to remember! I just can't remember anything about myself! Not even a tiny bit! I can't remember anything at all!"

"……elder brother"

Ayase folded her hands over her chest as if in fear.

"What do you know!"

I continued to rage at Ayase, who was retreating.

"Try becoming like me! You wake up with no memory of anything, do you know how scared and uneasy I am! Yet you keep forcing me to remember people I don't even know, to remember things I don't even know!"

"Why do you say that..."

"Ayase, I really envy you!"

"Huh...?"

"In this whole world, you are the only one I have forgotten. I envy you so much, because I have forgotten everyone else in the world!"

"elder brother……"

"What do I care about the dating process? What do I care about the poses for the photo booth? What do I care about the rules for eating parfaits? What do I care about being disliked? What do I care about violence? I can't even remember who I am!"

I probably wasn't very talkative before the accident. But even so, I couldn't stop. After waking up, I had already tried my best to adapt to reality, so the feeling of being abandoned by the whole world, and the emotions I had been suppressing, surged up from my stomach this time.

"What does Asago Aragaki have to do with me?!"

After saying that last sentence, my legs went weak, and I collapsed onto the bench as if I had fallen.

"Brother, are you alright?"

Ayase gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

"...Don't call me."

Don't call me brother.

"...Huh?"

"I mean... is my brother really that good?"

"...Huh?"

Ayase's clear eyes trembled as if she were about to collapse.

"That's true. In your heart, the me before the accident was the real older brother, the real Aragaki Asahi. Since that's the case..."

At this point, the words caught in my throat.

Once those words are uttered, everything will fall apart, and everything will come to an end.

This is something I've never said aloud.

"...If that's the case, then who am I now?"

My vision is distorted.

I don't know if my brain is acting strangely again, or if the world has really become distorted... or perhaps, I'm just crying...

I didn't even know about this.

"……elder brother"

The only thing I can understand is the warmth of Ayase's body as she nestled beside me.

"Please, please don't call me 'brother,' okay? I... I don't even know if you're my sister."

My pleading tone in response to Ayase's words was nothing short of a cruel rejection.

I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. I realized I had just pressed a decisive switch.

"------"

Ayase's body visibly stiffened with anger. She bit her lip tightly, gripping the bottle firmly in her hand. Then—

"I'm sorry, brother."

Ayase said this while smiling.

That was an incomparably magnanimous smile, like the smile at the end of the sky.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Brother is right. This won't do, I can't do this. I'm so annoying, aren't I? I must be so annoying. Ugh, I messed it up. I got so many things wrong."

Ayase playfully stuck out her tongue and lightly tapped her head with her fist. For some reason, it felt like Ayase was about to suddenly disappear.

“No, Ayase. I…”