The Beginning

Two years prior, Nobi' residence shifted to another state due to an urgent company transfer. Nobisuke, Nobita' father, being one of the closest to their boss, given the opportunity to take the job with the promise of having a lot of money. Their company did really good and overtime, they tried and achieved many things and lost many things. The company, after two years later came to a sudden complications. One of the well paid employees stole money and they couldn't complete the deal with one of the richest clients they ever had. Turns out, one the rivaling companies pulled the strings and the employee did what they asked him to.

The case is still going on to this day. It's like a barrier to overcome. Nobi was interrogated and proven innocent. Security systems barely helped them. Even though they saw the culprit with it, they haven't yet found him or his contacts. Therefore, Nobi and other employees transferred back to Tokyo or whatever respected places they came from.

Tokyo, hasn't changed much over two years of his absence. It still feel like home. The place he grew up and built up memories. Talking about memories, Nobita don't know what to memorize from his stay away from Tokyo. He studied in a full English medium school and he struggled to cope up with the rules, culture and even the language. He never was good at any subject and he barely understood what they were saying. First two months, he looked at them like they are aliens. The way they talk is, well ..... different? New? He don't know what to say. Thankfully, a home tutor solved a little bit of problem. Nobita learnt the basics of English and he could comprehend what others are trying to say. Besides learning English, he got nothing else to remember. His class never minded him much and during this last two years, Nobita felt lonely despite there were people all around him. Leaving Tokyo wasn't his idea to begin with. Hell, he even stopped smiling or be happy. Staying there felt neutral. Nothing felt like fun. Everything looked out of place. Felt out of place. Even if the place was one of the beautiful one he ever saw, he didn't know why he never enjoyed it.

Nobita rests his head on the glass of the car door, looking outside the green fields and villages. They're still far away from the city and it still feels good. Nobita wish to walk around the green field, but two things preventing him from doing so. One is the raging dark clouds forming up in the sky and the second one is, well ..time. it's already past noon, and they have to get to the new apartment by the dark. His father told him that their house is being renovated. After all, it was empty for two years.

"What's wrong, dear? What happened?" Tamako asks as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Nobita didn't reply for few seconds. He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I'm happy. Just....I don't know." He mumbled back enough to her to hear.

Tamako is worried about him even more. That happy little Nobita is long gone and now he's just distant and sometimes cold. If the shift was optional, maybe they never left.

"Please don't stress yourself anymore. We're back, right? Now, don't worry. Everything's alright." She comforted.

"I don't think so. Nothing is alright. I still miss something. Or I'm just going crazy." He stated and refused to look at her. He don't know but he's annoyed.

"Don't say that. Look...." Tamako asks and he finally looks at her with dull eyes. "I apologise for everything. But we had no choice, right? And I won't say, 'I know how you felt' and genuinely I don't know how you felt. But me and papa also missed being home. Things were so tough on us and I so sorry you had to go through all that." She said and ruffled his now long hair. It's now falling and covering his forehead. And this look somehow suits him better.

"You don't have to apologise. I need time." Nobita said and looks back outside. He looks at the dark sky and wondered how much is it gonna rain, but he saw something pink and purple in them for a split second before it disappeared. Maybe that was just lightning? Who knows? Besides, he have enough to worry about.

Staring out of the glass, he remembered that day. The day he lost his happiness.

FLASHBACK

Nobita ran back as fast as he could, with a wide grin on his face. He got a hold of a white neatly folded paper and he ran past his friends after waving at them. Shizuka, Gian and Suneo looks at him dumbfounded and awkwardly waved back.

Nobita is beyond happy today and can't wait to show the paper to his mom. Her reaction will be priceless. As clumsy as he is, Nobita didn't realise he ran over a dog's tail until he got a huge bite on his butt. Despite it hurt and all, Nobita didn't slowed down and didn't even bothered to shook of the canine off of him.

Nobita eventually reached his house and by the time he got there, the dog already let him with a hole on his pants. "MOM! I'M HOME." Nobita called and ran inside the house only to find it silent. Every door is closed except for the kitchen and he happily made his way there.

He saw his mom cooking and Doraemon sitting on the chair chopping vegitables. Nobita somehow missed the gloomy look on their faces.

"MOM! MOM. HERE." Nobita called and showed her the paper. Tamako looks at him and took the paper. She opened and a bright yet sad smile appeared on her face.

"68 marks? Well done Nobita?" She said and unexpectedly gave him a small hug.

"Congratulations, Nobita. You did well this time." Doraemon congratulated him. Nobita then sensed some is off.

Both Tamako and Doraemon are being extremely nice to him. His mother would have still scolded or told him he could happen done better and then say he did well. Not hug him.

"Um... what happened? What's wrong?" Nobita asked finally. And he have a strange feeling about it.

"Nothings wrong." Doraemon said and Nobita looks at both of them and didn't believe them one bit.

"Doraemon. It's better if we tell him the truth." Tamako said and made Nobita sit on one of the chairs and she took a seat as well.

Nobita gulped and his heartbeat intensified. He felt more uneasy by the second. "W..well?" He asked.

Tamako looks at him and breathed in some air and exhaled. "I'm not sure where to start."

"Say it, mom. You're scaring me." He pleads.

Tamako nodded. "Papa's company has a branch outside of Tokyo. Being closest to the boss, papa is transferred to the new branch with promotion." She said.

"Isn't that good?" Nobita said.

"Yes. Yes it is. But there's more." Tamako said and her voice cracked. "This transfer is so far from here and papa can't travel everyday back and forth. So, the company arranged a house there. Papa has responsibilities much higher and it will be hard for him to keep an eye on us if we stayed this far. So, alongside him, we too have to move." She said and Nobita felt his world ripping apart. Just like that, his excitement and happiness vanished and a brick wall crashed his heart.

"W..what? Please tell me your messing with me? Please tell me." He said crying and smiling at the same time and seeing their expressions, he knew they are serious. He is leaving. Away from his home. Away from his friends. That thought made him cry and Tamako hugged him but Nobita didn't know why but he pushed her away and ran outside the kitchen to his room.

Nobita heard Doraemon shouting his name as he ran upstairs. Little did he knew that there's more to it than he thought. He hadn't heard the full news. Nobita sobbed in a corner and he heard small footsteps. "Nobita?" He heard Doraemon call him.

"Leave me alone." Nobita mumbled.

"Please can we talk? It's really important?" Doraemon said back emotionally.

"What?"

"Nobita. Whatever I'm gonna say, please take them calmly." Doraemon said.

There was a silence for a minute and Doraemon starts.

"It's been so long. I think the time has come." Doraemon said and next thing he knew was Nobita tackle him to the floor screaming top of his lungs.

"DON'T YOU DARE. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANYTHING. DON'T YOU DARE SAY IT." Nobita shouted and Doraemon did everything to calm the bespectacled boy and it took forever.

"P.. please.. don't." Nobita stuttered.

"Nobita." Doraemon' eyes watered. "I think I overstayed my welcome. And I think I accomplished what I came for. Your future. I think you improved a lot." Doraemon said sadly.

"I can't do this without you. Please do something. I swear this is only thing I ask you. Please.."

Doraemon sat both them up and hugged Nobita. "Nobita, I changed the future enough. And I can't change the outcomes any further. Maybe this is why I was here in the first place. To help you prepare for the harsh reality. And I think you are ready to live without me." Doraemon said

"No I'm not ready. I just can't." Nobita cried and Doraemon cried as well. The time has come. Both brothers has to be separated.

"Sorry, Nobita. I can only say that I will visit you again. I have to go." Doraemon said and both of them stayed in the hugging position for over a hour and still felt not letting go one another. And they felt and extra pair of hands hugging them.

"Your always welcome back, Doraemon. After all you're my son too." Tamako said and both Doraemon and Nobita cried.

"Thank you for everything." Nobita mumbled.

"I should thank you. I never felt so happy before I met you. Thank you."

"I'll miss you." Nobita said.

"I'll miss you too." Doraemon said.

"Before you go, Doraemon. Why don't you both go visit your friends. They deserve to know." Tamako said and both boys nodded.

"And don't say 'goodbye'. Say 'see you soon'. That hurts less for both them and you. After all, you kids are inseparable right?" Tamako says with a comforting smile. She gave the right advice.

Goodbye is a word that means, there's no come back. And there's no goodbye.

****************

"...do you remember our first flight?" Doraemon asks with a sad smile and Nobita could barely hold back tears.

Nobita nodded and smiled. "You appeared and scared me so much the first time. It was so sudden. You showed me bamboo copter. It feels like yesterday. Ever since I was luckier than anyone. It took me a while to understand that." Nobita said.

They both walked side by side towards the playground. The one place they possibly see all their friends.

"Our adventures, the unbelievable once. I wish you could stay and go on adventures like we used to be." Nobita spoke in a small dull voice. It's all too much to handle.

"Haha... before I met you, I never thought my gadgets can be used the way you use them. Turns out, I learnt a lot hanging around with you. Gian, Suneo, Shizuka, Dekisuki. They're all sees me as friend because you were there to introduce me. Whenever you blame yourself and called yourself useless, it always hurted my feelings, because you're the only one who didn't mind 'difference' between us. You're one of the best people I ever met, Nobita. I mean it." Doraemon replied.

"And you're a best friend, Doraemon. Mom used to say, we are like brothers and now I understand her." Nobita lowly mumbled.

Rest of their walk was silence. They are breaking down inside and barely maintaining their emotions. Doraemon never thought, this human will be any different than the ones back at 22nd century. But now this same human has a spot in his mechanical heart that no virus could wipe out. Same goes for Nobita. During the time they were together, he always forget that Doraemon is just a robot and treat him like one of them.

"She's right." Doraemon replied.

"Yes." Nobita said.

As they got closer to the playground, their hearts beat faster and it aches. The last day both of them will ever see this playground and most importantly their friends. Will they ever see each other again? If they do, will they figure out one another? Nobita' breathing hitched and with all his might he held back another sob. After today or tomorrow, they're forcefully being divided into three pieces.

"You okay?" Doraemon asks.

"No I'm not okay. You?" Nobita truthfully said. He's definitely not okay.

"Me neither." Doraemon replied.

Nobita stops for a minute and Doraemon did the same. "Don't forget me Doraemon." Nobita said and showed his pinky finger.

"Never. That's a promise." Doraemon said and hooked Nobita' finger with his own tiny one.

"And I won't forget you either, no matter what. That's a promise." Nobita promised.

Again there was a silence and they stopped behind the wooden fence of the playground and they heard their friends talk. That day they didn't have any homeworks and coincidentally Dekisuki and Shizuka was there too with Gian and Suneo. They were laughing and both Nobita and Doraemon hate to ruin their fun moment. But it's now or never. The last day Doraemon and Nobita ever see them. And Nobita is sure tomorrow he will go to school and teacher will announce it to everyone. That's how it goes and he doesn't expect any difference in his case.

"You go, Doraemon." Nobita mumbled back..

"What about you? Aren't you gonna tell them?" Doraemon asked.

"I can't talk without crying. I'm sure tomorrow teacher will announce it for me." Nobita said.

"We're friends, Nobita. They deserve to hear it from you. After all, they trusted us with their secrets and problems. Now let them do us the favor." Doraemon said. He's right. Doraemon is always right.

Nobita hesitantly nodded and sighed. "You go first. I stay here and call me when you're done. I have to make sure to not break when I speak." Nobita said.

"Okay. As you wish. Just talk to them openly, okay? They sure will understand you." Doraemon said and entered the playground immediately seeing the four kids.

Doraemon sighed and plastered a smile on his face as he moved closer to them.

Dekisuki being first to see the blue cat waves a hai. "Hey Doraemon." He called. And the others looks at him and smiled.

"Hey, Doraemon." They said in their own ways.

"Hey guys." Doraemon' voice cracked as he said it but they didn't noticed it.

"What's the discussion?" He asked.

"Oh, it's about our baseball match happened a week ago. Their coach happen to see us and he was really impressed with our performance that day and he didn't had the chance to talk to us until today." Suneo explained.

"After all who trained you, Suneo?" Gian said laughing.

"Who?" Suneo wondered.

"Me, you fool. I Gian Goda." Gian said taking a hold of Suneo' shirt.

They all laughed at the two boys including Doraemon. He almost forgot why he's here in the first place. And what happened just now made him a bit sad. He's really gonna miss laughing and having fun with them. They are too good for him. Like a reject like him treated as equal is something he never experienced before he met sewashi, Nobita and his friends.

Doraemon stopped laughing and looks at them with a sad smile. Time has come. "Hey guys, there's something I wanna tell you all." He said attracting their attention.

"What is it Doraemon?" Shizuka asked sweetly and others nodded him to continue. They saw the look on his face and figured, something is not quite right?

"What happened, Doraemon? You look upset." Dekisuki said.

"I apologise I'm ruining the moment for you guys. But it's now or never." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Suneo asked.

"And what you mean ruining the moment?" Gian added.

Doraemon looks at them sadly with a smile and bowed a little. "Thank you all for having me with you. For seeing me as a friend and showing kindness. Thank you for everything." He said surprising them. They looked each other and they figured out something is really wrong than they think.

"What's gotten into you?" Gian wondered.

"Why are you thanking us for no reason? And why did you apologise?" Shizuka added and they started to worry.

Doraemon looks at them and they saw tears in his eyes. "Time has come for me to go back." He said and there was a silence.

Something in their chest felt heavy. The revelation shocked them.

"You're kidding right?" Gian asked smiling awkwardly, not sure if Doraemon teasing them or not. But seeing Doraemon' face, he doesn't look like joking.

"Please, tell me you're joking." Shizuka said in a low tone. Doraemon shook his head and wiped his tears.

"It's been so good to be with you guys. I want to stay but..." Doraemon got cut off as Gian picked him up by the collar.

"If Nobita got into a fight with you, let me deal with him for you. I'll make him say sorry." Gian said and Doraemon saw a hint of tears in their eyes and he placed a hand on Gian'.

"Nobita didn't do anything. It's my decision. It was hard to talk this with him too." Doraemon said and Gian lowered him and surprisingly gave him a hug.

"Sorry, I overreacted." Gian apologized and Doraemon was surprised. Others too gathered around and hugged Doraemon ad well.

It all happened so quickly that, Doraemon barely had enough time to figure out what is going on. They're hugging him. And Doraemon was happy they do love him. But he started to wonder if he's hurting them more than he thought. But his decision is final. The moment Tamako informed him the transfer, Doraemon planned going back to future. At first he doubted himself but when Nobita scored a good mark on his test, Doraemon realised that Nobita can look after himself.

"Why?" Shizuka asked sadly. "We're here right? What about us? Nobita? I don't know how he'll react." She added still hugging the blue robot.

"Do you really have to go?" Suneo asked with a fumble in his voice.

"I too wish, Doraemon could stay. But we should respect his decision too, right?" Dekisuki said straightening himself.

They know he's right. However, they made a strong bond with Doraemon and it's hard to take in all at once. They all stood up and they sure is crying.

Shizuka looks around and looks at Doraemon. "Where's Nobita? Do he know?" She wondered, wiping her eyes only to find out the tears won't stop.

Doraemon nodded and looks down at his feet. Now comes the next part. Not only Doraemon leaving, but also their childhood friend leaving. And they don't have a clue. Doraemon knows that they never could even dream of Nobita leaving them. Sure they unknowingly knew, Doraemon can't be with them everytime. But, Nobita?

"Yeah, where is he?" Others wondered too.

Doraemon looks at them and sighed. "There's something else, guys. Something other than me going back." He said and others looks at one another confused.

"What you mean?" They asked.

"I think Nobita is the one to explain everything." Doraemon said and Nobita heard the clue.

Mustering every will, he came out of his hiding spot and walked towards them. His puffy red eyes gave away a hint that he was crying, but they obviously thought it was because of Doraemon going back. But little did they know, in a short time two of the friends of theirs won't be with them anymore.

Nobita looks at them and breathed in and out, in an attempt to calm himself. Somehow, the courage he built up behind that fence vaporized as he faced them. Nobita' ability to speak lost in that moment. He looks at Doraemon who nodded, encouraging him to talk. But it didn't help much.

"I....I.." that's all came out of his mouth.

This time his friends was confused, sad and worried at the same time.

"Talk, Nobita. Just calm down." Dekisuki said in a comforting tone.

Shizuka was worried about him the most and came next to him and touched his shoulder. "You don't have to say it, Nobita." She said.

Nobita shook his head and kept trying but failed. He's really hurt. Like, it's not always you lose everything at once. He's still a child with a fragile heart.

"It's. Okay. We know you and Doraemon is so close than any of us. We all miss him. All we could do is send him back happily. Doraemon is not alone there, right? Sewashi, Dorami. He have everyone. So don't worry." She comforted.

"B... but..I don't have anyone." Came Nobita' croaked words.

"What do you mean? You have us." Gian almost shouted.

Nobita shook his head again and tears fell more and his sobs came out really loud and uncontrollable. Seeing this Doraemon decided to speak for him.

"May I say it?" He asked and Nobita nodded covering his face. Shizuka and others don't like seeing Nobita like this. It's totally different from any other time Nobita cried. This time he is broken.

"What's going on, Doraemon? Please. Why aren't you saying anything?" Gian asked.

"Please Doraemon. Tell us." Shizuka said.

Doraemon nodded and looks at them. "My reason to leave is..." He started and they had their full attention on him. The moment was intense. Neither of them was breathing, just holding it. The moment of truth. Here it is.

"Dad' company extending a branch outside Tokyo and he's being transferred. It's far away, real far. That's why, Nobita and mom is moving to a house near dad' company." Doraemon said. Atmosphere froze, and everything stopped around them. Like a lightning, news struck their heart really painfully. A pit formed in their stomach. The reality isn't digesting.

END OF FLASHBACK.

He came back to reality to see the rain raging outside. The horizon was dark and misty, giving it an eerie and mysterious touch. They already entered the city area and Nobita do remember him being around those roads. It's feels like eternity, he last saw the place. Nothing has changed much. Only the memories of this place feels old. He missed being here. At home.

"Turn right over there, and fourth apartment." Nobita heard his dad talking to the cab driver.

"We're here, Nobita." Tamako said.

Nobita nodded and Tamako saw small yet invisible smile on his face. Maybe, all he needed was to be back home and Tamako was happy about the slight change in his mood.

They arrived shortly after. All their stuff already got here and that made everything easy.

"Welcome, Nobi. I'm really happy you remembered our place." A old woman stood outside the building, holding an old traditional umbrella. Nobita and Tamako shared one umbrella and Nobi wore a raincoat jacket.

"Mrs. Sanada. It's good to see you after so long." Nobi said and looks back at Nobita and Tamako. "My wife Tamako. And my Son Nobita." He introduced them to the old lady who gave a warm welcoming smile.

"Tamko, I've told you about Mrs. Sanada before, right? I've been so close to them since my school days." Nobi asked.

Tamako nodded with smile. "Yes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Introduction went fast and they entered the apartment, which was a two story building. Nobita' glad they got a room updates. Just like when he was home. Reliving memories.

"Nobita, go take a shower. Tomorrow, you can walk around the place. The day after, your going to a new school." Tamako reminded him. Nobita knows all that. Police investigation took all the vacation and with few days of vacation left, they came back. It really sucks. He barely had time. Life is so unfair.

"I know. Stop saying it over and over again." He said a bit harshly. Well, he's always like this. Cold and distant. Tamako understands that.

Tomorrow gonna be fun. Nobita remember the way around and that means, he's seeing some important people of his life. Maybe not. He's not ready to face them again. It's strange though. Wanting to see someone for a long time but hesitant when the time has come.

Nobi Nobita, is now unpredictable and different. He changed.