Chapter 1 - A crossroad of memories and dreams

"Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream" - Khalil Gibran

A quick note:

Hey there everyone this is my first fanfiction and I decided to write it on my favourite visual novel / anime and my favourite peering from it seeing as there was very little in the way of fiction written on the subject that I could find. Anyway I have manipulated some points slightly to suit my purposes namely the ending of the anime. I have no idea on how long this will end up as I am kinda winging it really, if there is any interest then I will keep writing so please do rate and review this for me on story writing, character development or otherwise. Other than that I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it :)

Story start:

"Just forget everything about me!"

a disembodied voice full of sorrow shouted, quivering as if having accepted a harsh reality. Who's voice was it, she wandered, did it belong to someone she knew? Hell, was it her own voice? The blinding white light she was surrounded by faded away revealing a room, broadcasting equipment was set up across a large desk space spanning the main area of the room closest to the door leaving a small walkway through to a window with a piano set up beneath it. Something was oddly familiar about it but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. The voice spoke again this time over an intercom,

"If I happen to meet you again, and still remember these feelings, at that time I'm sure I'll say it to you. I'll call you into an empty classroom after school and tell you that I like you. Like you in a romantic way."

A boy burst into the room just as her world became engulfed in the blinding white light once again. A single tear streaked its way down her cheek, she dabbed it away with the back of her hand. Why was she sad? For the first time she could remember, in a place she barely remembered, at the brief sight of a person she barely knew, Kurugaya was truly sad.

The white light faded away once again and her nose was immediately assaulted by the putrid smell of petrol fumes having blocked out the smell she realised that she was being dragged up a hill on a stretcher by that boy she caught a glimpse of earlier. She tried to speak up but found she didn't have the strength instead succumbing to the slumber that is calling out to her with open arms. She wakes up with a start and one name on her lips. Riki.

Having taken in her surroundings and realising she is safe back in her dorm Kurugaya managed to settle down once again. Just who was this Riki? He was in the same class as her, sure and it was a safe assumption that he was the boy from within her dreams but what was their relationship if there was one? Ever since the bus accident she had been plagued with dreams involving the other students on that bus. Most of the time she was able to shrug them off being the strong, nearly emotionless person she was. This dream was different though, it stirred something deep down, something she never knew existed. It scared her to find out just what that might be.

She sighed deeply coming to the conclusion that the only logical step forward was to approach those involved in the crash and see if they endured similar experiences. More importantly she had to find out more about Riki and just how he fitted into the picture. With a plan in mind Kurugaya decides that it would be best to make the most of what sleep she has before the school day begins.

Across the school in the boys' dorm Riki lay awake, partially due to Masato's incredible snoring capabilities but mostly he was troubled by the events surrounding the bus accident. The five original Little Busters, having been the cause of the Kyousuke's world, remembered the events that transpired within it instantly. The members that had joined within the other world, however, were plagued with dreams and one by one came back, and over the past 2 weeks of spending time with them they had remembered. All of them had returned but one, Kurugaya.

What was keeping her from returning? It was a cruel twist of fate, he thought, that the one person he wished to talk to most about what had occurred was the only one not to return. Despite being told he would forget what happened in Kurugaya's dream loop the memories remained permanently rooted in his mind. He had not brought this up with anyone in the hope that Kurugaya would eventually remember herself and fulfill the promise that she had made over the intercom but as of now there had been no such luck.

He began to ponder his options of how to approach the matter, Should he give up on it entirely? No, that was not an option. Should he make the first move again and try to start over? No, the chances of that succeeding, especially if she had little to no memory of him like the others did at first, were very low. His best option was to try and jog her memory by revisiting events that occurred within the other world in the real one. Playing baseball had worked with the others but he wanted to try a more personal memory with Kurugaya hoping that it would spark her memories of the dream loop.

Riki smiled slightly to himself as he took note of how much more confident, and competent for that matter, he had become due to Kyousuke's world, it really had succeeded in its intended effect. With an idea in mind Riki allowed himself to drift off to sleep, sleep was a much more appealing idea now that it was always of his own free will. Along with the increased confidence it would seem that Kyousuke's world had helped him overcome the trauma that was causing his narcolepsy, he had not suffered a sleep attack in 2 weeks.

The next day Kurugaya went through the day as per usual, she attended all of her classes as per usual and skipped maths to go to her private spot in the backyard for tea as per usual. The company that ensued however was most definitely not as per usual. As she approached her table a seemingly bodiless voice spoke up

"Which direction must we always face?"

Kurugaya smiled slightly, whoever it was needed practice at hiding but she played along anyway. "Humans must always face forwards in order to progress, " she said, "also you should really improve your stealth skills before trying to sneak up on me."

Riki emerged chuckling slightly, "You do a much better job of it", he said, closing his eyes and smiling. "By the way you still haven't answered me."

Those few words struck something deep inside Kurugaya but she couldn't quite remember what they meant despite how they tugged away at the back of her mind in an attempt to drag the memories out by force. The mixture of shock and confusion must have shown on her face as Riki's smile took a turn to a more serious expression.

"Care if I join you?" He asked.

Having regained her composure she smiled and replied, "how could I turn down someone as cute as you?"

Where had that retort come from? It felt closure to the truth that her usual sarcastic quips she addressed people with. Riki's cheeks took on a pink colour, it entranced Kurugaya slightly but as with many things over the past two weeks she couldn't recall why.

"I…."

"Like cute things," Riki finished, "I know, in fact I know a great many things about you." Once again the shock Kurugaya felt must have escaped to her face as Riki smiled once more. "Looks like I get to be the one doing the surprising this time 'round," he stated all the while still smiling.

It took a moment or two but she managed to speak again

"I've been meaning to talk to you, I've been…"

"Plagued with dreams," Riki continued, "involving those in the accident and events you don't recall ever transpiring."

Kurugaya was shocked once again by how much knowledge he had regarding this issue. This was unacceptable no one shocked Kurugaya ever, despite this she couldn't help but feel a little happy that someone knew what was happening, at least she thought it was happiness, she rarely understood her own emotions as it was rare that she felt terribly much at all.

Riki kept talking "everyone else was the same but they came to us, the Little Busters I mean, and have since remembered everything. I have to ask, you are the only one who hasn't come to see us, why is that?"

There was that tug at her memory again, the term "Little Busters" had meant something to her but she still couldn't remember what.

"To tell the truth," she said "Each dream I've had has stirred something in me, something I don't recognise and I don't know if I want to."

Riki's expression softened as if he understood exactly who she was and how she felt or more accurately didn't feel.

"I see," he spoke quietly, "that being the case I would like to invite you to view some fireworks with me, my friends will have no qualms about setting it up for us."

The word "fireworks" was the final tug, it freed up her memories from the dam that they had been trapped behind flooding through her mind in a rapid torrent. She remembered everything, Kyousuke's world and the Little Busters, playing baseball, the pancake party and most importantly her dream world, the never ending day of June the 20th and the time she spent with Riki during it.

It had been her voice in that dream and her show of emotions to that incident finally made sense, she remembered all of the new emotions she had experienced sorrow, happiness, a lot of happiness and of course love for the first time ever she felt love. Her flashback ended with her disembodied voice once again

"I think being in love is a big deal".

She gasped as reality rushed back into focus before dashing forward, pushing the table out of the way and pulling Riki into an embrace.

He returned her hug quietly saying. "good to have you back Anego."

"Oh God don't call me that, if that were true this really would be a tad on the creepy side" she replied smiling, "By the way I still have to fulfill my promise, so meet me in our classroom after school OK?" Riki smiled, happy to have Kurugaya back.

"Of course" he said "On a side note you really are cute."

Kurugaya blushed, turning a bright red and began stammering, "w-w-wh-what?"

Riki chuckled. "You should probably get used to me calling you that," he said "Also, is your offer of homemade bento still valid? Bread is starting to become a very boring lunch"

"You really have become more confident" Kurugaya stated, a wide smile taking over her face "you might even challenge me now and yes of course it is."

"Well that's a relief and I'm sure you can still find plenty of ways to embarrass me without much effort" Riki replied, the same wide smile taking over him. With that they simply remained there in each-other's embrace possibly to the bewilderment of any unlikely passers-by but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that moment everything else could wait.