Hey guys! Mighty here with a little one-shot! I have nothimg to say, so enjoy this and merry Christmas (or whatever else you celebrate)!

Memorial

The snowflakes were falling slowly on the thin white carpet. Some people were hurrying out of the shops, finishing their Christmas shopping at the last minute. One of them exited a shop, but had nothing in hand. He didn't come to buy anything; he just respected a tradition. He could have stayed home today, since the tradition was dead, but he felt it was necessary to respect it, even if it was different this year.

December 23rd, and Hiroshi was walking alone. He never walked alone on December 23rd. Each year, same day, same time, he and his gang would walk there during the afternoon, sometimes entering the shops, but rarely heading out with something. Even though Hiroshi kept walking alone for the three previous months, he still wasn't used to it: he'd never get used to it.

He spotted a bench a bit farther away in front of a toy shop. It wasn't a bench like the others; it was the only one where four people could sit on. Hiroshi looked at his watch. Exactly on time. He walked to the bench and sat down on the middle left, his usual place. Normally, at this same hour, his whole gang would be here with him, just like every year, but now, they were all gone. He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared in the distance for a while.

A small tap on his shoulder made him look up. Hiroshi immediately recognized Naoki, Mika's older brother.

"Can I…?" he started before Hiroshi nodded, answering to his question.

Naoki sat down and Hiroshi noticed a rather large bag in his hand. Both of them sat silently for a moment. The college student sighed and put his bag on his lap.

"Mika made this before she… disappeared."

He put his hand in his bag and got out a large book out of it: a scrapbook to be exact.

"She wanted me to have a look at it and comment on it. She had planned to give it to you all today."

Naoki gave the scrapbook to Hiroshi.

"I didn't find anything wrong with it, so I thought I could give it to you."

Hiroshi could only stare at the cover. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see what was inside. He knew it would be good; something that wouldn't make him feel well now. To be honest, he doubted he was ready to look at Mika's artwork. He took a deep breath and opened the book.

The first page was about the gang itself. There were a couple of pictures with everyone and the background was filled with some various stickers reminding Hiroshi of inside jokes. He turned the page. Takuro's page was on the left and Mika's on the right. Every sticker in the background were objects representing them. That action movie Takuro was obsessed with, his favorite video game, even a pink flower, a memorial of all the jokes the gang made about how he could look like a girl sometimes. Mika's side was pink and purple. She didn't like those colors that much; she preferred blue by far. He guessed it was to represent the only girl in the group. Hiroshi couldn't help, but remember all those talks with Mika about girls in general. They would laugh a lot during these. A wave of nostalgia washed over him, but also a wave of sadness. A ball grew in his throat as he turned to the next page. Naoki looked silently at the album, probably remembering his sister.

Hiroshi found his own page on the left (probably because he was left-handed) and Takeshi's on the right. His own page's background seemed to be mathematical equations and quotes he liked a lot. There were also quotes he said, bringing back good memories. He scoffed at some of them while the water in his eyes blurred his vision. He looked at Takeshi's page. Takeshi had always been a camping guy. Sometimes, they would go camping during the summer. He would always turn out as the leader, replacing Takuro for a day or so, except when they were telling each other scary stories of course. There was also a large rope in the background. A day when they went to a museum with school, Takeshi had showed his skills with knots in a nature exhibit. Everyone had been surprised to see him tie knots with such ease. Hiroshi's heart tightened. A knot: that was the exact thing that killed Takeshi.

He turned the page. It was their evolution. There was a picture of them when they were very young at the beginning of the left page and a recent picture at the end of the right page. Their interests were following the pictures. From Mika's old dolls to Takuro's most recent music album. Hiroshi started turning the pages faster. Mika had an unbelievable amount of memory stickers, inside jokes references, and subtle things about them hidden here and there. She must've spent months on that scrapbook. There were still other pages, but he didn't find the courage to look at them.

"Oh, Mika…" he whispered out.

Hiroshi put his hands on his head and let out a laugh due to all the good memories, but it soon turned into a quiet sob. Naoki put his hand on his back and rubbed it a bit. The college student didn't say anything. It took him a long time too before he stopped feeling this ball in his throat while looking at the album.

The following year, Hiroshi changed schools. Everybody knew him, but not in the way he would've liked it to be. No, he was mostly known as the lone survivor. After discussing with his parents, they agreed with his decision and let him finish the year before transferring him to another school.

Changing schools made him nervous. Not because people might recognize him as the boy on the news; he had switched his glasses for contact lenses and dyed his hair dark brown. It was because he was changing alone this time. The only time he had to switch schools, it was due to graduation, and the gang went to the same school.

He nervously passed a hand in his hair while heading to his class. When he entered, he noticed a sheet on the very first desk in the class: assigned seats. He looked up to see someone on the other part of his desk. It was a boy with silky silver hair and bright blue eyes. He was too focused on his book to notice Hiroshi walking closer to him. He sat down next to his new classmate and looked at the book for a second.

"Is that Tale of Broken Dreams?" he asked after a couple of seconds.

The other boy looked up from his book, finally noticing there was someone next to him.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"That quote on the last line really got me."

The boy smiled.

"Are you new here?" he asked.

"Yes, I just got transferred. You've been here for a long time?"

"No, I am new too," the boy answered with a bit of hesitation while closing his book.

Hiroshi reached out a hand.

"I'm Hiroshi Ryuuzu, nice to meet you."

The boy's eyes slightly widened.

"Are you the Hiroshi on the—"

Hiroshi lowered his hand and shook his head before he could end his sentence.

"I'm not that kid on TV," he said, knowing the boy was referring to the lone survivor.

The boy scoffed.

"Sorry, I'm stupid; you don't even look like him!"

"People ask me this a lot actually," lied Hiroshi, feeling like it was going to be a common question in the future.

They remained silent for a couple of seconds until the boy spoke up.

"Oh! I didn't even introduce myself! My name is Kazuya."

He reached out a hand and Hiroshi shook it.

The two laughed out loud at what Hiroshi just said. They laughed so loud, that some people glanced at them with weird looks. When they calmed down, Kazuya removed his gloves and shoved his hand in a small plastic bag resting on his lap. He got two large candy canes out of the bag and gave one to Hiroshi.

"I bought them just before coming here," added Kazuya with a smile.

"Thanks."

The two of them started eating their canes while looking at the covered-in-snow toy shop. It was December 23rd.

"I gotta tell you something," they both said at the same time.

They looked at each other for a brief second, and then snickered.

"Go first," Hiroshi said.

Kazuya leaned back on the cold bench, his coat protecting him from the freezing metal.

"I wasn't new at the school. I was the lone-guy type. You know, the boring and plain boy studying during his free time," he said, putting his hands behind his head with his cane in his mouth like a cigarette, "You're one of the only nice guys in the school and… well, to cut this short, you changed my life for the best and I'm glad you talked to me on the first day of school!"

Hiroshi smiled.

"It wasn't that hard to talk to you!" he said.

Kazuya giggled and took his candy cane out of his mouth to talk.

"What did you want to tell me?"

Hiroshi lost his smile.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell you anymore…" he said, passing a hand behind his neck.

"Aw, c'mon! You know I'm gonna dream about it if you don't tell me!"

Hiroshi let out a nervous laugh, and looked at the bag he had brought.

"You're right. If I don't tell it now, I'll never will…" he sighed, "You know, about the Hiroshi on TV you mentioned on our first conversation…"

"You know him?"

"No, well, yeah I guess you can say so." Hiroshi hesitated on his words before restarting, "I lied to you at the beginning of the year. That Hiroshi is me."

He waited for a reaction from Kazuya, but the boy stayed silent; it seemed like he knew something else was about to come. Hiroshi reached in his bag and got out Mika's scrapbook.

"These are my missing friends," he added before opening the notebook.

Kazuya pointed Hiroshi as the silver-headed teen in one of the gang pictures.

"Is that you?"

"Yeah."

Hiroshi browsed through the album, presenting Takuro, Takeshi, and Mika to his friend. Kazuya didn't interrupt him at all, knowing he had to let him talk. As they were getting farther in the book, Hiroshi's voice started to quiver. When he closed the book, it was obvious to see he was at the verge of tears. Kazuya didn't say anything until his deep breath disappeared. Even when it was gone, he remained silent; he didn't know what to say, nor if it was necessary at all. Hiroshi spoke up when the ball in his throat was gone.

"Well, they aren't missing. They didn't disappear like I said to the investigation team. They died right in front of my eyes. All of them. And I didn't do anything but… stare…"

He paused, swallowing the mass in his throat.

"I didn't say anything because no one would have believed me. They would have said I was insane."

He looked at Kazuya right in the eyes.

"It was a demon. The impossible being turned real right in front of us… It… They…"

Hiroshi didn't say anything and leaned on his knees, staring at the snowy ground. Kazuya put a comforting hand on his back.

"You don't need to tell me more if you don't want to. I understand."

I understand.

Words he didn't think he'd hear. Hiroshi looked back at his friend. Kazuya looked very sincere, as if he knew what it was like. They stayed silent for a long time. It's only when a cold wind came that Kazuya stood up.

"We should get going," he said, "It's really cold here. How about a hot chocolate?"

Hiroshi nodded with a very faint smile and got up with his bag containing the scrapbook in hand. They walked away from the bench and headed silently towards Kazuya's house.

"Kazuya?" said Hiroshi after a bit of walking.

"Hm?"

"Thank you for being there. I think what I needed the most is someone like you."

His friend smiled.

"It's the least I could do!" he replied, "If it wasn't of you, I'd still be stuck in my little corner with books as friends!"

Hiroshi smiled back and Kazuya grabbed his hand.

"C'mon, I have to show you something at home," said the boy.

With this, they started walking a bit faster. Hiroshi looked back one last time at the bench. For a split-second, he could see his friends sitting there. He looked back in front of him and smiled.

I'll never forget you guys, but I have to move on now.

He let go of Kazuya's hand and ran bit farther.

"I say the last one gets only one marshmallow in his hot chocolate!" he exclaimed.

"No fair! You have a start, you cheater!" replied his friend with a big grin.

Hiroshi turned away and they sprinted out of the market. This year was going to be very different, but it would be a great holiday.

Sorry if the end sounds crappy :p Looks like you'll have to deal with it!

If a book out there is named Tale of Broken Dreams, I had no idea! I just took a random title that came into my mind.

The idea of bro-Naoki is pretty recent, and I think it would be quite logical. I mean, he doesn't hang out with the gang at the mansion, but Hiroshi still knows him and usually, you know you're friend's sibling's name. Anywayyyyy...

And yeah, you read well, Hiroshi became the other Hiroshi also known as v1 Hiroshi. I also had a quick thought on that. If v6 was a prequel to v1. It would sort of explain why he's so silent in the mansion and why he is so worried about Kazuya... I might write a one-shot based on that theory...

But whatever! It's not the time to write theories! So, happy holidays, I hope you'll have a great time, and happy new year! Until next time!